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Gary Megson will carry on as West Brom interim boss for as long as he's asked to

Interim head coach Gary Megson will continue to lead Albion for as long as he's asked to but has no plans to stay on as assistant head coach.

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Gary Megson. (AMA)

Tony Pulis's former assistant agreed to look after the first team when chairman John Williams called him on Monday morning to inform him the head coach had been sacked.

Megson refused to throw his hat into the ring for the job and doesn't expect to be considered for it at this stage.

The 58-year-old called a press conference himself after taking today's training session to stop people 'putting two and two together'.

Megson returned to the club in the summer as Pulis's assistant after five years out of the game and now finds himself in charge of the team.

He said: "No-one is happy about the situation we're in. Tony's ’s done a fantastic job here and other clubs he’s been at in the past and he’s a friend of mine.

"The chairman spoke to me early yesterday morning, told me what had happened with Tony.

"Asked would I take over in the interim period, it's in my contract, I do what I'm told, which is what I'm doing.

"I've never asked how long, I've never asked what they're doing. All I'm going to do is keep going until I'm told otherwise.

"The next question is are you interested in the job? It's not about that, I haven't thought about that. I've only been here four months and that was to help me mate.

"I'm not daft enough to think I would be at West Brom without Tony Pulis. We've still got the sadness of Tony not being here, but the club has got to be kept going.

"I've taken 650 games, I've taken thousands of training sessions, they've decided that I take over for however long it's going to be, be it 24 hours or more."

Megson is fondly remembered by Albion fans for winning promotion to the Premier League at the start of the century.

However, he has found being an assistant uncomfortable, and does not plan to stay on as a No.2 when a new boss is installed.

When he was asked if he would like to carry on as an assistant, he said: "No, I've been an assistant for 12 games and a manager for 650. It's not something I particularly want to do.

"I wouldn't have come here if it was somebody else (apart from Pulis)."

Megson enjoyed his time at the Albion and said thinking back to that promotion year still puts a tingle down his neck.

But he was quick to remove any suggestion he was back in the hot-seat permanently.

"I'm not the manager," he said. "I've got to be honest that gets right up my hooter when people say caretaker manager, there's no such thing, believe me.

"The manager brings players in and lets players go, when people come to see you, you have to front it up.

"Caretaker manager is a complete misnomer, I'm not the manager, I'm here doing this because we haven't got a manager at the moment.

"I don't like it when someone takes over (in that situation) and then they end up looking as smart as you can, hair all over the show, that's not the way it works, you're not the manager."

Megson doesn't know if he'll be required to lead the team out against Tottenham on Saturday, and he wouldn't be drawn on what manager the board should employ.

"I don't know," he said. "Other people need to make that call. They've had a very good manager in Tony.

"It's not for me to say, all I'm here is to try and keep the team chugging along and give them the time to do what they want to do.

"I'm sure they'll make the right decision for the supporters."