Report: Alan Pardew’s West Brom deal includes summer break clause

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West Bromwich Albion manager Alan Pardew appears to be hanging onto his job by a thread.

According to a report from the Daily Mail, there is an end of season break clause in Alan Pardew’s contract at West Brom that would enable the Baggies hierarchy to pay substantially less to part company with the manager in the summer.

The Mail reports that Pardew signed a contract until 2020 when he took over from Tony Pulis. But it certainly appears that the one thing that West Brom fans can guarantee is that the 56-year-old is not going to see out the duration of his deal at The Hawthorns.

The Baggies appear destined for the Championship after a 4-1 thrashing at home to Leicester City at the weekend left Pardew’s men eight points off Premier League survival with only eight games to go.

West Brom now go into the international break off the back of a run of seven defeats in a row in all competitions, and the writing appears to be on the wall for Pardew’s chances of keeping his job.

But perhaps it would not be a surprise if the club decide to wait until the summer to make a change, if they do decide to make one, with relegation almost a formality at this stage.

That is because the Mail reports that Pardew’s contract does include that break clause for the end of the campaign, so perhaps the Baggies hierarchy may feel that as they are going down anyway, they may as well try and save themselves some money and wait until the summer to make an official change.

But with relegation looking inevitable now, the Baggies board would surely be wise – if they are planning to make a change – to start making some plans behind the scenes now to give themselves the best chance of coming back up at the first attempt.