"Michael Appleton is emerging as a serious contender to take over at West Bromwich Albion in the summer, as the club prepare for likely relegation to the Championship. With Alan Pardew expected to leave at the end of Albion's troubled season, the club are already targeting potential replacements and Appleton is understood to be high on the list. The Leicester assistant manager is highly admired by Mark Jenkins, the West Brom chief executive who will be leading the club's reboot in the summer, and fits the profile for their next head coach. Appleton is a former Albion player and coach, establishing a fine reputation working alongside first Roberto di Matteo and then Roy Hodgson. He also has managerial experience after spells with Portsmouth, Blackpool , Blackburn and, most recently, Oxford United. The 42-year-old left Oxford last summer to work under Craig Shakespeare at Leicester and is now joint assistant manager in Claude Puel's backroom staff, following Shakespeare's dismissal in October. West Brom are believed to have identified Appleton as one of the leading candidates to take charge at the Hawthorns, as part of a huge rebuilding job in the summer. Modern heroes: Who has done most for your club in the last 20 years? Pardew's position is thought to be safe for the remainder of the season, despite an alarming run of just one league win from 16 games. But Albion anticipate major surgery ahead of next season with a number of players also expected to leave. Pardew takes his team to Bournemouth on Saturday eight points adrift of safety, revealing that he has fined on-loan midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak. The Paris St-Germain star clashed with Pardew last weekend after he was substituted during the 4-1 home defeat to Leicester. Pardew said: ""Grzegorz came and apologised to me on Tuesday, and to my staff, which is unusual to be honest. ""I said sometimes an apology isn't quite enough, so I fined him and also said I don't ever want to see it again. The selection of the player won't be influenced after that. I told him how disappointed I was, fined him and we moved on. ""I actually really like him as a person and as a footballer and I was surprised at his action. I said, 'You need to see the start of the second half and if you see yourself you might have subbed yourself'. He had a little chuckle."""
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