West Brom’s shortest managerial reigns revealed, Ryan Mason looks destined to join the list
Ryan Mason is staring down the barrel at West Brom after a seventh consecutive away defeat in the Championship on Tuesday night.
Southampton beat West Brom 3-2 at St Mary’s, with ex-Albion players Adam Armstrong, Tom Fellows and Finn Azaz all directly contributing to the home side’s haul.
The Black Country club’s latest defeat leaves them 16th in the Championship, with the prospect of dropping down further when Wednesday night’s fixtures are played out.
As a result of West Brom’s alarming slide down the table, Mason is now the odds-on favourite to be the next manager sacked in the Championship.
Ryan Mason avoids West Brom sack – for now
However, Mason is expected to still be in charge of Albion when they take on Sheffield United at The Hawthorns on Friday night.
That’s because Mason will take the pre-match press conference on Thursday, suggesting that Baggies owners Bilkul are not pulling the trigger on him – yet.
Shilen Patel hired Mason as their manager on 2 June, replacing Tony Mowbray in The Hawthorns’ hot seat after his second spell in charge of West Brom ended on 21 April.
| Matches | Wins | Draws | Losses | Goal Difference | Win % | |
| Tony Mowbray (second spell) | 17 | 5 | 4 | 8 | -3 | 29% |
| Ryan Mason | 21 | 7 | 4 | 10 | -1 | 33% |
Mowbray’s three-month stint as Albion’s manager last season meant that he suffered the ignominy of being the shortest-reigning permanent manager in the club’s 147-year history, lasting just 94 days.
In terms of games managed, Pepe Mel‘s time in charge at The Hawthorns in 2014 lasted longer (123 days), but he managed the same number of matches (17) as Mowbray during his Baggies comeback.
As of the time of writing, Mason’s time in charge is the seventh-shortest of all permanent managers in West Brom’s history.
If he lasts another week, his reign will outlast Alan Irvine‘s infamous spell, which also came in 2014.
Who could replace Mason as West Brom’s manager?
That’s the big question that Patel and Andrew Nestor will need to answer.
Ultimately, Bilkul’s managerial appointments since buying the club in February 2024 haven’t been good.
Carlos Corberan did well, but he was always going to move on when a big club came calling – and he did on Christmas Eve last year when Valencia bought him out of his Albion contract.
Mowbray and Mason have both been terrible since, overseeing just 13 wins between them in 38 matches at a club whose fanbase wants to see their team challenging for promotion to the Premier League.
Ex-Middlesbrough manager Michael Carrick is currently the favourite to replace Mason at The Hawthorns, while Millwall boss Alex Neil is someone who’s also been linked.
Both have experience at this level, at least giving Nestor some data to work on instead of taking a shot in the dark like he did with Mason, or reverting to nostalgia with Mowbray.
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