Keith Downing draws up West Brom plans

Albion have told assistant boss Keith Downing to plan their pre-season programme as the hunt for a new head coach heads into its fifth week.

The Baggies will spend this weekend in ongoing discussions over Roy Hodgson's replacement with Birmingham boss Chris Hughton still the front-runner.

But while chairman Jeremy Peace and sporting and technical director Dan Ashworth consider their next move in the head coach hunt, Downing has been charged with drawing up the players' pre-season plans.

The assistant head coach, who Ashworth and Peace will be keen to retain as part of the post-Hodgson set-up, has met with goalkeeping coach

Dean Kiely and fitness coach Matt Green to plot the training sessions when the squad link up with the new boss in July.

The trio were heavily involved a year ago in Hodgson's only pre-season as Baggies boss and have been given the task of mapping out the schedule for the players.

Most will return to the training ground on July 4 to prepare for the next season before leaving on July 17 for an eight-day trip to Sweden.

Hughton has strong support from Ashworth but Claudio Ranieri has been interviewed twice and Ray Wilkins has also been spoken to along with German coach Ralf Rangnick. The club hope to make a final decision by the end of next week.

They are, meanwhile, celebrating their record-breaking sponsorship deal with property search website company Zoopla, after ditching Bodog a year into a two-year agreement.

The deal is worth £3m over two years with the Baggies insisting the decision to cut the Bodog deal was not linked to a money laundering court case involving the company in the United States. Sales and marketing director Adrian Wright said: "We were very happy with our relationship.

However, the club have been presented with an attractive new opportunity."

See also:

• Ray Wilkins in shock link with West Brom job

• West Bromwich Albion in £3m sponsor change deal

• Chris Hughton still favourite but Albion will not be rushed