Jamie Redknapp suggests West Brom should stick with Alan Pardew

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West Bromwich Albion appear to flying towards relegation out of the Premier League.

Jamie Redknapp has hinted to the Daily Mail that West Brom should stick with Alan Pardew even if they are relegated from the Premier League this season as they will struggle to find a better manager.

The situation at The Hawthorns appears to be worse than desperate right now for the Baggies. Saturday’s 4-1 defeat to Leicester City leaves West Brom eight points off safety with eight games to go, and they go into those fixtures having lost all of their last seven.

Pardew’s future has been a talking point amongst the fans for the last few weeks and, judging by comments that he made to BBC Sport after the loss to the Foxes, it appears that he is somewhat resigned to the possibility that he may soon be out of a job.

But Redknapp believes that West Brom’s problems started before Pardew arrived and insisted that they should look to keep him at the club beyond the summer even if they are relegated.

“Alan Pardew is bearing the brunt of the criticism for West Brom’s disastrous campaign. The truth is any manager would have struggled,” he told the Mail. “The rot set in a year ago. Since last March, West Brom have won three of their 39 Premier League games.

“With an average age of 29, West Brom’s team is one of the oldest in the division, with a chronic lack of pace. They look like the slowest team in the league. It may take relegation to build a younger, quicker team. West Brom could sack Pardew but they will find it hard to get a better manager in the Championship.”

It is unlikely that many West Brom fans will agree with the comments as Pardew has provided little indication that suggests that he is going to be the man to turn their fortunes around at any stage.

And Redknapp suggesting that they could struggle to get a better man in is arguably an insult to the cluster of excellent managers currently plying their trade in the Championship and below who would relish the chance to work with a squad as decent as the one that Pardew currently has.

The likes of Chris Wilder and Lee Johnson deserve enormous credit for the work that they have done at Sheffield United and Bristol City respectively, and they would arguably be names who could find the job tempting.

So while Redknapp may feel that Pardew has the experience that will help West Brom bounce straight back, the large majority of the fans would surely prefer to see a line drawn under this season and a new chapter begin – with a new manager at the helm.