i'm beginning to think that dave bowler, west brom's head publications editor and co-commentator on the ALBION RADIO match transmissions, is one of the great minds of midlands football. not just for the fact that i agree with him on most matters concerning football and the albion; or that he often gives voice to things i had already been thinking. but rather because he comes up with some truly great ideas.with a poor crowd turnout of 2,349 at brisbane road for a second-round LEAGUE CUP draw, mr. bowler suggested that the FA start the tournament prior to the regular season. so, instead of a pre-season made up of meaningless friendlies or the occasional participation in a local or invitational tournament, you would then be able to get through the first few rounds of the LEAGUE CUP before the league had even started. this would possibly re-invigorate a competition that has never been particularly popular and seems to attract less and less interest with each passing year.
at the ridiculous ticket price of £22, one can see why - in an environment where the "season-ticket" culture is already dominant - a supporter would resent digging into his pocket for what is being passed off as a "glamour" fixture due to the participation of a top-flight team. meanwhile, the premier league side fields no less than 11 changes to the team that played competitively in the premiership the previous weekend. this would be much less of a charade if they implemented such a scheme, as mr. bowler suggests, as well as creating a greater interest in the tournament from the outset. it wouldn't be without its problems, but i think that it would be worth it to work them out.
with that said, the albion "reserves" did their job and youngster sam mantom was pivotal in his first-team debut. the teenage midfielder gave a solid performance throughout the 90 minutes, as well as delivering the final ball for pablo ibanez to head home on the first goal and having a hand in the making of the second.
new zealand international, chris wood, scored late on to put the match beyond the league 1 side, giving him the distinction of having now scored at least once in all three major domestic competitions in which he has played.
it is also worth noting that boaz myhill claimed a clean-sheet on his club debut, as well, showing that he is more than adeqaute as back-up for scott carson. the young welsh keeper had relatively little to challenge him in this fixture, but he performed his routine duties with a solid sense of professionalism, despite some trouble with his kicking game, making a few clearances that seemed uncharacteristically tentative.
other than a late injury to substitute marek cech, which has since revealed to be a fractured metatarsal that will put the slovakian international out for the next 6 weeks, the match was uneventful and the ALBION RADIO commentary team were left having to resort to babbling banter and reading text messages with huge gaps to fill due to lack of any real action.
cech, who has started off the season with two very solid performances, will be sorely missed when the baggies travel to anfield on sunday.
i hope that the bigwigs that run the FA get a chance to hear the voices of people like dave bowler from time to time. with ideas and opinions derived from a lifetime dedicated to observing football, he is always worth listening to.
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