'The Road Less Travelled'. The Ryan Mason Story.

"Nothing’s going to faze me".

At every playing level we enter a football match, anticipating a tough encounter, but not an encounter with death..

Yet, shortly after making his full debut for England and securing a record, 13 Million Pound transfer to Hull City, the only positive result facing 26 year old Ryan Mason was staying alive..

Defeat meant disability or even death..

But Ryan Mason is not your average 33 year old man, 'the road less traveled' could perfectly encapsulate the new Baggies boss, who will be eleven months younger than the current club captain he’ll be inheriting at The Albion, Kyle Bartley.

Age is a merely a barometer of time.

It’s .what you do in that time that truly defines you..

In Ryan Mason’s young life, there's been experiences few can imagine, those have been endured and overcome..

Experiences never leave you.

Spiritually or physically.

Physically, Mason carries with him the scars of that fearful head injury..

14 metal plates in his skull.

28 screws holding those plates in place..

Spiritually Ryan faced his own death.

This experience would change his life forever, in Mason’s words,

"Being unresponsive in the hospital, I had an outer body experience.."

"I had this vision, looking down on myself, with my wife and two children.’

I guess, in the moment that I died, this was my body's way of saying, this is what you value THE MOST"

To see LIFE and DEATH with such clarity in one moment, forever formed Mason’s mindset and inner determination.

Ryan at the time was single, he was in a serious relationship, but the family angle had yet to happen..

From this out of body experience, being fazed is now always a thing of the past, Mason's rationale,

“I’m ready and prepared for anything”.

And at the start of this seventh week since Tony Mowbray left ‘The Albion’, it seems after all, the Bilkul Group only had one candidate CLEARLY in mind, in taking over the reins at this crucial juncture for The Albion?

The bookies certainly agreed, Mason was favorite for the post from Day 1, and when are they ever wrong?

The growing and perceptive argument of football being a ‘young mans’ game’, extends ever more seamlessly to coaching.

With Ryan Mason signing a 3 Year Contract for The Albion, at just 33 years old, but his is a life rich with the full range of experiences, that could only create a compelling character of undoubted humility and values.

After all, football is only a game, until it possibly disables or causes the ultimate failure in that final fitness test of life..

Ryan Mason was born in Enfield in June 1991, a stone's throw away from Tottenham.

3 Miles..

A fiver on the tube now, back then less than a quid.

Spurs was always in Ryan’s blood, a lifelong connection that only exemplifies why this decision to leave the club he loves and been attached to for almost 75% of his life, is one that is bound to pull at the heart strings far more than most..

As a young lad, Mason played football, breakfast, noon and night, on the cusp of the pre mobile phone days, that golden age of being a kid, running home from school and kicking a ball about in the garden..

The healthiest of addictions, it was never a hobby, as Mason describes it..

Ryan must have had natural talent, as just after joining his first local team, Spurs legend and fellow smooth operator in midfield, Micky Hazard was scouting at a local summer school and spotted the 8 yr old, Mason.

The football jersey had changed, but not the purest love of the game.

From East Herts FC to Tottenham Hotspur was a huge leap,

"but it was still all about playing football with my mates".

From Nightleys Playing Fields to age group North London derbies, it was still all about the essence of fun of the game with friends.

And what a crop of youngsters it was?

Andros Townsend was Ryan’s age, and two younger lads played in the Spurs Academy as well.

Steven Caulker.

And a younger but taller lad who was a Gooner fan.

His name?

Harry Kane..

You may have heard of him?

Incredibly, fifteen years later, the four of them were playing for the full England team v Italy at Wembley.

This was to be Mason’s one and only England cap, but the photo of the quartet of kids from Spurs who were destined to make it to the very top is still cherished by Mason.

Loyalty is a huge part of Mason's DNA, and all were also at Mason's wedding to his beloved partner, Rachel.

No doubt Mason’s adherence to the possibilities of developing a solid core of home grown players and the values of the Albion Academy will be something Andrew Nestor will be looking for him to build on?

Mason reflects on his own age group team being seen as less talented than a much heralded older age team at the time at Spurs, but the difference between the success of the two teams was how hungry his group were to achieve their aims and dreams.

To this day, Ryan sees the roles of his Academy coaches, in particular, Alex Ingelthorpe as key to the formation of his own methodology and set of values, "He made me feel a certain way, gave me belief and confidence".

Ingelthorpe's own career has of course risen wonderfully, spending thirteen years at Liverpool and has risen to the role of Academy Director..

