Kevin Phillips unhappy with Guochuan Lai pulling plug on West Brom bid to hire Chris Wilder
We’re delighted to welcome former West Brom striker Kevin Phillips as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at The Hawthorns…
Guochuan Lai didn’t have a good enough reason to pull the plug on West Brom’s bid to hire Chris Wilder as their new manager, according to Kevin Phillips.
Express & Star journalist Joseph Masi reported last week that Albion’s board wanted Wilder to succeed Sam Allardyce in charge at The Hawthorns.
However, Chinese owner Lai blocked a deal due to his previous strained relationship with the Sheffield United owners.
When asked if it’s a good enough reason to back out, Phillips told West Brom News: “No because you’ve got to look past that.
“Managers fall out with their chairmen, they have disagreements. I don’t think that’s a reason, you’ve got to look beyond that at the qualities they have and their history.
“His relationship with the board was very good until that moment so I don’t think you can take that as part of the thinking.
“All chairmen are different and if that’s the reason then fair enough but for me, he’s the ideal manager for that job and I don’t think you can not appoint him because he had a fallout with someone else.
“It might be a completely different relationship with West Brom.”
West Brom’s search for a new manager is now seemingly taking them to former captain Derek McInnes, who is out of work after leaving Aberdeen earlier this year.
In the aftermath of failing to hire Wilder, David Wagner was strongly linked with the vacancy in the Black Country but he walked away from talks to be the next manager of BSC Young Boys in Switzerland.
In other West Brom news, Phillips shared what James Morrison told him about the managerial situation at the Albion.
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