Cometh the Transfers - Cometh the Season

with the start of this year's football league competitions just a little over 24 hours away, and the premier league proper ready to go a week from tomorrow, i find myself scrambling to get this article written so that i'm at least up to date before hull and blackpool kick-off tomorrow evening.

i look forward to the prospect of a fourth season blogging about the baggies, digital multi-media, trans-atlantic trips to the hawthorns and televised football from the perspective of supporting a large community based club from overseas.

unless you happen to support manchester city, the talk on message-boards, fan forums and chat-rooms is almost exclusively preoccupied with rumours from the transfer market, ranting and lamenting that your club has not spent enough money or brought in the players so desperately needed to achieve whatever relative success will be on immediate demand.




for the millions who support manchester united, they will be worrying about a lack of depth to compete successfully in both the premier league, uefa champions league, and will be expected to win at least one of the two major domestic cup competitions as well. they will also be contesting the charity shield game against cross-town rivals and current fa cup holders, manchester city this sunday.

fans of both liverpool and chelsea will have similar expectations, while arsenal, tottenham and manchester city will be expecting nothing less than a top-four finish. newcomers norwich, QPR and swansea city will join most of the rest of the league in targeting survival and little else.

of course, if you support an established mid-table premier league side (if indeed, such a thing truly exists), you might also entertain the prospect of a cup run; just as long it doesn't come at the expense of, or create any distraction from getting the necessary results in the league.

whatever the situation, the complaints will always be roughly the same and most supporters will believe their club not to have been aggressive enough about "splashing the cash" in order to obtain what are very often unrealistic signings and expectations.





with manchester city being the one notable and consistent exception to the rule, sunderland has been the one truly aggressive club since the outset of the summer tranfer window. they signed everybody they could, it seemed, and they did it early on. this is no doubt reaction to the drastic drop in form the black cats suffered during the second-half of last season.

as for west bromwich albion, they've done OK. the baggies signed defenders gareth mcauley and billy jones right at the outset - and before their tour of the western US - and action was relatively slow for another week or so while talk of owen hargreaves coming to the hawthorns started to flag a bit. however, they were then successful in their quest for a number one goalie in taking ben foster from cash-strapped and on the rocks birmingham city; while zoltan gera re-signed with the albion and is expected to start playing in september, after serving a three-game ban for a red-card incurred playing for fulham on the final day of last season.

it is no secret that west brom still need another goalie, with boaz myhill having gone to blues, and are also looking for a striker. even with a new stiker - the current target being reading's shane long - i think that hodgson has a few surprises up his sleeve.




for example, he brought roman bednar back for the pre-season, along with a fit ishmael miller, and gave them both regular playing time on the american trip, as well as two friendlies back on english soil - against rochdale and southampton respectively. the two veteran baggies' frontmen were generally rotated in partnership with simon cox and somen tchoyi. peter odemwingie did not make the trip, taking some deserved recuperation time following what was ostensibly two years straight football without a break.

whether he's got another striker coming or not, the gaffer is hedging his bets and looking to maintain his resources in order to manage the inevitable injury problems that will occur at some point in the season.

it won't be the same as last year, and new heroes will have to take on new responsibilities if the baggies are going to see continued success in the premier league. however, things are looking good: graham dorrans will no doubt get a chance to leave his mark on the top-flight, and we could very well see some of the mowbray-era veterans like ishmael miller, roman bednar and zoltan gera getting some time in the side.

with the baggies continuing their off-season with a match away to bristol city, hodgson started to show more-or-less what the starting team is going to look like for the beginning of the season. while ben foster didn't have much to do in his first outing in albion colours, you could sense his quality and the improvement he's going to add between the posts.

stephen reid, gabriel tamas, jonas olsson and nicky shorey made up the back-line. paul scharner and youssouf mulumbu continued their partnership defending in the midfield; while chris brunt and jerome thomas played wide behind a two striker set-up of peter odemwingie and somen tchoyi - a very solid looking albion side.

after squandering their initial opportunities and having a massive edge in possession, the baggies finally prevailed 1-0 on a late goal by substitute craig dawson.

right now the baggies have got one of the best managers in the business and an improved team from last year. it should be another good year in the premier league for west bromwich albion.