Not a bad contact to have, come the first season as Albion Coach, for Mason to tap into?

Motivation is everything, and no doubt being the product of such a successful football academy at Spurs, and fully seeing the values, will hopefully create opportunity for The Albion's much vaunted and hard working age group coaches and the players under their guidance, to see a future with The Albion?

Making a debut for any club as a teenager from an academy can often be centred on the fine balance between technique, ability and physique.

Simply put, some academy players mature physically more quickly than others, and if that is the case, patience is indeed a virtue.

For Mason, it was a long road to his Spurs League debut.

In Europe, as a 17 year old, in the UEFA Cup away to Dutch club, NEC, Ryan made a cameo appearance as substitute, in a season he truly thrived, scoring 29 goals for the Spurs Academy team, but the full Spurs debut was a long way away, the club coaches protecting rather than over exposing their young asset too early.

Five years is a long time in a 17 year old’s life, but that was the long term view of Mason’s academy coach, who forecast a League debut for Ryan when he'd be 22 years old.

The later teenage years for Mason were therefore to be found in the character building netherworld of lower division loan periods both in Europe and in England..

The first of his many ports of call was to League One, Yeovil Town, following the successful loan period the previous season of the returning Andros Towsend.

It takes a character to know a character and it's hard to find two bigger personalities in 2009 than Harry Redknapp and YTFC boss, Terry Skiverton, and this annual loanee deal exodus from White Hart Lane, became deliciously titled, ‘The Spur of the Moment’.

Donning the No 13 shirt, Mason did well at Yeovil, scoring six in twenty eight games, before Redknapp took Ryan back to Spurs two months early.

At the start of the 2010/11 season, after partaking in the Spurs pre-season tour to the US, Mason was loaned to Doncaster Rovers in a spell that was ultimately unsuccessful and caused him to have periods of self doubt about his future in the game.

It was actually to be three separate loan spells in one and a half seasons of Championship football, the first season The Rovers finished bottom and relegated conceding 80 goals in the process.

Mason’s appearances were fleeting and unspectacular, playing on nineteen occasions and failing to score.

Despite the doubts flooding through his head of ever making it at Spurs, particularly after sitting on the ‘Donny’ bench, the club still kept faith in signing Mason to a new two year contract, and after his third less than successful loan spell with Rovers the following season, Harry Redknapp had another plan for Ryan.

It involved a very different destination, and a very different Harry.

In December 2012, Kane and Mason signed for Millwall for the rest of the season, the Lions manager, Kenny Jackett, lauding the creative talent and experience of the 20 yr old Mason, and the goal scoring threat of the teenage phenom, Kane, who was being kept out of the Spurs side then by top scorer of that Spurs season, Emmanual Adebayor.

Although Kane was two years younger than Mason, physically he was much more ready to fit into the Millwall team, and duly thrived, voted their Young Player of the Season, scoring a goal every other game in the last fourteen matches for The Lions.

For Mason, it was to be a mere five Millwall appearances, more introspection, but the long term dream to be a Spur would never die....

In life, the future can surprise, and who would believe just over a decade later, as Interim Spurs Manager, Ryan Mason was fielding questions about the feasibility of the club erecting a statue for his younger Spurs loanee from their time at Millwall, Harry Kane, outside the stunning new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium?

For one thing, Mason’s life has hardly been a smooth, predictable or easy passage?

Redknapp was replaced by Andre Villas-Boas, who gave Mason a second UEFA Cup appearance v Lazio and also a League Cup start, but it was back to scoring a goal a game for the Under 21 Team, until just after newly appointed Spurs boss Tim Sherwood, [who turned down West Brom’s overtures to become boss a year later], loaned Mason in Dec 2013 to Ligue 1 club Lorient.

One of the recurring themes in Mason’s life is seeing obstacles not as insurmountable but as an opportunity to be faced head on.

The experience of not playing in his first fortnight in France, became an easy option of a 'get out of jail' card, 

“You can go back to Tottenham if you want?”,

This was the open invitation of Lorient coach Christian Gourduff, who confessed he had no say in the signing of Mason in the first place!

Mason saw a return to Spurs as an admittance of failure, and so decided there and then, this was to be a life experience of living overseas alone, learning a language, and not bowing to the pressure, as it would be,

“Embarrassing to go back”

Mason’s long term view was this would set him in good stead for the following pre-season, but little did he know, his inner determination and unwavering focus would set the stall for a much bigger personal, physical and emotional battle, just three years later.

