Sam Allardyce: West Brom plans being made

The Baggies have improved significantly in their last two outings, games that should have seen them beat both Manchester United and Burnley.

But they still face a mammoth task if they to secure Premier League survival with the team currently sitting 19th in the table, 11 points from safety.

And Allardyce says in their current position, it’s right for the board to start formulating plans for whether they are in the Premier League or Championship next season.

“The planning has started, but not with me yet player wise,” the 66-year-old said.

“It’s at the top end of the club, they need to start budgeting for the Premier League and for the Championship and what that looks like.

“That’s very important at this stage.

“You have to forward plan so when the final game is played, you know exactly what the budget is going to be moving forwards.

“Only then can that plan, in terms of players, be implemented.”

Asked when he will enter the talks regarding the club’s future, Allardyce said: “Hopefully, I’m sat here planning for next season in the Premier League.

“That’s going to be a real difficult challenge. But it’s still my hope and desire to be sat here and saying: ‘wow, how did we do that?’

“It’d be great if we could do that, I’ve done a few of those where I’ve got up the next morning and wondered just how did we get out of trouble.”

Allardyce has previously defied the odds to keep the likes of Bolton, Crystal Palace and Sunderland in the Premier League.

But he admits Albion is the toughest job he has taken on – with the 66-year-old particularly disappointed his side didn’t beat Fulham and Sheffield United last month.

“It’s harder now because we’ve thrown too many points away,” Allardyce added.

“Our points-per-game target has shot up massively because we failed at getting more points off Fulham and Sheffield United.

“That had to be a four-point minimum, that is what I set the players.”