Tony Pulis says Gary Megson should have replaced him at West Brom, they ‘would have stayed up’
Former West Brom boss Tony Pulis has claimed that Gary Megson should have been given the job after he was sacked in 2017, as he believes he would have kept the club up.
Megson was Pulis’ assistant head coach in 2017 and was named as the caretaker manager after he was sacked, before Alan Pardew was chosen as the man to take over full time. He was dismissed in April 2018 before the campaign had ended, as the Baggies ultimately fell out of the top flight.
Having previously managed the club between 2000 and 2004, Megson knew West Brom well, and according to Pulis would have been able to steer the club to safety.
Speaking to the Express and Star on the newspaper’s Baggies Broadcast podcast (11 September), Pulis revealed: “I never thought they would get relegated, the team was good enough to stay up.
“I brought Gary Megson in and I remember saying to John Williams [Chairman of West Brom until 2018] when I left that he should give Gary the job. He got draws against Newcastle and Tottenham, Gary knew the players.
“I still say this, and I don’t want to be negative, I think if Meggy had taken over the club would have stayed up. He had a handle on it and knew how it worked.
“I had dropped off a bit with certain things and I thought he would have been an ideal replacement, the fans loved him. I had a chat with John and the Chinese owners when they came over, I said I’d run out of gas and they should give it Gary, he’d had the experience and it would be a good change over.”
All hypotheticals now
In the 2017/18 season, the Baggies were relegated in 20th with Darren Moore in charge as their fourth manager of the season, having seen Pulis and Pardew both dismissed from the role and Megson ignored in terms of his application for the permanent job.
The club did get back up for a one-season stay in 2020-21 but have been back in the Championship since then, with the Baggies’ inability to regain their top-flight status having a knock-on effect on their precarious financial situation.
Pulis’ comments are, though, of course hypothetical – no one will ever know for sure if Megson could have kept the club in the Premier League, though the decision to bring in Pardew proved entirely misguided.
It’s all ifs, buts and maybes now, with no difference made. While Megson could have kept the Baggies up, Pardew also could have, as could Moore if he was given longer than the final games of the season with the results he achieved.
In other West Brom news, Pulis also identified another mistake made during his tenure.