The final loan spell for Mason would be 2013/14, and was part of a quartet of Spurs players going to Swindon Town, including a Baggies loanee to be, just three years later, Alex Pritchard.

Again, for Mason, the light didn’t appear to be at the end of the tunnel, playing just fifteen games for The Robins in 2013/14 Season, but a new manager was to take over at Spurs.

An appointment that was to change his career arc and his life forever.

Mauricio Pochettino had only been at Spurs for a matter of weeks, and it took a chance conversation that gave Mason increased hope for the future.

The Spurs pre-season again centered around a US Tour, and chatting in the departure lounge with Poch, spiraled into an understanding that this,

“Might be my chance!"

"We clicked right away, we had a connection that I’d never had in football before.”

When Mason was asked about the Poch’s main quality, the keyword he uses is “Trust”.

That ‘trust’ was put to the test a few months later, a 3rd Rd League Cup tie, and Spurs were losing to the then Championship side Nottingham Forest.

The dream of an impact from those pair of 'Millwall loanees, now back at Spurs, Mason and Kane, was not shared by the Tottenham faithful who in Ryan’s words, audibly ‘groaned’ at their introduction as substitutes that night.

Poch’s optimism over the fans' pessimism was rewarded.

Mason scoring first and Kane later in a 3-1 Spurs victory.

This win was the prelude to a run to the League Cup Final and Poch’s faith in his young guns was further seen with selecting Mason to start his first ever Premier League game, three days later against their North London foe, Arsenal..

[I’m hoping in time, younger players at the Albion get the same motivation to impress their new boss, as Mason did prior to his debut?]

The trust and belief Poch had instilled in his young prodigy created an unbreakable desire in Mason,

 “Not to let Poch down, and do anything to prove him right..”

It was to prove to be an incredible ascent for the player who recently couldn’t even get a game with his French club, to an unbroken run of eighteen games, a League Cup Final appearance in March v Chelsea and his first England Cap, a month later v Italy at Wembley, [ the West Brom connection being clear as Mason was selected by the new England boss, Roy Hodgson.]

In many ways this was the peak of Mason’s playing career, although at the start of the following season, an impressive opening half dozen games, led to a frustrating series of injuries with a higher emphasis of stop rather than start, in an archetypal stop/start season.

One player's absence is another player's opportunity and this was the season of Spurs title race v Leicester City and with Mousa Dembele thriving in Ryan’s central midfield position, again patience would have to be key, but at 25 years old, how long can you actually afford to wait?

By the start of 2016/17, it was obvious to Mason, his seventeen year association to Spurs had to come to an end, and after considering several offers, the main attraction of being a record transfer and having a much bigger role at his new club, Hull City appealed most to Ryan.

Mason’s first impression with The Tigers was he had to quickly adapt from the possession friendly days of life at Spurs to the more pragmatic playing style at Hull, where fans expectations for a player who cost 13 Million were very high..

Mason’s coach at Hull was originally Mike Phelan, [taking over from Steve Bruce], whose football, Mason described as cautious and conservative, seriously compromising his playing strengths..

It wasn’t until the far more forward thinking and progressive approach of Marco Silva, who took over in January 2017, did Ryan find his true form,

"I played my best four games for Hull under Silva, his style suited mine.."

But it was to be a mirage in a tragic and ultimately doomed transfer….

The next game was away to Chelsea, the fixture that changed Mason’s life forever..

Any game in direct opposition to N’Golo Kante was guaranteed to be a physical battle, but nothing could prepare anyone for what happened in the 20th Minute, defending a Chelsea corner, [and what made the situation even more traumatic, Mason’s parents were in the crowd that day].

The amazing thing is that for someone who experienced such a traumatic head injury, the clarity of Mason’s memories of such a fateful event are precise, and when asked if he’d do the same again, risk the injury to defend the corner, Ryan unfalteringly replies in the affirmative..

As the corner came in, Mason flicks the ball away, at the exact moment Chelsea defender Gary Cahill impacts Ryan’s head full on.

I watched the game live on television in the US, and instantly it was one of those incidents that, although accidental, was bound to have horrific repercussions.

You simply feared for the player, but the reality was even worse..

Mason describes the pain as unbearable and was fully aware of voices around him and also an inner sense of fear of his own future, 

“I’d be lying if I wasn’t scared”.

Many people had parts in saving Ryan’s life, maybe none more so than Hull’s Club Doctor, Mark Waller.

