Gill staying at West Brom as Strachan joinspublished at 14:15 BST 23 June
14:15 BST 23 June
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Matt Gill arrived at Albion in March and helped the club pull clear of relegation trouble in the Championship last season
West Bromwich Albion have confirmed Matt Gill will be staying as assistant head coach to boss James Morrison and added Celtic first-team coach Gavin Strachan and former Middlesbrough defender Tony McMahon to the coaching staff.
Gill joined up with the Baggies for the last 11 fixtures of 2025-26, as they went on to secure their Championship survival off the back of a 10-game unbeaten run.
Strachan, 47, has been with the Scottish champions since 2020 after previous assistant manager roles in the EFL with Doncaster and Peterborough.
McMahon, 40, has had previous coaching experience at Scunthorpe United and York City.
Albion also confirmed Boaz Myhill will continue as goalkeeper coach, Leigh Downing will return to his senior role with the Baggies' under-21 team while analyst Damia Abella is leaving after three years.
On Gill's retention, Morrison said it was "great" to have him stay on adding "he's a great coach, I enjoyed working with him last year, the players enjoyed working with him and his efforts were important in us getting over the line".
On the new arrivals, he said: "I'm also delighted to add Gavin Strachan to the group. Having a new pair of eyes from somebody with Gavin's experience will help us massively
"He has worked alongside some top managers, like Martin O'Neill, Ange Postecoglou and Brendan Rodgers, and will no doubt bring fresh ideas with him.
"I know Tony well from our time together at Middlesbrough. He knows me better than anyone in football. He's somebody I trust and whose opinion I've always valued."
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Gavin Strachan has been with Celtic for the past four years
Gossip: Stoke close in on Albion goalkeeper Griffithspublished at 11:48 BST 22 June
11:48 BST 22 June
Stoke City are trying to finalise a deal for West Bromwich Albion's English goalkeeper Josh Griffiths, 24, in a move that would allow the Baggies' England youth international Tommy Simkin, 21, to head back out on loan. (Stoke Sentinel), external
Albion sign young Liverpool defender Pinningtonpublished at 11:01 BST 18 June
11:01 BST 18 June
Image source, Getty Images
West Bromwich Albion have signed defender Carter Pinnington on a three-year deal.
The 19-year-old joins from Liverpool, where he has risen through the youth ranks to become a regular part of their under-21s team but has yet to make his senior debut.
He will join the Baggies' under-21 set-up for the immediate future.
"I'm extremely grateful to be joining Albion," Pinnington said in a club statement.
"I had offers from other clubs, but from the very first conversations I had here, it was clear to me that this was the right place for the next stage of my career and an opportunity I couldn't turn down."
The teenager is a former England Under-18 international.
West Brom in advanced talks to sign Chelsea's Morganpublished at 13:08 BST 17 June
13:08 BST 17 June
Nizaar Kinsella Chelsea reporter
Image source, Getty Images
West Brom are progressing talks to sign striker Jimmy‑Jay Morgan from Chelsea on a permanent deal.
The 20-year-old is expected to leave Stamford Bridge, with his contract due to expire next year, for a fee that could rise to £4m includes a substantial sell-on clause.
A move to the Championship would follow an impressive loan spell at League One side Peterborough United, where he scored 12 goals and provided three assists in 34 league appearances.
Morgan joined Chelsea in 2022 as a 17-year-old from Southampton for an initial £3m.
He is highly regarded, having represented England at youth level up to the under-20s, and has also previously spent time on loan at Gillingham.
Why Albion want to keep Grant and Majapublished at 10:54 BST 20 May
10:54 BST 20 May
Chris Hall Fan writer
On Friday, West Bromwich Albion revealed their released and retained list, and the announcement caused a few eyebrows to be raised in the Baggies fanbase.
Of course, not every name on the list was a shock. Jed Wallace's release was sad but not surprising.
The club captain may be a stalwart of 140 league games for the Throstles, but it's the right call.
Wallace missed half the season through injury and, at 32, it would be fair to assume those issues are only likely to get worse, not better.
While Daryl Dike is six and a half years Wallace's junior, he too carried too much risk to be renewed.
Many, myself included, made a case for the big American striker to stay. His committed demeanour on the pitch and his downright lovable personality off it had every Baggie desperate for him to succeed.
But, after four and a half years and only 22 league starts, it was a clear matter of heart ruling head to campaign for him to be given a new contract.
One player who has made a compelling case to stay is goalkeeper Max O'Leary.
In a season where Joe Wildsmith and Josh Griffiths racked up some horrendous shot-stopping statistics that went a long way to plunging Albion into relegation trouble, O'Leary offered the antidote to those ills.
He finished the season in credit in terms of goals prevented, a stat where his predecessors had been heavily in debt, and racked up an incredible eight clean sheets in 16 games.
Albion had only managed seven in 28 games before he arrived.
Little surprise then that the 29-year-old goalkeeper has been offered a new deal.
But there was more of a mixed reception to the fact that deals have been put in front of Josh Maja and Karlan Grant.
Image source, Shutterstock
From a fitness perspective, I get some of the concerns.
Grant started just 17 games last season - fewer than the released Wallace (although he is also four years younger than the skipper).
The 14 games for which Grant was unavailable due to injury this season is more than he's missed through injury in the previous five years of his Albion career.
