The former Newcastle and Crystal Palace boss is in pole position to replace Tony Pulis after undergoing an interview this week, although his arrival is yet to be rubber-stamped.

Albion's hiring panel includes chairman John Williams, long-standing director Richard Garlick, and Nick Hammond, who Pardew worked with at Reading.

Hammond made dozens of calls during the first phase of the process to check on availability and eagerness to join, and Pardew emerged as a likely candidate when he expressed a desire to join the Baggies.

Albion's board have also highlighted the need for Premier League experience in their search.

Stand-in boss Gary Megson will take charge of the team at Wembley today, when the Baggies visit Tottenham.

But the club are hoping to have their new man in place for the home game against Pardew's old club Newcastle on Tuesday.

Should discussions fall through over the weekend, Megson is happy to take the reins for as long as necessary. He is managing a game today for the first time since 2012.

“In order to get the right person in the club’s eyes it takes time to go through the process,” said Megson. “They need to make sure what they do is the right thing for the club.

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"The departure of Tony (Pulis) wasn’t something that was planned.

“It puts everyone on the back foot for a while, ourselves included at the training ground.

“Is it something that needs to be done very quickly? It’s not. The important thing is to get the right person.”

Albion are hoping to finalise their plans over the weekend ahead of a crucial three-match burst against Newcastle, Palace, and Swansea.

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Megson has not thrown his hat into the ring for the job and insists today’s game with Spurs is not an audition for his own triumphant return to the Baggies hot-seat.

But he is happy to keep going for as long as he’s asked, and has been treating his interim role as if he was manager.

On Tuesday, he banished assistant head coach Ben Garner from the training ground in order to ‘lift the mood’.

Pardew inherited Garner as his first team coach at Palace in 2015, but Garner left the club in July that year when Pardew offered him a lesser role which involved linking the academy to the first team.