The Dream (Again) is Over...

Bolton Wanderers F.C. 2-2 WBA

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while it probably looked like fare for a slow news day at first, the possibility that roy hodgson might become the next england manager was already nagging at those of us who follow west bromwich albion when the baggies took to the field for one of the oldest, historically significant and fiercely competitive local derbies in english football.

it was the first time in many years that the baggies were favourites to win this fixture with aston villa, and the management - as well as those involved in the senior squad - were probably already aware, to some extent, of what was coming. early the next day, it was officially announced that the FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION had approached the club with a formal enquiry seeking permission to speak to the west brom boss in regards to the supreme job with the national team. while roy hodgson will finish out the season with the baggies, his reign at the hawthorns has ended.

when roberto di matteo was sacked following a poor run of results, there was no one i would have wanted to take over more than hodgson. the man who once took switzerland through to the knock-out stage of the FIFA WORLD CUP and fulham to the EUROPA LEAGUE final, was always my first choice to take over. while di matteo's sacking was baffling to more than a few, this appointment turned out to be a stroke of genius as he led the struggling baggies from the brink of a relegation battle to a more than respectable finish of 11th in the league. the gaffer masterminded wins in 8 of their last 12 fixtures and registered only 2 losses.

we will never know what hodgson might have accomplished had the FA not come calling, but it is safe to imagine that he would have taken the baggies on to bigger and better things. there is no doubt that he has already secured a place of honour in west bromwich albion folklore, alongside the likes of such managers as vic buckingham and alan ashman. i believe his legacy will be felt at the hawthorns for years to come.

this season, and following this pair of hard fought draws, the baggies are guaranteed of finishing no lower in the table than last year (11th), with the possibility of finishing as high as 9th - and even the potential to finish above the mighty liverpool.

the much anticipated home fixture with aston villa did not really live up to expectations, but was otherwise an engrossing defensive battle featuring two of the league's best goalies. the baggies started brightly and created the first real chance of the game through the attacking of shane long and peter odemwingie in the 8th minute. long's ball into the villa box skipped awkwardly past defender, carlos cuellar, giving odemwingie the opportunity to back-heel a goal at the far post. villa keeper, shay given was alert and read the situation perfectly as he got down to make the save that allowed cuellar to clear off the line. this good spell of possession finally broke down with west brom's nigerian international being caught coming back from an offside position.

gabriel agbonlahor had the best chances for the visitors in the first half. the villa striker had the beating of baggies' right-back, billy jones, all day and created two excellent opportunities to score on the counter-attack. the first came in the 28th minute when jones tried to bring the ball down just inside his own half. the young right-back was beaten out by agbonlahor's raw pace. however the villa striker took one touch too many as goalie, ben foster, was equal to the task and bravely came out to win the challenge. as the action moved fluidly from end to end, emile heskey put agbonlahor through on goal with a clever flick-on into space. as with the previous occasion, foster successfully challenged for the ball seeing to it that the scores were still level when they went in at the half.

WBA 0-0 Aston Villa F.C.

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once again, referee, mark clattenburg, came under question when he let a clumsy handball by chris brunt in the baggies 18 yard box go un-punished. however, he more than made up for it by not making a much more obvious call on allan hutton's flagrant bit of "goalkeeping" as the aston villa defender punched away a powerful liam ridgewell goal-bound header in the 48th minute. the situation should have seen the villa man red-carded and a penalty given, but mr. clattenburg was consistent in the wide berth he was affording for the benefit of the doubt. on the ensuing corner-kick, gareth mcauley managed to find himself the space to get on the end of a free-header in front of goal, but his effort went just wide of the far post and the move fizzled out.

beyond this, in the second half neither team really seemed to find any rhythm. there was a real "stop-start" feeling to the tempo as the defences controlled the play throughout the contest. west brom had the better of the chances on the day, but both goalies were in superb form. peter odemwingie came close in the 68th minute, but excellent defending on the line - again by carlos cuellar - helped preserve the draw for the villa.

it was an odd decision, i thought - and as did a number of professional pundits - to leave hodgson in charge of the baggies for the last two games of the season. there would be the immediate worry of the integrity of the team being compromised through not needing to win anything, coupled with the fact that everyone now knows the boss is leaving. in fact, chris lepkowski of the birmingham mail expressed his feelings that it was downright innappropriate. however, roy hodgson showed that he is a manager of profound integrity and played the away fixture against bolton wanting a win, and the gaffer wouldn't think of doing anybody any favours.

the baggies made the better chances going forward throughout, and it was only a questionable penalty and the cruellest of own goals that saw west brom 2-0 down with 74 minutes gone.

