Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Kevin Phillips

what a disappointment! it's been a hard year, and the whole thing was actually blown the moment they let kevin phillips leave. it's always been my opinion that both parties made the wrong decision in this affair: phillips should have been able to see the opportunities that a season in the premier league would have brought him - not just in terms of the immediate prestige of premier league football - but also, for the sake of his own legacy as a player. the albion, on the other hand, should have realized that "exception" deserves to be extended to "the exceptional". perhaps there is a policy at the albion about not giving 2 year contracts to 35 year old players - but phillips importance to the club in winning promotion - and what chances he might have given them in terms of premier league survival - deserved consideration on a different level altogether. because, replacing him would have been impossible (how many available 35 year old top-flight strikers are there playing in england?) or prohibitively expensive; as would have been the case with a younger man of similar talent.

i had a bad feeling throughout the whole negotiation period - as kevin held out for his 2 year guarantee, and the club stuck to their guns (offering a single year contract with a conditional 2nd year ensured if he stayed healthy) hoping that the lure of premier league football - and kevin's well-known reluctance to move his family from the birmingham/black country area - would be enough to keep him at the club. as the season drew nearer - and all major considerations known - i woke up one morning realizing that he would sign with the blues. two days later, he did. while i was pleased at my own powers of precognition, i was upset and concerned for the team that kevin phillips would not be a baggie in the premier league.

the albion then signed gianni zuiverloon, a right winger/fullback, as the most expensive defensive signing ever by a west bromwich albion team. as i read this on the BBC website, i was hit by a feeling of impending top-flight mediocrity. we needed to replace kevin phillips and the news of signing a potential superstar fullback, while definitely a positive move going into the premiership - coupled with the acquisition of england's number 2 goalie, scott carson, and a tough central defender in the likes of jonas olsson - all being welcome news; but none of it addressed the concerns that i was beginning to develop about the lack of a senior striker.

of course, tony mowbray still had his two junior strikers, in ishmael miller and roman bednar, and the highly skillful midfield of greening, koren, morrison, and brunt. the season started off well enough. i mean, one can't complain a 1-0 away loss to arsenal, followed by a 2-1 home loss to everton. but when i saw that in their third match of the season, they were knocked out of the league cup in extra time, 3-1 by hartlepool united, i knew that something was amiss.

a desperately dull 0-0 with bolton raised little concern one way or the other. but a solid and exciting 3-2 home win against west ham, and a narrow 2-1 loss to the villa; followed by the only back to back wins all seasons: two 1-0 victories against middlesborough and fulham, had me thinking that the season had finally begun, and the albion were on their way to a mid-table finish and certain survival in the premier league. that is when the weaknesses started to show. the albion were involved a couple of drubbings - at the hands of manchester united and hull; but for the most part, the team was competitive and playing well, except that it was getting harder by the week to score and harder to keep from being scored against. besides the 3-0 and 4-0 drubbings at the hands of the top form teams, the albion were involved in a series of 1 goal losses and draws in which they were very often giving up losing and equalizing goals late on in the match; instead of what kevin phillips would've done, which would have been to score late winners and equalizers.


Read BBC article here



Monday, April 13, 2009

Top of the Pops... Match of the Day

top flight football is pop. it has been since the 60s, and with the advent of television. but then "pop" is now distinctly less interesting than it was then. pop is now a pure consumer culture, with strict (if often imperceptible) codes and protocols - and despite all its "hip" pose and "high style" - has become completely transparent. it is completely cynical and lacking any of even the naive virtues created by the illusion of a previous "counter-culture"; and, with the vibrancy and excitement of discovery which was its most meaningful legacy. perhaps, at the moment, no where is this lack more evident - or important - as it is in english football.

in the early part of the 21st century, top-flight football - together and in conjunction with other media-based monopolies - contrives to control and maintain its traditional power base in their respective markets. the premiership was built on TV and the dominance of TV as the modern medium of football is all important. this was not always true, and the very existence of the premier league in england - and similar breakaways from other foreign domestic leagues - came about pragmatically as a move away from the medium of the over-crowded, predominantly standing room, and increasingly dangerous stadiums; to the potentials of television, where heretofore the football authorities - while realizing it was unavoidable - had had a tentative and resistant attitude towards the new medium, as it was a definite threat to gate-receipts. the resulting compromise was MATCH OF THE DAY; live internationals, and live cup finals. this was one of the reasons that the FA CUP felt so much more imortant than it does now. it was the annual showcase day for english football in every english home. it was a day that made heroes.



but somewhere in the middle of all this - and with the advent cable TV technology causing the rapid specialization and the interational localization of what had previously been a homogeneous mainstream - someone realized that a 30,000 gate with a million TV viewers around the world, was the more lucractive model than a 60,000 gate alone, and the little bits of money generated by MOTD, and BBC radio licensing.

