Former Hartlepool United boss touted as potential candidate for vacant Championship job

The Baggies parted company with Tony Mowbray, who replaced Carlos Corberan in January, last week after a run of five defeats in six matches extinguished their hopes of finishing in the Championship play-off places.

Challinor has been linked with a handful of Championship jobs over the last 12 months and was touted as a potential candidate for the Sunderland role prior to the appointment of Regis Le Bris.

Since turning his hand to management, the former Tranmere and Bury defender has established a formidable reputation and is on the cusp of leading Stockport County, who he captained as a player, to a third promotion, with the Hatters third in League One and well fancied to go up via the play-offs following a strong end to the season.

Challinor's first foray into management was at the helm of Northern Premier League Premier Division side Colwyn Bay, leading the Seagulls to promotion to the Conference North as well as the North Wales Coast Cup title.

That caught the attention of AFC Fylde, with Challinor swapping North Wales for the North West of England in November 2011. At the time, the Coasters were in the Northern Premier League Division One North but Challinor oversaw three promotions in a hugely successful eight-year spell. Having reached the National League, Challinor led Fylde to the play-off final in 2019, although the Coasters failed to make it to the Football League for the first time ever following a thumping 3-0 defeat at the hands of Salford. Even so, Challinor soon banished his Wembley defeat, returning to the national stadium a week later as Fylde beat Leyton Orient to lift the FA Trophy for the first time in the club's history.

Despite his remarkable success, Challinor was sacked the following season with the Coasters in the relegation zone but it wasn't long before Pools came calling, appointing him as Craig Hignett's successor in November 2019. After his first season in charge was curtailed due to the Covid pandemic, Challinor led Pools to promotion back to the Football League in 2021, beating Torquay on penalties in a heart-stopping play-off final at Ashton Gate and prompting the now immortal words "Dave Challinor has made the dreams of all Poolies come true". More than just a superb manager, Challinor established a connection with the Pools fans, with some of the atmospheres upon the club's return to League Two ranking as among the best ever seen at Victoria Park.

However, even that bond was not enough to keep him in the North East when his former club Stockport, who Pools had edged past in the play-off semi-finals the previous season, came calling in November 2021. Despite the fact he had signed a new three-year contract with the club in September, Challinor's relations with owner Raj Singh had become strained after Pools lost a number of important players in the summer following promotion; in a statement, the club expressed their dissatisfaction at his decision, while Challinor admitted it had been "ridiculously difficult" to leave Pools.

Challinor arrived at Stockport with the club languishing in ninth in the National League table, 10 points adrift of the league leaders, but soon set about closing that gap as the Hatters were crowned champions following a run of just two defeats from 23 matches.

Stockport's promotion meant Challinor was set to return to Victoria Park as an opponent for the first time since his controversial departure; despite Raj Singh's programme notes, which insinuated that new boss Keith Curle was, in Singh's opinion, the best manager Pools had employed in his tenure, Stockport ran out 5-0 winners. Pools were relegated at the end of the season and, while the Hatters missed out on promotion after losing to Carlisle in the play-off final, Stockport were crowned champions at the end of the 2023/24 campaign, the club's first Football League title since 1967.

Challinor's progress has shown little sign of slowing down and, although Stockport have narrowly missed out on an automatic promotion place following a hotly contested race with Hollywood-back Wrexham, the Greater Manchester side are set to do battle for a place in the Championship in next month's play-offs.

If Challinor doesn't make it to the second tier with Stockport, then there are some who think he could be in line for a Championship move. Having achieved success everywhere he's been, it can sometimes feel surprising that the former Pools boss isn't linked with more top jobs. Nonetheless, former West Brom forward Don Goodman, speaking to Football League World, believes the Baggies should consider Challinor when appointing Mowbray's replacement.

"I think the biggest problem that West Bromwich Albion have in replacing Tony Mowbray is that, to me, from the outside looking in it doesn't look like a hugely attractive job for anybody of established repute at Premier League or Championship level," he said.

"There are clearly still financial issues, there's a squad that is massively underperforming for some reason so, like I said, I'm not sure how attractive a job it would be.

"If I was advising West Brom, I'd look to League One and see who is doing well. I see Dave Challinor year in, year out performing brilliantly at Stockport County.

"They play front foot, attacking football - possession-based. I think that he's a brilliant coach.

"Stockport fans won't thank me for saying it but I think West Brom could do a lot worse than looking in that direction, or somebody of a similar ilk."

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