Sacked Albion manager Gus Poyet told chairman Tony Bloom in March that he wanted to quit the club.


  Poyet made his intentions clear in the build-up to Albion's Championship clash against arch-rivals Crystal Palace at The Amex.


  Bloom, speaking at a fans' forum at The Amex tonight, revealed: "I had a great relationship with Gus for over three years, so it was just very disappointing the way things finished.


  "It got triggered by a phone call that he made to me four days before the first League game against Crystal Palace at home in March, when he phoned me up and made it clear to me he wanted to leave at the end of the season and he didn't want to discuss it at all and he said that if he could leave the next day that would be fine.


  "This was hugely shocking to me and it was something I had to manage betwen then and the end of the season, because obviously the key was the players and the team and our promotion push and I didn't want anything to get in the way of that.


  "And then lots of things happened between then and the end of the season, which I don't want to discuss."


  Poyet was suspended and later sacked by the club for gross misconduct after Palace beat Albion in the play-offs.


  Bloom added: "I just want to look forward now. We've got Oscar (head coach Oscar Garcia) here, we've got a great coaching team with Nathan (Jones, assistant head coach) and others and I'm looking forward to the season ahead."