Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Keep hold of Pards & save £1m
WEST BROM could save £1million by hanging on to doomed manager Alan Pardew until July.
The Premier League bottom club are eight points from safety and CEO Mark Jenkins is already preparing for relegation.
Jenkins’ remit from Chinese owner Guochuan Lai is to bounce back on a strict budget.
Pardew refused to quit his £2m-a-year deal after Albion’s seventh successive loss at the weekend to Leicester.
It means the Baggies are planning to retain him until July 1, when his salary for next season will drop by 50 per cent after relegation.
Pardew’s pay-off of 12 months’ salary will then be half as costly. But the strategy of waiting could backfire if Albion remain bottom of the league.
They risk missing out on Premier League prize money of nearly
£2m per place, as well as losing fans and potential sponsors.
Tensions in the squad, who also face 50 per cent wage cuts, are boiling over with Pardew having lost their support. VINCENT KOMPANY accepts Manchester United will be desperate to stop Manchester City claiming the title in their derby showdown.
City can win the Premier League against United on April 7 if they beat Everton in their next match.
Blues fans are excited by the prospect of being crowned champions against their fiercest rivals, but Kompany has sounded a note of caution.
The City skipper says the Blues must be focused because United – and Everton– will be determined to wreck their title celebrations.
“I’m very specific in saying it’s not going to be handed to us,” said Kompany. “If anything, that’ll be a harder achievement than anything else this season.
“I cannot think of a team as big and with as much quality as, first of all, Everton and then United, just