Tour of the Midlands and Black Country Derby

travelling from abroad to get to the first ever PREMIER LEAGUE black country derby provided some of the most ridiculous logistics and implementation of contingencies that i have ever encountered in making plans to travel and attend any function, anywhere and at any time in my life. but in the end... finally worth it, i think.

besides coming back for the baggies' derby with their biggest rivals, i also wanted to squeeze in a couple of additional matches to make up for the football i had missed at christmas.

first off, the match had been scheduled for the 18th of december, but - like almost all other fixtures in england that day - ran afoul of the unexpectedly bad weather. with FA CUP games still to be replayed, the match was initially rescheduled for february 22nd. however, we were all well aware that the west midlands police were going to request that the match be moved to a noon kick-off over the cup's 5th round weekend should both the baggies and wolves get knocked out of the competition prior to this. at the time of rescheduling, however, both teams were still involved.

the albion were promptly knocked out by their cup nemesis reading, who put them out of the competition both this year and last, while wolves survived through a draw with doncaster rovers. at this point, it was a matter of waiting for the results of the 4th round replays and subsequent draw for round five before making any definite travel plans.



i was already taking no chances and knew i had to be in the midlands - and within an hour of birmingham - if indeed the black country derby was going to be played on the saturday. in light of this, i planned a trip to stoke for port vale's friday night home game with bradford city. this would leave me well enough situated with enough time to get to the hawthorns for a noon kick-off should wolves lose their replay with doncaster. they did not.

i was now left waiting on the result from wolves 5th round home fixture with stoke city.

in the meantime, i had changed my plans to travel to stoke on the friday in favour of a night game at leicester with bristol city as the visitors.

wolves were then knocked out of the cup in a 1-0 loss to stoke city at the molineux. knowing that the west midlands police would take quick steps to change the date, i had to wait for the outcome of the cup draws set to be played on the 19th.

birmingham city, after their 3-2 win over coventry, were drawn in a home fixture against sheffield wednesday. i now knew that the west brom/wolves game wouldn't be moved to the saturday with a cup game at st. andrews on the same day.

i was now free to book my ticket with a departure date that would see me in london on the 16th and departing on the 23rd. this would mean travelling to the leicester on friday. i would then go to birmingham, anyway, for the FA CUP game at blues and then return for baggies/wolves match on the last night of my trip. but i had not figured on the fact that they might move the match to a sunday. which, of course, is what they did.

all the better! i was at the walkers stadium on friday, st. andrews on saturday - and after spending the night in birmingham, i was at the hawthorns, as planned, for a noon kick-off on the 20th of february.

Leicster City F.C. 2-1 Bristol City F.C.

i found leicester a very pleasant experience with a surprising gate of 29,000 on a friday night. while i have a suspicion that there are more than a few fair-weather fans who were there in support of the team's current success, i had not realized how big a club leicester city really is. in my short time in the city i encountered an extensive and serene university campus, a big modern rugby stadium, a large park named in honour of nelson mandela and an obviously lively downtown club scene - and most of this on my walk to the match from the hotel.

of course, among other players of note, i got a chance to see david james in goal for bristol city.

from the point of view of the neutral, this was a terrific match. after an early leicester goal by yakubu and bristol city equalizer, the bulk of the matched was played poised on a 1-1 scoreline. bristol city played a really top notch game, keeping it tight with a sound defensive formation and then exerting a high tempo attack with a really good spell of possession late on. tactically, and as the away team, they went for the win at the right time. the home team responded, though, with some late defending to preserve at least a draw, before substitute, martin waghorn, scored the winner in injury time. an excellent evening's entertainment and another positive advert for CHAMPIONSHIP football.

