West Bromwich Albion’s sporting and technical director Dan Ashworth is planning his own funeral.

His words, not mine.

That’s how it feels for him as he enters his final few months at The Hawthorns.

The 41-year-old leaves B71 to take a new job as the Football Association’s head of elite development at Burton’s St George’s Park.

But, before then, among his final tasks is to find the next ‘Dan Ashworth’.

The outgoing incumbent admits it’s a strange place he finds himself in.

“I said to my wife that it’s a bit like planning your own funeral,” said Ashworth. “I won’t actually have to work with this person, though I’m sure there will be a handover period, so it’s a board decision.

“My job is to sift and come up with ideas in conjunction with Mark (Jenkins) and Richard (Garlick) to put to the chairman to have final sign-off.

“The chairman will make the final decision because this person will need to work with the chairman but a certain personality would be necessary so an abrassive, confrontational type of person would probably not work at this football club.”

More than 50 serious applicants have expressed an interest - along with a few who are stuck in the realsm of fantasy.

Choosing his successor is not easy.

“We’ve had 50 or 60 applications,” he continued.

“It wasn’t advertised so they don’t all come in before a closing date because there isn’t one.

“I would have fielded a lot of calls, I’ve spoken to a lot of people, some people have applied formally, some people have applied informally, some have applied through a third party.

“But we’ve had about 50 or 60 serious applicants as opposed to someone applying by saying ‘I’m quite good at Championship Manager so can you consider me...’ – you always get three or four of those, someone who has taken Yeovil from the Conference to the Premier League.

“The good thing from the club’s point of view is that there isn’t a massive time pressure on this so we don’t need to jump into a quick decision or make a knee-jerk reaction.

“We are sifting, doing due diligence, exploring different forms of backgrounds, profiles, etc.

“It’s not a common role in football so there isn’t a massive pool of people to choose from.

“When you change head coach, coaches, scouts there are so many of them around – at least 92, one for each club, plus people who are out of work at that point.

“But not for this role so it’s a bigger challenge in that respect.

“There isn’t an automatic or obvious list of candidates out there.”