Express & Star

West Brom boss Alan Pardew under pressure but safe for now

Alan Pardew's position as Albion head coach is coming under increasing scrutiny from the board but it's understood his job is safe for now.

Published
Alan Pardew. (AMA)

Pressure is beginning to pile up on the Baggies boss following four defeats in a row and off-pitch controversies involving four senior players.

Returning chief executive Mark Jenkins was at Saturday's game, when Albion were dumped out of the FA Cup by Southampton.

But Pardew is taking training today and was backed by Jenkins in the matchday programme.

Jenkins said: "Although events of the last week inevitably bring a certain amount of disruption and speculation to a club, I do not anticipate any more changes.

"All our support and energy will be focused on doing all we can to help Alan Pardew and the players pull off another 'great escape'."

Although that was written before the allegations of a taxi being stolen in Barcelona emerged, it's understood Albion's hierarchy do not want any more unnecessary upheaval after a disruptive period.

However, Pardew is under increasing pressure to deliver results in the next few league games, starting with the crucial home tie against Huddersfield this weekend.

"Trust me I will be there Monday morning bright and early to try and get ourselves ready for Huddersfield," said Pardew, who insists he's the right man to lead Albion forward.

"I'm an experienced manager. I've experienced this situation times before.

"Once I have been relegated, at Charlton, but I've got out of this situation before at Newcastle and Crystal Palace and I'm determined to get out of this one as well."

Pardew has been criticised for taking his team to Barcelona for a three-day warm-weather training camp, but Albion's head coach says the reports that have emerged from that trip do not fairly reflect his squad.

"Over the Christmas period I cancelled everything," said Pardew. "We hadn’t done anything really socially.

"The guys’ professionalism, time-keeping and everything has been spot on.

"We’ve had this one crazy evening and it doesn’t reflect the work and the professionalism we do as a staff and as players.

"That’s massively disappointing but it’s there now and we can’t get away from it.

"There’s 11 cup finals for us starting next week. And if our fans are as good to us as that next week we’ll be fortunate. Hopefully we can repay them.

"I thought there were some good things (against Southampton). We need to take that into the next game.

"We know the atmosphere will be slightly different next week. Our fans know how important it us.

"Hopefully the stadium is super positive and we can get that win that they really desperately want.

"We can only salvage this season by getting some momentum.

"We had a little bit momentum when we went to Liverpool and got that result. Unfortunately we suffered four injuries that week.

"We've got to stay injury free, we've got to try and get a win against Huddersfield and take that momentum into the next few games because three wins in this division – as Swansea have proven – changes your position massively, and that's what we need to do."