Birmingham City F.C. 3-0 Sheffield Wednesday F.C.

my first trip to blues was a bit of a disappointment. the fans of our local rivals are a rough and barbaric inner-city cousin to the evidently more cultured black country folk from up the road. i felt uncomfortable in supporting blues (something i wouldn't usually do), but in light of it not being a league match and birmingham city being the club from whom i had purchased my ticket, i felt obliged to exchange my navy for royal blue - just for a few hours, anyway.

while i did consider the initial option of purchasing my ticket from sheffield wednesday, i wouldn't travel with visiting supporters other than the albion (or brentford, for whom i have a soft spot) under any circumstance whatsoever. even travelling with the baggies can be a bit rowdy for my liking, and the visiting supporters section is never the best place to watch the match from.



i also felt a bit confined as i had a bored steward sitting at the end of the adjoining block of seats, so i refrained from taking my usual photo of the kick-off.

there was an unfriendly feeling about the place. from the ridiculously cramped little club shop, or a line-up for the toilet at half-time, to the stadium's dreary highway landscape surrounding, it was all curiously unwelcoming. it certainly ai' the hawthorns!!! while i have always admired blues website for its extensive media content and quality of its online ticket service, i found the place itself bleak and cold.

i was seated, however, next to a charming middle-aged woman who was an obviously enthusiatic blues supporter. we commented on the impressive display of the sheffield wednesday supporters. she pointed out a character known as "mr. tango", who was, of course some ridiculously over-weight yorkshireman invariably wearing no shirt and boldly leading the rowdy but good natured wednesday support in song, dance and general party spirit.

"brilliant. isn't he?" she asked rhetorically.

i was most uncomfortable with her friendly attentions and having to feign any real feelings for blues.

"it's nice to have an early goal for once," she beamed following the home side's opener in the first few minutes.

"yes," i said, nodding my head in an attempt to display my support.

i have to give her credit. she was the best of sports fans, acknowledging a good tackle on the part of the owls as well as the better efforts of her obviously beloved blues. she would unconcsiously clutch at my shoulder as a birmingham city break would develop or a long range shot would go whistling over the wednesday goal.

"megson's doin' 'is nut," she pointed out in regards to the owls' new manager.

sure enough, sitting on the opposite side of the field from the dugouts you could hear him loud and clear screaming at this players in utter frustration. he was indeed "doin' 'is nut".



while blues scored early on through new signing, obafemi martins, and eventually won the match 3-0, i was most impressed by the travelling wednesday support. they outsang, outdanced and outchanted the home supporters all day long, and numbering 5,000 in a gate which only saw a 14,000 total, they constituted no mean presence. even after going 3-nil down they just kept jumping up and down and singing:

always look on the bright side of life,
da-doo da-doo da-do da-doo

it was absolutely brilliant and i can only hope that baggies support would be so good if ever faced with the generally dire situation that sheffield wednesday find themselves in at the moment - and besides not playing very good football on the day.

the coolest thing about going to blues was that i got to see kevin phillips play, as he came on as substitute at the beginning of the second half. while the game was already over, i'm happy to have merely seen him run around the pitch a bit, perpetually strolling back from an offside position and helping to kill the game off for birmingham city as they continue their good cup form this year. here was a blues players i was happy to cheer for and would've liked to see score.

i was happy enough to hear the final whistle and caught a taxi back to new street station, where i picked up my bags from the left luggage service and walked across the street to the COMFORT INN.

WBA 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.

live text replay


i was up at 7.30 the next morning and aiming to catch a local train to the hawthorns at 10.30. i checked out of the hotel and again left my travelling bag and laptop at the left luggage service. with plenty of time to get there i meandered over to snow hill station and had a smoke before embarking for the trains.

as soon as i caught sight of the stadium i knew i was back in familiar territory. i smiled inwardly at the sense of belonging i experienced as the strangeness and cold feeling from having been at blues the day before dropped away. i was happy and confident of an albion victory. i had arrived.



