Conor Townsend Stays Hopeful for West Brom to Make Premier League Return
In an exclusive, Townsend wishes for West Brom’s return to the Premier League and looks ahead to the playoffs.
Conor Townsend Stays Hopeful for West Brom to Make Premier League Return
In an exclusive, Townsend wishes for West Brom’s return to the Premier League and looks ahead to the playoffs.
Last updated: 2024-03-28
4 minutes read
Conor Townsend hopes promotion-chasers West Brom have hit their football form just at the right time.
The in-form Baggies have lost just one of their last ten games and are currently sitting pretty in fifth place, five points clear of sixth-placed Norwich City ahead of two games in four days over the Easter break.
West Brom’s Fate “In Our Hands” With Eight Matches to Go
After narrowly missing out on the playoffs last season, it’s understandable determined left-back Townsend doesn’t want to miss out for a second year running.
“We’ve put ourselves in a decent position with eight games to go,” reflected Townsend. “Run-ins are exciting. They are quite a nervous time for people, for a lot of teams but hopefully we can keep the run that we’re on going and give ourselves the best possible chance.”
“It’s in our hands, which is a lot different to last year. We needed people to drop points last year and hopefully, we can keep it in our own hands right up until the end.”
“We’ve picked up. The lads that came in in January have given us a lift and we’ve kicked on from there,” added Townsend.
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Refined West Brom Squad Eyes Premier League Return
Celtic loan striker Mikey Johnston has dazzled since joining in the January transfer window with six goals in ten games.
And with boss Carlos Corberan having used the window to strengthen his squad for a final assault on the play-offs, the Baggies have given themselves a fighting chance of getting back to the top flight for the first time since 2021.
“This club historically has been a Premier League club,” added Townsend, who won promotion to the Premier League with the Baggies in the 2019-2020 season. “The past 20 years it’s been a mainstay in the Premier League.”
“We know the fans expect us to be back in the Premier League. As a player for me personally to get back to playing at that level would be amazing.”
“When we got back to the Premier League it was obviously during COVID. We experienced it, but not to the level that we should have.”
“There are still four or five of us here from that team that got promoted so for us to experience it fully and the rest of the lads are really wanting to get there as well.”
“There’s motivation from all ends of the squad,” assured Townsend.
It was a really surreal time playing in the Premier League without crowds.
Conor Townsend
No Stranger to the Playoffs Battle
Townsend then continued: “We were grateful that we managed to have the season up there [in the Premier League], we would have loved to have stayed up but didn’t manage to do it. It’s been three or four years and hopefully, we can do it this time and get back there.”
Townsend, 31, has been involved in plenty of play-off battles in his career – and he cherishes the feeling of coming out on the winning end.
“The first season I was here we lost to Villa in the playoffs and then the second season we went up,” added the club’s vice-captain.
“I had two play-offs at Scunthorpe as well so I ended up having three in a row.”
“It’s difficult, the playoffs always are. There’s going to be good teams in there and if you manage to do it and get promoted, by doing it at Wembley is incredible.”
“These are the memories that stick in the memory and what you tell the family about.”
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Neil Goulding
Neil has been a journalist for longer than he'd care to remember, having written for national newspapers and respected publications for over 25 years. For the last three years he has worked freelance for BBC Sport, working on the production desk as a sub-editor and also as a writer, covering a whole range of sports.