Matt Maher: Ryan Mason needs to find his voice at West Brom

Appointed Tony Mowbray’s successor in June after a six-week search, the 34-year-old should in theory be on a relatively long leash.

Owners Bilkul, who axed Mowbray after just 20 matches in charge, will have little appetite to make an even quicker judgement on the next man. Not least Baggies president and sporting director, Andrew Nestor, the man ultimately responsible for hiring both.

Supporters, of course, won’t have the same patience. After three matches without a goal, including last weekend’s dire 0-0 draw with Sheffield Wednesday, they expect rapid improvement.

These are difficult days for the club’s youngest boss in more than a century, who is learning very quickly the intense pressures of football management.

Granted, Mason arrived at Albion with two stints as interim boss at Tottenham under his belt. He’d also spent the past few seasons on the club’s coaching staff, learning from the likes of Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte and Ange Postecoglou.

Yet no matter how valuable those experiences, it all gets very different when your own name is above the door. Even more at a new, unfamiliar club, located more than 100 miles away from your family.

Just five months into his first serious crack at being a manager in his own right, Mason gives the impression of still searching for his voice.

We still don’t really know who he is and the same applies to his team. A firm connection with fans is still to be established. 

Drawing conclusions from how a manager behaves with the media can be foolhardy. Yet there is almost a sense Mason, always polite yet guarded, needs to loosen up a bit and shift some of the rigidity permeating his reign.

Managing in the Championship can be both a blessing and a curse. Fiercely competitive though the division undoubtedly is, the relentless schedule means fortunes can quickly change.

A week on from being under the cosh at Blues, Mason’s former coaching mate Chris Davies was toasting back-to-back 4-0 wins. This is a division where the season never really gets going until after Christmas. The Baggies are only five points off the top-six.

Albion's hierarchy believed in Mason enough to give him a three-year contract. It would make little sense to give up on the project so soon. The possibility of growing pains, for a rookie head coach, will surely have been factored into their thinking. Some late departures in the transfer window also offer further mitigation.

Mason will surely get time but a win on Saturday would, at least, ease the immediate scrutiny.