One side of Mason’s face was in a state of paralysis, the need for the very best care was beyond urgent, and Dr. Waller insisted an ambulance to take the longer journey to St.Marys Hospital where head injuries such as this would be better looked after, particularly as this was a case of life or death.

In actual fact, there were two hospitals closer to Stamford Bridge than St.Marys, but Dr.Waller trusting his instinct to get the best available help, in many ways made a decision that saved Ryan's life.

In the ambulance for that journey was Ryan’s dad, obviously devastated at the sight of his stricken son, but his guttural message, “You’re a strong boy”, fueled Mason with energy to fight with every sinew for this battle ahead.

So much of Mason’s values come from his solid family background, it’s a theme repeated in his role as son, husband and now a father of three.

In just over an hour, Ryan was being operated on, a procedure that saved if not his life, but for sure, the quality of his life.

The culmination of this terrible clash of heads was 50 staples in Ryan’s head, 14 plates in the skull being kept in place by 28 screws.

For much of the first few days, a searing pain would be mixed with sleeping or sedation for 22 hours a day; a tube draining excess blood at the back of Mason’s head, after his skull was drilled, [something he wasn’t even aware of], and his sense of vulnerability, seeing the reaction of family members who burst out crying at the sight of their stricken relation lying in bed is the one that resonated the most, as well as the ignominy of being spoon fed for the first ten days of his hospital stay.

At such times, those things we take for granted are the ones we often miss the most?

An almost three month wait to drink a glass of orange juice by hand for the first time was an occasion deemed worth filming by his wife to be, Rachel.

To walk again?

To have a sense of physical balance?

Gone?

In the past.

For now....

But even in his darkest of days, Ryan still believed, a compulsion for betterment that is compulsive and compelling and will radiate so much positivity to The Albion in the future under his charge.

And things did gradually improve, up to the point of the target date of Sept 2017, when the next set of scans would reveal all.

Physically, Mason was not beaten, relying on an inner determination and muscle memory being the perceived path to recovery and in Ryan’s own words, pre-scan,

 “I felt stronger than ever before”..

But X Rays reveal all.

There were still many large gaps in Ryan’s skull yet to heal and clearly presented a physical risk that no one would be willing to take.

A further six month window brought an ever more determined Mason, the man refused to be beaten, to the extent of regular sessions in an oxygen chamber to create enhanced bone healing through reduced oxygen to the body, as the correlations suggest.

But the next scan became a scan too far, supplemented even further by an extra brain scan that clearly showed an element of damage and huge possibilities of the onset of early age dementia, if Mason decided to take the risk of playing again.

The risk possibility of dementia was 45 to 50%.

For a young husband, and soon to be dad, roles in life, far more important than being a player, it was a diagnosis you simply had to adhere to.

When asked about his initial reaction to retirement from playing at just 26 years old, Mason reflects no regrets, his mind and spirit were satisfied by the belief during his playing days, 

“I couldn’t do any more.”

In time though, even for a person of Mason’s positivity, the emotion of having the thing he loves most taken away, became understandably, harder to accept,

"It was like my whole life had been taken away from me”.

For such a driven person, new obsessions took over, learning to play the piano, a desire to be the best golfer he could possibly be and the birth of his first child, certainly filled the hours, but not the hole in his life that not being part of football had took away…

In just two months from his retirement, Mason was back at Spurs, in his first role as Youth Team coach, and worked quickly through the ranks to being Head of Playing Development, aged just 29 years old.

Ryan actually coached the first game at the new Tottenham Stadium, a 2-0 win for the U18 team, but it was also a win for Mason who declared,

" It was an amazing feeling, a different but similar buzz to playing."

The Spurs coach at the time was Jose Mourinho, who Ryan describes as someone who in his eyes, ‘Commanded respect, having this aura, arrogance and energy..’

The meeting of two egos in Daniel Levy and ‘The Chosen One’ was always tempestuous, and reached a climactic conclusion when Levy sacked Mourinho, just five days before the 2021 Carabao Cup Final, and one day before Spurs were due to play Southampton in the league.

After dismissing Mourinho, Levy phoned Mason and asked him to take over first team duties, thus Ryan became the youngest ever EPL and Carabao Cup Final Manager, all in his first five days of management..

When asked by Levy, Ryan’s immediate and confident response, words he truly still believes were,

‘I’m ready”.

Mason believed he’d done ‘the hard yards’, of three and a half years of coaching, albeit, age group football, and age certainly came into this new scenario.

