Paul Barber has said that he knew Fabian Hurzeler’s age wouldn’t be an issue within five minutes of meeting him.
The 31-year-old held his first press conference as Albion head coach on Tuesday, where he was sat alongside the chief executive and deputy chairman as well as chairman Tony Bloom and technical director David Weir.
Barber explained that any fears about Fabian’s age were quickly allayed when they first met.
“I knew within five minutes of meeting him [that his age wasn’t an issue],” Barber explained. "There was something that was in my mind when I first met him to say ‘what is this going to be like?’ I've got a son of a similar age. But within five minutes of talking to him I didn't think about it again because of the way he spoke generally.
“English is his second language and he’s very impressive in English, but also what he had to say about his philosophy, the work that he'd done already and why he gave up his playing career to focus on coaching.
“It was always logically explained and carefully thought through, you could see his decision making was something that he had thought deeply about and knew would have significant consequences for the rest of his life.
“He took those decisions not lightly but very seriously. And I thought, again, at 31 to have the presence of mind to make those decisions ten years earlier was quite something.”
Barber was also impressed by the German’s character.
“He's got charm, he's got humour and a nice way about him. I went for dinner with him on Monday and he recounted people's names that he'd met for the first time only 24 hours earlier [at the training ground]. And not only their names, but also what they did and how they were going to help him to do his job.
“That’s a nice quality. I think in a football club very often the staff behind the scenes who don't have a high profile are so important to the club, but they are very rarely recognised publicly and I thought to do that was a very nice touch from him.”