at this point, the baggies could very easily have packed up - secure in the knowledge that they will have finished in a respectable league position regardless of a result at the reebok - and played out the last 15 minutes in "damage-control" mode. but with little to be gained (other than consolidating their stranglehold on 10th in the league table) - and playing against a team desperate to avoid relegation - the albion came forward and attacked with vigour and commitment, putting bolton under considerable pressure for the rest of the match. chris brunt pulled a goal back with less than 16 minutes left, and simon cox was then brought on as the gaffer implemented his standard drill for mounting a last-ditch come-back.

cox got on the ball early and often, put himself around well in a central position behind shane long, and found the pay-off just as the game moved into injury time. taking a pass from long 12 yards out and with his back to goal, cox worked himself into position for a shot, taking three bolton defenders with him. putting the ball across goal he found james morrison at the far post and the scottish midfielder slotted the ball home to bring the baggies level. this was much to the disgust of the trotters' support, who - sensing that their days in the top-flight were numbered - immediately began an exodus from the reebok as the 5,000 travelling west brom supporters broke into the traditional chorus of psalm 23.

as usual, i wondered why cox has not been used more regularly at his natural position of striker. he has most often been started as a make-shift right winger when injuries have dictated the need. most sources close to the club have cited that the young striker will likely look to be leaving the club when his contract is up at the end of the season.

it will be interesting to see who succeeds hodgson at west brom. more importantly it will be interesting to see what they do with what he has left behind. the one thing that you can count on, is that whoever it is, they will be working in a very well organized system that knows it business and includes the club's technical director, dan ashworth. much of the coaching staff is made up of people who will be at the albion a long time - like dean kiely, for instance; and they will have to want to work in what is an all ready highly structured system.

i was looking forward to roy hodgson being at the hawthorns for a long time, and if the england job hadn't come along he might have even seen out his career at west brom. but i have faith that the club will hire the best man that they can, but suggesting who that might be is a problem for another day and subject for another article. in the mean time, you can bet that hodgson will be hungry to end his time at B71 in high fashion by taking points from arsenal and really giving the baggies support something to remember him by.

WBA 2-1 Bolton Wanderers F.C.

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i am going to have no trouble this week writing about how well the baggies played last saturday; nor will i find it difficult to credit the character and skill of shane long either. the young republic of ireland international made a heroic return to the albion first team a full two weeks ahead of the expected time frame, as well as scoring the winning goal.

in truth, there were any number of players in the side which played against bolton who could have been given the man of the match award. while long was truly heroic in coming back from what is generally a six week injury in just four weeks, nicky shorey played what was by far and away his best game since coming to the club and both centre-halfs were brilliant. youssouf mulumbu and jerome thomas were both back in form. chris brunt has evolved into the most cultured of players, now being the team's most senior member and club captain. stephen reid played an extremely solid game at right back and one can only hail the return of zoltan gera as a revelation.





the baggies haven't played anything like this since the opening games against manchester united and chelsea, and this was even better football than either of those two performances. especially the second-half, where we finally saw the possession and passing of a roberto di matteo or tony mowbray team infused with the economy, steel, defending and counter-attack of a roy hodgson side.

only time will tell, but this may have been a real turning point in the season. it might just have determined whether the baggies spend the rest of the campaign moving steadily, and in workman-like fashion, towards a mid-table finish, or whether they end up desperately battling against falling into the bottom three. the quality of this performance would suggest a scenario more in line with the former than the latter.

since the opening couple of matches against two genuine premier league giants, the baggies have been uneven and have played a very one dimensional style of football. that is, they have allowed teams to have possession, defended from midfield and increasingly pushed up from the back to force counter-attack opportunities. this tactic was practiced to great success against wolves and the villa, but was of little use against the likes of liverpool and arsenal.

the first order of business going into the season was to improve the side defensively. roy hodgson is known for producing very solid teams who are difficult to break down. after all, if your opponents don't score they're going to have a hard time winning games against you, aren't they?





under roy hodgson, a team has to learn how to defend and counter-attack efficiently.

the trouble has been that in adapting to the gaffer's style of football the baggies seemed to have committed to working on this pressing defence/counter-attacking system to the exclusion of anything else. this meant almost nothing but long balls cleared from the back that depend on shane long's ability at running the channels, holding the ball up or (with no other option) looking for a crack at goal. gone was the pretty and precise passing game that the baggies have been known for since the days of ronnie allen, ray barlow, don howe and bobby robson. albion supporters have come to have certain basic expectations, and win, lose or draw, hard tackling "long-ball" has never gone over well at the hawthorns.

the trotters started out brightly enough, signalling their intention to take the game to the albion by going straight into attack. but with just 15 minutes of the match gone, and the baggies meeting the lancashire clubs enterprise with resolute defending, zoltan gera beat the off-side trap putting jerome thomas through on goal. the albion left-winger went wide forcing the bolton keeper, jussi jaaskelainen, out of position and finished the move by putting the ball into an empty net.

however, inside of five minutes and in a near carbon-copy of what became a questionable and contentious call in their home game with liverpool, thomas was adjudged to have taken down fabrice muamba just inside the baggies' penalty area, giving ivan klasnic the opportunity to level the score at 1-1.





