Nigel Gibbs and Sam Pooley – who are coaching duo brought to West Brom by Ryan Mason?
New Albion head coach has selected a blend of youth and experience with his backroom coaching team at The Hawthorns.
The former Tottenham No.2 has been appointed for his first permanent head coach role by the Baggies, who handed the 33-year-old a three-year contract.
Mason, who is owners Bilkul’s second head coach appointment after Tony Mowbray, brings with him two trusted lieutenants to Albion.
Experienced coach Nigel Gibbs and burgeoning backroom staff member Sam Pooley – who has a strong backroom in medical and fitness work – will join Mason in a new era at The Hawthorns.
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The duo complete Mason’s coaching staff for the Baggies ahead of the 2025/26 campaign – with existing coaching members remaining in post.
Those are James Morrison, who was first-team coach and ended last season in caretaker charge, statistical analyst Damia Abella who arrived in Carlos Corberan’s tenure, and goalkeeper coach Boaz Myhill, who like Morrison was promoted from an academy role under Mowbray.
New arrivals Gibbs and Pooley will be less familiar names to the Baggies faithful. Both previously worked alongside Mason in north London.
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Gibbs has been unveiled as Mason’s assistant head coach and Pooley comes in as first-team coach and head of performance.
The former, 59, is a vastly experienced coach having enjoyed a playing career as right-back at Watford as a one-club man for almost two decades from 1983 until 2002. He has held brief interim spells in charge of both the Hornets, in 2005, and Leeds United in 2014.
Having hung up his boots in 2002 he spent time coaching in Watford’s youth and reserve teams until he gained his UEFA Pro Licence. From there Gibbs joined Reading, initially as youth boss in 2006 before becoming assistant manager in 2009.
He assisted Brian McDermott at both Reading and Leeds. Together Gibbs and McDermott won promotion to the Premier League as champions with the Royals in 2011/12.
Former England youth international Gibbs spent a couple of years as first-team coach at Millwall from 2014 before he switched to Spurs as under-19s coach in 2016.
He had brief spells at Swansea, Reading and Portsmouth before returning to Spurs in July 2019 as head of player development from under-17s to under-23s, a role Mason previously served. Gibbs and Chris Powell assisted Mason in his spell in interim charge.
A short stint in Greece with Asteras Tripolis under ex-Swansea colleague Claude Makelele followed last September, before he checked into League One Reading under Noel Hunt in the first-team coaching set-up in December and helped the Berkshire outfit finish the season strongly.
Meanwhile, 35-year-old Pooley joins the Baggies via less-travelled route having previously worked at Spurs and most recently at Rangers.
He joined the Scottish giants in January this year, calling to an end 11 years working at Spurs, who he initially joined as an academy sports science intern in 2014.
Having landed a full-time role, Pooley was then promoted to first team sports scientist in 2019 before a head of sports science role two years later.
He was headhunted by former Gers boss Philippe Clement for a key backroom role as head of performance earlier this year, but the Belgian was dismissed from Ibrox barely a month later.
Pooley, who is from the capital, started his career at AFC Wimbledon. He qualified from Kingston University with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Muscle Damage and Recovery in Football award and First Class (Hons) Bachelor of Science (BSc) Sport Science with Business degree.
Albion sporting director Andrew Nestor said of the trio’s arrival: “The appointments of Ryan, Nigel, and Sam further strengthen the work that has been undertaken in advancing our sporting structures.
“This began last summer with the reinforcement of our scouting and operations set-ups, and has since continued through to performance, sports science and analytics, with the principle aim of creating a cohesive unit to deliver sustainable competitiveness for the club.”
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