West Brom notebook: Pre-season return, Mark Miles talks, eBay, Leeds United manager twist

West Bromwich Albion will begin their pre-season campaign next week ahead of the Championship restart. The plan is for one half of the Albion squad, who have been on a post-season break since the beginning of May, to report for testing on Tuesday, June 20, while the second half will attend on Wednesday, June 21.

The entire squad will then train together for the first time this summer on Thursday, June 22, ahead of a string of friendlies in July. Albion have already announced four pre-season friendlies – against Salford City, Cheltenham Town, Burton Albion and Bolton Wanderers. More are due to be confirmed in due course before the new campaign begins over the weekend of August 4 to 6.

It will give manager Carlos Corberan the opportunity to take a look at players such as Caleb Taylor, Cedric Kipre and Alex Mowatt, who all spent last season away from The Hawthorns on loan, while bar long-term absentee Daryl Dike, those who missed the end of last season will hopefully return in sound condition.

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Making his Mark

Albion MD Mark Miles intends for talks with Shareholders 4 Albion and Action For Albion to continue now that he has taken on the roles and responsibilities of departing chief executive Ron Gourlay. Miles, who has been at Albion in various roles for 20 years, was confirmed as assuming those duties last week amid a reshuffle which also affected Ian Pearce.

Miles, for whom the ‘non-football’ part of his title has been dropped, is eager to continue the dialogue with both minority shareholder group S4A and the protest group Action For Albion, who have been protesting against the club’s ownership. Both representatives of S4A and Action For Albion have plans to speak to Miles in the near future, it’s understood.

eBay

There was quite the online commotion regarding Albion’s official eBay account on social media this past week. Framed photos of Albion’s 1968 FA Cup-winning team, signed by the players from that side, have been placed on sale for supporters who wish to bid for a copy. It transpires that there are around 50 copies of this photo, so the club aren’t selling off the family silver, so to speak.

There are a range of used tracksuit tops, jerseys and bottoms from first-team players, worn in training or in matches in the last season, which are available to bid for on their official eBay account.

It’s an unfortunate look, and it has come to light at a time when Albion are in a dicey financial situation off the field, but the truth is that the eBay page has been functioning and selling merchandise and used kit to fans since October 2008, during which time more than 1,200 items have been flogged off.

New favourite

Daniel Farke appears to have made big strides in his efforts to take the Leeds United job ahead of the new season having reportedly impressed in his interview with the Elland Road hierarchy this week – which may go a little way to allaying any concerns in the Albion fanbase that Carlos Corberan may up and leave in the near future.

Of course, you have to take any betting market with copious amounts of salt. But, for what it’s worth, Farke has been installed as the new favourite for the job. He is a free agent after leaving Borussia Monchengladbach at the end of last season and wouldn’t command the release clause fee Corberan would.

Leeds’ takeover was confirmed recently, and their attentions have now turned in full to replacing Sam Allardyce in the managerial hotseat and also the departed sporting director, Victor Orta. It feels inevitable that Corberan’s name will always be mentioned, though, when there’s a vacancy at Leeds which, recently, feels like every few weeks.

Return to England?

On the subject of managers, former Albion right-back Carl Hoefkens looks to be in the running for the Leicester City job. The Foxes, like Leeds, are playing in the same division next season as Albion and are on the look-out for a new head coach after taking on Dean Smith as interim boss towards the end of last season.

Hoefkens was at Albion between 2007 and 2009, having joined from Stoke City, and in that time helped the club win the Championship title under Tony Mowbray. In total, he played 62 times before returning to Belgium and joining Club Brugge.

Only last season, Hoefkens led Brugge into the Champions League and helped them reach the knock-out stages for the first time, guiding them out of a group with Atletico Madrid, Porto and Bayer Leverkusen in it, but he was sacked just after Christmas and replaced by Scott Parker. Hoefkens, though, appears to have thrown his hat into the ring for the Leicester gig.

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