West Bromwich Albion head coach Carlos Corberan hopes his side’s pre-season “difficulties” could end up making the Championship club stronger.
After doing well to navigate another challenging season in 2023-24 to finish in the play-offs, Albion ended up getting well beaten by Southampton in the semi-final second leg.
But, having come under new ownership in February, when American businessman Shilen Patel took over, Corberan had already been warned that the damage done under the previous ownership is still hurting the club and that he would find his summer spending plans limited.
Although Corberan has so far brought in seven players, including the first fee paid since he became Albion boss, the Baggies will start Saturday’s opening game against Queens Park Rangers without 13 of the players who were in the 20-man squad at St Mary’s in May.
“We have to operate with the financial situation that we have,” Corberan told BBC Radio WM. “We have had to adapt.”But you cannot let the difficulties beat you.
“We need to find the solutions inside ourselves to beat these difficulties and keep moving forward.
“As human beings, if there is difficulty in front of us, it can sometimes make us
It is essentially the same philosophy adopted by the English Royal Air Force, whose famous Latin motto ‘Per Ardua Ad Astra’ translates as ‘through adversity to the stars’.
But fans of Albion’s “stars in stripes” were given a timely warning in an open letter from club chairman Patel on 13 June not to expect to fly too high this season – and that, if they do make the top six again, it will be down to the inspiration of their locally revered 41-year-old Spanish coach.
“That communication from the club was important as it has allowed the people to understand the situation,” added Corberan at Friday’s pre-match QPR press conference, as he faced the media for the first time since losing on the south coast on 17 May.
One story last weekend hinted at a potential transfer embargo – but that is not understood to be the case.
Albion are well aware of the challenge of staying within the existing financial limits (£39m over three years), but have not been officially notified of any imposed business plan and say that they “have been working with the EFL for 18 months on financial matters”.
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