'A Calculated Risk'. The Raphaël Wicky Scenario'

West Brom can certainly lay claim to a rich habit of appointing multilingual European managers, and with the seemingly imminent appointment of Raphael Wicky to the club, looking highly likely to join a select group that includes Roberto Di Matteo and Valerien Ismael.

There seems few bigger decisions in my life as a Baggies fan, as West Brom attempt to breach the gap between Championship Playoff contenders and actual promotion to the Premier League, an ascension that perhaps Carlos Corberan may have considered too far, hence the timing of the Valencia offer proved to be a perfect avenue to him to bid adios to The Baggies..

It was Carlos's home after all, and you cannot honestly blame him from returning,

'Hogar dulce hogar'...

But with West Brom's financial shoestrings ever more tightly tightened and the threat of repercussions for not adhering to the protocol of FFP guidelines with perhaps the likelihood of selling one of our better players to comply to these rules, the much anticipated appointment of ex Switerland International midfielder Rapheal Wicky has created great interest and excitement in the Baggies faithful.

But who is this young Swiss manager who few had honestly never heard of ten days ago?

When you explore Raphael Wicky’s background, you can only deem it eclectic, a player whose international experience is very impressive, and whose personality and demeanour reminds me of an ex Baggie midfielder from a decade ago, who was born in the same Alpine region three years after Wicky's birth.

Paul Scharner.

Indeed, in 2002, Wicky was part of the Switzerland team that lost 3-2 to Austria, the same year Scharner made his Austrian debut, but 'Scharns' didn’t play in this international Alpine derby win for his beloved Austrians.

The reasons I compare the two are not only in age, but both have the same optimistic air and mannerisms, the wide grasp and ease of multiple languages, an easy going charm and in appearance both are bespectacled and have wavy expressive hairstyles, giving the impression of aging but hip college lecturers.

Let’s hope Wicky can long term become a new Baggies folk hero?

Scharner deservedly is this from his surprisingly short spell with us, [just 62 though it must be said, impactful in many ways, WBA appearances.]

I’d honestly guessed more games that Paul played in stripes, but the Villa winner and unveiling of a his t-shirt made by one his kids obviously being the creme de la creme.

Raphael Wicky's birthplace is the beautiful Swiss town of Leuggern, in a relative lowland area of the Alpine country, and he spent his formative football years at nearby FC Steg, before graduating to a higher level and FC Sion.

Wicky made a huge impression as a gifted and competitive teenager, thriving in midfield for Sion, and they won the Swiss Cup three years in a row, his final season being the club’s only occurance of a domestic double in their long history.

To win such a prestigious double as a teenager was not a bad time to leave and although it's only a border between Switzerland and Germany, it is actually almost 500 miles between Sion and Bremen in North West Germany, but for 1.5 Million, young Raphael signed a three year contract with Werder.

Wicky’s early Bundesliga career coincided with finishes of 7th, 13th and 10th for Werder, his second season being most notable, being named Bremen’s Player of the Year, and also Swiss Player of the Season in 1998.

Being out of contract at the culmination of his third season, Bremen, in a similar situation we now face with the likes of Grady Diangana, recognized the scenario of wanting to get some financial value from a talented player, and although Wicky was linked to Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Udinese, he ended up signing for Portuguese boss, Paolo Futre and a new future with Atletico Madrid, in January 2001.

Wicky may well recall this same scenario as West Brom manager in the next few weeks, and have to echo the words of his then Bremen boss, ex German striker, Klaus Allofs whose quote nearly twenty five years ago was,

 ‘At this point you must consider the financial aspects’.

With Premier League bids for Tom Fellows and Josh Maja in the January window likely, lightening in terms of situation, may well strike twice for Mr. Wicky.

Wicky’s arrival at Ateleti was notable as it was the first ever season that the Vincente Calderon Stadium had hosted Second Division football, and despite a team containing teenage phenomen Fernando Torres who at seventeen made his club debut, Atleti could only finish 4th.

Wicky, after just 13 appearances for the Madrid giants in their nadir season was to move again, this time back to the Bundesliga and SV Hamburg and a six year one hundred and twenty six game career with SVH.

