Harty on . . . Gus Poyet and Rebels’ pay-what-you-like day

I DOUBT we will ever actually find out if Gus Poyet ran over a witch’s cat after Sunday, March 17, 2013.

He must sometimes think he did as it all appears to have gone wrong for both him and the Albion since our emphatic 3-0 St Patrick’s Day win against Crystal Palace at the Amex.

In the days that followed, then Premier League club Reading made an approach to the Albion to speak to Poyet about their then managerial vacancy.

Like the old Harmony hairspray ads, we had days of ‘is he or isn’t he’, before the Royals apparently went for the cheaper, compensation-wise option, in Nigel Adkins.

While play-off qualification followed, it ultimately all went wrong – with the Albion having to endure the indignity of Palace coming back to the Amex and winning the second leg of the semi-finals and the rest, they say, is history.

Gus departed, in one of the most distasteful episodes in the club’s history, where neither side came out with any credit.

When you strip it down, I believe the bottom line was Gus and Tony Bloom could work together, but Poyet and Paul Barber couldn’t.