Alan Pardew’s troubled reign at West Bromwich Albion is over after he departed today by mutual consent.
Pardew’s turbulent four months with the Premier League strugglers has been ended after extensive talks with chief executive Mark Jenkins over the last 24 hours.
The 56-year-old suffered his ninth successive defeat on Saturday against Burnley and Albion have made their move as they prepare for inevitable relegation to the Championship.
Michael Appleton, a former West Brom player and coach, is understood to be high on their list of potential replacements while there is also likely to be support for Nigel Pearson, Dean Smith and Derek McInnes.
Darren Moore, first-team coach, will take charge until the rest of the season.
Pardew’s future has been in doubt for weeks and it can be revealed that Albion gave serious thought to sacking him after the 2-1 home defeat to Huddersfield on February 24.
Albion made an approach for Marco Silva, the former Watford manager, but it was rebuffed to effectively give Pardew a stay of execution.
Results, performances and an alleged toxic atmosphere at the training ground have now pressed Albion into action, with Pardew leaving after just 21 games in charge.
West Brom issued a statement which read: “West Bromwich Albion and Alan Pardew have agreed to mutually part company today following discussions between both parties.
“Assistant head coach John Carver will also be leaving. The club would like to thank Alan and John for their efforts and wish them well in their future endeavours.
“First-team coach Darren Moore has been placed in charge of first team affairs until further notice.”
Pardew was appointed in late November after the dismissal of Tony Pulis, his appointment coming due to the support of technical director Nick Hammond.
Albion also interviewed Aitor Karanka but Pardew’s experience of the Premier League always saw him as the favourite, while he also has a reputation for starting jobs well.
Yet it has proven a disastrous appointment for the Midlanders, with the infamous training camp in Barcelona ultimately proving the nadir.
