Kevin Phillips can see promotion spirit in West Brom class of 2020

Kevin Phillips says team spirit and quality are the big similarities between the current Albion side and the one he achieved promotion with.

Phillips scored 24 goals in 30 starts to fire the Baggies to the Championship title back in 2008.

That form saw him crowned Championship player of the year while fellow Baggies Paul Robinson and Jonathan Greening joined him in the team of the year.

And Phillips, who also won promotion while at Sunderland, Blues, Crystal Palace and Leicester, believes Slaven Bilic’s Baggies have plenty in common with the successful teams he played in.

“If you going to win promotion you have to have a strong team spirit,” the retired striker said.

“You obviously have to have quality to. I was lucky to play alongside some fantastic players and Albion have some fantastic players now.

“But it’s no good having quality individuals if you don’t have a strong team spirit – without that togetherness you won’t get over the line.

“You can see on the pitch Albion have that togetherness – it’s there.

“And I think what helps is that the squad is very well balanced with senior and younger players.

“You need a dressing room that is together and can police itself.

“But Chris Brunt is there, he can police it. Jake Livermore will police it. James Morrison is still at the club. He will police it.

“Those players will make sure the dressing room is a really strong unit.”

Phillips recently took part in a zoom call with Brunt, Morrison, Greening, Zoltan Gera, and Paul Robinson to reminisce about the 2007/2008 season.

And on that call he asked Brunt about the impact Bilic has made at the club.

“I was keen to ask Brunty what Slaven is like,” said Phillips who has enjoyed successful coaching spells with Leicester, Derby and Stoke.

“I think that strong team spirit stems from him because Brunty said all the players love playing for him.

“He is very good at communicating what he wants and players respect that.

“He is also able to be one of the lads. But he is also able to crack the whip when needed. You need that.”