Club News

Bilić ‘meets’ familiar faces again

Albion Head Coach Slaven Bilić is delighted football’s governing bodies remain focused on completing the season brought to an abrupt halt by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Slaven hosted an online conference with local media on Tuesday to discuss a range of issues which have followed the abandoning of the season a little over a month ago.

The boss was in good spirits and was pleased to speak again with the media folk who have become familiar faces at the gaffer’s pre and post-match conferences this season.

And he acknowledged talk of a return to action behind closed doors had raised the spirits of players.

“Listen, we don’t have any problems,” he said. “We might think we do but then we see what those guys on the front line are facing every day and we know we don’t have any problems.”

But the man who has kept Albion in the Sky Bet Championship promotion race all season is happy to hear talk of a possible return to action.

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"We should try to do everything to finish it, even if it drags on until September,” he said.

“In Germany and Italy, they are planning on starting training at the beginning of May. It’s getting better in most countries, thank God.

“If you are talking about October and November, I don’t know because I am not an economist.

“If it is going to be impossible to play football before October or November that means the situation with the virus is not good. Then I think the whole world would have much more important things to care about than football.

“That would mean the economy has stopped for half of the year and then who would care about football.

“But I think that is it is very fair and right and legal for it to finish.

“You can’t ignore that we have played three-quarters of the season. You can’t void it.

“If there is any possible scenario in which the season can be played it should be finished.”

He also confirmed that if and when Albion return to action, two players missing from selection because of injury, Ahmed Hegazi and Grady Diangana, will be fully fit to return. 

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