ALBION CLOSE IN ON A DEAL FOR PARDEW
ALAN PARDEW has emerged as the strong favourite to become the new manager of West Bromwich Albion. It is understood that Pardew, 56, has had two meetings with West Brom chief executive John Williams this week.
And that has led insiders at the club to believe an announcement is imminent after Gary Megson, interim manager following the dismissal of Tony Pulis on Monday, has led the team against Tottenham at Wembley today.
Sportsmail does, however, understand that nothing has yet been agreed with further talks required before a decision is made. Sam Allardyce, Slaven Bilic and Sheffield United’s Chris Wilder have also been considered.
Pardew’s Premier League record and reputation for making a quick impact make him an attractive proposition for West Brom.
He was most successful at Newcastle, taking the club to fifth in 2011-12, and he guided West Ham to ninth in 2005-06.
Pardew also took West Ham and Crystal Palace to FA Cup finals.
He was sacked by Palace 11 months ago but is understood to be favoured by West Brom technical director Nick Hammond, the pair having worked together at Reading.
Along with Williams and Hammond, chief executive Martin Goodman, and director of football administration Richard Garlick complete the four-man panel who will recommend an appointment to owner, Chinese businessman Guochuan Lai. An appointment could be made as early as Monday.
If Pardew gets the job his first two games could be interesting, against Newcastle on Tuesday and Palace next Saturday — both at the Hawthorns.
Meanwhile Megson has raised the prospect that an earlier return to management for him was hindered by an unnamed person poisoning his reputation to would-be employers.
Megson will pick a team for the first time since February 2012 at Wembley today. The 58-year-old had tried to make a comeback to the dugout sooner but hinted somebody acting against him had reduced his chances.
Megson said he’s not auditioning for the full-time role at Albion. But he did admit to enjoying this week, having last called the shots at Sheffield Wednesday five years ago. Megson was dismissed with Wednesday third in League One but has rarely been linked to posts since.
‘It’s difficult, you’d have to ask other people,’ he said. ‘I’ve agreed three jobs on a certain day, and the day after in two instances, and three days later in another instance, it was withdrawn. Make of that what you will. It’ll all be in my book.’ When it was suggested that somebody had ‘put the poison down’ on him, Megson said: ‘You could say that, I couldn’t possibly comment. End of.’
Even in temporary charge, Megson has been decisive in dismissing fellow assistant head coach Ben Garner from training.
Megson said: ‘I just wanted to do what I felt was right. We’ve got some really good coaches here, Mark O’Connor, Jonathan Gould, and we’ve got other analysts — Carl Blakemore is terrific. We needed to lift the mood, have bouncy people.
‘There’s nobody here using this as an audition to push for the West Brom job, myself included. We’re all here to roll our sleeves up and try to get the players in the right frame of mind. It is not a negative on anybody, it is just how I would choose to run the team.’