Sources: West Brom make shock decisions on manager and director of football hires
West Brom are surprisingly planning to scrap the director of football model and not replace Luke Dowling, Football Insider can exclusively reveal.
The relegated Midlands club are instead looking to revert to a more traditional recruitment structure ahead of their Championship return.
A West Brom source has told Football Insider that the club's hierarchy have set their sights on a "traditional" manager who can run the club.
Albion want a hands-on, well connected operator who will work with the recruitment team on transfers rather than leaving it to the director of football.
The plan, which has been discussed at boardroom level, is unexpected given most modern elite clubs tend to have a figure in charge of the football department who is either the director of football or has an equivalent title.
The change of manager profile will see West Brom go in a different direction in terms of their manager hunt.
This site first broke the news on 2nd June that West Brom chiefs had pulled the plug on Dowling appointing Chris Wilder as the new manager.
Moves for David Wagner and Michael Appleton also collapsed, while Roy Hodgson rejected an approach from his old club.
The failure to lure Wilder and Wagner was followed by Dowling's exit earlier this week.
It was announced as "mutual consent" by the club but the former Nottingham Forest and Watford sporting director had lost the confidence of the Chinese-owned club.