with west brom having a slight edge in terms of possession at the half and the game poised for a competitive second period, the baggies came back to take complete control of the match from here on out. in fact, the final 2-1 scoreline was in no way indicative of how one-sided the second-half really was.

the quality of the bolton defenders was evident from early on. in one of the first really dangerous attacking opportunities of the game jerome thomas sent shane long through on goal. the albion striker looked almost certain to get a proper crack on target but was thwarted by a perfectly time last ditch tackle made by a desperately back-tracking gary cahill. in truth, the baggies could've won this one by two or three goals save for the excellent work of jaaskelainen and the bolton defence.

the baggies finally made the breakthrough that put them on top 10 minutes into the second half. with bolton increasingly on the back foot, chris brunt spread the play with a cross-field pass to thomas, who held the ball up on the edge of the bolton penalty area just long enough for nicky shorey to find space in behind him. the albion left-back, returning to the starting eleven after several weeks out of the side, delivered a perfect cross for the athletic long to beat his marker in the air and head albion into the lead.

the next half hour saw the baggies playing football of the highest order, keeping the ball and always threatening. the trotters didn't see much of the play nor any real opportunity to threaten ben foster in the albion goal.





what roy hodgson has done is very simple. he's got everybody on the team performing fundamental defensive duties that they did not attend to under the last two managers. he has got both james morrison and chris brunt moving into deep defensive positions, winning and playing more balls out of the back. he's taught youssouf mulumbu where to set himself up and how to defend on set-plays - always a weakness for the congolese midfielder in the past; and in gareth mcauley he's found the centre-half that the albion have needed to play alongside jonas olsson.

the only problem is that the whole thing has required shane long leading the line to make it work. peter odemwingie has not found anything like the form of which he's capable; simon cox hasn't been given enough opportunity to play; and neither marc-antoine fortune nor roman bednar seem to be in the gaffer's plans. this leaves the enigmatic somen tchoyi as the only candidate to lead the line in the case of long being injured, and it is unlikely that there'll be any action during the january transfer window.

now that we've seen what kind of football the baggies should be playing, we can only hope that they continue to do so. this was an excellent performance all around.

Ghosts of Premier Leagues Past

i have tried to be positive. i have attempted to be patient. my team is playing in the PREMIER LEAGUE this year and i have tried not to be cynical. but after this loss to bolton, i'm beginning to lose my grip on the situation.

i won't get into some hoary old attitude about how great life was before the advent of the almighty, bloody PREMIER LEAGUE. the ugly trade-off for the achievment of having given english football to the world has seen unbelievable financial gaps develop between the PREMIER and FOOTBALL leagues which have weakened the integrity of the domestic league structure and destroyed the ability of the large community-based clubs (once the bedrock of the english game) to compete at the highest level .

Bolton Wanderers F.C. 2-0 WBA

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in the 2010-2011 season we have seen some good competitive football, the surprisingly good performances of all three promoted teams, and a shift from the guaranteed model of the "big-four" with a second-grade consisting of 3 or 4 clubs feeding on their scraps with the rest of the division never more than a few bad results from being relegation fodder.

this year, the division has organized itself into a top half of the table where everyone is a serious contender in playing for a european spot, and bottom half where everyone is either fighting a relegation battle or looking to keep clear by a vital few points and never more than a couple of poor results away from trouble. since jonas olsson's injury, the baggies have gone from being a european contender to a team who needs to avoid slipping into the bottom 4 or 5.



whatever skill we've seen in the work of kevin davies and johan elmander in leading a very successful bolton attack, the trotters are still essentially proponents of the long ball and purveyors of tough, ugly football. however, they have managed to raise the art of PREMIER LEAGUE survival to a level where they can now compete and see some success at the higher end of the table and the trotters are definitely in with a shout for a spot in europe next year. owen coyle deserves real credit for having brought something special to the reebok stadium.

while the baggies had the higher percentage of possession, interestingly enough, the wanderers dominated - albeit only very slightly - in all other categories. this surprised me, but was testament to the quality not only of bolton's defensive play (they simply don't give you many opportunities to get a look at goal) but that there is now a spark of creativity in their attack. the injection of some skill and subtlety in going forward has proved a successful addition to their footballing repertoire.



i had gone to england for the west brom v wolves fixture which ended up being postponed. so i was already suffering the effects of massive disappointment. there are no trains anywhere in england on boxing day, so it is impossible to go anywhere unless you have a car. i had no way of getting to bolton, and although i had not originally planned it, i would have probably made a desperate attempt to get there at this point.

originally, my mother was going to drive me down to huish park (not too far from where she lives) where i was going to watch yeovil town play brentford in their boxing day game. that match too was postponed, making it 3 out of 4 matches for which i had tickets now irretrievably gone, and my "football holiday" effectively ruined.

all i could do was sit at my mum's place in chilcompton, radstock listening to ALBION RADIO and yet another disappointing result from what sounded to be a terrific match. the MATCH OF THE DAY HIGHLIGHTS confirmed that it was indeed a very evenly contested, skilled and exciting game.

there was every reason to take heart at the baggies' performance in this match... just no points to celebrate. the albion will almost certainly win one or two more matches this year where they will not have played anywhere near as well as this.

