West Bromwich Albion would have undoubtedly had dreams of a Premier League return this season, with Steve Bruce and his side most certainly hoping to improve on last year's miserable 10th-place finish in the Championship.

However, with the Baggies currently sitting 21st in the league - with just one win in their first 10 league fixtures - supporters at the Hawthorns will be left reminiscing of the good old times in an effort to drown out what was been an awful start to the campaign.

One such season that could bring them joy is their 2012/13 campaign under the now-Scotland manager Steve Clarke, who led Albion to their best-ever finish in the Premier League.

The 59-year-old manager had joined the club following his dismissal alongside Kenny Dalglish at Liverpool, where he was the assistant manager.

He spent plenty of time in the backroom staff at Newcastle United and Chelsea too, but the opportunity at the Baggies represented his first foray into management.

With a solid core of a squad, Clarke gutted most of the deadwood and brought in the likes of Ben Foster and Claudio Yacob permanently, players who would stay at the club for six years each.

However, his main piece of business was to convince Chelsea to allow Romelu Lukaku to come on loan.

The Belgian demolished the Premier League that season and was instrumental in their sensational campaign.

He scored 17 goals in 35 league games as a lone striker, something which West Brom could only dream of now whilst they wallow towards the wrong end of the Championship.

Steve Bruce has cultivated a toothless outfit, one which only has just 15 goals in their opening 10 games - with five of these strikes coming in the 5-2 victory over Hull City back in August.

Many supporters will be left wishing they now had Clarke back, to sprinkle some of his transfer magic on the squad and help propel them back to the division in which he excelled in his debut season as manager.

Having now worked wonders with the Scotland national side - qualifying for EURO 2020 and reaching the play-offs for a spot in the 2022 World Cup - he has earned praise from the likes of Pat Nevin, who declared: “He’s got something special”.

Indeed, it seems as if it would take something special to turn around the Baggies' miserable form at present, but if anyone could do it, then supporters would surely rely on Clarke out of any other recent managers the club have appointed.