Former West Brom striker reveals England close call scuppered at Albion

Ellington, known affectionately by football fans as 'The Duke', arrived at Albion from Wigan in 2005 for £3m.

The striker had scored 24 goals in the previous season and was brought to the club by Bryan Robson.

He found himself down the pecking order, with other strikers such as Rob Earnshaw, Kevin Campbell, Kanu, Diomansy Kamara and Geoff Horsfield all at the club.

Ellington was at one stage Albion's top scorer and after a run of scoring goals, he has revealed that he later discovered he was close to an England call-up.

But when a scout came to watch the striker, he was on the bench.

Speaking on the Undr The Cosh podcast, the striker said: "I was on the bench with Horsfield and Campbell up front, two hold up men and no pace.

"Me and Kanu were on the bench at Birmingham and we were top scorers with five goals each.

"We came on, I scored and almost scored again and I thought what is going on why am I not playng.

"A mad story is, my agent bumped into the England scout told him I was about to get called up for England.

"But when he came I wasn't playing.

"That game was a confirmation of doing well again before I went into the squad.

"Imagine finding that out years later that I was that close to the squad.

"I was that close and I didn't know about it, and it was all because I was not playing, it was just annoying."