Madeley names factor that won't affect West Brom in manager hunt with Appleton identified
Athletic journalist Steve Madeley insists Michael Appleton won't be considered to take over at West Brom purely on the basis he has an affiliation with the club.
Appleton, now manager at Lincoln City, has had two spells at Albion as a coach and Madeley claims he will be amongst the favourites the next time there is a managerial vacancy at The Hawthorns.
One Baggies fan on Twitter claimed that Appleton would not be under consideration for the role as West Brom boss if he had no previous affiliation with the club.
On Twitter, Madeley strongly defended this statement saying, "I don’t see how this can be true.
"Obviously a fair way to go this season for both him and Albion. But on the face of it, a manager doing really well in League One, having had success elsewhere and coached in the Premier League, would be considered for most Championship jobs."
We agree with this sentiment and if Big Sam does leave us when we get relegated then Appleton would be a preferable candidate to replace him.
He knows the club and is popular with the fans and as Madeley says, he is doing very well in League One so it would be wrong to dismiss him as someone who isn't capable just because they are popular.
We can't see Allardyce sticking with us if we go down so it is only right we look at potential managerial candidates.
The board won't appoint a manager who isn't capable just to appease some fans.
In other words, we can't see West Brom taking a Chelsea style approach and appointing someone inexperienced to appease the fans.
In any case, Appleton has plenty of experience and as we said before, we wouldn't mind if he took over when Allardyce leaves.
Whatever happens this summer we need to make the right call over our next boss.
In other West Brom news, this youngster has been tipped to “take the league by storm” if the Albion sign him in the summer.