Injuries were now taking their toll and after a short five game return from Hamburg to Sion, Wicky’s last move as a player was a free transfer to the MLS and FC Chivas, where he again played just five times before retiring in March 2009.

FC Chivas team was certainly notable for future coaches, as one of Wicky’s team mates in midfield was the equally combative Jesse Marsch, now manager of Canada.

On the international stage, Wicky played a very impressive 75 times for Switzerland, remarkable when you think he only played 245 club games in this same period.

Wicky as a defensive midfielder represented his country in the 1996 Euros, [but not in the 1-1 opening game draw with England], the 2004 Euros and started all four games in the 2006 World Cup, where Switzerland were eventually defeated on penalties by Ukraine, an infamous last sixtreen game by the fact Switzerland missed all three of their spot kicks in the penalty shoot out after a 0-0 draw.

As a coach, Wicky cut his teeth back in Switzerland with three years at FC Servette, before getting recruited in 2013 by FC Basel, where a very successful four year spell with teams from U17 to U21, led him to taking over the first team in 2017.

One notable FC Basel player who played age group to first team football under Wicky was the now Man City defender, the brilliant Manuel Akanji.

Wicky became the Basel head coach in 2017, deeply ironically taking over from another purported target for the current Baggies post, Urs Fischer, who despite winning the Swiss League for Basel the previous season, wasn’t given a new contract and went to Union Berlin and unprecedented success.

As Swiss Champions, Basel were drawn in the same Champions League Qualifying Group with Man Utd, Benfica and CSKA Moscow, and despite losing their first game 3-0 at Old Trafford, Wicky's Basel won four of their final five Champions League games, scoring eleven and conceding just two goals.

This was a truly remarkable run, the climax being a 1-0 revenge win v Jose Mourinho’s Man Utd at a vibrant St-Jakob Park.

At just turned forty years old, Coach Wicky was on his way.

The last 16 saw Basel matched ominously with Man City and despite losing the first leg at home 0-4, they won the second leg in Manchester 2-1 but were eliminated.

Despite being an historical European season for a Swiss team, domestically, FC Basel went into reverse, the former champions finishing second in the Swiss League and only making the semi finals of the Swiss Cup.

For Wicky, a strong second season in his three year contract was required.

The 2018 Pre Season did not start well losing 2-1, to of all teams, Wolves, on July 10th.

[This is one situation you’d better sort out in the future Mr. Wicky!]

A further 5-0 loss to Feyenoord a few days later was hardly the preparation needed prior to a Champions League Qualifying Tie v Greek side PAOK.

The 2-1 first leg away defeat in Thessaloniki was to be the final game of the Wicky reign.

He was sacked just two days later.

Wicky’s next coaching role was a return to the US, seven months later, when he was appointed Under 17 USA National Team Coach.

Wicky’s rationale at the time was to be excited to be part of the USA player development and clearly recognized the domestic growth of the sport.

This appointment included the U17 Concacaf Championships, where the US finished second, and therefore qualified for the U17 World Cup scoring 28 and conceding just five.

One of Wicky’s main prodigies from that team was the current USMNT striker Ricardo Pepi.

For Wicky this was to be a short spell in international football before becoming boss of Chicago Fire, nine months later in December 2019.

The reason for the Wicky appointment can be traced a week earlier with the recruitment of the new Chicago Fire Sporting Director, Georg Heitz.

Heitz was to spend five seasons with Chicago Fire, a tenure best described as mixed.

Chicago Fire is a team of historical success, particularly in the early 2000’s, but under Heitz’s guidance two decades later, a consistent set of finishes in the lower reaches of the MLS Eastern Conference with no play off appearances, is as poor a return as their high price investment failure in fellow Swiss striker Xherdan Shaquiri.

On the positive side, the 1.5 Million Chicago Fire investment in future Aston Villa striker Jhon Duran turned out to be a steal.

Duran left the club for Villa Park for ten times that original amount two years later.

Heitz worked with Wicky at FC Basel, so it was little surprise he instigated and oversaw a reunion and therefore announced Wicky as head coach, stating.

‘he has a modern, fresh approach to football and he is able to communicate extremely well with his players’.