in the 1950s, football in england was a way for a young person of working class origins to make enough money and (in the long term) "contacts", so as to raise oneself to the status of bourgeoisie or middle class. jeff astle retired from football after a successful ten-year career and went into the industrial cleaning business. at one time, bobby robson was the captain of west bromwich albion - then, one of the top teams in the country. he was also the starting right-half for england. he walked to training every morning kicking a tennis ball along the pavement, and had a part-time job, working at an engineering firm in the afternoons to help meet the bills required by a young man raising a family with a couple of kids. this was the state of a player's life before the phenomenon of football as pop culture.



in the 1960s, when brian epstein was approached by someone in the states with the idea of adding the beatles as a subject matter to a popular line of tin lunch-boxes, it never occurred to him that he should make any money from this - he could only imagine the publicity that they would get out of it, which would undoubtedly be catalyst in selling more records in the states. it was a different world; but we were obviously already looking to pop for salvation.

as children, the baby-boomers and the tail-enders to their legacy - had, in the TV, film, radio and electric music - a kind of fantasy image of the world; where, for example, it would never have occurred to me as a kid that george best would die broke; or that my first footballing hero, charlie george, would end up working as a tour-guide at emirates stadium. on the TV show "the avengers", diana rigg was originally payed less per episode than the cameraman. the musicians (including hendrix himself) were paid $500 each for recording the first jimi hendrix experience album. but there was an illusion that went with pop celebrity - surely, we must have thought as kids, that these people lived a life more glamourous than imaginable and never had to think about money(!?!?!)



the more you pay for something, the less you appreciate it. i was watching an old DVD i have of the infamous 5-3 match, where the 78-79 albion beat manchester united at old trafford. the third goal (i think) - that put united 2-1 up was scored by sammy mcilroy and came about through the albion forwards not being able to clear the ball from their own penalty area. what struck me as i was watching, was the attitude of the commentators, compared to what it might be today:

"... the albion are caught trying to football their way out of trouble... ali brown loses the ball to mcilroy who cuts back inside - changes feet... OH!!! WHAT A GREAT GOAL! WHAT A GOOD GOAL... AGAIN!!!"

there was no miserable colour-man with a regional accent making mean and emphatic pronouncements of so-and-so's "dreadful defensive mistake" or evidence the albion "being punished for poor defending in not being able to clear the ball"; just good commentary that - while appropriately building with the passage of play, attested to albion being "stuck... having to football their way out of trouble", losing the ball to mcilroy who then scores a terrific goal, cutting left then making a deft switch of direction to the right, bringing the ball toward the goal and onto his shooting foot. in other words, the focus was on the positive aspects of the play that had just passed and the skill involved in taking the opportunity and making it happen when it appeared. nowadays, there would be a practical pronouncement about the poor decision in not clearing the ball directly; and then an assessment on the poor quality of the actual play - or lack thereof. in the old days, this sort of thing was not anything to be overly critical of... a great tragedy, as it is today. the focus was on the skill required to take advantage of the situation; not the "mistake" that had facilitated it. in other words: the forward used to win the ball from the fullback; nowadays the fullback loses the ball to the forward.



when i was a little boy - maybe 11 or 12 - i remember how shocked everyone had been at the first six-figure transfer-fee. again, the more you pay for something, it seems, the less you appreciate it and the more you expect from it - sometimes to the point of resentment. you have to remember, as well, that amateurs were still occasionally used by top teams in those days. i'm not absolutely sure, but i seem to remember steve heighway played his first few games for liverpool as an amateur, in order that he could keep his full-time student status and complete his studies. although, and certainly by 1970, this would have been a most unusual situation, and was no longer common practice as it had been back in the 1930s.

just as managers today make the decision to rest certain players for cup competitions, and field their strongest teams in the important league fixtures, so has it always been. in the 1935 FA Cup campaign, the albion played an amateur - a school teacher, in fact - by the name of arthur gale, in place of star player, tommy glidden. he scored in every round except the semi-final, and was dropped for the final itself in favour of glidden. ironically, the albion - who were favoured to beat sheffield wednesday in the wembley final - lost the match 4-2.

on the 27th of may this year, barcelona will play manchester united for the uefa champions league title . in terms of european football, it is the football pop-fest of the year; and needless to say there will be no amateurs participating in this competition. constantly looking in the marshall mcluhan rear-view mirror, the british pundits will all be asking - and then either answering or obfuscating the response for themselves - as is the case with any particular provocative, pop media question: "is this the greatest manchester united side of all time?"

of all the unanswerable questions...

the football of today is played by top-flight athletes who play the game at twice the pace it was played 30 years ago. and 30 years ago, it was played by footballers and not athletes. footballers couldn't play the modern game; it moves too fast and the defensive strategies and positions that the players are required to move into in relationship to the ball would have been too much work for the alcoholic, cigarette-smoking footballers of the 1960s and 70s. jesus christ! they'd think after about 10 seconds of modern football, these lads close everything down so quickly there's no where to run!!! how am i supposed to get into position!?!



in its practical application, the modern game is all about pace and running like hell. after that, you worry about getting all this pace and running onto the end of a long ball and directing it at goal. believe me, nobody was looking at agbonlahor with an eye to his dribbling and ball control abilities. because those are things that would just slow him down... run like hell and try get on the end of the ball so it is directed towards the goal - and don't try to control it and push it on more than once - unless you absolutely have to!!!

