Howard Wilkinson claims Chelsea should have sorted out Avram Grant's coaching qualifications before they appointed him as manager.

Grant, 52, has qualifications from his home country Israel but according to UEFA sources they are only equivalent to the A licence - he needs the UEFA Pro Licence to manage in the Premier League.

The Premier League may decide that, in view of his experience as a former manager of Israel, Grant qualifies for a special dispensation certificate but Wilkinson, chairman of the League Managers' Association (LMA), believes such issues should have been sorted out before the appointment was made.

Wilkinson, speaking at a UEFA coaches forum in London, said: "I don't want to get involved in personalities. This is not about Avram Grant, this is a matter of principle.

"We do not have any issue about the rules being tweaked, we are not against that if the move in general is to have better-qualified coaches working in this country.

"But one thing that disappoints us greatly is when clubs don't check beforehand.

"If BA employ a pilot they are not going to say afterwards, 'By the way, do you have a pilot's licence?' It's not a bad idea to make sure he has got a licence before you give him the job.

"It would help if these big corporations spent a bit of time and energy determining these sorts of factors first."

Wilkinson said he was still waiting for the Premier League to clarify the position on Grant.