UK (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Ryan Mason has been dismissed as West Brom boss after a loss to Leicester intensified pressure on the club.
The Baggies were 18th in the standings, seven points clear of the relegation zone and ten points out of the play-off spots, following their 10th straight away defeat (2-1).
Mason claimed that even though the club’s sporting director Andrew Nestor publicly supported him a week ago, this did not provide him “immunity” from being fired. Four days later, after just seven months in charge, he was proven correct.
Nigel Gibbs, Mason’s adjunct, and Sam Pooley, the club’s head of performance, have also departed. James Morrison, the first- platoon trainer, will temporarily take over, as he did for the last two games of the former season after Tony Mowbray quit.
“The process of recruiting a new men’s first-team head coach and staff is under way,”
the club said in a brief statement, external announcing Mason’s departure.
West Brom’s next league game is against Middlesbrough at The Hawthorns on January 16. On Sunday, they travel to Swansea City in the FA Cup.
This season, West Brom came the ninth Championship platoon to fire a director or head trainer.
Mason, 34, joined Albion on a three- time contract after leaving Tottenham Hotspur’s coaching staff, but he has n’t been suitable to make them a contender for creation.
They won three of their first four league games this season, but the instigation didn’t endure, as they’ve only won six further of the 22 games since.
Mason lost his job after the team’s fourth loss in five games on either side of Christmas, and they are now searching for their third permanent manager in a 12-month period.
Mason told BBC WM after the Baggies’ defeat at Leicester due to a goal by the home team in extra time:
“We are on a terrible run in terms of away games.But you look at the last seven or eight that we have
played, we have had more shots at goal than the opposition, more shots on target, more chances created, and conceded so little at our end as well.
I am proud of the team and proud of the performance, and we deserve so much more.”
With Mason’s hiring, Albion underwent a change of course. They trusted a young head coach with innovative ideas who had learned the ins and outs of working at the highest level under players like Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte, and Ange Postecoglou.
Mason was referred to by sporting director Andrew Nestor as “the leader the club needed” following a summer reconstruction that lowered the squad’s average age and provided them more leeway in violation of the EFL’s profit and sustainability guidelines (PSR) with the sales of Tom Fellows.
They took 10 points from their first four games thanks to victories over Blackburn, recently promoted Wrexham, and early leaders Stoke City, but Mason was unable to overcome a decline in performance following Derby County’s first home loss.
The squad was under additional pressure to win at The Hawthorns after losing on the road, but Mason’s record of six wins out of twelve was insufficient to buy him further time.
After promising to “build a team that can win” when he joined, the former Spurs, Hull City, and England midfielder can point to the team’s weakness in the transfer market off the field and, on it, to narrow margins (11 of their 13 losses were by a single goal).
In his early media appearances, Ryan Mason was extremely reticent and failed to establish a rapport with the supporters. They were also perplexed by his style of play, but in the end, they were irritated by the quantity of losses Albion lost half of the 26 Championship games under the 34-year-old.
Mason can attribute some of them to bad luck, especially Monday night’s heartbreaking late loss at Leicester, but as he repeatedly told me, he could “only speak to the fans through results” and that’s what has cost him.
He also discussed being “aligned” with regard to the club’s financial status and transfer policy.
Although the Baggies did engage in some shrewd business, Mason was left with a very thin squad that lacked depth and quality in certain areas, which was evident whenever he made substitutions. He will have known that they had to sell star players Torbjorn Heggem and Tom Fellows in order to stay within profit and sustainability regulations.
The Baggies’ owners, Bilkul, have already stated in a pre-Christmas letter that they have no money to invest in January. The team is currently ranked 18th in the second division, which is its lowest position in 25 years.
However, it will still be a desirable position for someone, especially because things should get better financially after the summer.
They presently sit seven points above the relegation zone, so for the time being they need a head coach with the cunning to steer them out.
James Morrison will serve as interim manager for this Sunday’s FA Cup match against Swansea, but I believe that the Albion management wants a new head coach in place for their upcoming league match on Friday, January 16, at home against the formidable Middlesbrough.
However, the American will be under a lot of pressure to perform well at the next appointment, so he will be hoping for third time luck.
What went wrong for Mason at Albion this season?
Ryan Mason’s term at West Bromwich Albion faltered due to habitual things- scoring famines, protective setbacks in crucial moments, and his inexperience as a head trainer, despite an originally promising launch.
A bright opening with three triumphs in four games exposed narrow perimeters that came fatal as pretensions dried up, leaving Albion among the Championship’s smallest songwriters despite high xG and chances created; recent benefactions from Aune Heggebo came too late against harmonious concessions.
Narrow losses dominated( 11 of 13 by one thing), frequently from late concessions amid poor game operation and” crazy opinions,” with Mason lamenting a” disastrous run” where strong performances failed to yield points; his youth( appointed at 33) amplified scrutiny on Bilkul’s data- driven adventure.