WBA 1-3 Blackburn Rovers F.C.

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this was the only match for which i had tickets that i was actually able to get to. in the end, it was just another disappointment.

while the baggies performed admirably with chris brunt out on a single-match suspension for incurring a 5th yellow card, they missed his leadership in pushing the team forward and looked just slightly disjointed for his absence.

it was good, however, to see graham dorrans starting to come into some much improved form after a slow start to the season and being unable to get a place in the first team. while still not as spectacular as he was last year, he was looking more the part of the little general than he really has all season. likewise, dorrans' midfield partner, james morrison, has been improving with each match and looks to have returned to top-form following a long injury that had kept him out of the side for the better part of a year, followed by a lengthy rehabilitation towards regaining full match fitness.



the scottish international created one of the best early chances of the game with a tremendous individual effort which saw a scorching shot from 25 yards out beat the rovers' goalie, paul robinson, only to see the shot curl millimeteres wide of the far post.

however, the match itself was absolutely ridculous. the baggies have now fallen into the trap of delivering solid possession and attacking performances, but are conceding too easily - especially on corner-kicks. i think the problem probably stems from the fact that there are too many defenders - starting with jonas olsson - who are now out injured and while paul scharner has been a sterling stand-in at centre-half, the baggies are conceding soft goals through lapses in defending - and on set-pieces especially.

to compound they problem, they are not taking enough of their chances at the other end, and - like the 2008-09 team - they are becoming tentative in attack, looking for the elusive "perfect" goal. in other words: they have become desperate and having to think too hard about the final ball that the instinctive play we saw against arsenal, manchester united and everton has dried up and the baggies are now spurning chances that might produce an own goal, a dangerous deflection or an opportunity from a scuffed shot or mishandled ball in a dangerous area.

if you look at the statistics from this game it's clearly evident as to who played the more enterprising football:


POSSESSION:
west brom 55% - blackburn 45%
SHOTS:
on target
west brom 11 - blackburn 4
off target
west brom 10 - blackburn 2
CORNERS:
west brom 8 - blackburn 5
FOULS:
west brom 9 - blackburn 13


i guess it was the in the psychological intangibles that this game was both won and lost. there was also some moments of excellent goal-keeping from veteran england interantional, paul robinson, and for all their good possession football and attacking build-up the baggies were going to have a hard time getting a clear chance on goal.



after going behind 1-0 early on in the match, this looked another carbon copy of my first three or four visits to the hawthorns. in matches i had seen against plymouth argyle, doncaster rovers, blackpool and preston north end, the baggies had conceded both first and early before then turning the games around and winning all four matches by scores of 3-1 (plymouth, doncaster) and 3-2 (blackpool and preston). so the sight of nikola kalinic scoring on the break with just 3 minutes gone didn't phase me in the least.

the albion were caught in a good move out of the back by rovers for the first goal. with the wingers and full-backs caught playing in a high position, kalinic took a good long-ball hit into space down the albion left flank and having gotten in behind the albion back-four buried a low, hard shot just inside scott carson's far post.



welcome to the hawthorns, i thought sarcastically, recalling the first time i had seen the albion concede a goal at home.

in keeping with the script, the baggies then began to assert their possession football and created the better chances with a concerted effort and dominance in attack. as i have come to expect from my visits to the hawthorns, the baggies equalized on 17 minutes through a jerome thomas goal.

it was a good run from morrison, in fact, that made the equalizer for the albion just on 17 minutes. the baggies' midfielder went on a scintillating run, taking the ball from his own half and well into blackburn territory, finding somen tchoyi on the right wing, before the cameroon international delivered a perfect ball across the face of goal for jerome thomas to bundle it in at the far post.

the baggies went on to dominate the rest of the half, and would have had the lead were it not for the goal-keeping of paul robinson. ironically, robinson was substituted at the half for a strained calf-muscle. this gave opportunity to PREMIER LEAGUE debutant, marc bunn, to prove himself in the blackburn goal. he was given the chance to show his worth early on after the restart with having to turn a stinging effort by peter odemwingie around the post.



the baggies ultimately lost this match by two goals that resulted directly from blackburn corner-kicks. with jonas olsson out with injury, and now tamas on a three-match suspension, the albion marking on set-pieces - and especially corner-kicks - has fallen apart. no one seems to know his job and the situation need some real sorting. the other big problem - and in lightof this particular defensive frailty - is that scott carson is a keeper who just doesn't come off his line, so depends heavily on good marking from his central defenders on set-pieces. without olsson to marshall the back-line, carson is going to have to come for the ball a lot more than he is naturally inclined to.

in fact, if this situation persists and the albion start to give away too many more soft goals from set-pieces, then it might be worth giving boaz myhill a run in the first team and see if he does any better. above all, someone has to organize the marking better and carson doesn't seem to be doing that either.

oh well, onwards and upwards...

