West Brom could “accelerate” their plans to hire a permanent manager before the end of the season if results begin to dip under James Shan, according to Sky Sports.
The broadcaster claims that current caretaker boss Shan will take charge of the West Midlands derby clash against Birmingham once the international break ends, with him winning both of his first two games in charge without conceding a goal.
However it is understood that no matter how well Shan does, he will not stay in charge past the end of this season and Slavisa Jokanovic and Preston’s Alex Neil are top candidates for the permanent job at The Hawthorns.
OPINION
What an absolute mess this whole process has been. Shan has done a good job in his two games in charge, but is there any suggestion that he will do better in the play-offs than Darren Moore would have? West Brom were fourth when they sacked Moore and they are still fourth now, albeit a bit more secure in the top six. Moore would not have overseen the Baggies dropping out of the play-off spots, so to not hire a proper replacement for him is laughable when Jokanovic is someone who won the play-offs last season with Fulham. It was also a bizarre decision to get rid of Moore so late in the season when West Brom’s finish place was almost wrapped up, but to sack him and not have a plan to replace him is downright stupid. Mark Jenkins’ job should be under threat come the end of the season because his decision-making in the last couple of weeks has been ridiculously bad.