West Bromwich Albion sack head coach Mason

Following Monday’s defeat at Leicester City, West Bromwich Albion head coach Ryan Mason was fired by the championship club.

The Baggies were 18th in the table, 10 points adrift of the play-off places, with their 10th straight loss coming from home.

Both first-team coach James Morrison and Mason’s assistant Nigel Gibbs and head of performance Sam Pooley have left the organization, with interim manager James Morrison taking over.

West Brom will play Swansea City in the FA Cup on Sunday, but Middlesbrough will play at The Hawthorns on January 16th. There will be no other league game against them.

In a brief statement announcing Mason’s departure, the club announced that “the hiring process is underway.”

Mason, 34, joined Albion on a three-year deal after leaving Tottenham Hotspur’s coaching staff, but he has struggled to make them into promotion contenders.

The momentum didn’t hold up in the 22-game series, with only six victories coming in the first four of the team’s first four league games so far this year, despite their early promise of three victories.

Mason’s job has now been lost after a fourth defeat in five games, either side of Christmas, and the club has looked for a third permanent manager in the last year.

After the Baggies lost to Leicester after an added-time goal by the home side, Mason said to BBC WM: “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 chances on target, more chances created, and we have conceded so little at our end.”

Albion made a change in direction with Mason’s appointment, which saw them trust a young head coach with fresh ideas who had studied the ins and outs of working at the highest level under the likes of Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte, and Ange Postecoglou.

After a summer rebuild that reduced the squad’s average age and gave them more room to maneuver against the EFL’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR), with the sales of Tom Fellows and Torbjorn Heggem, the start under the new boss was encouraging.

Wins over Blackburn, newly promoted Wrexham, and early pacesetters Stoke City helped them pick up 10 points from their opening four games, but a first-home defeat by Derby County caused a downward trend that Mason could not reverse.

Losses on the road added more pressure on the team, but Mason’s six victories from 12 did not add up to enough time.

Although he may point to the fact that 11 of their 13 defeats came by a single goal, the former England, Tottenham, and Hull midfielder has already paid the price for not doing that enough.

Since the Championship’s rebranding in 2004, Rotherham United has lost 14 games in a row in 2016-17.