Nestor set to leave West Brom role

Andrew Nestor is set to leave his role as West Bromwich Albion's president and sporting director following a series of failures during his almost two-year spell.

The impending departure follows tension behind the scenes, with last month's sacking of Ryan Mason as head coach coming just 14 days after an open letter written by American Nestor said the club needed to "apply patience in our planning to allow the playing and coaching staff to settle".

It is understood Nestor has not attended an Albion game since December but did recommend the appointment of Eric Ramsay as their new head coach, after the Minnesota United boss had been on his shortlist during the summer search that ultimately led to Mason's appointment.

However, it was chairman and owner Shilen Patel who appeared alongside Shrewsbury-born Ramsay to answer questions from the media last month.

Ex-Manchester United first-team coach Ramsay, 34, has only been in charge for three weeks, but he is without a win in his first four games - leaving the Baggies 21st in the Championship, just two points above the relegation zone.

Nestor was brought in by Patel shortly after his Bilkul WBA group completed their takeover in February 2024. The former Bologna director and Tampa Bay Rowdies president, chief executive and general manager was officially appointed sporting director in August that year. The title of president, in which he was responsible for all club functions, was added last September.

When Carlos Corberan left the club on Christmas Eve 2024, Nestor oversaw the recruitment process for the Spaniard's replacement. First-choice candidate Raphael Wicky was set to be appointed until it emerged that one of his backroom staff did not want to move to England and another could not obtain a visa, so the public deal for the Swiss head coach embarrassingly collapsed.

The club would eventually appoint former boss Tony Mowbray in February 2025. Nestor highlighted data that showed the 62-year-old had one of the best success rates for "individual player uplift and squad performance" in the Championship. However, Mowbray was sacked on Easter Monday after only 95 days following the club's failure to make the play-offs.

Data would again be cited for the appointment of former Tottenham assistant boss Mason in June, despite him having just 13 matches as an interim boss of Spurs on his CV. The gamble on a young rookie failed, with 10 away defeats in a row costing him his job in January, although it's believed Nestor was more reluctant to part company than others in the hierarchy.

With disagreements now being made public, his future at the club is untenable.

Nestor had the tough task of overseeing the overhaul of an ageing and well-paid squad that had achieved a play-off place in the 2023-24 campaign while also having to avoid breaching profit and sustainability rules. That was because Bilkul inherited a mess from the previous ownership, so he deserves credit for that, but there have also been clear flops in the transfer market.

Spending £3m on Danish midfielder Tammer Bany when finances are tight is the most glaring error. Nestor labelled him as "one of the most effective attacking players in Denmark", but he has spent more time on the treatment table than the pitch, with a combined 51 minutes of playing time across five substitute appearances. The free agent and loan markets have also not been used to great success.

As for managerial appointments, Nestor has overseen three processes in the space of 13 months, and if he did give the green light to the most recent appointment of Ramsay, the timing of it flies in the face of how he has previously described his approach to recruitment.

The Welshman's style of play does not match with the aspirations Nestor has spoken publicly about in the past and when I interviewed him last summer, he said he always plans two transfer windows ahead. On 1 January, when Mason was still in charge, a right wing-back definitely was not on their shopping list. The recruitment department has since scrambled to sign Danny Imray on loan from Crystal Palace to satisfy Ramsay's 3-4-3 system, which has so far produced poor results.

The Baggies are close to appointing a technical director, with former Liverpool analyst and current Maccabi Tel Aviv technical director Dominic Price being linked with the role. Someone with experience of English football is desperately needed because while Bilkul took over a sinking ship financially and have done a great job keeping it above water by continuing to provide significant funds, a series of poor footballing decisions have set them back more than a quarter of a century on the field.

Nestor has paid the price for his part in that, which will please a frustrated fanbase that had lost faith in him, but there is work to do to repair trust in the wider hierarchy. That can only start by avoiding an unthinkable, but very possible relegation to the third tier.