Ryan Mason tipped to transform £3m West Brom attacker to the "next level" | OneFootball

Albion announced their new head coaching appointment on Monday.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Ryan Mason has landed his first full-time role as a manager with West Bromwich Albion.

Tottenham Hotspur's former assistant coach had spells here and there in charge of their first-team, but only as an interim.

The 33-year-old former midfielder has been involved in coaching for a number of years now, despite his age, due to having to retire early as a result of a head injury he picked up playing for Hull City.

Because he has never had any extended period in charge of a men's team, speculation is building as to how West Brom will look next season with him at the helm.

Callum Burgess, Football League World's Baggies fan pundit, has picked out one area of the game that he think will be magnified as a result of Mason's appointment, and one player who could hugely benefit from that.

Mikey Johnston could thrive under Ryan Mason

Burgess expects the 33-year-old to put a real emphasis on chance creation from wide areas, which he believes will suit Mikey Johnston.

Celtic's former winger had an extremely impressive loan spell at The Hawthorns in the back half of the 2023/24 season. He was then bought by Albion for £3 million that summer, but struggled a bit to recreate this success after making the permanent switch from Glasgow to the Midlands.

The fan pundit can see Johnstone getting back to his best under Mason. "Even though he wasn't the manager of Tottenham, a lot of danger came from their wide players when he was on the coaching staff alongside Ange Postecoglou and various other managers at Spurs," Burgess said.

"With a lot of threat coming from the wings, I'd probably suggest that one of the beneficiaries may be a Mikey Johnston.

"We saw in his initial loan spell how good he can be, and, although his goalscoring and assist numbers weren't outstanding last season, I think he can continue to become better and better, because it's not like he was playing poorly last season either. He was still a threat whenever he got the ball and was one on one with a full-back.

"I think he can potentially get to the next level and get back to the heights that he was at in his initial loan spell, and hopefully get a productive season of goals and assists under Ryan Mason."

Ryan Mason's appointment brings risk for West Brom, but also upside

West Brom have taken a risk with Mason, someone without the experience of previous bosses like Carlos Corberan or Tony Mowbray. One big plus on his record is the fact that he has been part of Spurs' coaching staff for so long and through many iterations of it.

There is an emotional connection between the Europa League champions and him, of course, but, if he wasn't worthy of being a coach at that level, the north Londoners would have found an alternative. The Baggies will hope that his Premier League pedigree will stand him in good stead for his move to the Championship.