i wasn't sure what to expect. i certainly hadn't seen any wolves supporters around the city centre or anywhere on the trains, and wasn't surprised to see that the gates for the visitors entrance at the smethwick end of the ground were closed and an unusually high police presence controlling the immediate area. without too much inspection or scrutiny of the situation i figured i'd walk round the long way and come in through the east stand parking lot.

the club shop was lively with action, there was a qeue at the ticket office, and a monstrous stretch limo was parked in front of reception. with the fact of a first ever PREMIER LEAGUE black country derby, both baggies and wolves desperately needing a result and roy hodgson making his debut in charge of west brom, it was certainly an auspicious and historic occassion.

it was evident, even without youssouf mulumbu in the side, that hodgson had done some tightening up of the back four and reset out how the midfield was going to defend. still, it was evident to most of us that gonzalo jara was still sitting way too far infield, allowing too much space for wolves' left-winger, matt jarvis, to go forward in.

unfortunately, it just wasn't one of the classics that we'll be watching on video for years to come. both teams were cautious, given the occassion and the critical need for league points in an approaching relegation battle. the baggies first-half performance was again disjointed and uneven due to the lack of youssouf mulumbu in central midfield, but the baggies did produce a couple of good opportunites that required timely reactions from wolves goalie, wayne hennessy. jonas olsson came close on a chris brunt corner-kick but his effort was saved. paul scharner then put in a header that curled just wide of the visitors goal. all in all, it was wolves defenders who had the better of the first 20 minutes or so.



the old-gold went ahead, scoring through a free-kick some three or four yards outside the albion penalty area. the move was simplicity itself and taken straight from training ground routines on set-pieces. with two wolves players hanging over the ball and the baggies forming up a wall, jostling for good defensive positions and picking up their marks inside the box, the ball was played square to midfielder jamie o'hara who had peeled off the back of the wolves front line and moved out of the box to a high central position some 20-25 yards out.

it was a clever move and and o'hara's curling shot beat albion keeper, boaz myhill, and nestled firmly in the top right-hand corner. there wasn't much that could be done about it, and myhill was caught holding only a slightly higher position than would have been necessary to make the save. given the height and distance of the shot, however, questioning the welsh number two's positioning is speculative at best.

while the visitors section of the smethwick went wild, the rest of us groaned at a circumstance with which we are all too familiar. the baggies were a goal down with only about 5 minutes of the first-half left to play.

the albion thoroughly dominated the second-half but not before matt jarvis - who had the beating of gonzalo jara all day - came close to putting the old-gold up 2-0 when a miscued header by a back-tracking paul scharner fell perfectly for the wolves winger to score their second five minutes in to the second period. however, boaz myhill's quick reacton in coming out to cover the angles forced jarvis' shot wide of the albion goal.

the baggies then again came close as jonas olsson beat wayne hennessy only to see his effort cleared off the line by matt jarvis, making up for his miss from a few minutes earlier. wolves, it seemed, were riding their luck a bit and depended on the good form of their welsh international goalie.



after carlos vela was brought on, the baggies upped the tempo and kept attacking the stout wolves defence. the mexican winger forced hennessy into a top-notch save as his low, hard blast at goal deflected off the back of wolves defender, karl henry, which could have easily seen the baggies draw level. the move finally ended with an over-cooked cross from albion striker, marc-antoine fortune. time was just beginning to slip away with less than 15 minutes normal time left on the clock.

what looked to be the baggies' best chance of the match went begging when fortune found himself wrong-footed as the ball ran past him directly in front of a gaping wolves' goal. as the 90 minute mark approached, some of the less optimistic baggies supporters started to make their way from the ground. it just did not appear to be albion's day.

however, and with 4 minutes injury time to be played, the baggies kept pressing and finally equalized in dramatic fashion with almost 92 minutes gone on the clock. steven reid moved the ball forward into space and this helped to fashion a 12 yard effort from midfielder james morrison. the initial shot was saved but bobbled by hennessy and carlos vela picked up the rebound to equalize in the most dramatic of fashions.