Saturday, April 11, 2009

No Future in the Premier... No TV!

i don't know what to say... another day and more of the same: another accomplishment unachieved (not managing a win after conceding first in a match); and maintaining their incredible run of "doubles" (home/away draws with pompey now) only distinctly more entertaining and exciting, it would seem.

well to start with, it doesn't seem like there's any TV broadcast of this particular match, and that is distinctly unusual. in fact - and although i know i didn't see that last middlesborough game, (for some reason) i am most usually - through my cable TV subscriptions to SETANTA SPORTS and FOX SPORTSWORLD CANADA - able to see all premiership games for the week - if not live, then at least in repeat; usually within 24 hours. so this one is strange, to say the least. i'm not even sure that there was radio coverage, unless it was on local BBC Radio Solent? perhaps they're already acclimatizing us to the fact that the albion isn't going to be around next year and their worth as a broadcast commodity has already seriously been diminished.

the particular irony in this is what a good match it appears to have been, and would've made for real good TV entertainment - and given a boost, especially to the out of town (not to mention out of the country) fans of these two rather beleaguered clubs, who could both really use one. christ! i followed it on the BBC live text report - with the chelsea/bolton match on the TV - and it was exciting - and to think that that's all i'm gonna' get...

i was surprised by the gaffer's selection this week. i was thinking that he would keep martis in the team, since the young man made real account of himself in both the matches that he played. all i can imagine is that mowbray wants to get meite his confidence back... maybe, not such a bad idea. i was glad to see that dorrans seems to be winning his place in the starting team, it sounds like he had a great game, and is the one bright discovery of the season. he should have come into the team earlier. i was most surprised by the total absence of bednar, though, as i had been calling for him to start regularly, as a general relegation battle strategy - playing behind either fortune or simpson. i wonder what is going on there... was he injured, or suspended? i don't recall mention of anything like that. whatever the case, i can hardly complain, because greening scored the equalizer - and that is something i've been calling for all season, that jonno (along with koren and morrison) be more aggressive going toward goal. as well, brunt scored from a free-kick, a distinct talent which has developed over the season and is starting to serve him well as a scorer in the premier league. good stuff!

it has been said - and it might true - that tony brown would not have been able to play the modern game, because as a midfielder, he never came back to defend, and nowadays everyone has to get back and defend. but i don't think that the bomber would care too much about that and would tell you that he played that way because all he cared about was scoring goals. i have always wished - and especially on days when he actually scores - that jonathan greening had more of that interest in scoring and a little more gentle disdain for that aspect of the modern game that has seen the central midfielder primarily as a high-defensive player, responsible for winning tackles and ball distribution, rather than an attacker coming from the back.

as i said, it is ironic that this game might not end up on TV. this a year to test one's faith as an albion supporter, and it is no wonder that it has only been european and "big four" english football that has managed to cultivate active interest in north america. the fact is, it's all that most people ever see with 3 or 4 english games that are available, and as they appear on regular cable, along with the champions league coverage, which, is better covered on game days than english football is on the weekends. but i won't get into a media rant, instead, i'll prepare the text commentary and photos for posting. after all, i shall need to find something interesting and creative to do if i'm going to be following the baggies with only the BBC live text for 90% of the matches.

text replay

Saturday, April 4, 2009

A Million Old Soldiers...

i couldn't help it... although i could wait and see the baggies play stoke on TV at some point this evening; and while there is conflicting listings on the internet this morning, with both the west brom and the west ham matches listed as 6.30 and 6.45 respectively on Setanta Sports Canada (?!?!?!) i started to follow the live text on BBC after seeing the 0-1 halftime score accidentally (i was trying to avoid it) while having the newcastle v chelsea match tuned in on TV and i got sucked in.

i had the page up for a few minutes with no updates occuring, so i hit F5 key to refresh the page and saw that a james beattie goal in the fourth minute of the second-half put the match at 0-2. i know that stoke is a real bogey team for us. we haven't beat them in 6 years prior to today; and even from the text report, i can see that it is the long-ball counter attack beating the passing and possession football with albion having an everage of 60% of the ball and stoke about 40%. it reminds me of everything that the baggies haven't done this season; as today was just another thing that they didn't do.

