Irvine predicts successful transfer strategy
ALAN Irvine believes Albion have the foundations in place to make the most of future transfer windows - thanks to the growing understanding between the club's backroom staff.
The Baggies head coach arrived in June during a period of change for the club.
Irvine was appointed a few weeks after Terry Burton arrival as Technical Director, with Mervyn Day coming in as Head of Recruitment during early July.
The summer also marked a significant period of transfer activity for the club, with Irvine having to integrate several new players into his existing squad - some of whom had to play catch-up with their fitness.
Now that things have settled down, Irvine hopes the synergy between the various key backroom staff members will ensure even more fruitful transfer windows in the future.
He also feels that having a more settled squad will help Albion's cause.
Irvine said: "We were trying to do as much homework as we possibly can and the recruitment department knew a lot of these players from watching them for a long time but it wasn’t something I was doing.
“I would hope that in future transfer windows there is a much more joined-up approach than was possible in this one."
Irvine continued: "It wasn’t possible to do all the homework that we’d like to do in the last window because of the circumstances.
“I had suddenly landed in this job, there were 13 players who had gone, and there was a great big hole that needed to be filled as soon as possible.
“There were no games to watch them playing in. With some of the boys we got to see them playing in the World Cup and with others we didn’t get a chance to see them doing anything.
"There is no short-cut to getting people ready to play. And there isn’t a microwave session that gets people ready and you can’t just put it on full power for half an hour.
“We have a five-and-a-half or six-week pre-season, which is progressive and systematic, for a reason."