the hawthorns went wild. the day was saved. i wondered why anybody leaves a football match with only a 1 goal difference before the final whistle, as i thought of the baggies support that had made an early exit only to miss the high drama at game's end.

there are some draws that feel like a loss and some that feel like a win. this one felt a bit like a win and everybody save the wolves supporters were definitely buoyed by the baggies earning a late draw in a match they might just as easily have won.



even at this early stage of his tenure, roy hodgson's influence could already be felt in the way that the baggies approached this game, and there will no doubt be several essential changes he will make in regards to the starting squad over the next few weeks. for his first match in charge, hodgson did ok.

while it wasn't the high that one gets from a definitive win, i was happy with the result and returned to the west country feeling fine. my short tour of the midlands had found its satisfying end.

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.

WBA 4-1 Bristol City

live text replay

this last week's home match against bristol city has seen simon cox pretty much nail down a starting spot in the team - for the next few weeks, anyway. he was the maker of an own goal on the part of the robins when his shot in the 46th minute came off city defender louis carey after beating goalkeeper dean gerken. this built on first-half goals by jerome thomas just on 3 minutes; and chris brunt's 5th of the season in the 12th minute, to then make the score 3-0. as if that wasn't good enough, the 22-year-old striker then scored in his own right a minute later to put the baggies 4-0 up and bring his own season total to 3 goals in 7 starts.

if this is how he plays at this level of football, and he can keep this kind of form consistently, then he is definitely a player the baggies have been looking for the better part of the last two years. i think we can all be hopeful that he has the potential to make a significant long-term contribution to the albion organization. i'm already thinking about next year and how he'll pair up with ishmael miller!



following saturday's victory, chris brunt stated that he felt that things had started to fall into place, and everyone at the club is tuned in. as we become distanced from the poor results of early october, they thankfully begin to appear as nothing more than a blip in what looks to be shaping up into an otherwise successful season, and confirming brunt's current assessment. perhaps the albion are coming closer to living up to the potential that the present team is capable of?

while luke moore has not found his form, bednar has been out both injured and ill and a couple of the senior international players are grumbling about transfers if they don't get regular starts in the first team, everything else seems to be running smoothly and starting to gel.

of course, the baggies are still awaiting the return of their three long-term injuries: ishmael miller, james morrison and neil clement; but even with miller having begun training again, it is unlikely that any of these players will have any impact on or see much playing time this season. so, barring any activity in the january transfer window, the current team is the one that will see out the season.

with that in mind, and striker simon cox looking to have secured a starters spot for the time being, i think it's time that the gaffer thought about giving young chris wood a start. while there is no argument that age and inexperience weigh heavily against the teenage new zealand international, i think he is probably a more suitable choice in regards to style of play than is luke moore in an attack pairing alongside simon cox. indeed, this is one of the few things that i've had to question in di matteo's tactics these last two or three weeks.

there is no doubt that roman bednar would be the first choice to start, but two weeks out to injury and then illness last week saw luke moore start again - and in the last two matches in which cox has also started. while i can imagine the tentative nature of starting both a 17 and 22-year-old in leading the line, moore looks like he needs a few weeks to take the pressure off, put in a few goals for the reserve side and the opportunity to get his head straight.



i was at the hawthorns for young wood's only goal of the season, and as a passage of football, i think was a good indicator (and never mind the goal itself - it was a cracker!) as to what his game is about. he's a big target and has a natural ability to hold the ball up, is good with his back to goal and turning on defenders using his size and speed to make space. as well, he has fairly good pace when running directly at a defender, and he's got a good long range shot. he has consistently been showing good form in the reserves, and considering the current situation with the strikers at the club, it couldn't hurt to start the two youngsters this week.

other than that, the albion just have to remember not to let up, and that this is the championship where anybody can beat anybody else on any given day. the baggies have played well against top-ten competition but have faltered the odd-time and had poor games against teams in the mid-to-bottom half of the table. with the match away to sheffield wednesday this weekend, there is good opportunity to keep things rolling and address this issue.