Not great is it?

I took a call at the Albion training ground this morning from the Everton press officer.

And frankly he left me stuck for words.

He wanted me to answer some question about the Baggies, including, among others, to assess Albion's season.

"Are Albion under-achieving or over-achieving?" he asked.

Er...well, yeah...I'm don't..know what, well...

Help.

Back in June I listened to Tony Mowbray explain to myself and a colleague how he wouldn't need to spend much on new players, that Albion played the right kind of football and how they were capable of being away from the relegation zone. He talked himself into trouble in the space of that conversation. Quotes were printed, expectations were levered up.

'Survival', he told us, 'was not deemed as success'.

So here we are. Albion are bottom and have been for a while. Okay, only four points from survival, but in the last two games they've given the impression of trying free-wheel up a fairly steep slope. They look flat and have mislaid the 'Premier League guide to survival'. Mowbray was downbeat when I saw him this morning and his recent demeanour has hardly been of the tub-thumping variety. If I'm noticing that, if fans are getting that impression...then what are the players seeing?

We all know Albion have the lowest wage bill and Mowbray now accepts that he got it wrong in terms of signings - experienced heads were needed and money is actually quite helpful in the Premier League.

This isn't a bad thing. It means he's learning. He is after all, the Premier League's least experienced manager and still young.

The signings have been a mixed bag. Olsson, Morrison, Teixeira and Miller look bargains considering the amount paid for them. But then there's Borja Valero. Four point seven million isn't a lot when it comes to football spending but for a club like Albion it's money they can't afford to waste. Dare I say another £1million would have brought in that defensive midfielder Albion were wanting for most of the season? Borja, as talented as he is, is simply the right player at the wrong club. Possibly even in the wrong country. He looks too light-weight and lately his passing has become, how can I put this, almost Chaplow-esque. He is not the impact player who can make a difference in a struggling side.

So are Albion under-achieving or punching above their weight? They're not far from Stoke, who have invested more on wages for new players, but Hull, even with their recent poor form, have given themselves a platform for survival. Yet Albion are several points better off than Fulham were at this stage last season. And, let's be honest, wage bills do tend to be reflected by League tables. If someone had told you Albion would be four points from safety during the last week of February you'd have probably taken it.

So what of Mowbray? I was told by radio reporters on Sunday that the calls for his head were intensifying. That's never a good sign.

It's my view that change would not help anyone at this stage. Sometimes you need change but not now. For instance Gary Megson's time was most definitely up and had been for months before he left. Only a Jermain Defoe miss at West Ham, when they were 3-0 up, kept him in a job for another 12 months or so. He was that close so many times. Worst of all, he knew it and it was reflected by his demeanour.
Bryan Robson too was always treading a fine line, especially during his final weeks.
Mowbray isn't at that stage by any stretch of the imagination.

And he wouldn't be the first manager to have tried and failed to have kept Albion up. You can only achieve what you can on limited resources. Until Jeremy Peace is able to attract major investment then that's how it'll be - the Albion chairman has already shown that it's the only way the club can move forward. While his name is above the door at the Hawthorns, then Albion will be run on a prudent basis. Any manager will have to like and lump that.

Unlike his two immediate predecessors, Mowbray has a long-term plan for Albion. His signings, as young and raw as some of them are, all have potential. Some will get better. Some will peak at Championship level, with this campaign being the high point of their climb, others will go on to be successful, most probably at other clubs. Mowbray was half-right in saying he needed a few experienced heads around the club. To keep Albion up, yes. But not for the long-term. Robson, for instance, brought in too many quality players who were on the wane or way past their best. In some cases they simply came for a final pay day. The under-current of bitterness and cynicism among Robson's squad of 2006-07 was frightening. Mowbray's greatest achievement in many ways was filleting that squad and rebuilding it into one which took the club up as title winners in what is regarded by footballing folk as the hardest division to win promotion from. Just ask Mssrs McLeish or McCarthy.

That's history. What's for tomorrow?

Mowbray is building a core team which will be supplemented with each window. Players are being watched for next season and beyond. He will make mistakes in the transfer window. He will find bargains. His style of football will continue to prompt debate.

It may look bleak at the moment but it was Mowbray who got the club into this division. The spontaneous and systematic firing of managers over a two-year cycle never helped any club. If he takes them down he deserves a chance to get them back up.

And besides it's a long-held tradition at the Birmingham Mail that football managers depart when the respective reporter for that club is off. I was on annual leave when Megson made his exit and on paternity leave when Robson left.

Looking at my diary right now, I don't seem to have any weeks booked off until June. Nor is the wife pregnant.

So, on that basis, it looks like you're stuck with Mowbray - whether you like it or not.