With West Brom just avoiding disaster at the end of the 2013/14 season, the club will have been hopeful of a big improvement in the following campaign. 

Thanks to the guidance of Steve Clarke and Pepe Mel the Baggies only just clung onto their top-flight status, finishing 17th and just three points above Norwich City.

Lessons had to be learnt ahead of the new campaign, and with Mel giving his marching orders, the hunt was on for a new manager.

On June 14, they hired their man.

This is FLW Rewind, where we take a look back at a big decision made by a club, analyse the initial reaction and document what happened next.

The man in question was former Sheffield Wednesday manager and Everton youth-coach, Alan Irvine.

After the poor performances that had been put in front of them during the previous campaign, he is not exactly what the Hawthorns faithful were looking for.

They wanted a much more inspiring choice, somebody who could really turn the club around and fire them back up the table.

Irvine was not viewed as the man to do this, which is reflected in this reaction...

Drawing 2-2 at the Hawthorns against Sunderland during his first match in charge, it was not until the fifth match of the season that he picked up his first win, a shock victory at White Hart Lane against Tottenham Hotspur.

An emphatic 4-0 win against Burnley followed to tease that Irvine could well be a success, but that quickly unravelled over the next couple of months.

Four losses in a row across November and December showed signs of a crumble and clearly had the board worrying.

Another run of three consecutive losses over the festive period was the final nail in Irvine's coffin.

He was sacked two days before the New Year, with the club struggling in a relegation battle.

Tony Pulis took his place in January and managed to steer the club clear of trouble, but that did not change the fact Irvine's disastrous spell was predicted by the fans.

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