Gary Megson would have kept the West Brom up says Tony Pulis
Tony Pulis believes if Albion handed Gary Megson The Hawthorns job for a second time back in 2017, the club would have remained in the Premier League.
Megson, who took the Baggies from the brink of slipping into the third tier to promotion at the start of the millennium, returned to football in 2017 following a five-year absence from the game.
Having spent 221 games in charge at the club, winning two promotions, Pulis brought Megson back as his assistant after the departure of long time coach David Kemp.
Then following a difficult start to the season, Megson was handed the job on a caretaker basis after Pulis left the club.
Speaking on part two of his interview on the E&S Baggies Broadcast podcast, Pulis revealed how he recommended Megson for the job.
He explained how he never expected the squad he left to go down - and believes if Megson had been given the role then Albion would have stayed up.
He said: “I never thought they would get relegated, the team was good enough to stay up.
“I brought Gary Megson in and I remember saying to John Williams when I left that he should give Gary the job.
“He got draws against Newcastle and Tottenham, Gary knew the players.
“Gary had a different experience with Jeremy (Peace) to what I did, but he had left and others had and it was a clean sheet.
“I still say this, and I don’t want to be negative, I think if Meggy had taken over the club would have stayed up.
“He had a handle on it, and knew how it worked.
“I had dropped off a bit with certain things and I thought he would have been an ideal replacement, the fans loved him. I had a chat with John and the Chinese owners when they came over, I said I’d run out of gas and they should give it Gary, he’d had the experience and it would be a good change over.”
Megson departed after back to back draws before being replaced by Alan Pardew, who himself was sacked four months later following a run of eight straight defeats.
Part two of Baggies Broadcast meets Tony Pulis is set to be released today, and will be available on Soundcloud, Apple and Spotify.
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