The Premier League: Modern Times

in assessing what has been the most successful season to date for the baggies since their initial return to the top-flight a decade ago, i find it's time to face up to the facts of life in the most popular football competition in the world. despite finishing 8th in the table - and laying claim to being the best of the second grade sides in the almighty, bloody PREMIER LEAGUE - it was actually a very uneven season for the baggies, at least in terms of overall results if not actual footballing performances.

west brom started the season as the one of the league's form teams and were on the verge of going top of the table when a poor performance away to swansea signalled the beginning of a slump from which they never quite recovered. however, similar scenarios were played out at norwich, fulham, west ham and swansea, so the baggies kept pace with their immediate competition and their run of excellent results during the first half of the season carried them through to find success as the "best of the rest".


in actual fact, for a club like west brom to have distinguished themselves as such, is a more significant achievement than it is for manchester united to have won the league, and there is one big difference between these two sides that can't be overlooked. as one of the world's most popular and richest clubs, united can go with whatever they did this year, take stock of their resources and look to improve on it for next season. the albion, however, are left with a much more challenging set of problems and whatever they were able to achieve this season may end up having very little bearing on what they'll be able to achieve next season.

only the top five or six clubs in the PREMIER LEAGUE can look forward to the coming season with some degree of expectation. the rest of the league is left having to deal with varying levels of reorganization and often have to scramble to put together a competitive side ahead of each and every campaign. with chairmen and boards that are made up of businessmen who do not come from a football background, this is often a recipe for disaster.

it is possible - as with QPR this last season - to spend a great deal of money on expensive players who have experienced winning trophies both domestically and in europe. but this is no guarantee of success - the whole set-up often being no more than a high-priced gamble. you need look only as far as wolves - who had been both league champions and several time domestic cup winners in the old FIRST DIVISION - to see what damage the PREMIER LEAGUE can do to a football club.


also, as we saw with newcastle united this year, a good season is no guarantee that you will be left with adequate resources to build on for the next. the toon went from last year's excellent 5th place finish - and qualification for the UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - to a side that struggled to get results and only just managed to stay ahead of being involved in a scrap at the bottom of the table this year, finishing the season in 16th and only 5 points ahead of relegation.

the baggies had the good fortune of having had what has to have been the league's best loan signing, in the likes of romelu lukaku. with 17 goals in the league, the overall performance of the chelsea teenager was a major component in the baggies' success this year. when it comes time to replacing his attacking input west brom are left with no small challenge.

as a supporter who lives overseas and does not support manchester united, chelsea, arsenal, liverpool or manchester city, i am a member of a peculiarly esoteric fraternity. there is almost nothing in the way that the PREMIER LEAGUE is promoted here in north america that takes into account that someone like myself, who doesn't follow one of the top 4 or 5 sides, might even exist.

there are, of course, fringe elements that support big sides like aston villa, newcastle, everton and tottenham, but even these affiliations can be fleeting and there is nothing to encourage anyone to dedicate their support to a side that might fall out of the top-flight and disappear into the netherworld of the FOOTBALL LEAGUE. in fact, where SPORTSNET (and SETANTA SPORTS before them) used to carry at least one CHAMPIONSHIP game a week, this year, they wanted to save a little on the licencing budget (i would imagine) and opted for a weekly SPL game instead.


this was the first time in years - at least going back to the 2006-07 season - that the FOOTBALL LEAGUE (including the play-offs) was not seen at all on television in the particular broadcast region where i live. consequently, anyone following the english game on TV will not have seen any football that is competitive at the top end of the division.

i don't know what deals they're making for next year, but it is unlikely that the view of english football in toronto will become any more expansive very soon, and the average viewer who considers themselves a "fan" won't be looking for anything more than to follow a team that wins 85-90% of its matches. i know one guy - with claims of being a casual supporter - who says he used to support arsenal, but now they are "no good" (not having won anything recently in trophy competitions is what i think he meant), so he has switched allegiance and now follows chelsea. while this is hardly traditional behaviour, it is an attitude that is more and more prevalent with the supporter who follows the game through international TV broadcasts.

in this context, it is more and more the job of teams like west brom to drop enough points in the PREMIER LEAGUE to see to it that the status-quo is maintained, and that sides like manchester united, manchester city, arsenal, chelsea and liverpool perpetually compete as an elite mini-league who occupy the top places in the table, and thus hang on to their fan bases in the international TV market.


