Ex-West Brom star Scharner explains why Pulis is entirely to blame if club is relegated

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Former West Brom star Paul Scharner says Tony Pulis will be entirely to blame if the club are relegated this season.

Paul Scharner has not mixed his words about who is to blame for the current predicament West Bromwich Albion find themselves in.

Scharner, who spent two years at the Hawthorns between 2010 and 2012 after being signed by Roberto Di Matteo, thinks Tony Pulis laid the foundations for the failures the club are now experiencing.

The 38-year-old does not believe that current manager Alan Pardew should be criticised too much, despite the Baggies having lost their last eight matches in all competitions, as it almost impossible to turn things around after what Pulis had done.

“The main problem is that, in nearly three years, he built his Pulis way, his Pulis structure, and it’s then difficult to unpick that way of working,” Scharner told the Sun.

“Whoever went in there was going to find it tough. It needed a magician.

“Was it necessary to give so much power to the manager? The board allowed Pulis to destroy the club’s DNA.

“Do you remember the ­football West Brom played before he came? It was about keeping the ball, possession football. That was their DNA. It didn’t matter whether the club went up and down, that was how they played.

“Now it’s difficult because there is no playing philosophy left and there are virtually no players left who identify with the club’s philosophy.

“It’s not enough to say, ‘I want to stay in the Premier League’. What’s that for a goal? What happens if you miss that target? You’re down. It’s not enough.

“A friend of mine spoke to Pulis, who said, ‘West Brom can never finish in the top six so that’s why I aim just to stay in the league’. That isn’t right. What message does that send to the players?”

West Brom are currently ten points from safety at the bottom of the Premier League after losing 2-1 at Bournemouth at the weekend despite taking the lead.

That was their seventh loss in a row in the top tier of English football and with only seven games remaining it looks almost inevitable they will be playing in the Championship next season.