Tony Pulis was sacked as manager of West Bromwich Albion on Monday morning after a run of just two wins in 21 games in the Premier League and now speculation is mounting about who will replace the Welshman. WBA are without a win in the league since August 19th and whoever takes over from Pulis will have a tough job on their hands to reignite The Baggies season.
Sky Bet have installed Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill as the favourite for the job at odds of 7/4 and below you can see a list of the current favourites for the role.
Michael O’Neill certainly makes a lot of sense; he has done a fantastic job with a fairly limited Northern Ireland side and has shown that he can get the best out of his players. West Brom run on a fairly small budget and he could be exactly the right sort of manager for the club. Another thing that could work in his favour is that there are a currently three Northern Ireland internationals in the West Brom team in the shape of Johnny Evans, Chris Brunt and Gareth McAuley. Scotland were rumoured to be close to appointing O’Neill, but surely West Brom could offer him more money and it is likely that he’d fancy a chance at managing in the Premier League.
Behind him in the betting is Sam Allardyce who seems to be linked to every vacant managerial position at the moment. One thing that could hold the club back from appointing Allardyce is that he favours a similar style of football to Pulis and surely the club will be looking to move away from negative, long ball football after three years with Pulis. Along with this, Allardyce will probably be asking for more money than his contenders for the job and this could certainly put the board off him, especially considering his age.
One man who could be an option is Alan Pardew and at odds of 9/1, he could certainly be worth a look. The former Crystal Palace manager likes to play an attractive style of football and he has taken over a Pulis team before. Pardew is often criticised for not being able to organise a defence properly, but that is what Pulis was great at, so if he can continue the same defensive organisation, but bring in a more expansive attack then it could work well for the rest of the season. Former Everton boss, Ronald Koeman, is just behind him in the betting at 10/1, but I fancy that Koeman will be holding out for a bigger job than West Brom.
The smart money is on Michael O’Neill getting the job, but if you want a slightly longer odds punt then my money would be on Alan Pardew. The fans would certainly get a more exciting brand of football being played and that is definitely something the board will consider when making their appointment.