in fact, with the virtual monopoly that the two manchester sides - together with chelsea and arsenal - have established in occupying the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE spots for the last few years, together with similar situations in LA LIGA, the BUNDESLIGA and even now LIGUE UN, the FOOTBALL LEAGUE ONE was arguably the most exciting football competition in all europe last season.

besides my visits to the hawthorns and my primary football interest being invested in the baggies, i have also followed brentford's adventures in the FOOTBALL LEAGUE over the last few years. this year, where west brom began the season as one of the form teams in the top-flight and played some very exciting football in the process, it was the bee's that supplied the majority of my best and most exciting football moments over the second half of the season.

from the final and decisive day in the CHAMPIONSHIP, where hull city drew with division champions cardiff and won automatic promotion to the top-flight; or the final kick of the match at griffin park that propelled doncaster rovers up and out of LEAGUE ONE; through to the play-offs in LEAGUE TWO, league football provides a truly competitive environment that has long since disappeared from the top-flight.


it's really a shame that there was no TV coverage of the FOOTBALL LEAGUE this year. the drama off the final day and play-offs contrasted starkly with the narrow vision of english football as a competitive spectacle that the international supporter is afforded through following the almighty, bloody PREMIER LEAGUE on television, with its heavily biased focus on a handful of elite sides. the competition and excitement that still exists in league football serves to remind those of us who can remember what top-flight football used to be like before 1992.

i visit england twice a year for two weeks at a time and try to get out and watch as much football as i can. all i can say is that i would not be attending PREMIER LEAGUE matches at all if west bromwich albion, the team that i support, were not playing in the top-flight.

The Strange Case of Simon Cox

despite the fact that it wasn't much of performance, i was at the hawthorns when simon cox got his first league start for the baggies in a home match with plymouth argyle. the week before, he had scored the winning goal in extra-time in a LEAGUE CUP fixture with rotherham united - his first goal for the club - and that had won him the right to start, partnering roman bednar in a conventional 4-4-2 set up - still the preferred formation for most english clubs at the time.

it wasn't a great debut and he was substituted early on in the second-half after a less than memorable performance. it was not a particularly good time for strikers at the club, and most of the goals were coming for an attack-minded mid-field. graham dorrans and chris brunt, respectively, were the side's leading scorers that season. in this particular match, it was shelton martis who scored the first goal for the baggies, equalizing after going 0-1 behind on an early goal by jamie mackie. even more unusual was marek cech's brace (his only two goals ever for the club) that won the game for the baggies by a score of 3-1.

nontheless, i can always claim to a have seen simon cox' league debut for west bromwich albion.

cox was in and out of the first team that year. he had been targeted by the club when tony mowbray was still the gaffer - presumably to help fill the void left by the previous season's departure of kevin phillips for birmingham city - and i think that he would have gotten more time in the side had mowbray remained at the hawthorns. but it was never to be. when TM moved on to take over at his old club, celtic, roberto di matteo came in as the first man to hold the newly created title of "head coach". despite cox being RDM's first signing for the baggies, even luke moore - possibly the least popular individual ever to play in the navy-and-white stripes - was often a preferred starter to the young man who, the year before and playing for swindon town - had been the FOOTBALL LEAGUE's joint top scorer with 29 goals in LEAGUE 1.

under di matteo and with west brom chasing promotion, cox managed 34 appearances and 10 goals in both league and cup competitions. he still found it hard to break into the first team as a regular starter. however, as an intelligent young man he must have reasoned that his best bet was stay at the hawthorns, with a club where the attitude and atmosphere was positive and who were definitely a side "on the up" - and wait for his opportunity. as a professional footballer he was certainly aware that he could have done a lot worse.

back in the PREMIER LEAGUE for the 2010-11 season, the baggies did well over the first three months, and had been as high as 4th in the league table at on point. however, cox was restricted to only a handful of appearances as a substitute and only getting to start in the LEAGUE CUP. after scoring 3 goals in 2 games, he finally earned himself the right to be included in the starting 11 for a league match away to blackpool. luck did not favour the young striker, though, as he was strategically withdrawn in the 12th minute when pablo ibanez was red-carded.

when results started to elude the baggies, and they went on a long winless streak that started in november (with the blackpool game) and went through into the new year, di matteo's time was up and roy hodgson took over for the last 13 weeks of the season.

this heralded a complete turnaround for the club, and with only two losses in their final 13 fixtures, they finished a comfortable 11th in the standings.