WBA 1-1 Bolton Wanderers F.C.

live text replay



this was - in every way - a better than average, although very typical PREMIER LEAGUE match between two teams who look, at the moment, like finishing somewhere mid-to-top table without actually breaking into the top six. as such, it was an entertaining, well played game that saw both teams with chances to win it late-on. it was both engaging and exciting. not that everyone was brilliant or there weren't any mistakes or poorly played passes; but the second-half , especially, was a display of some really cracking, determined football.

a tale of two media

as i do every saturday, i woke up, had a shower, got my coffee and tuned in the ALBION PLAYER transmission. there was no live TV broadcast in my area, so i took the game in, as i usually would, listening to the ALBION RADIO while watching the spurs/villa match on SETANTA SPORTS CANADA out of the corner of my eye.

there was a delayed TV broadcast at 8.30 PM (EST) so i did ultimately get a chance to see the match. the surprising thing was how different the two experiences were. on TV this was a terrific match that ended with both teams pushing for the win and creating chances at both ends. as digital-audio-commentary it was characterized by the announcers as having been a "dreadful game of football" with little to recommend it at the sound of the final whistle.

indeed, ALBION RADIO had been such a negative listening experience that the true quality of the match was a delightful surprise when i did finally see it. however, i couldn't figure out why dave bowler and john dunn had found it to be a match of such relatively poor quality when in fact it was a really fine example of competitive PREMIER LEAGUE football?

where the last two encounters between these two sides produced a couple of listless draws in the premiership campaign of 2008-09, both teams have improved considerably and each have new managers who have brought new character and talent to their respective clubs.

bolton may have once have been a one-dimensional team, relying on physical play, attacking from the back and the use of the long ball in getting forward. but, they are now - and especially with the arrival of martin petrov - a side that play more than a little bit of football up front, with a really superb target-man in kevin davies. surprisingly and despite a string of draws in their recent results, they possess the 4th best attack in the league at the moment.

contrarily, the albion have always relied on control of the football and superior time in possession, with a smart passing game through the midfield. roberto di matteo is now in charge at the hawthorns, and while maintaining the excellence of the midfield, he has transformed the team to be a much better defensive side, who themselves have found a first-rate striker in peter odemwingie. the albion have surprisingly been the PREMIER LEAGUE's form team since the last international break. di matteo has been named PREMIER LEAGUE MANAGER-OF-THE-MONTH for september, and odemwingie the PLAYER-OF-THE-MONTH.



with jerome thomas out due to a minor leg injury, graham dorrans - who has still to find consistent form in the premiership - was played on the left-wing, alongside an accompanying midfield of paul scharner, chris brunt and james morrison. of course, youssouf mulumbu was in his regular holding position in front of the back four. gabriel tamas was back in the team, after having missed the arsenal game through injury. the gaffer seems to have an otherwise established back-line of gonzalo jara, jonas olsson and the excellent nicky shorey at left-back.

chris brunt, who i fear goes terribly underrated by the albion supporters sometimes, had a great game start to finish. while the northern ireland international was outstanding as both right and left-winger last year, in the medium of the PREMIER LEAGUE he looks to me to have finally stamped his name on the central attacking midfield role ahead of graham dorrans.

my suspicion about dorrans - and while his performance in the second-half against birmingham city had seen him begin to exert his influence and show momentary flashes of the brilliance which we all know he is capable - has yet to really make the adjustment from the CHAMPIONSHIP to PREMIER LEAGUE football. judging from his performance against blues - and in the top-flight - his natural skill, guile and pace might be most effective being played on the wing. there's no doubt that he was out of sorts against bolton, his first touch completely eluding him and his confidence unusually lacking. but then, there's just some days where nothing works and you've just got to write it off and move on.

in the CHAMPIONSHIP, dorrans was successful by virtue of the more open nature of the game at this level. he could control the ball, stand-off a defender and dictate both the direction and pace of play. the PREMIER LEAGUE however, is much more unrelenting, the defenders quicker and more skilled in shutting down the play. also, the young, scottish international carries expectations that he didn't have to deal with he when he joined the team during the PREMIER LEAGUE campaign of 2008-09.

in truth, he looks yet to have played enough and seems under some small amount of personal and professional pressure. chris brunt, on the other hand, looks composed and ready to play in the top-flight this time around.



