West Bromwich Albion are aiming to bring in an experienced coach to help caretaker manager James Shan, according to the Express & Star.
The newspaper claims that the Baggies are set to hand Shan the reins until the end of the season after his fine start to life in charge of the club, but are keen to give him a helping hand.
Shan is currently working with U23s boss Jamie Smith, academy manager Mark Harrison and loans manager Dean Burton, but lack top level coaching expertise at present.
With that said, former West Brom players Michael Appleton, Craig Shakespeare and Steven Reid are all being considered, with the former pair having had managerial experience in the past.
OPINION
Shan has enjoyed a terrific start to life in the top job, having bagged two wins from two games since Darren Moore was surprisingly sacked, but he is not an experienced manager. When you’re dealing with rookie head coaches it is often a good idea to provide them with an experienced assistant to lean upon. We’ve seen it work well with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Mick Phelan at Manchester United, and it appears that the Baggies are looking to replicate that at the Hawthorns. Appleton was someone who was being discussed with the full time manager’s job at West Brom so it’s debatable whether he’d be open to a coaching role at the club under Shan. Besides, Shan will likely only be in charge until the end of the season, at which point there’s every chance Slavisa Jokanovic will replace him, bringing his own staff with him. So whoever this experienced coach is may only be at the club for a few months – would they really want to sign up for that? We’ll have to wait and see.