The decision not to hire Chris Wilder was a strange one, former West Brom midfielder Carlton Palmer has told Football FanCast.

Wilder looked close to being named Sam Allardyce's successor, with the Mirror reporting at the end of May that the 53-year-old was the Baggies' No.1 choice.

However, that fell through and West Brom have since turned to Valerien Ismael after an impressive season with Barnsley.

In that time, Luke Dowling, who The Athletic claim was strongly in favour of bringing Wilder to the club, has left his position as sporting director.

On West Brom's decision not to appoint Wilder in the end, Palmer said:

"It's really strange that one. I can't for the life of me believe they wouldn't take Chris. I'd love to know the owner's explanation as to why he's not taken him. 

"But I'm assuming that Chris would have said he wanted to be in complete control of all footballing matters. So maybe Luke was ok with that, working with him on that basis, and the chairman [or owner] wasn't happy with that."

Given what he was recently able to achieve with Sheffield United, winning Premier League promotion back in 2019, Wilder would have been a great appointment.

Ismael, though, who had Barnsley in promotion contention last season, taking them to the play-offs, does not look like a bad alternative.