Michael Appleton compensation would cost West Brom £700,000
West Brom would have to pay a compensation fee worth £700,000 to Lincoln City if they hire Michael Appleton as their next manager, according to The Telegraph.
The newspaper reports that Appleton, 45, is “highly admired” at The Hawthorns as Albion aim to hire a successor for Sam Allardyce, who’ll be quitting his job at the Black Country club at the end of the week.
Appleton has played, coached and taken caretaker charge of West Brom in his career while also managing Portsmouth, Blackpool, Blackburn and Oxford United before being hired by Lincoln in 2019.
He was always going to be mentioned
West Brom can’t be in the hunt for a new manager without a former player or staff member being linked with the job and this time, Appleton seems to be that man.
However, a move for the Lincoln boss seems very unlikely due to the compensation fee the Baggies will have to pay.
The Telegraph reports that Appleton is an “unrealistic target at this stage” due to the £700,000 price tag that comes with him.
Sky Sports has reported in the wake of Allardyce’s exit announcement that West Brom’s manager search will “focus primarily on out-of-work managers”.
It is understood that any compensation fee would be deducted from the summer transfer budget so that £700,000 might be better off being spent on new players.
Appleton’s done a great job at Lincoln, who have one foot in the League One play-off final after beating Sunderland 2-0 in the first leg of their semi-final this week.
If they win promotion to the Championship, there’ll no doubt be more of a clamour for Albion to hire Appleton but there are managers who are out of work at the moment like Chris Wilder and Frank Lampard who seem more likely targets.
In other West Brom news, this 23-year-old could be released by Albion next month with a Championship move on the cards.
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