Tony Pulis’ side managed only one point in their last eight games in 2016-17 and he may need to strengthen further if they are to avoid dropping back into the bottom half of the table

Guardian writers’ predicted position 12th (NB: this is not necessarily Nick Ames’ prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position 10th

Odds to win the league (via Oddschecker) 750-1

Sometimes jokes write themselves so, when Eddie Jones paid Tony Pulis and the West Bromwich Albion squad a fact-finding visit last week, the wisecracks proliferated accordingly. Who would be learning from whom? “The chance to meet Tony was a big factor,” the England rugby coach said. “His reputation goes a long way and his ability to get the most out of his team is just fantastic.”

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When West Brom overpowered Arsenal 3-1 in mid-March, thanks in large part to a characteristic lesson in movement at set pieces, that statement may have rung truer than ever. They had spent almost three months in eighth place and, while their approach was firmly disposed to functionality ahead of flair, only a churl could have argued with the results. A fortnight later they slogged out a goalless draw at Old Trafford; this was Pulis by numbers and, at that stage, his team looked comfortably on course to equal their best finish in the Premier League era – eighth in 2012-13.

The taste in May was rather less sweet. Albion managed only a single point from their final eight games and attained an unwanted club record of five in the league without scoring. They still finished 10th – an improvement of four places on the previous campaign – but the sensation was an odd one. It had been another season of overachievement but the nagging impression of dissatisfaction around The Hawthorns was difficult to ignore.

That reflects the wider feeling in a pre-season that has, for those seeking signs of further progress, moved glacially. The problem West Brom have is this: they are more stable than ever, more wealthy than ever, too, but it is difficult to shake the view that they are punching as high as they can.

They had briefly climbed to seventh position prior to 18 consecutive match days lodged in eighth but the European places always seemed remote. Theirs is the curse of the Premier League’s bloated middle: a group of eight or nine clubs, all rich beyond their wildest dreams, who are going neither up nor down and whose prospects appear almost interchangeable.

If there is, for many observers, a concern that the top half-dozen are pulling away at an increasing rate, then all a club such as West Brom can do is keep up with the arms race in the stratum below.

The question, then, is how they do it. Pulis is understandably seen within the club as their insurance against relegation and although it raised eyebrows when, within weeks of last summer’s takeover by Guochuan Lai, he extended his contract to 2018, there was plenty of sense in the deal. Ensuring West Brom remain a Premier League brand would justify Lai’s investment for now, and Pulis’s track record serves as reassurance that it can be realised without exorbitant levels of further financial speculation. It is not a quality to scoff at but a sizeable proportion of the club’s support take the view that, if this is as lofty as things are likely to get, they may as well have a go at achieving the same end in rather more enjoyable style.

There is scant prospect of added levity over the next nine months, though, and Pulis’s enlisting of Gary Megson as his new No2 – replacing the retired David Kemp – suggests little will change structurally. Pulis likes to have experienced assistance and Megson, who had been out of the game since being sacked by Sheffield Wednesday in 2012, is cut from a similar cloth to his new boss.

“Although we’ve never lived in each other’s pockets we have similar views on how football should be played and how footballers should behave,” Megson said of Pulis upon returning to Albion. That aside, the appointment does hold some sentimental value: Megson won Albion promotion to the Premier League twice in the early 2000s and was an important architect of their modern-day transformation. Recruiting him is not a visionary move but may encourage a softer stance towards the managerial team.

Now they need the players to make that easier. The departure of Darren Fletcher to Stoke City in June was unexpected and dealt Pulis a serious setback. Last season’s squad were not short of leaders but Fletcher, who had been ever-present in midfield for two years, was their captain and leaves a sizeable hole.

Pulis would like to replace his experience with that of Everton’s Gareth Barry but a deal may be difficult to do. Jake Livermore did well after his January arrival from Hull City but whether or not Pulis opts to put faith in the promise of the 19-year-old Sam Field – of whom he professes to be a fan – at least one addition in that area seems imperative before the end of the month.

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That is only one issue that still needs addressing, although Pulis has, at least, bolstered his attack with the acquisition of Jay Rodriguez for £12m from Southampton. It seems a good fit; Rodriguez has looked like a player in need of a fresh start and is a viable partner for Salomón Rondón, who could benefit from more movement and guile around him.

Rondón only scored once in his final 23 games of last term, a statistic few could have foreseen when he scored a hat-trick against Swansea City in December, but Pulis values his work rate and ability to create space for others. Greater depth in that area still seems necessary in case West Brom hit trouble, although if Matt Phillips and Nacer Chadli can operate to their potential on the flanks then the need for a prolific striker may be lessened. The latter’s future looked in doubt when a row with Pulis led to his missing the squad’s summer training camp in Austria, although he is now expected to stay and Albion will hope reported interest from Swansea is no distraction.

Another forward, the China international Zhang Yuning, was signed from Vitesse on a three-year contract in July and promptly loaned to Werder Bremen for the first two of them. The motive behind his acquisition appears to be a question for Lai rather than his head coach and it means Rodriguez has been joined by only one other arrival of first-team relevance so far.

Ahmed Hegazy, a towering Egyptian centre-back who had an outstanding Africa Cup of Nations this year, will play on loan from Al Ahly for the year and looks a plausible alternative to the 37-year-old Gareth McAuley, even if a glance at his record suggests he may not add the same number of goals.

Any further activity may well follow a similar pattern to last year when Pulis made three signings, including Chadli, in the final 72 hours of the transfer window. The Middlesbrough defender Ben Gibson remains a top target but Pulis offers no apology for biding his time in signing the right characters, seeking to avoid “what the club did three or four years ago when they just brought in a load of players and hoped they were good”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Gary Megson, right, has been out of the game since 2012 but has been enlisted as Tony Pulis’s No2 at West Bromwich Albion. Photograph: Michael Steele/Getty Images

Kieran Gibbs of Arsenal is among those Pulis considered for this season before deciding the fit was not right; it may be a frustrating approach but it is a responsible one and in general the stickability of those purchases he has made during his two and a half years in charge has borne out that caution.

On paper West Brom have a kind start to 2017-18. Bournemouth, Burnley, Stoke, Brighton & Hove Albion and West Ham United are their first five opponents, although the flipside is that against teams he will expect to take points from, Pulis may prefer his squad to be closer to fighting weight. The likelihood is that most of those fixtures will simply play an early part in deciding the final mid-table shakeup; Pulis will make do in those early weeks and even if a run of unspectacular friendly results has caused jitters among the fanbase, Albion should avoid proximity to the bottom three.

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If that is not enough then the Premier League’s status quo, and the impatient culture around it, may be as much to blame as anything but the reality is that one more year of moderate success using the Pulis mould may suffice.

A cut to season ticket prices this summer had the desired effect, with sales reaching a seven-year high, but the picture 12 months from now may be more telling.

Assuming the team reaches a plateau this season, the looming expiry of Pulis’s contract will be a test both of Lai’s ambition and his nerve. It would be easy enough to part ways and make West Brom different; the question is whether anyone, in the present environment, can really make them better.