Mason was not only younger than many of the players he was now in charge of, as well as several being ex team-mates and even very close friends.

Roles change and define who you are.

Mason’s first telling observations were the Spurs players were low on confidence and were lacking the fitness required at this level of football, and his initial team talk, involved that inevitable ‘t’ word..

‘Trust’

“My only demand was 100%, all in..

Trust me to give the team structure”

First impressions and first games are imperative..

At half time of his first game in charge, Spurs were losing to Southampton 1-0, a scenario to win a game from a halftime deficit they'd failed to overcome for almost two years.

The body language and mood in the Spurs Dressing Room was beyond flat, and Mason’s first task was rejuvenating the mood, body language and belief, add in a couple of positional changes, and the proof was in the result, a win for Spurs.

A two year voodoo over.

The Carabao Cup Final v Man City, with such little preparation was a game too far, and Mason leading his team out at Wembley, is as surreal now to him, as it seemed to me watching it on TV back then.

Mason’s overall reflection on that Cup Final is pride in how his tactics worked, but ‘gutted’, he couldn’t influence the team and the result more in such a short window of coaching opportunity.

The Interim Manager’s job, overall for Mason, was a success, more wins than defeats, with the delicious end of season caveat that Spurs had finished above Arsenal.

In the following weeks, Mason returned to where he rightly felt he needed to be at this stage of his coaching career, back to the Academy Team, whilst Nuno Espirito Santo took over first team duties in his ill fated, doomed, four month cameo as Spurs boss.

Nuno’s failure opened the door for Antonio Conte to take over, a person whose coincidental presence in Mason’s life cannot be overstated, being Italy’s boss during Ryan’s only England appearance as well as Chelsea’s coach when Mason had his career ending head injury.

The fact Conte took time out to visit an unconscious Mason in hospital in London, was something Ryan and his family hugely respected.

It seems almost destiny, working for the coach, Ryan describes as,

‘What a MAN!”, citing Conte’s,

"Honesty, obsession and not fearing showing emotions” as his best traits..

Mason took the first week’s training during Conte’s introduction to Spurs, he was impressed, and was immediately installed as First Team Coach, in November 2021, a post Ryan kept for four seasons, including one other six game spell as Interim Head Coach in April 2023, when Conte’s Interim Replacement, the much maligned, Cristian Stellini was fired.

For the past two seasons, Mason has been coach under Ang Postecoglou, in what can only be described as the epitome’ of ‘Spursy’, the first season starting like the proverbial train, collecting the most points EVER in Premier League history from the first nine games, 23 out of 27, but eventually the form going awry and finishing, 5th, two points off the Champions League.

This season, Spurs have dropped 12 places, lost 22 of 38 games, and got 28 less points!

But Ang’s bold, ‘second year we always win a trophy’ mantra, came true with Europa League victory and a place in the Champions League next season, as well as a date with PSG in the European Super Cup!

Good luck with that!

Fast forward to June 2025, and Mason's contract at Spurs runs out, and seduced by the Bilkul overtures, opts for a future away from The Champions League to life in The Championship with West Brom.

Ryan's initial take on the Albion, was being thrilled by both the club's infrastructure and fan base,

''Having spoken at length to the board and those at the club, I am convinced that Albion is the perfect place for me to be and I can't wait to get started. I will bring with me a huge amount of enthusiasm, dedication and ambition and look forward to a positive future together at such a fantastic club"

Contemplating the life of the road less traveled, for Mason is a compelling narrative of one of life's survivors, and someone you want dearly to do well.

Albion are gaining a very, very special person.

Intelligent, progressive, empathetic, who fully believes, [and I for one would not argue], has gained so much from the influence of so many legends of the game, in his days as a coach and as a player.

This is a crucial time in the club's history, only the future will dictate if this bold, exciting, pivotal move, to aim young and fresh with a visionary new coach such as Ryan Mason, by the Bilkul Group pays off?

Mason was asked the simple question, 'What makes a good coach?'

"It's how you affect people, to feel a certain way, to have a belief, and inner confidence. It's how you impact people, how you influence."

I'm a fully paid up member of someone who is so excited by the prospect of this appointment.

The impact Mason makes, forming decisions on players, controlling influential characters in the dressing room, having and executing a vision for the future, informing and inspiring is going to be absolutely keys to the success.

I'm convinced Mason has the character to do exactly this..

Let's enjoy the ride.