‘I became a darts player at West Brom’ - former Baggies striker aims cheeky dig at manager

Former West Brom striker Jordan Hugill has revealed that his ‘confidence went’ following a brutally honest conversation with ex-manager Valerien Ismael during his loan spell. The forward joined the Baggies at the beginning of last season in a temporary switch from Norwich City in order to get more game time.

However, Hugill only managed a single goal during his time at the club, which spanned just 20 appearances. He was frozen out by former boss Ismael, who when asked about his constant omissions from the matchday squad - produced a blunt response to Hugill.

"I went to West Brom, and I’ll be honest I don’t think the manager actually wanted me," Hugill said when speaking to Talk Norwich City. “I don’t actually know if I was signed by him. At the time he couldn’t get Daryl Dike, because he was playing in America. In the end, he kind of got stuck with me and I didn’t really play.

"I go and knock on his door, and I said to him ‘why am I not playing? I’ve come here on loan from Norwich, I’ve come to play’. He goes ‘Jordan, there’ll be a time when you play - when the weather gets cold, and the pitches are s**t’.

“At the time I didn’t click on. I’ve come out of the office, and I’ve looked at Snoddy [Robert Snodgrass], and I’ve gone ‘I think he’s just called me a League Two, Conference player - he’s told me I’m only going to play when the weather gets cold and the pitches get s**t’.

“As you can imagine, from that point on, my confidence went. I wasn’t playing, and then I basically became a professional darts player at West Brom - I was honestly playing more darts every day with Jayson Molumby and Snoddy, than I was playing games.”

The forward moved to Rotherham United on a permanent deal in the summer, but is yet to score a goal for the Millers since joining. However, he became far from a fan favourite at The Hawthorns before his loan was terminated by his parent club.

He then moved to Cardiff City for the remainder of the season where he managed four goals in 19 league appearances. But Hugill claims he still receives stick from Baggies fans over a year since his move.

"I still get abused by West Brom fans now - I was only there six months," Hugill added. "They tell me I’m the worst striker in the Championship - I must be doing something right, still! It’s become a bit of a running joke between me and my missus - why are they still bothered?

"I was trying to get back to Norwich, but obviously they couldn’t do that so I ended up going to Cardiff and I actually thought I did really well at Cardiff."