and maybe this is why the ALBION RADIO commentary was so negative. west brom supporters are unusually attached to their talismanic players; and the under-performance of a fan favourite tends to reflect in their minds on the quality of the whole team. bob taylor, for example, played on some of the worst albion teams of all time. however, he is arguably remembered with a greater fondness than any other player of the last twenty years. consequently, so too are those that played alongside him.

youssouf mulumbu was given the albion MAN-OF-THE-MATCH award in this one, and while the congolese midfielder turned in his usual performance of tackling anything that came into his area, his distribution was poor and clearances no better than routine.

on quality of individual performance, chris brunt rightfully should have got the nod, but he has never been an overwhelming fan favourite; and having been given the central attacking role over a popular player like dorrans is never going to sit well with the baggies faithful no matter what he produces.

also, these are the kind of games - and bolton one of the teams - that the baggies are going to find the most difficult to get results from this year. the trotters are a bigger than average, very physical team whose first aim is to disrupt the rhythm and tempo of the opposition and attempt to bombard the opposing penalty area with a menacing aerial attack. they were very forceful in holding manchester united to a draw last weekend, so this has to be taken as a good result by the albion.

true to their form in constantly needing to come from behind, the baggies trailed in this match on a goal by johan elmander in the 63rd minute. the 29-year-old swedish striker had slipped into an open space behind his marker, gabriel tamas, and kevin davies showed his worth in playing a short-touch pass that left nothing more for elmander to do than blast the ball past an isolated scott carson.

a few minutes later, tamas again made a poor play in failing to clear against the on-rushing martin petrov. scott carson came out of his goal well, forcing the bulgarian to shoot wide and maintain the single goal deficit.

the baggies responded with some excellent wide, hold-up play by peter odemwingie in the 73rd minute. the nigerian striker showed patience and skill in recieving a pass down the right flank, taking on his defender, maintaining possession and waiting for the run of james morrison before crossing the ball for the scottish international to head home from about 5 yards out.



there were close calls at both ends before the final whistle, and this was probably a deserved result. even with the added expectations of their historic win at arsenal, this was a point well earned in a game that will be more typical, i think, of what the baggies will have to deal with week in week out for the rest of the season.

as for dave bowler and john dunn's inexplicably negative attitude towards this match, i'm reminded that there is a pessimistic bite in all black-country humour, that if left unchecked - and on the subject of football especially - will translate into a hopeless, abject despair and misery no matter how well things are going.

at the end of this weekend's round of the PREMIER LEAGUE, west bromwich albion sit 6th in the table and are nearing the end of a very difficult set of away fixtures. nobody would have imagined this even three weeks ago, and there's a long way to go before the baggies can think about qualifying for europe. mssr's bowler and dunn have every right to be worried... i guess?!?

Robbo Goes to Bolton

combing the online news last night - and just to see if there was anything new concerning paul robinson's apparent move to bolton. the most recent report being at GOAL.COM, saying that the long serving albion fullback is adamant that he will not be playing at the hawthorns next year, and have asked the club to accept bolton's transfer offer of £750,000. meanwhile, jeremy peace has held firm and rejected the offer, and insists on the asking price of £1 million.

generally, players asking to be released get what they want eventually; simply by virtue of the fact that - in football - no one wants to work with someone who doesn't want to be there. in just about any other business, workers in varying fields of endeavor are routinely held to contracts; where their reluctant delivery of performance is usually acceptable, based on the assumption of personal ego and their inherent sense of craft delivering adequate product. even the rolling stones squirming out of one of their first recording deals, did so by producing a piece of work in order to fulfill their contractual obligations... nothing more. in this case it was a song called "cocksucker blues" and was designed to be unusable - by virtue of its overly explicit lyrical content - by the company to which the song was owed. it did however produce (for better or worse) an interesting piece of art. it shows a commitment to something, anyway. but a footballer who does not want to honour his contract is useless and possibly even detrimental, produces nothing, lacks any sense of commitment; and considering what a footballer costs these days, you would generally want to get him off the payroll as soon as possible.

that is the way i feel about robbo, anyway. he's 30 years old, has no international career to protect (unlike morrison, whose considerations in leaving have more to do with his aspirations as a scottish international than anything else) and last year was part of one the worst defenses in the premier league. so i have to wonder what he's talking about when he says he can't "face another season in the championship".



the premier league - and especially the existence of the "big 4" - has seriously devalued the worth of all other english football; and the promotion/relegation issue between the first and second tier of play is turning into a perilous joke, with less and less of the league being able to stay competitive. nowadays - and in the big setup - teams in the premier league and championship fall into three basic levels of competition: "the big 4"... well that just speaks for itself, and is as much of an institution, at this point, as is the "old firm" in scotland, or the dominance of real madrid and barcelona in spain. then there are the rest of the "top 10" level clubs, in the likes of teams such as everton, aston villa, spurs, manchester city, blackburn rovers, bolton wanderers, west ham united etc... these are all teams that generally finish in the top 10 and occasionally will struggle for a season, but are rarely relegated.

