Ex-England boss now favourite to be new West Brom manager as odds slashed, Andrew Nestor has already approached him
Andrew Nestor has been tasked with finding Ryan Mason’s successor after he was sacked by West Brom on Tuesday.
Mason oversaw just nine wins in 27 matches in charge, with West Brom’s 2-1 defeat at Leicester City on Monday night proving to be the final straw for chairman and owner Shilen Patel.
Bilkul Football‘s record at hiring managers hasn’t been great so far, with Tony Mowbray and Mason winning just 14 out of 44 games between them since Carlos Corberan left for Valencia in December 2024.
However, Nestor will be praying that it’ll be third time lucky with his so-called data-led managerial appointments.
Otherwise, there’s no doubt that the focus of fans’ ire will start to turn on him.
Lee Carsley new favourite for West Brom job
Michael Carrick was initially the favourite for the West Brom manager’s job after Mason was axed by the Black Country club on Tuesday morning.
However, the odds have shifted since then, and former England manager Lee Carsley has been placed in pole position by a major bookmaker.
Carsley is someone who’s been on Albion’s radar before.
Lee Carsley factfile:
- Date of birth: 28 February 1974 (age 51)
- Place of birth: Birmingham, England
- Current role: England U21s manager
- Former clubs (player): Derby, Blackburn, Coventry, Everton, Birmingham
- International career: 40 caps for Republic of Ireland
- Managerial career: Coventry (caretaker), Brentford, Birmingham (caretaker), England U20s, England U21s, England (interim)
It was reported on New Year’s Eve in 2024, after Corberan left, that West Brom had made an approach to hire Carsley as his successor.
It was claimed that the current England Under-21s manager, who had a brief stint in interim charge of the senior team earlier in 2024, rejected the chance to move to The Hawthorns.
Carsley is now seemingly back in the frame for the management job at Albion, even though he’s previously turned Nestor down.
Carrick remains in the running, but so does ex-Rangers manager Russell Martin and James Morrison, who’s now in caretaker charge at the Baggies.
| Manager | Current job | Odds |
| Lee Carsley | England U21s manager | 4/1 |
| Michael Carrick | N/A | 8/1 |
| Russell Martin | N/A | 8/1 |
| James Morrison | West Brom interim manager | 8/1 |
| Carlos Corberan | Valencia manager | 10/1 |
All three of them are joint 8/1 second-favourites.
What’s Carsley’s managerial record?
Carsley has only had one permanent job in club management, when he took charge of Brentford in September 2015.
He only got to manage 10 games with the Bees in the Championship, winning five of them and suffering three losses.
However, during his short stint as manager at Griffin Park, Carsley did win the Championship Manager of the Month award in October 2015, which was his first full month in management.
Dean Smith eventually replaced him, before he continued in backroom roles there and at Birmingham City before moving to St George’s Park to be part of the England set-up.
As England Under-21s manager, Carsley has managed 42 matches, winning 33 of them.
In his short and sweet spell in interim charge of England after Gareth Southgate’s exit in 2024, the former Everton midfielder won five matches but lost 2-1 to Greece at Wembley.