West Bromwich Albion head coach Ryan Mason has been sacked by the Championship club following Monday's defeat at Leicester City.

The 2-1 loss was their 10th in a row away from home and left the Baggies 18th in the table, seven points clear of the relegation zone and 10 adrift of the play-off places.

Despite receiving the public backing of the club's sporting director Andrew Nestor a fortnight ago, Mason said that did not bring him "immunity" from the sack and, four days later after just seven months in charge, he has been proved right.

Mason's assistant Nigel Gibbs and head of performance Sam Pooley have also left the club, with first-team coach James Morrison taking charge on an interim basis, as he did for the final two games of last season following Tony Mowbray's departure.

West Brom are away to Swansea City in the FA Cup on Sunday and do not have another league fixture until Middlesbrough visit The Hawthorns on 16 January.

"The process of recruiting a new men's first-team head coach and staff is under way," the club said in a brief statement, external announcing Mason's departure.

West Brom are the eighth Championship club to part company with a head coach/manager this season.

Mason, 34, left Tottenham Hotspur's coaching staff to take charge of Albion on a three-year deal, but has been unable to turn them into promotion contenders.

Despite the early promise of three wins in their first four league games this season, the momentum did not last, with only six more victories in the 22 since then.

A fourth defeat in five games either side of Christmas has now cost Mason his job and left the club looking for a third permanent boss in the past 12 months.

Speaking following the game at Leicester, which the Baggies lost after an added-time goal by the home side, Mason told BBC WM: "We are on a terrible run in terms of away games.

"But you look at the last seven or eight that we have played, we have had more shots at goal than the opposition, more shots on target, more chances created, and conceded so little at our end as well.

"I am proud of the team and proud of the performance, and we deserve so much more."

Mason's appointment marked a shift in direction by Albion, who put their faith in a young head coach with fresh ideas, schooled in the cut and thrust of working at the top level working under the likes of Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte and Ange Postecoglou.

Sporting director Andrew Nestor described Mason as "the leader the club needed" and after a summer rebuild that reduced the average age of the squad and gave them more wiggle room against the EFL's profit and sustainability rules (PSR), with the sales of Tom Fellows and Torbjorn Heggem, the start under the new boss was encouraging.

Wins over Blackburn, newly-promoted Wrexham and early pacesetters Stoke City helped them take 10 points from their opening four matches but a first home defeat by Derby County started a downturn in results Mason could not shake off.

Losses on the road put more pressure on the team to win at The Hawthorns but a record of six victories from 12 was not enough to buy Mason more time.

Off the field, he can point to the club's limited muscle in the transfer market and, on it, to fine margins - 11 of their 13 defeats were by a single goal - but ultimately after pledging to "build a team that can win" when he arrived, the former Spurs, Hull City and England midfielder has paid the price for not doing that enough.

The longest run of successive away defeats in the Championship since its 2004 rebrand is 14 by Rotherham United in 2016-17.

Currently on 10 away defeats in a row, the Baggies will be keen to avoid making unwanted history by putting together a worse run than the Millers.

Steve Hermon, BBC Radio WM West Bromwich Albion commentator

Ryan Mason was very guarded in his early media interviews and never managed to build a rapport with the fanbase, who were also left confused by his style of play, but ultimately frustrated by the number of defeats - Albion lost half of the 26 Championship games under the 34-year-old.

Mason can point to some bad luck with a few of them, particularly Monday night's cruel late loss at Leicester, but as he told me numerous times, he could "only speak to the fans through results" and that is what has cost him.

He also talked about being "aligned" when it came to transfer policy and the club's financial situation.

He will have known they had to sell star players Torbjorn Heggem and Tom Fellows to stay within profit and sustainability rules, and while the Baggies did conduct some clever business, Mason was left with a very thin squad that lacked depth and quality in certain areas and it showed whenever he made substitutions.

The Baggies are 18th in the second tier, their lowest position for a quarter of a century and owners Bilkul have already spelt out in a pre-Christmas letter that there is not any money to spend in January.

But it will still be an attractive job for someone, particularly as that financial situation should improve from the summer.

For now, they need a head coach with the guile to guide them away from the relegation zone, which they currently sit seven points above.

James Morrison will be in interim charge for this Sunday's FA Cup tie at Swansea, but I understand the Albion hierarchy want to have a new head coach in place for their next league game at home to high-flying Middlesbrough on Friday, 16 January.

After the experience of Mowbray failed and the gamble on rookie Mason didn't pay off, who knows where Andrew Nestor's data will lead West Bromwich Albion next?

But the American will be hoping it is third time lucky, because there will be a lot of pressure on him to get the next appointment right.