Bristol City 2-1 WBA

live text replay




i was not born an albion supporter. in fact, if i had adopted any of the teams to which the respective sides of my family have traditionally shown allegiance, i would have been either a portsmouth, ipswich town or wolves fan.

how i came to be an albion supporter - while being beyond my control, for one thing - is a long story and spans almost forty years of football and colours many of my attitudes about the current state of english football.

this match depressed me terribly. not because the baggies fell into third place, or just how plainly visible it was that fatigue, injury and suspensions are taking their toll; nor that the albion played poorly. but because it made me wonder what i really want as a supporter, and the depressing fact of what one can inevitably expect from english football as it is in the year 2010.



this was pretty average fare for the baggies, and not inconsistent with their form of late. the albion have been on a nine game unbeaten run that has come - for the most part - from scrapping out victories and draws in a slew of mediocre performances against what has largely been mediocre opposition. but it hasn't come cheaply, and the injuries - especially that to gonzalo jara - have at least, temporarily, piled up.

west brom's nine game unbeaten run came to an end with a tired and listless performance in the second-half that saw the the baggies give up two goals in the space of four minutes. while this was only the second away defeat of the season it comes at a particularly difficult time for a club that should now be concerned with cementing their hold on second place and looking towards challenging for the title. but then, the albion never do anything the easy way.

i had to take this match in live via the ALBION RADIO transmission, but i was afforded the opportunity to see the match replayed the next day on TV. truth to tell, the baggies weren't that bad in the first half and deserved more than a one goal lead at the break with striker, roman bednar, unable to finish a couple of really good opportunities.

the one disgrace was recent loan signing frank nouble. considering the reports and big-league estimation as to his potential it must have just been a horrible day for the young mid-fielder. he looked a gangly, dozy muddle in a position that has been covered by the excellent performance of jerome thomas most of the season. i doubt this display was anything like what he's capable of and will just have to be written off as one of those days where even the most basic skills are lost.



the other real weak link in the albion team was joe mattock. while he is a really pretty good left back and knows the various jobs of his position in ways that bely his age, he is not quick enough to be involved in the attacking game as much as he wants to be, and overlapping runs with the left-winger should be discouraged in favour of developing his defensive talents. in short, as long as he stays home and does his job watching the back door he's a good left back. in fact, i think his best game of the season may have been against middlesbrough, where a small injury forced him to hold his place in the back-line and kept him from racing upfield and getting caught out of position.

while the loss is definitely a setback and a missed opportunity towards stamping their name on an automatic promotion place, we have to keep things in perspective. it is only the second loss away from the hawthorns all season, and there's no necessary indication that a poor run of form is going to follow. it has rather looked all year as though second-place has had the baggies name written on it and there's no reason to believe that anything has changed.

what made me depressed about this loss, was that it reminded that i am a baggies supporter and would follow them all the way down to depths of league 2 and beyond if that's what was required. but watching this game, i got an uneasy feeling that this might be the last year of yo-yoing the club has got in them. i mean, this is a completely unique situation in english football that a team should have been involved in relegation and promotion struggles between the first and second tiers for ten years running. it's just got to resolve at some point!

so assuming we attain promotion again, what can we expect from the premier league? while i know the £30 million TV money is a big incentive just to be included in the competition - but really - what can west bromwich albion ever hope to achieve in the premier league under today's conditions? last year, we were the only team in the premier league that made a profit. all the other clubs operated by committing to huge debts in order to buy "premier league" players. we've seen in the past how this business model ultimately fails when a club adopts and carries premier league financing for a number of years and is then relegated.



charlton athletic, held up by football pundits and professionals as the model example of a "consolidated premier-league" club for most of the last decade, find themselves now - and in the space of a few short years - in the third tier of english football after a double-relegation which was the direct cost of carrying premier league financing at the time of relegation to the second tier. similar things have happened at leicester city, southampton, reading, watford and both swindon town and norwich city were likewise punished for even flirting with the premier league.

if west brom goes up, then all we can ever hope for is "consolidation" and perhaps a top-ten finish somewhere down the road - and that would be considered a miracle. it might even be worth a "manager-of-the-year" award! i mean, just look at the rave-reviews that alex mcleish is getting at birmingham city this year! genius is reduced to a state of mediocrity and glory is strictly reserved for those who can afford it.

i know that it is complete heresy to proclaim it, but i would rather see the albion win the FA cup than anything else this year. the fact is that true glory, a day of authentic heroics and the possibility of transcendence at the highest level is only possible through the cup competitions for mid-size clubs like the albion anymore.

i wasn't born an albion supporter but i shall probably die as one, and a lifetime of watching english football will have coloured my attitudes towards it.