At just 28, it's easy to believe this level of absence won't be repeated.
Maja, too, lacked starts (just 15 to be precise), but this wasn't due to injury.
Instead, it was down to the then manager Ryan Mason who seemed to believe the forward didn't warrant a place in his starting XI.
That decision was exposed somewhat when James Morrison gave Maja six starts at the back end of the season and was duly rewarded with three goals.
It's hardly surprising when you look at the stats.
In the past two seasons, Maja has not scored once in the league when coming off the bench.
Yet in 41 league starts, in the same period, he has returned an impressive 16 goals.
That record probably goes some way to explain James Morrison's desire to keep the Nigerian striker.
For the reasons behind the efforts to retain Grant, you must dig a little deeper. However, a dip into the data justifies that call too.
Grant is one of the best forwards in the league for ball recoveries in the final third, successful dribbles per 90 and touches in the opposition box. He is also very rarely dribbled past.
In short, Grant is a wide man who works very hard, advances his team up the pitch, presses opposition defenders and looks after his full-back.
While these are not the things that will always catch the eye of spectators, trust me when I tell you that coaches and managers notice and value them.
Add to that the fact that Albion are already light in attacking areas, and retaining players is almost always cheaper than recruiting them, suddenly our retained list starts to make a lot of sense.
However, at the time of writing, none of Grant, O'Leary, nor Maja has signed on the dotted line.
Wanting to keep them is one thing - doing so is something else entirely.
Albion close chapter on financial messpublished at 12:04 BST 14 May
12:04 BST 14 May
Steve Hermon BBC Radio WM's West Bromwich Albion commentator
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Albion have "acknowledged" rather than accepted the publication of the independent Club Football Reporting Panel's (CFRP) written reasons for the points deduction.
There is clear frustration from the club over the timeline of events. That is understandable, as is their decision not to appeal and their desire to move on after they, in their own words "settled it on the pitch".
The club submitted its annual accounts on 3 December yet it took 112 days for a compliance report to be issued. That meant the punishment came in the final days of the season after a swift video conference hearing.
That timing was far from ideal for all parties involved — including Albion's relegation rivals at the time.
The written reasons reveal Albion argued that, if a sporting sanction was to be handed down, it should be suspended until the start of the 2026-27 season because of the delay.
The club also highlighted the "tireless" efforts of owner Shilen Patel in reducing losses. When he arrived, they were projected to exceed the three-year P&S limit of £39m by around £30m. In the end, the breach stood at just under £1.97m — the smallest ever recorded across the Premier League or second tier.
It is notable that Albion's engagement with the governing body was judged only as "reasonable" and therefore not worthy of a point being given back for co-operation. That's despite Patel's Bilkul group working to a business plan in conjunction with the EFL ever since completing their takeover in February 2024.
The written reasons do, however, acknowledge the club did not act in bad faith.
Rather than holding on to prized assets to push higher up the Championship, which would have risked a more serious breach, Albion sold the likes of Torbjorn Heggem and Tom Fellows in an attempt to comply.
Those decisions had a detrimental on-field impact, contributing to their slide into a relegation battle only avoided by a remarkable run of form under James Morrison.
Outside of their legal representatives, no EFL official attended the remote hearing.
The independent CFRP did hear evidence from Patel though, as well as executive director Mark Miles, Rob Lake of the Albion Foundation and former Stoke City and Bristol City executive John Pelling. He was brought in by the Baggies for his football finance expertise.
The panel sided with the EFL on most decisions.
One of the key arguments centred on recharging £5.2m in interest on a loan to parent company Bilkul rather than the football club. The CFRP rejected Albion's case, viewing responsibility for the loan as a "direct and natural consequence" of the takeover — a decision that effectively added £5.2m to the club's losses.
Patel has invested tens of millions to clean up the mess he inherited, including the MSD loan, so in one sense he can feel hard done by. It was taken out before his arrival to keep the club afloat.
But the American businessman did tell me in an interview in March 2024 that he came into the situation with "eyes wide open". The lesson is a harsh one, reflected in the EFL's claim the recharge was "an illegitimate attempt to rewrite history".
The club's major point of contention was what it viewed as a retrospective change in the interpretation of community development expenditure. Albion's in-kind contributions to the Albion Foundation were accepted as genuine but — apart from £86,061 — just over £2m claimed as a "community add-back" was disallowed.
The CFRU admits it made a "new and different decision" when it looked again at previously submitted accounts for 2023-24.
According to the written reasons, the unit says it was "obliged" to look again but the Baggies argue in-kind benefits had previously been accepted as being exempt from P&S calculations.
The written reasons also claim the unit didn't know until February 2026 that the club's accounts for 2024-25 didn't include in-kind benefits as part of their losses and that this was new information.
In a season that also saw sanctions for Leicester City and Sheffield Wednesday, alongside Southampton's ongoing 'spygate' controversy, the EFL clearly has its hands full. However, differing interpretations of complex rules and the contrasting time taken for decisions to be reached do not appear helpful to anyone.
Clubs are due to vote on a new squad cost ratio model, which will better align the EFL with the Premier League, League One and League Two. Hopefully it proves to be less complicated but for Albion their priority now is looking forward.
As their statement put it, they have "closed the chapter" on one of the most stressful periods of the club's history — and are confident the future will not bring a repeat.
