Richard Beale's West Brom 'honour' and caretaker time-frame

The Baggies head to Reading tomorrow as the post-Steve Bruce era begins with the club mired in the division's drop zone.

Under-21s boss Beale has been at the club since the summer of 2021. He was a long-term youth coach at Blues and also worked in Villa's academy as well as in senior football with Solihull Moors.

Beale revealed he thanked outgoing boss Bruce and his staff on Monday after news he would be taking the reins for the time being. Beale insisted he is in the dark when it comes to how long he will be in the caretaker role.

"There's been no mention of time-frames," he said. "I'm not a part of that process, it's ongoing. I've just been asked to help out in this short-term period. I've just been tasked to do until told otherwise. We'll get tomorrow out of the way and see where we are after that.

"Once a new manager is appointed I'll be going back to my old position, and I'm more than happy with that. I really enjoy developing young players. For however long this lasts, it's all about the points."

Given a quick turnaround to next Tuesday's home clash against Bristol City, Beale could well have the opportunity to lead Albion out at The Hawthorns.

"It's a big honour," Beale continued. "I'm a local lad and all my life all I've wanted to do is be involved in football. I also had a lot of time for the previous regime, and it's not always easy. They are good guys and I was really pleased to have the opportunity to speak to them before they left.

"I thanked them for how they'd been with me since they'd been at the club and I wished them well. They're all good guys.

"It's been very positive with the lads. Everything is geared towards Saturday. They've been brilliant with me, training has been sharp. They've been very responsive to some new ideas we've given to them, that's important when there's a fresh voice and fresh ideas, whenever there's a change in management."

Beale is assisted by club legends James Morrison, who is first-team coach, and Chris Brunt, who has undertaken a new responsibility as loans manager. Goalkeeper coach Gary Walsh is also part of the caretaker team.

"They're brilliant guys," added the under-21s boss. "We all get on really well. We are geared around helping this club first and foremost tomorrow, and then take it from there afterwards. Brunty and Mozza are great guys, lots of knowledge of the club, legends of the club

"Gary Walsh is helping as well, he's been here a long time. Between the four of us we've got lots of experience in all sorts of facets. We're really looking forward to it."

Beale revealed how his other stint as a senior caretaker, at Blues, was 'in the shadow' alongside joint-interim Malcolm Crosby, the City chief scout who was keen on the top job. That brief two-game spell included a difficult 8-0 home humbling by eventual champions Bournemouth.

Beale confirmed Grady Diangana and Brandon Thomas-Asante are fit and available for the trip to Reading after being withdrawn by former boss Bruce in the stalemate with Luton last week.

Darnell Furlong is also in contention after being left out of the last two fixtures. Reyes Cleary, 18, could be pushing for involvement given his superb run of goalscoring form for Beale's under-21s, including a hat-trick on Monday.