Bristol City's Championship rivals hire Tottenham coach as new boss after end-of-season exit | Bristol Live

There's a new face in the Championship with West Brom turning to a Tottenham coach as their new boss

Bristol City's Championship rivals West Brom have hired Ryan Mason as their new head coach, more than a month after Tony Mowbray departed The Hawthorns.

Albion made the decision to part ways with Mowbray in April, just three months after he was named as Carlos Corberan's successor following the Spaniard's move to Valencia. The 41-year-old had put the Baggies in position to finish in the play-off places for the second successive season, but Mowbray was unable to continue that good vein of form.

Following the Baggies' Easter Monday defeat to relegation-threatened Derby County, a loss that all but ended Albion's top six hopes, the club confirmed Mowbray would be departing the West Midlands club with James Morrison taking interim charge of the final two games of the campaign.

West Brom managed to pick up four points from those last two matches but that ultimately saw them finish ninth in the table, four points adrift of the Robins and the play-off places.

Now, the Baggies have confirmed that Mason will be the man to take over the reins at The Hawthorns ahead of the 2025/26 season. The 33-year-old has been part of the coaching set-up at Tottenham for the last seven years after he was forced into early retirement during his playing career by a fractured skull sustained whilst playing for Hull City against Chelsea.

On two separate occasions, Mason has taken interim charge at Spurs, stepping into the dugout following Jose Mourinho's departure in 2021 and doing the same following Antonio Conte's exit in 2023. Following the appointment of Ange Postecoglou, the former Tottenham player remained as part of the first-team coaching staff meaning his role at The Hawthorns will be his first as a permanent head coach.

Mason will be assisted by Nigel Gibbs and Sam Pooley as well as the coaching staff already in place at The Hawthorns with the intended purpose of the appointment to bring a clear identity across the entirety of the football club.

Discussing the appointment, Albion chairman Shilen Patel said: "We are delighted to welcome Ryan to The Hawthorns as our new head coach, along with Nigel and Sam.

"We have undertaken a thoughtful and expansive search and Ryan always stood out to us among an incredibly strong group of candidates. We are excited to have someone whose skillset means he has the aptitude to help us further establish elite standards in both preparation and player development for the first team and across all our team programmes.

"His experiences as both a first-team player and coach under some of the game’s most respected minds, along with his time leading academy sides, will be instrumental as we shape a clear philosophy and unified identity at all levels at the Albion."

City will again face West Brom next season having tasted defeat in the play-offs against Sheffield United this term. It is unclear who will be in the Reds' dugout for that fixture with Liam Manning closing in on a move to Norwich City.

The dates for the Robins' meetings with Albion will be made clear when the 2025/26 fixtures are released on June 26.