still, nothing much changed for simon cox. although he was very often in the side as a substitute. this led to his first PREMIER LEAGUE goal in a match away to tottenham. he scored what was west bromwich albion's goal of the season as the baggies snatched a late equalizer at white hart lane, putting the team on 40 points and virtually guaranteed their survival in the top-flight.

however, things still didn't get any better for cox during the 2011-12 season. he still could not break into the first team, and when he did get a start he was used almost exclusively as a utility player to make up the numbers when the side was hit with injuries. this meant that he was often played out of position on either the right wing or as a central midfielder, fulfilling the necessary and rudimentary defensive duties that were required of him.

even his usual exploits in the cup competitions, where he scored a hat-trick against cardiff, could not guarantee him the opportunity to get a start in the league.

while cox supplies an above average effort and work-rate, his real talent will never be found on the training pitch. he's not particularly tough, big or pacey. what he does have, though, is a sense for scoring goals. he hits 25 yard screamers, gets on the end of crosses - both on the floor and in the air, and knows where to be to get the tap-in on scuffed shots and loose balls in the box. at a time when teams are playing more and more with a single striker and a five-man midfield, cox is a bit of throw back who is all too easily over-looked and possibly under-rated.

a little surprisingly, the baggies recently picked up the final year option on cox' contract, creating the possibility that he would be at the hawthorns for at least one more year. but with a £2 million offer from blackburn rovers, it appeared earlier this week that cox was on his way to find full-time football in the CHAMPIONSHIP. however, this was quickly scuttled by apparent political problems at the lancashire club. while it seemed that manager, steve kean was anxious to bring cox to the club, his efforts have been undermined by the board who aren't interested.

since then, PREMIER LEAGUE side, swansea city, have emerged as the most likely contenders to sign him, although the rumour-mill also has him linked with interest from charlton athletic, leeds united, middlesbrough and scottish giants, celtic. at this point, any move that gets him a run of full-time football would still be a good move for him and the aspirations he harbours in regards to continuing his international career with the republic of ireland.

i have always liked cox and thought he would have been a bit more valued by the baggies than he has been. a year in the CHAMPIONSHIP would probably be the ideal move for him at the moment. but then who knows? a visionary top-flight side (like swansea) might find some success with him as well. whatever happens, i hope he finds a good club that will at least give him a chance and possibly reveal his potential.

more than anything, i hope he finds the luck which has eluded him since leaving swindon town.

Aston Villa F.C. 1-2 WBA

match text commentary


with only 2600 tickets allotted to the supporters of west bromwich albion football club for an away day at villa park, i travelled to england knowing that i would not be attending this particular derby. even as a membership subscriber to the club's ticket scheme, i was not given a chance to buy a ticket.

this was, in fact, the first match that i have missed following in real time either through listening to online, watching on TV or attending live - and that includes all major competitions - in over four years.

on my second trip, two seasons ago and going for promotion in the championship, i saw the baggies play three times at home and once away to swansea, all in the space of two weeks. the match at liberty stadium was won 0-2, on a penalty by graham dorrans and a late goal by ishmael miller and all but clinched automatic promotion for the baggies. it was a match that was highly symbolic of the albion's success that year and a defining moment of the season. i remember the experience vividly... how time stood still for a moment as miller deftly cut back around swans goalie, dorus de vries, and fired home to emphasize the victory.





what i don't remember is having any particular difficulty in obtaining a ticket for the game.

this year - and with both teams in the almighty, bloody premier league - it was reported that the same trip to south wales was sold-out as 3000 baggies supporters travelled to the liberty stadium to witness their team's worst performance of the season to date, as the baggies conceded three goals and dropped all three points.

knowing that the swansea trip had been sold-out, i knew i would have to be online the moment that the ticket office opened if i was to get a ticket for the villa. however, after finding out that tickets would be available to season-ticket holders for a full 9 days before i would get a crack at it, i was not hopeful. especially after i learned (much to my chagrin) that only 2600 tickets were going to be made available to travelling away supporters.

in any case, on the day i woke myself up at 4 AM EST in order that i would be online as soon as the ticket office opened, and whatever tickets might still be available were scheduled to be released for purchase by those with club membership, like myself. this also coincided with tickets to the home game with liverpool going on sale to both season-ticket and membership subscribers. i logged into my account, clicked on the BUY TICKETS tab, which delivered me to the EVENTS SCHEDULE page from where one makes their selection and proceeds to CHECK-OUT to complete their purchase.

