West Brom: Fergie saved my job - Michael Appleton

Aug 14 2011 by Bill Howell, Sunday Mercury

MICHAEL Appleton admits he’d be on the dole if Sir Alex Ferguson hadn’t backed him last season.

Roy Hodgson turned to the Manchester United boss for a background check on the Albion coach when he arrived at The Hawthorns. And the 35-year-old was soon cemented into the assistant manager’s chair.

Appleton met Hodgson for the first time on the Friday night before the eventful 3-3 draw with West Ham in February.

“We didn’t know each other so he said that he had to do his homework, as you’d expect of anyone,” he recalls.

“He said that he had spoken to Sir Alex who had spoken very highly of me as a person and the way I go about things.

“Sir Alex wouldn’t have known me that well as a coach but he said the attributes I had both as a person and a player would help me as a coach.

“You do hear things about players and coaches at other clubs – if they are doing the right jobs, doing the right things. So Sir Alex clearly put a good word in for me at the time and fingers-crossed Roy has been happy with that.

“I’m sure he is... or I’d be out of work! So it must have gone reasonably well.”

Appleton has taken to his assistant head coach role like a duck to water.

The arrivals of Shane Long, Ben Foster and Zoltan Gera have seen expectations soaring at The Hawthorns but the Salford-born former midfielder is trying to keep his feet on the floor.

“It was a big bonus making sure that we stayed in the Premier League last season and I think a lot of people will make a lot of the fact that we finished eleventh. But you won’t find the manager or myself or Keith Downing or Deano (Kiely) getting too carried away with that.

“Ultimately you want to stay in the Premier League, so if you can get the points as quickly as you possibly can to put yourself in a position to do that, then you can push on and finish as high as you possibly can.

“The league was so tight last year. There were only a few points between the top half and the bottom side in the league. Who knows if that will be an indication of how it will be this year?