Claim made on potential West Brom move for Millwall's Alex Neil if Ryan Mason is sacked - 'I would be surprised' | OneFootball

FLW’s West Brom fan pundit has outlined his thoughts on Albion potentially appointing Alex Neil should Ryan Mason leave the club.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Despite earning a much-needed victory before the international break, West Brom will need to pick up more points quickly to ensure talk about Ryan Mason’s future doesn’t intensify.

After suffering three defeats in their last four league games prior to their meeting with Oxford United, Albion were in desperate search of three points, and it was looking bleak when former Baggies loanee Will Lankshear put the visitors in front.

As the atmosphere at The Hawthorns began to take a toxic turn, the Albion players rallied, as a Greg Leigh own goal just two minutes later dragged the hosts level, before Aune Heggebo’s superb header 20 minutes from time turned the tide and gave the ex-Tottenham Hotspur coach some respite.

However, it hasn’t been enough to convince some supporters that Mason is the right man to lead the club forward, and discontent could prove to rear its head yet again if Albion start their next block of fixtures in a disappointing manner.

This weekend, the Baggies face the daunting prospect of travelling to the CBS Arena to face table-topping Coventry City, before a fiery West Midlands derby follows in midweek against Birmingham City, while November is wrapped up with another home encounter against currently managerless Swansea City.

West Brom supporters will be hopeful of taking at least six points out of a possible nine in that run, otherwise Mason could be feeling the wrath again from the Albion faithful, as he proves to be an unpopular figure due to a poor playing style and a lack of proactiveness from the sidelines.

If the Albion hierarchy did part ways with Mason in the near future, a report by journalist Alan Nixon last week revealed that the club would have current Millwall boss Alex Neil on their radar to take over.

Neil himself has refused to take any notice of such links, branding them as ‘nonsense’.

With this news in mind, FLW’s West Brom fan pundit has commented on whether he would welcome an appointment of Neil and how realistic of a chance they have of landing his services.

Alex Neil a “proven Championship manager” but doubt cast over West Brom move

Speaking to Football League World, West Brom fan pundit Callum Burgess believes West Brom fans would welcome the appointment of Alex Neil given his impressive record in the second-tier, but isn’t convinced he will leave Millwall given they are in such a promising position in the table after 15 games.

Callum said: “I think that Alex Neil is a proven manager at Championship level and would be someone Albion fans would really be happy with, should he take the chance to come to The Hawthorns this time after turning us down many years ago when he was Preston North End manager.

“I remember there being links to him at Middlesbrough as well as Albion in the last few weeks and days, and it is giving me flashbacks to when he was at Preston when there was some concrete interest in him becoming Albion manager before he signed a new contract at Preston, so I don’t know whether that might be a similar scenario that’s going on here.

“If Mason did go, Neil’s definitely a decent manager at Championship level. The job he’s done at Millwall is really impressive, and he’s definitely a capable manager at Championship level, as I’ve said.

“I would be surprised though, despite Albion being a bigger club than Millwall, I would be surprised if he did make the decision to leave them for Albion because at this time, he’s probably got a better chance of getting into the play-offs with Millwall with the side he’s built than he would be at a chance of getting Albion in the play-offs.”

West Brom move for Alex Neil looks most unlikely

West Brom supporters have been deeply unhappy with Ryan Mason regarding a number of factors during his short tenure so far.

All have been justified too, with identity problems, pre-ordained substitutions and a lack of emphasis on front-footed football leaving supporters questioning whether a change already has to be made to save the season.

Of course, if the Baggies were to bring another man into The Hawthorns hotseat, they would likely look for someone with a lot more experience managing at this level, so you can understand why Neil would be in contention for the position if it was made available.

But there are signs the Albion hierarchy are set to stick with their decision and ride out the bad times with Mason if necessary.

Mason acknowledged before the Oxford game that he, with controlling shareholder Shilen Patel and President Andrew Nestor, have a "clear vision" for the club, and believe change will happen in time given the financial issues they’ve suffered after the departure of former owner Guochuan Lai.

Meanwhile, Neil is doing a superb job at Millwall and firmly has them in contention for the play-offs a third of the way through the campaign, so it’s difficult to see him leaving the club when they are on such a good trajectory.

The real question is whether Albion actually have the financial resources to pay off Mason and then buy out Neil from Millwall. The former Tottenham coach signed a three-year deal at The Hawthorns, while you can’t imagine the Lions would let their boss go on the cheap at this stage of the season.

Daniel Farke is a prime example at Norwich City, who delivered promotion to the Premier League at Carrow Road despite a rocky opening period to his spell in charge, so the Albion hierarchy may be looking at how that turned out and be willing to give Mason a lengthy amount of time to turn the club around.

Because of that, it appears a move for Neil looks most unlikely at this point in time.