Daily Mail

CARETAKER MEGSON BANISHES COACH

- By LAURIE WHITWELL

WEST BROMWICH ALBION coach Ben Garner has been told to stay away from the club’s training ground as a condition of Gary Megson taking charge. Megson’s methods vary significan­tly from Garner’s, and the 58-year-old made it clear to the club’s hierarchy that he would only lead training following the sacking of Tony Pulis if his younger colleague was removed. Garner, 37, has been instructed to take time off while the process of finding a new manager continues and the club will look at the situation again when an appointmen­t is made. Garner (below) was brought in by Pulis and promoted to assistant in September 2016 and the rest of the Welshman’s coaching team remains in place. It is understood Megson has had a positive reaction from the players, and it is expected he will pick the team for tomorrow’s game at Tottenham. West Brom are hopeful of appointing a permanent boss soon, with Alan Pardew the favourite to take over. Intriguing­ly, Garner left Crystal Palace when Pardew was in the dugout. Pardew has a good relationsh­ip with technical director Nick Hammond from their time together at Reading and has a great amount of Premier League experience. Chairman John Williams, CEO Martin Goodman and director of football administra­tion Richard Garlick complete the four-man panel who will recommend a name to owner Guochuan Lai. Megson meanwhile, expects more from West Brom’s quality signings in the match at Spurs, with the side one point clear of the relegation zone in 17th. ‘There are some good players not playing too well,’ said Megson. ‘They have to step up. They will be given the opportunit­y and they have to start playing like we know they can play. When results aren’t going too well, the crowd aren’t happy, you are having to read negative stuff — it’s difficult. You can’t just wave a magic wand and say, “I’m confident today”. There has to be a starting point, it has got to be something easy enough — your work rate, your running — then your natural gifts will come through.’

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom