West Brom sack head coach Ramsay after nine games

West Bromwich Albion have sacked head coach Eric Ramsay after only nine games in charge, with the club just one point above the Championship relegation zone.

The 34-year-old was appointed on a two-and-a-half-year deal on 11 January following the departure of Ryan Mason.

Former Manchester United coach Ramsay took over with Albion 18th in the table, seven points clear of the bottom three.

But the Baggies failed to win under him and Tuesday's 1-1 home draw with Charlton proved to be his last match.

A club statement said: "West Bromwich Albion have parted company with men's first team head coach Eric Ramsay. Assistant head coach Dennis Lawrence has also departed The Hawthorns.

"First-team coach James Morrison will oversee first-team affairs on an interim basis."

Ramsay joined West Brom following a spell in Major League Soccer with Minnesota United, who he led to back-to-back Conference play-off semi-finals.

Prior to his move to the United States, the Shrewsbury-born Welshman was a first-team coach at Manchester United under Erik ten Hag and took on an assistant coach role with the Wales men's team.

However, his time at The Hawthorns began with 3-2 loss to Middlesbrough before a 5-0 thrashing by Norwich - the club's biggest-ever home defeat outside the top flight.

Albion rescued a late point from a 1-1 draw at Derby to stop the rot and also picked up points from goalless draws against Stoke and Birmingham.

However, they were well beaten by fellow strugglers Portsmouth and knocked out of the FA Cup by the Canaries before Saturday's defeat by leaders Coventry.

Following the draw against Charlton, the only one in which the team took the lead under Ramsay, he told BBC WM: "The question around my job and the future is never one I can ever answer or attempt to answer.

"I can only do what I can do over the course of a day and put my head on the pillow at night feeling I've turned over every stone.

"I'm not saying I'm blameless - I can only feel I've controlled what I can control."

His departure leaves Albion looking for their fourth head coach in 14 months since Carlos Corberan's departure to Valencia, with Tony Mowbray sacked before the end of last season.

Steve Hermon, West Brom commentator for BBC Radio WM

Eric Ramsay's reign was nothing short of disastrous. His tenure lasted just 44 days, which happens to be the same as Brian Clough's infamous spell at Leeds United in 1974.

That featured in a movie about the legendary manager's life, The Damned United, and it had elements of comedy, but if the Welsh head coach's stay at The Hawthorns were to be made into a film, the genre would have to be horror.

The 34-year-old leaves with a litany of unwanted records.

It is the shortest reign of any permanent Baggies boss in their history, he oversaw their heaviest home defeat in the second tier as they were hammered 5-0 by Norwich City, and his win percentage is 0%.

Taking just four points - courtesy of four draws - in his eight league games has dropped the club deep into a relegation battle.

Ramsay refused to say it, but he knew that Tuesday night's game with Charlton Athletic was a must-win.

He told me in his interview after the 1-1 draw that it wasn't good enough and that "what will be, will be", as if knowing what was to come just minutes later.

The former Minnesota United boss and his assistant, Dennis Lawrence, were summoned into a boardroom meeting with chairman Shilen Patel after his media duties were complete, and the axe fell.

The Welshman accepted in his final interview with me that he was "not blameless", and while he is no doubt a clever man, switching immediately to a 3-4-3 formation with players not equipped to play that way was not a smart move.

He promptly ditched it after another loss to Portsmouth.

Questions must also be asked of the players, whose failure to take chances has led to a second sacking of the season, and the third in less than a year, but the hierarchy must also provide answers to the fans.

Their naive decision to give the job to a second young head coach in a row has put the club at risk of an unthinkable drop into the third tier for only the second time in their history.

But there won't be time to analyse a host of mistakes now.

James Morrison begins a third spell in interim charge in the space of less than 11 months.

The former midfielder is unbeaten in the three games he's overseen and said, in his own words after the Swansea City FA Cup victory just hours before Ramsay's arrival six weeks ago, West Brom is "in his DNA".

With 12 games to go, he will do all he can to keep the club he loves in the Championship.

Meanwhile, back at boardroom level, and just days before the second anniversary of his takeover of the club, Patel will begin the search for his fourth head coach.