"A bit strange" - West Brom: Luke Williams parallels drawn as Marti Cifuentes curveball emerges | OneFootball

FLW's West Brom fan pundit has given his reaction to the news that QPR head coach Marti Cifuentes is not on the club's managerial shortlist.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

West Bromwich Albion are currently searching for a new manager after parting company with Tony Mowbray.

Mowbray only returned to The Hawthorns for a second spell in January following the departure of Carlos Corberan to Valencia, but he was sacked last week after winning just five of his 17 games in charge, drawing four and losing eight.

It looked as though West Brom were moving quickly in their hunt for Mowbray's replacement, with Sky Sports revealing on Sunday that they had held talks with the representatives of QPR head coach Marti Cifuentes over their vacant managerial position.

The Sun reported last week that Cifuentes was considering handing in his resignation at Loftus Road after growing frustrated with the direction the club were heading in under CEO Christian Nourry, and all signs appeared to be pointing to a move to Albion when he was placed on gardening leave by the West London outfit on Tuesday night, effectively bringing his tenure to an end.

However, according to journalist John Percy, the Baggies are "still going through the recruitment process" and no candidate has yet been offered the role, while he also confirmed that Cifuentes is not on the club's shortlist at this stage.

West Brom questioned over Marti Cifuentes, QPR saga

When asked if he is surprised by reports that Cifuentes is not in the frame for the job, FLW's West Brom fan pundit Callum Burgess admitted that he is slightly baffled by the saga, and he drew a comparison with the situation involving Luke Williams, who was sacked by Swansea shortly after being linked with Albion in January.

"It is a bit strange how this has now happened successive times in Albion's manager searches where managers who are linked with the job early on seem to fall out with their higher-ups and end up in a bad position, much like what happened with Luke Williams previously," Callum told FLW.

"After Carlos Corberan left, Williams was somewhat being linked with the job, and ended up ruining his reputation with the Swansea higher-ups.

"Although it does appear that the relationship between Marti Cifuentes and QPR board was already damaged beyond repair, there is a question to be asked about why this keeps happening.

"It is good to see that Albion are taking their time, but hopefully it doesn't have a similar outcome to what happened in the cases of Raphael Wicky and Tony Mowbray after Corberan left.

"Hopefully Albion have a manager in place soon.

"I wouldn't have minded Cifuentes, even though the fan base wasn't entirely convinced by him.

"Hopefully Albion end up making the right decision with someone else."

After the failed appointment of Mowbray, West Brom owner Shilen Patel was already under pressure to get it right this time around, but the bizarre events involving Cifuentes will only increase the scrutiny on him.

It seems as though Cifuentes had been looking for a way out of QPR, and it is possible that the links with the Baggies could have been instigated by his representatives rather than the Midlands outfit, but it did appear that he was a serious contender for the job.

With Albion believed to be keen to bring in a younger head coach after opting for an experienced candidate in Mowbray to replace Corberan, Cifuentes would have fit the bill perfectly, but with the Spaniard now out of the running, it will be intriguing to see who the club target next.