Alan Irvine sacked by West Brom

West Brom have sacked head coach Alan Irvine after a poor run of form

Struggling Premier League outfit West Bromwich Albion have dispensed with the services of head coach Alan Irvine, who had been in charge at the Hawthorns for just seven months.

The former-Sheffield Wednesday boss has been put on gardening leave.

Confirmation

West Brom technical director Terry Burton released a statement which read: “We appointed Alan in the summer convinced that we had taken on one of the foremost coaches in the UK and nothing that has happened since then has altered our view. The individual progress of our players such as Craig Dawson and Saido Berahino are testament to that.

“But sadly that simply has not translated into results and they remain the ultimate currency of Alan’s position. Securing a sixth season in the Premier League is the overriding target and sometimes unpleasant decisions have to be taken to serve that imperative.

“Alan has impressed everyone with his manner, dedication and diligence but he knows that results have simply not been good enough. We place on record our gratitude for his efforts and hold nothing but good wishes for his future endeavours. This was a decision taken with regret but sadly driven by necessity.

Poor

The Baggies have been on a poor run of form, winning just once in the last nine games and losing seven of those games. The side from the Midlands are 16^th place in the Premier League table, just one point above the leagues bottom three.

The Baggies 2-0 defeat at Stoke on Sunday was the final straw for the West Brom hierarchy and it cost Irvine his position as Baggies boss.

Caretakers

West Brom face a difficult trip to face West Ham on New Years Day with coaches Rob Kelly and Keith Downing in charge of the team. However, it seems that the Baggies will make a permanent appointment in the next few days.

Decisive

The Baggies chairman Jeremy Peace has been very decisive in dealing with managers he perceives to be underachieving in recent years, three bosses losing their job mid-season. Roberto Di Matteo lost his job mid-season and so did Scot Steve Clarke 12 months ago.

The Baggies chairman’s tactics have worked in keeping the side from the Midlands in the Premier League and he will be hoping that his next appointment will keep his club in the English top-flight.

Wrong

Irvine’s summer appointment was a surprise one. The former-Everton assistant boss’ only managerial experience had come in the lower leagues with Preston and Sheffield Wednesday and it was not like he had a major impact at either club.

The Scot had been a coach for long time before taking up his first managerial role. The chance to become a boss in his own right must have appealed to him, but he may now have to face the fact that he is better off as just a coach.

From all reports Irvine is genuinely nice guy and easy to get on with. Nobody seems to have a bad word to say about the Scot. However, it seems that he was not equipped to be a Premier League boss and the Baggies board had taken the cheap option in the summer by appointing him.

Candidates

A number of candidates have been mentioned in relation to the vacant position, including former-Crystal Palace boss Tony Pulis, who is currently favourite for the job at odds of 1/ 2, former-Spurs boss Tim Sherwood who is odds of 6/4 and former-Porto boss Victor Pereira who is odds of 16/1.

Pulis is reportedly already in talks with the Baggies about the position and after his performance with Palace towards the end of last season he certainly would not be a bad choice for the club from the Midlands.

The experienced former-Stoke boss has never been relegated in his managerial career and would seem like the logical choice. Pulis won Manager of the Year last season and it is just a surprise that he has not found himself employment in the top-flight earlier.

Survival

West Brom may have enough quality to survive the drop this season, as they do every season. With the right boss at the helm maybe they can now enjoy a more productive second half of the campaign.

Who should be the next West Brom boss?