a notable exception to this rule would be newcastle united in being relegated this last season. for these teams, relegation is the worst possible scenario, as the structure at these clubs - financial and otherwise - demands that they regain promotion within 2 years or face the possibility of spiraling downward into league 1 and possibly beyond. recent victims of this syndrome being charlton athletic, leeds united, nottingham forest, leicester city, norwich city, luton town, southampton and going a little further back, swindon town have never been back to the top flight after being the first team to be relegated from the premiership; and, both notts county - now in league 2, and oxford united of the blue square premier league were first division teams less than 20 years ago.

after this you have the group of teams that struggle against relegation from the premiership as often as they are playing for promotion from the championship: west bromwich albion, wolverhampton wanderers, birmingham city, reading, crystal palace, watford, stoke city, portsmouth, sheffield united, fulham, sunderland, wigan, hull city, middlesbrough - and a group of teams who might become competitive at this level on any given year: coventry city, cardiff city, burnley, derby county, bristol city, QPR, preston north end etc. these clubs make up the bottom half of the premiership and the top half of the championship. beyond that - and with a few notable exceptions... well, football is localized and of interest only to the teams and supporters involved.

while the former category of these clubs are capable of staying in the premiership for as many as four or five years at a time - and even produce top ten finishes replete with qualification for european competitions, and so forth - they will still inevitably and eventually find themselves back in the bottom 7 or 8 where the threat of relegation is always just around the corner and as imminent as your next 3 losses.

if paul robinson really believes that the championship is below the level at which he should be playing - then something is out of whack in the overall structure of football in england, and at its highest level. there are players of such a caliber that they could not entertain playing for anyone outside the "big 4". some of these players can be lured to other clubs in the "top ten" category - but only for "big 4" money - or they can go and play for real madrid. while there is another grade of player - like robbo - who will play for anyone as long they have a defensible and consolidated position in the premier league - i mean, you wouldn't want to leave west brom to play at hull, because their chances of a miserable season ending in relegation is more likely than not, and west brom are expected to regain promotion immediately.



the problem lies in the financial structure of these institutions, and the way in which they are allowed to operate. with the exception of west bromwich albion - who were the first team relegated this last year - every single premiership club operated by accumulating massive debt. manchester united, for example, couldn't afford to be manchester united if they couldn't attract the money and keep things running smoothly under the weight of this massive debt. they just wouldn't be able to meet the wages that they want to be able to meet, nor the incredible transfer fees made at the game's highest level that must be paid out. west brom, on the other hand, are a team that depend on prudent management, good buys, loyalty, player development in conjunction with signing young players, and making sure that there is enough money in the till to deal with whatever problems or opportunities might come up. not only did the baggies avoid debt last year, but they were the only premiership club that turned a profit. this may be why they can afford to go "sponsor-less" and actually look like a football team instead of 11 mobile billboards.

newcastle united, having spent many years in the premier league and first division prior to that - are a huge club... one of the biggest in the country. their financial structure calls for big investors, top name players on big salaries, acquired on big transfer money, and to be in the appropriate amount of debt to ensure that this all happens. this structure will absolutely sink a team when relegated to the championship. while albion will have the money and structure to deal with a championship campaign - and are expected to be favourites for promotion back to premier league, newcastle are in big trouble and will have to re-organize their financial structure, sell off their most expensive players, figure out what kind of team they need to put on the field week after week and will still need to get promoted within 2 years or face being broke, further in debt and possibly suffer deeper relegation.

And... It's Worse Than Ever!

well, there goes my last suggestion... john hughes was appointed the new manager at hibs, the morning after i had advised here in my blog that the albion rush out to sign him in the event that TM leaves for parkhead. but, y'know what? i don't think the gaffer is gonna leave the hawthorns.

although, it does still appears that celtic are winning the war in the press - and are playing hardball by going to the respective national FA's and getting a judgment in order to get around the compensation clause in tony mowbray's contract. it's very ugly stuff indeed - i think he will stay at west brom simply because celtic have not handled this the right way, and i can't see TM's principles allowing himself to be associated with something that was approached so aggressively and done so poorly. if, for example, he had spoken privately and off the record (so to speak) and expressed interest in the job to someone at the celtic organization, then i'm sure he must feel somewhat betrayed and the whole thing terribly compromised at this point due to the mess this has become in the news-media; and where most people would feel that they'd now been forced into a position to accept a high-profile gig like managing celtic; TM will feel, quite conversely, and because of the sensational and public nature of celtic's "negotiating" practices in this case, that he is now being forced to stay at west brom, whether he originally intended to take the celtic job or not.

