Steven Schumacher linked with West Brom: Career to date, style of play and recent comments

Everything you need to know about this West Brom-linked managerial candidate
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West Brom have been linked with a move for Plymouth Argyle boss Steven Schumacher over recent days. The Baggies are in the hunt for a new permanent manager after deciding to sack Steve Bruce and The Sun have reported that the Pilgrims favourite is on their radar.

Richard Beale is currently in caretaker charge and guided them to a 2-0 away win at Reading last time out. He is poised to take the game against Bristol City at home this evening. In the meantime, here is an insight into potential candidate Schumacher...

Career to date

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The 38-year-old was a midfielder in his playing career and rose up through the youth ranks at Everton before embarking on spells in the Football League at Bradford City, Crewe Alexandra, Bury, Fleetwood Town and Stevenage. He had a final spell at Southport in non-league before delving into the coaching world.

He had roles at both Everton and Southport before linking up with Ryan Lowe at Bury. The Liverpudlian helped the Shakers win the League Two title during his time at Gigg Lane and later followed Lowe to Plymouth.

Schumacher has been at Home Park since June and took the full-time job last season. His team are now top of the League One table after an impressive start to the season.

Style of football

His Plymouth side are well organised, tough to break down and play with an attacking style of football. One of the secrets behind their success this term has been smart recruitment. They delved into the transfer marker over the summer to make some shrewd loan additions such as Bali Mumba from Norwich City, Finn Azaz from Aston Villa, Morgan Whittaker from Swansea City and Sam Cosgrove from Birmingham City.

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The Pilgrims are the top scorers in the third tier with 28 goals in their opening 14 games meaning they average two goals per match. He is under contract until the summer of 2025.

Recent comments

Schumacher is yet to comment on speculation linking him with West Brom. Plymouth Live reported on Monday that Plymouth haven’t received an approach from the Baggies.

He spoke earlier this month with Sky Sports and said how happy he was with life in Devon: “We (family) love it here and have settled really well,” he says.

“It is a fantastic football club to work for, really good owners with a vision for where they want to get to and a process of how to get there. The fans are getting on board, everyone is excited. It is all going in the right direction, we just want that to continue.”

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He added: “It (promotion) would mean absolutely everything because I know how much this club means to the people here. I am working as hard as possible to make the people as happy as I can and try to get Plymouth Argyle back to the Championship where we all feel it belongs.”

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