the fee would be dependent on how many appearances Thomas made. He was signed by Harry Redknapp, however injuries prevented him from establishing himself in the first team under Redknapp. He struggled to return to full fitness after fracturing his spine and was released by Portsmouth in July 2009, having made only three first team appearances in the 2008–09 season. West Bromwich Albion During the summer of 2009 he had trials with two Premier League teams, Hull City and Wolverhampton Wanderers. He instead dropped into the Championship to join West Bromwich Albion in August 2009. He scored his first goal for "Baggies" in his seventh appearance, in a 5–0 win away at Middlesbrough on 19 September. Three days later, Thomas was sent off in a League Cup tie against his former club Arsenal for a push on Jack Wilshere following an off-the-ball incident. He went on to record a career high tally of eight goals in 29 appearances in the 2009–10 season to help West Brom to secure promotion with a second-place finish. On 25 September 2010, he provided an assist for Peter Odemwingie and then went on to score the winning goal in a 3–2 win over Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. On New Year's Day, he helped West Brom to beat Manchester United 2–1 in what proved to be right-back Gary Neville's final game as a player; Neville later said "I was uncomfortable about the fans singing my name, uncomfortable about being out on the pitch knowing that I had just been destroyed by not the best player in the world [Jerome Thomas]." He also claimed goals against Blackburn Rovers and West Ham United to end the 2010–11 campaign with three goals in 33 league games. He showed good form at the start of the 2011–12 campaign, which led manager Roy Hodgson to tell the media that he was not up for sale. He was described as a "real menace" after he scored the opener and played a major part in the buildup for the winning goal in a 2–1 victory over Bolton Wanderers on 19 November. He made a total of 31 appearances in the 2011–12 season, scoring two goals. However, he found first team games hard by come under new head coach Steve Clarke after recovering from injury early in the 2012–13 season, as the good form of Zoltán Gera kept him out of the side.