The latest West Brom news and views from BirminghamLive as Albion go forward with Ryan Mason as their new head coach
Simon Jordan has rejected the suggestion that Ryan Mason’s decision to make the managerial jump to West Brom is any indicator about Ange Postecoglou’s future at Tottenham Hotspur.
The pundit and former Crystal Palace owner has been discussing the 33-year-old’s decision to leave Spurs and take the plunge with his first permanent head coaching appointment at The Hawthorns.
He does so having spent most of his time in football with the north London outfit both as a player and working in several managers’ back room teams. Having been Postecoglou’s assistant in their Europa League win the former midfielder has signed a three-year deal with the Baggies – at a time when Postecoglou’s own outlook is not clear.
Jordan told talkSPORT he doesn’t link the two. “Ryan Mason wasn’t part of Ange Postecoglou’s coaching staff because Ange Postecoglou chose him. He was there in situ and Ange Postecoglou incorporated him,” Jordan said.
“I would suspect his ambitions have always lent themselves to an opportunity as a first team manger. I think he has said it himself in previous situations when he stood in for [the] interim, he has talked about wanting to be a manager.
“West Bromwich Albion is a decent club, they are becoming ensconced now in the Championship, that’s not where they want to be, they have been there for four years now, they have got no parachute payments so they are not going to be able to compete with some of the economic powerhouses that are either coming down or are already there because they don’t have the resources perhaps to be able to do that.
“I have seen nothing from Ryan that gives me the feeling that he is a great leader and a powerful character but maybe you don’t need that now, maybe you don’t need these Churchillian speeches to players to get them up, motivate them and be authoritative. Maybe he’ll grow into the job
“And maybe there’s caveats [in this] three year contract because to me giving an untried manager a three year contract means that you are potentially a hostage to fortune a year into the job because if he doesn’t work out the way you want him to you have got liabilities.
“So I am assuming there will be caveats in the contract that prevent the club having to pay big sums out if the manager doesn’t work.”
Jordan also made light of Mason’s record in caretaker charge of Spurs, when he won four of his seven matches after Jose Mourinho’s departure in 2021 and two of six in the wake of Antonio Conte’s exit, admitting Mason did well ‘to a degree’.
“I know there was a big dog and pony show made about the fact he had some coherence to the things he was saying and they got a couple of results, then reality came knocking again.”