West Brom make themselves ‘hostages to fortune’ as Mason exit clause speculated
West Brom finally ended their long hunt for a new manager on Monday as they appointed Ryan Mason.
The former England international was the assistant manager at Tottenham and helped the London club lift the Europa League last month.
Mason was linked to the West Brom post for months, and now, Shilen Patel has seemingly got his man.
However, Simon Jordan believes that the appointment of the 33-year-old could end badly at The Hawthorns.
Simon Jordan blasts West Brom for giving ‘untried’ Mason three-year deal
One of the major concerns surrounding Mason’s appointment at West Brom is the fact that the upcoming coach has never been a full-time manager before.
The 33-year-old had been taken over at Spurs on an interim basis twice previously but had only been in charge for a combined 13 matches across both of these spells.
| Ryan Mason’s coaching career | Time spent | Win percentage |
| Tottenham Hotspur assistant manager | 2018-25 | n/a |
| Tottenham Hotspur interim manager | 2021 | 57.14 per cent |
| Tottenham Hotspur acting manager | 2023 | 33.33 per cent |
| West Brom manager | 2025- | n/a |
Now, Jordan has claimed that West Brom make themselves “hostages to fortune” if the “untried” Mason does not succeed at The Hawthorns after Patel gave him a three-year deal.
In one section of his rant, he told talkSPORT via Birmingham Live (3 June): “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.”
West Brom will need to be patient with Mason
Jordan is not wrong that Mason is an inexperienced coach. Given that this is his first job as a manager, the 33-year-old is likely to get a lot wrong in his first few months.
However, West Brom owner Patel will have to be patient with the former England international.
It is clear that Mason has potential and he could lead the Baggies back to the Premier League if he is given the time.
Patel likely sees this, hence the three-year deal at The Hawthorns.
Hopefully, Mason will prove his doubters wrong at the start of the 2025/26 campaign and immediately have West Brom back in the promotion picture.