Chris Dunlavy

Chris Dunlavy: Listen, axed Ryan Mason needs to learn from West Brom flop

Ryan Mason was sacked because West Brom lost too many games and he struggled to implement a coherent style of play.

by
Chris Dunlavy
11 January 2026

Ryan Mason was sacked because West Brom lost too many games and he struggled to implement a coherent style of play.

But the 34-year-old also had a communication problem.
Like so many of today’s media-trained ex-pros, his first instinct is to be seen and not heard; to talk a lot and say nothing; to deploy the straight bat.
As a player, it serves a purpose. As a manager, it just irritates supporters.
Bond
Not everybody needs to have the cockney chumminess of Harry Redknapp or the bombast of Jose Mourinho, but you do need to show a bit of heart, passion and personality.
From the outset, he s...

Continue reading...

Access all our premium content from as little as 14p per day!

Already a subscriber to our website? Login

Read our latest news on any of these social networks!

Tackle the News

- Sign Up for our weekly Football League Newsletter Today!

Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.

Your subscription has been successful.

More in Chris Dunlavy

Chris Dunlavy: Slow start has put Preston in great peril

Chris Dunlavy examines Preston North End’s worrying start to the Championship season and asks whether their commitment to sustainability is finally becoming incompatible with life in the second tier.
LIONS SHOW THEY CAN DO IT WITHOUT AZEEZ

Chris Dunlavy A FRESH TAKE ON FOOTBALL TALISMAN: Femi Azeez THE most impressive aspect of Millwall’s flying start to the season isn’t the six points from two games, the away day stroll at Bristol City or the demolition of a highly-fancied Norwich City side. It’s the fact they’d done it...
Chris Dunlavy: Leicester City still plagued by sinking feeling!

Chris Dunlavy examines why Leicester City continue to hit new lows, with a crisis of confidence compounded by Russell Martin’s tactical approach.
CANNY NORTH END IN SMART MOVE TO CUT TIES

Chris Dunlavy A FRESH TAKE ON FOOTBALL OUT: Milutin Osmajic PRESTON have played an absolute blinder convincing Genoa to pay £2.5m for walking liability Milutin Osmajic. Whether it was biting Blackburn’s Owen Beck, racially abusing Burnley’s Hannibal Mejbri or headbutting Hull’s John Lundstram, the 27-year-old Montenegren was rarely far from...