West Brom v QPR: Fight for back-to-back wins now halted in bid to avoid successive festive home defeats

That may well be the case and such an ethos will buy Ryan Mason more time to try to get the recipe right in his debut campaign, though some regimes would have been far more cut-throat given Albion's hugely underwhelming position of 16th in the Championship.

Former boss Tony Mowbray, Bilkul's first head coach appointment, had just 17 games at the helm and won five of them before he was axed. Mason's record from 24 games is not much healthier. You can understand, though, after a period of heavy change the ownership's reluctance for more upheaval.

What will not be understood or accepted from the stands is for Albion to drift any further down the second tier standings and closer to the drop zone. All teams below down to 20th-placed Swansea are just two points adrift of the Baggies.

What was hoped by Bilkul when Andrew Nestor signed his statement on December 23 was a continued show of strength at The Hawthorns under Mason.

Instead, Boxing Day brought a concerning 2-1 defeat to Bristol City, who climbed into the top six as a result, and Monday's visit of ninth-placed QPR brings another visitor just a single point from the play-offs.

The feeling inside the club's historic home was not one of merriment last Friday. Instead, in the stadium's anniversary year it was anything but. There will be empty seats against the Rs as some vote with their feet but, if the performance or result suffer again, the jeers from the stands will return.

"There's probably more of an onus on home, but I think the bigger challenge is when you lose away so consistently, the belief from the supporters, the energy, it probably lessens and rightly so," Mason said.

"I think that's been the biggest challenge for us as a group because we've had to overcome obstacles at home. We've actually gone goals down at home and we've had to come back and put ourselves in difficult situations and that's been our wrongdoing."

The head coach added: "We've had a difficult one (on Boxing Day). We have to feel the pain, but far too often this year we've had to feel the pain, so it needs to change."

Mason has worked with a light Albion squad all season but the struggles were laid bare against Bristol City, with four outfield academy players making up the numbers on the bench.

Alfie Gilchrist (suspended), Krystian Bielik (ankle), Jayson Molumby (calf), Jed Wallace (calf), Toby Collyer (calf) and Tammer Bany (fitness) remain absent.

"We've probably been that (threadbare) all season because if you look at some of the players in our squad, their recent playing history over the last two or three years, it's not quite there," Mason said.

"Obviously, you lose Darnell (Furlong), Tom (Fellow) and Heggy (Heggem) who play 50 games, 45, 50 games a season... you need robust players in this league that can play every three days.

"And at the moment some of our squad members aren't quite that for different reasons."

QPR, under Julien Stephan, drew 1-1 at Portsmouth on Boxing Day. They beat Albion 3-1 at Loftus Road on December 6.