Chris Wilder's appointment was reportedly blocked by West Bromwich Albion owner Guochuan Lai despite being a unanimous choice of the club's board, which has drawn a furious reaction from many Baggies fans. 

Sam Allardyce stepped down as Albion head coach at the end of the Premier League season and it seems that, ahead of their return to the Championship, David Wagner is now set to become his permanent replacement – with reports suggesting he's agreed a deal to take charge at the Hawthorns.

Wagner does have experience winning promotion to the Premier League but he is something of a shock appointment given Wilder has seemed the frontrunner over the past few weeks.

The 53-year-old left Sheffield United back in March and it appeared he was set to step back into management at West Brom but the decision to appoint him was rejected from the very top.

According to Joseph Masi from the Express & Star, Wilder was the Albion board's unanimous choice but the appointment was blocked by Lai, the club's owner, because of the issues that the coach had with the Blades hierarchy during his time at Bramall Lane.

Lai completed his takeover of the club back in 2016 and this latest decision has drawn a furious response from parts of the Hawthorns faithful, with many fans taking to Twitter to vent their fury...