this season, they have not won any significant upsets. they haven't dispelled any old bogeys or acheived any significant "firsts". for example, it now makes seven years since we've beaten stoke . the baggies have not split any home/away results all year - and have the biggest percentage of doubles (either positive or negative) of anyone in the premiership. if they have lost or drawn away, they have also lost or drawn at home; with only the middlesborough series producing victories. in short - and after the first couple of decent results (wins against fulham and middlesborough back to back) seeing the team off to their best premier league start ever - they lost form completely - save for a couple of good results in december and january that gave us reason to briefly renew our hope. but worst of all, they have delivered not a single welcome surprise all season.

hull beat just about everyone for the first 15 games or so and both stoke and middlesborough have beaten liverpool this year. sunderland has had a couple of surprise results. last year, and involved in a relegation battle, bolton managed to beat manchester united at a critical juncture of the season. there hasn't even been a sniff of anything of the like happening for the albion this year. just lots of clever, clean footballing in the midfield, accurate passing and a dogged (and frustrating) determination to walk the ball into the goal. other than that, they haven't defended consistently, they haven't scored goals, they haven't stopped goals. they have not come back to win a match in which they've conceded first. they haven't had a single special day that for even a moment rocks the established order and gives us at least a passing thrill with cause for celebration and a momentary lift from the doldrums of what has been a truly miserable season. yes, the feeling of emptiness is indescribable.

i have to stick with my man mowbray, though... he just didn't have a few of the essential players that he would have needed to play albion style football at premiership level. but going back down to the championship, i can't see us not being back for another run at it within 2 years... tops!!! and that's not something i felt that i could've said back in november - then, and following ishmael miller's injury. the albion looked like a club who might be setting up for a slow and monumental decline. but when you face the facts, and you remember how big a club it actually is, relatively speaking, there's never, for a long time to come, going to be a question of not being competitive in the championship - through the playoffs or whatever. with an experienced championship level winning manager and a solvent board able to assemble and manage a top championship side; plus whatever the FA gives you to buy championship players, the baggies'll be back for another kick at the premiership can within a couple of years.

to be fair to tony mowbray - like him, or hate him - he is a man of integrity, and is committed very deeply to certain principles concerning football; principles that are shared, and have long been a part of the albion ethos - and were long established at the club - at least, since the 1950s and the initial vision of entertaining, skilled, attacking football instigated by vic buckingham. at its best - and no matter what division we're in - west bromwich albion football is about entertaining, good passing, winning clean possessions and scoring goals; and that's why we're all fans and love the baggies so desperately. but a year like this, is the flip-side of the coin and is about the suffering, and reminding us that being an albion supporter is also about loyalty and integrity. we have to remember that not all the best skilled and technical football is entertaining, so the albion tradition is not always an easy thing to uphold. for example, the FA Cup final of 1968 will never be remembered as one of the classics; despite the fact that both teams played well in the midfield - and john osborne and the albion fullbacks had just about as a good a game as they ever had playing in albion colours. all the good football was played coming out of the back into the midfield.

i was lucky enough that the baggies both won the division and had a cup run last year, as that allowed me to see them play maybe as many as five or six matches on television. i followed most of the games on the BBC live text report, happily looking forward to this year when i would see just about every game through a rather expensive subscription to SETANTA SPORTS CANADA. actually, i think i get to see all the games as long as the baggies are in the premiership - it's just that i can't find a listing for this coming saturday's match and i can't remember why i never saw the last middlesborough game (?!?) - because i remember distinctly that i didn't.

there's seven games left and it's still sufficiently tight that if a hero figure who could score a few crucial goals, stepped forward right now and the baggies tore through their last seven games with five wins and two draws, i've no doubt that they'd survive and pull off another great escape. fulham was able to muster something similar last year. the only thing i can see to do at this point, is start bednar every game now, playing behind either simpson and fortune, and get morrison, greening and koren attacking the goal at every chance. the back-line has looked passable since martis started playing and we might just get lucky. we'll have to see if any of this lot have got the technique and character to do something heroic at this level of the game.

at the moment, and being more limited than most other managers, mowbray has managed to bring in a good deal of talented youngsters in need of development, along with the departure of some key veterans. this is always a painful time for most clubs, but to have to deal with it simultaneously as a premier league promotion is crushing. despite this, the albion still have one of the better teams in the division at playing the ball coming forward from the back. the problem is that the forwards are all young and lack the necessary experience; and defensively the team has run afoul of the same problem at the back, where the the requisite experience has also been desperately wanting.

i thought i might have more to say; consequently it's taken me a week to post this, so now i'm off to follow the baggies play portsmouth on the BBC live text. after all... a dream lives on forever!