West Bromwich Albion, who are destined to go down into the second tier at the end of this season, have parted ways with their manager Alan Pardew with ‘mutual consent’. Pardew who joined the baggies in November has been shown the door after dismal results. He managed to eek out just one victory in his 20 matches in charge. Their defeat to Burnley on Saturday was there 8th in a row. Pardew’s assistant John Carver has also been shown the door with reserve team coach Darren Moore taking the charge till the end of the season.
The official West Brom club statement said: “West Bromwich Albion and Alan Pardew have agreed to mutually part company today following discussions between both parties. Assistant Head Coach John Carver will also be leaving.“The Club would like to thank Alan and John for their efforts and wish them well in their future endeavours.”
West Brom will wait until the end of the season to appoint a manager for the long term, but according to reports, they are eyeing up a summer move for Michael Appleton. Appleton is a former midfielder who has represented West Brom as a player. He started his playing career at Manchester United graduating from their youth academy.
Currently, he is No.2 to Claude Puel at Leicester. He is certainly high on the Baggies list to take in charge of their promotion back to the Premier League next season. West Brom is expected to go through an overhaul after a poor season with just three league wins. Other names doing the round include Graham Potter of Swedish club Ostersunds, ex-West Brom coach Nigel Pearson at OH Leuven and Walsall coach Dean Smith.
Appleton can be a good option for the Baggies as he has been associated with them as a player previously. In fact, it was at West Brom where he started his coaching role. After a knee injury, Appleton remained with the Baggies in a coaching capacity where he worked with the youth side for over five years.
Jenkins, the West Brom CEO, knows Appleton since his playing days and he has has been highly regarded since his coaching days at West Brom. In the Premier League, Appleton was brought in as an assistant to manager Craig Shakespeare. After his departure, Claude Puel kept him on.
Appleton has had managing experiences before and he could be the right man for West Brom’s arrival back in the Premier League next season. He already has a coaching and playing history with the club so this will give the fans a sense of connection if he is hired for the top job.