Indeed, the first session of Wicky’s tenure at Chicago Fire saw him filmed and microphoned, and it’s easy to see Heitz was correct in his assertions.

Wicky is fluent in four languages and his enthusiasm and engagement to coaching and player development was there for all to see.

Wicky was described from a club insider as someone who connects very well with his players, but his tenure at Chicago Fire, despite the poisoned chalice some judge this post as, was still an opportunity.

An opportunity Wicky may have failed to grasp.

Wicky got close in his first season, missing the MLS Playoffs by just one point, but his second season with The Fire, was a bigger dissappointment.

Wicky, therefore was not re-engaged as coach but was still described by Heitz as,

‘Always being part of the Fire family’,

But families sometimes split..

The terms of the split were not great in view of results.

Just twelve victories and twenty five defeats in two seasons in charge of The Fire, being the sum of the Wicky parts.

Nine months later, Raphael Wicky was back in his home country Switzerland and appointed boss of perennial powerhouse Young Boys, and had arguably his best run in management.

The previous season, under a previous WBA management candidate prior to the recruitment of Valerien Ismael, David Wagner, for the majority of the season, Young Boys finished for them a lowly 3rd in the Swiss League.

It was Wicky’s directive to take them back to their old days of glory.

Wicky’s initial season in 2022/23 was one of unparalleled success, winning the Swiss Double, losing only four of forty two league and cup games and only losing in the Europa Cup on penalties to Anderlecht.

The following season, led by Wicky was another seemingly routine Swiss League Championship for Young Boys by twelve points.

However in the Champions League fate brought another Wicky v City match, this time in the group stage.

Despite losing the two group games to Man City, by an aggregate of 6-1, it was perhaps best known for Young Boys central defender Mohamad Camara asking for and receiving Erling Haaland’s shirt as the players were going off the pitch...

At HALF TIME...

Wicky, when asked about this Camara situation said he was,

‘Unaware and perhaps Haaland asked him...?'

Unsurprisingly, Young Boys finished third behind Man City and Red Bull Leipzig in their group, securing a Europa Cup berth and eventual defeat to Sporting Lisbon in the opening round.

These European adventures were to be the prelude of the last few months of Wicky’s tenure at Young Boys, with February 2024 being his nadir.

Five league and cup games and just one win.

The final nail in the Wicky coffin, a third defeat that short month in the Swiss Cup v his first team as a teenager, Sion.

Ex Swiss International team mate and Young Boys Director, Christoph Spycher, cited Wicky's dismissal due to,

‘The club needs fresh energy...'

The facts were, Young Boys still one point clear on top of the Swiss League at the time, but it seemed highly unlikely the club were going to give Wicky an extended period, as his two year contract was running out that summer.

For Wicky, the losing of the Young Boys post, was a source of upset and confusion with him questioning,

‘We were still leaders. Would you understand that you were no longer the right man for the job?’

Soon after being dismissed, Wicky, in his own words, was a man in demand,

‘I’ve turned down posts from very interesting clubs across almost every continent in the world’.

A much needed time of contemplation, and a five week trip to his wife’s home city, Los Angeles, where it was said he’d reflect, continue his education and build his network.

And now his network looks to include West Bromwich Albion..

Reflecting on such an eclectic, well traveled and varied career for someone so young, at just forty seven years old, it would seem The Championship and The Hawthorns is the next stop..

You can clearly see an energized, engaging presence, who has tasted a range of managerial experiences mainly from success but at times has tasted mediocrity.

As this is such a key decision for West Brom, it is hoped this first vital appointment by the Bilkul Group, is in so many ways imperative to be correct.

After a vigorous recruitment drive, and various candidates from across the continent including ex Baggies boss, the classy Tony Mowbray, who for health reasons, understandably and with atypcical class politely declined to be considered, it looks like Raphael Wicky is the future of the Baggies.

Looking back, Carlos Corberan was solidarity in the extreme, and no doubt, the complete anathema of risk..

This appointment of an engaging extrovert, over the former boss who is a diligent introvert may involve that one word alien to the Valencian…

Risk.

Only time will tell??

None of us know the future, but let’s hope the Wicky appointment is a calculated risk that's well worth taking?