The inevitable departure of Alan Pardew from West Brom has happened. After a 2-1 home defeat against Burnley on the weekend, the Baggies are ten points from safety with only eighteen remaining for the season to get. Pardew departs with West Brom on an eight-match losing streak of form.
Pardew arrived at the Hawthorns after the club had ditched Tony Pulis with the club on a ten-match winless streak of form. Coach Darren Moore has taken over the first team and their indications are that he is going to stick around to the end of the season, when West Brom, will more likely than not, be relegated.
The Baggies only collected two wins in eighteen games under Pardew, collecting eight points from 54 available. So now comes the inevitable question, who is going to take over as Next West Brom Manager?
The early market leader is Michael Appleton at 5/2 odds with bet365* (Betting Odds taken at 7:38 p.m. on April 2nd, 2018) who used to play and coach for the Baggies. He hasn’t exactly produced a tremendously consistent managerial record but his stock has risen with a superb season at the helm of Oxford. Before that he spent just over two months in a job at Blackburn, which in turn was just two months after being named Blackpool boss. His only other managerial job ended in relegation with Portsmouth.
Next West Brom Manager Odds*
Michael Appleton 5/2, Marco 5/1, Chris Wilder 8/1, Nigel Pearson 8/1, Michael O’Neill 8/1, Derek McInnes 8/1, Mick McCarthy 10/1, Dean Smith 11/2, Graham Potter 16/1, Martin O’Neill 16/1, bar 20/1* (Betting Odds taken at 7:38 p.m. on April 2nd, 2018)
Current Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder will have plenty of appeal after having got the Blades up to the Championship and having produced a fine season there. He is going to be in huge demand at the end of the season and has a pretty solid track record of promotions. The likelihood of him going to West Brom would diminish if the Blades go into the play offs and won them of course, but Wilder will be a man in demand in the summer regardless.
Graham Potter, the boss of Swedish minnows Ostersunds who had that great debut season in the Europa League, is an interesting name on the list. His side took a 2-1 win at Arsenal in the Europa League round of 32 second leg but were knocked out on aggregate. He used to play for the Baggies as well and no doubt with creative modern ideas, he will offer huge appeal for West Brom to shake off the dirge of managerial spells by Pulis and Pardew.
Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes could be lured south of the border. He is a popular figure and has done a great job in turning Aberdeen into Scotland’s second-best side consistently over the last four season. He has been touted by other clubs and like Potter will probably be in demand in the summer. But he should be settled where he is and will get another crack at Europe next season with the Dons, which may be more appealing than toiling around in England’s second tier.
Wigan manager Paul Cook is a pretty solid fit for the club. He has won promotion at his last two clubs and if he gets Wigan out of League One this season then it will be three for three for him. He has cut his cloth working up through the ranks of football manager so on the back of what he has achieved, then it could be a tempting move up for him, if Wigan doesn’t get promoted of course.
Predictions
There are two good fits for the Baggies out of the early front-runners to get the job. Graham Potter is a man with a whole bunch of fresh ideas who could completely shake up things at the Hawthorns. The other will be Chris Wilder, and with Sheffield United’s form taking a dip and promotion looking less and less likely, he could well be head-hunted by the Baggies.
