Former West Bromwich Albion forward Kevin Campbell has backed his old side's decision to part ways with Steve Bruce, speaking in an interview with West Brom News.

The Baggies didn't enjoy any major high points under Bruce, coming in during the early stages of February whilst they still had a good chance of securing a place in the top six but failing to turn things around following Valerien Ismael's departure.

Despite this, he was given the summer by Albion's board to put his stamp on the first-team squad with the likes of John Swift, Jed Wallace and Okay Yoksulu all coming in, with all being seen as impressive addition at Championship level.

Winning just one of his opening 13 league games of this season though, Albion found themselves on 11 points and in 22nd place, a desperately disappointing position considering the calibre of players they have.

Although owner Guochuan Lai and CEO Ron Gourlay were criticised at the time, Bruce was arguably under the most pressure from Albion supporters following their incredibly poor start to the season and he was finally dismissed during the early stages of October.

Successor Carlos Corberan has come in and won three of his four games at the helm since - and Campbell doesn't believe the ex-Olympiacos manager's predecessor could have turned things around.

He said: "I just think when you look at what West Bromwich Albion have in their squad and then you look at the results and where they were – things weren’t looking good.

"There was division, there were players having battles with other players. There were players getting pelters from the fans. Now they’ve won a few games and you see a bit of confidence start to come back.

"Unfortunately, it just wasn’t happening under Steve Bruce. Sometimes it’s a fit and sometimes it’s not. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a fit for Steve Bruce."

The Verdict:

Gourlay shouldn't have appointed him in the first place because it was clear to many that Bruce needed to spend a considerable period of time out of the game following a turbulent end to his time at Newcastle United.

Not only was he criticised heavily at Newcastle - but also at Aston Villa and the experienced manager would have benefitted from a decent break because of that.

He may have a decent CV, winning promotion with Hull City and even getting to the FA Cup final with the Tigers, but his more recent spells at other clubs showed some of his weaknesses.

And Gourlay's decision to appoint him should mean that the CEO comes under heavy scrutiny, not just from Albion supporters but also from the board because that turned out to be a disastrous error.

He has been given a second chance to rectify his previous error though and seems to have trusted the right man in Corberan. He will surely endure a more successful time at The Hawthorns than Bruce did - otherwise the Baggies are in real trouble.