so he will now stay and yet see through the project of taking west brom back to the premiership and having yet another kick at surviving more than one top-flight campaign. while it certainly doesn't look like it in the press - much of which is still treating mowbray's departure from the hawthorns a foregone conclusion - and while his "silence is deafening" is a phrase quickly becoming hackneyed and overworked in the press to characterize the gaffer's lack of input so far - no one is re-iterating his message.

the fact is, that TM has now been put on the spot, so far as i can tell, in that if he wants the job, he will have to formally resign his post with the baggies and simply sign with celtic. beyond that, it's a matter of the club paying off what mowbray will owe - not what celtic will owe (which legally is nothing) - in buying his way out of contract with west brom. at least, that's as much of the story as i am currently able to understand from today's news reports. and i think that that would be asking mowbray to do something that he wouldn't want to do.

so when i look at the scenario, i just can't see it. TM's too much of a straight shooter, and whatever his feelings about his old club - i can't imagine him being too happy with the press "leaks" and public bullying in the british and international news media.

and now this nonsense about alan shearer!?! unbelievable...

Mozza and Robbo

after weeks of speculation about how a few of the players - and especially morrison - would be looking for transfers in order to keep playing in the premier league, it looks like he might be going to bolton - and fan favourite paul robinson with him too - while the most recent albion hero, chris brunt, is set for a transfer to rangers. i think it's just amazing that these guys get one or two years under their belt in the premier league, and then knowing that there are other premiership clubs that would take them, they are thenceforth self-declared "premier league" players and can no longer entertain notions of staying with a team that has been relegated, and are transfered for what is nowadays considered a prudent £2-3 million each.

"I can't face playing in the Championship again. I feel I've proved myself in the Premier League," said robinson in the mirror recently. robbo has been at the hawthorns for 6 years - so that's what? 3 years in the championship and 3 years in the premier league?

when i look at football from years past, and think how the greats like dixie dean, stanley mattews, tommy glidden, w.g. richardson, bobby robson, bobby moore, gordon banks, peter osgoode, johnny giles, tony brown, clive allen and many others all routinely played in the 2nd division, following the fortunes of their clubs as they struggled with football's up and downs, seeing through both the good times and the bad - i can't help but wonder what are the differences between the players of yesteryear and the relative prestige (or lack thereof) of the old 1st and 2nd divisions when compared to that of the modern premier and championships?

the differences - while being symbolically representative of the same two tiers of football - are immense, not least in the area of prestige, and in the public perception. the premiership, through its visionary use of live television broadcasts of its matches, has created a cosmopolitan international football league dominated by the four most popular clubs. before the advent of the premier league, english football was much more competitive at the top-flight.

while other countries like italy, spain and portugal have long had familiar teams that would dominate their domestic competitions year in year out; the english 1st division had a different complexion every year, and it was only possible to really be competitive and win titles for two or three years at a time before another set of teams would, in turn, follow and dominate for the next few years after that. while inter-milan or juventas, real madrid and barcelona - not to mention the stranglehold dominance of celtic and rangers on scottish football - have long been perennial sure-bets to be contesting league titles and domestic cup competitions; the english 1st division was being won by the likes of derby county, nottingham forrest, leeds united, ipswich town - as well as, arsenal and liverpool; with heavy contention coming from clubs like: west bromwich albion, norwich city, QPR, bristol city and manchester city, amongst others.

three years out of five in england saw 2nd division teams in the FA Cup finals, with sunderland and southampton taking the trophy from leeds and manchester united respectively in '72 and '76; while west ham narrowly beat fulham in the 1975 final, to become the only 1st division team to win a cup final against 2nd division opposition during the 1970s.

the premier league - barring the fact that blackburn rovers were the competitions' first champions - is not in this same spirit at all - and is less a "domestic" football competition and more like a first cousin of the champions league than anything else. which means, really, that the championship is a kind of "downgraded" descendant of the old 1st division, and although it has taken a while for some of the really big clubs to devolve and get there, it is beginning to happen. newcastle united being relegated to the championship, for example, really brings a whole level of top-flight glamour to the division, that can't be seen as anything but positive as far as creating added interest in the championship goes - and, as this is going to start to happen with increasing frequency - they are going to have to find a way to increase the value of the whole division. the only way to do this will be with TV - and they are going to have to do something, because, as we have already seen in the recent past with derby county, nottingham forest, southampton and charlton athletic - is that really big clubs who have made the commitment to premier league football, cannot afford to play in the championship for more than a couple of years. so if they are relegated and then unsuccessful in gaining promotion back to the premiership, they then get in trouble financially and often cannot avoid eventual relegation to league 1.

so as the tottenham hotspur, blackburn rovers, bolton wanderers and manchester citys' etc. devolve into fodder for relegation, the nature of the championship will have to change - in order to save the bigger clubs - and as it does, maybe it will develop sufficiently that players like morrison, robinson and brunt - along with their contemporaries and their predecessors of ancient relegations - will be able to stay on and display the loyalty that used to make it possible for a more competitive football environment to flourish.