Mark Hughes, Albion boss?

All this talk of Mark Hughes going to Manchester City or Chelsea takes me back to a time when he could have become Albion boss.

It was around autumn 2003. Albion were back in the Championship (as it's called now) and some people at the club were unconvinced that Gary Megson could take them back to the Premier League and, perhaps more importantly, keep them there.

Hughes was then boss of Wales. And you'd be amazed how close he really came to quitting his national post and pitching up at The Hawthorns.

It could have happened. It was certainly considered at the time. The interest was mutual by all accounts.

On the park, results were mixed. Megson's side lost to Sheffield United, were booed off the pitch despite beating Norwich, yet swept aside Rotherham and Newcastle in a memorable League Cup game at St James's Park.

Even so, Megson's position was shakier than it seemed.

The defining moment came at Upton Park on November 8, 2003. Albion were trailing 3-0 after 18 minutes. It was around the 20 minute mark when Jermain Defoe, scorer of the first, missed an absolute sitter to make it four. He fired a shot straight at Russell Hoult.

Three nil it was. Until the 25th minute when Rob Hulse pulled one back for Albion. He got a second five minutes before half-time, before a Brian Deane own-goal levelled matters.

Lee Hughes grabbed the winner 13 minutes from time.

I didn't know at the time but not long afterwards I was told that Megson would have been sacked had Albion lost emphatically in east London. Albion's admiration for Hughes would almost certainly have been followed up.

As it happens Albion completed the greatest comeback in their modern history, went onto win promotion under Megson and Mark Hughes went onto Blackburn.

Just over a year to the day after that win at West Ham, Bryan Robson was named as Megson's successor.

How would Albion have fared under Hughes? We'll never know...