however, there was no link posted to tickets for aston villa (away). there were links to tickets for the bus trip from the hawthorns to villa park and the upcoming home match with liverpool, but nothing for the ticket i wanted. i sat for a few minutes, refreshed the page and waited for a link to appear. ultimately, it never did and i went back to bed knowing that i was not going to get an away ticket for the match against the villa.





by the time i woke-up again at 8.30-9.00, a link to tickets for the villa game had appeared on the EVENT SCHEDULE, but this only led to a message saying that the match was sold-out.

what is really bugging me at this point, is that villa park holds 42000 some-odd, while liberty stadium just barely scratches a capacity of 20000. how had there been 3000 tickets made available for a match in south wales and only 2600 for a game to be played barely four miles away? on top of that, villa's attendance is down by an average of 3000 seats per match this season. this is a loss of about 10% of their regular home support and i thought west brom would have at least 5000 spots allotted.

while i will never know the truth, it turns out that the villa is not particularly interested in accommodating away supporters.

for example, there is no real "away" end at villa park. visiting opposition supporters are shunted into two sections in a corner between the doug ellis and north stands, facilitating cut-price tickets to home supporters in the lower tiers of the north stand and ensuring that there is exclusively home support behind both goals. while the smethwick end at the hawthorns is shared, it is a significantly smaller stadium and visiting supporters are, in fact, given a traditional space behind the goal. under the present set-up, the smethwick can accommodate just over 2500 away supporters for regular league matches.

so, while there were plenty of tickets still available to the general public in the "home" sections of villa park on the day of the match, the two "away" sections were listed on the villa website as "0% availability". i'm sure there were more than one or two baggies who zipped up their jackets to conceal their shirts, hid their scarves under their coats and bought tickets to sit in hostile territory, but that is something i just wouldn't think to do.





in other words, i wasn't about to travel to birmingham without a ticket. neither would i have wanted to buy a ticket that would necessitate me concealing the fact that i am a west bromwich albion supporter, might put me at risk of being denied entrance or possibly even removed from the ground. not to mention having to sit in a section of the stadium with people i don't want to be with!

having promised myself that i would miss no opportunity to watch live football during my time in england, i had already implemented a contingency plan and bought a ticket to watch cardiff city at home to barnsley. however - and no matter how hard i try - i do not like cardiff city football club, and barnsley are only remembered with some faint and long past fondness on my part for having beaten liverpool in the quarter-finals of the FA CUP a few seasons back. i was hoping that with michael chopra gone i wouldn't hate the bluebirds as i once did. while this was indeed the case, i could still find no real sympathy with them, and i wish i had stayed in chilcompton and listened to the villa game on the ALBION RADIO. but then, i can stay at home in canada to do that - and watch it on TV too!

with the bright, blazing mid-afternoon sun at cardiff city stadium uncomfortably in my eyes and half-time just set upon us, i heard the first news of the albion/villa match announced on the PA system along with other scores of the day:

"aston villa 1, west bromwich albion 1..."

i clenched my fist and stabbed covertly at the air.

"yes!!!" i hissed to myself.

with the score 5-2 and just going into injury time, i decided i'd get a head start and see if i couldn't catch the 5.30 train from cardiff central.

i saw the third barnsley goal on the TV screen by the burger and pies stand.

that is surely that, i thought to myself, and hustled outside back in the direction i had come from.

i ran up the stairs onto the platform at grangetown and just barely made the train back to cardiff central where i caught the 5.30 going in the direction of bristol temple meads. i settled into my seat and called my mother on the cell phone to say that i had managed to get the early train and would be at bath spa within about an hour and a half.





"west brom won!!!" she said excitedly in answering, "west brom won!!! i just heard it on the news."

i was stunned by what my mother was trying to tell me. her excitement had taken me aback and i was almost speechless.

"that's great... wow... that's the best news all day... oh, that's just so great!!!"

when i got off the phone i smiled to myself and kicked at the floor to emphasize my joy at hearing that yet another old hoodoo had been dispelled and fallen by the wayside.

"BAGGIES!!!" i could only just contain myself.

i was happy enough in the moment knowing that i would see it on MATCH OF THE DAY.

it turned out to be a great day for the baggies despite the loss of shane long with a speculative knee injury that might see the young striker out for as much as six weeks. it was a dirty game played by the villa, and manager, alex mcleish, had told his defenders to get out and intimidate the opposition... hurt them, so to speak. alan hutton's tackle on long was shamelessly brutal football by today's standards and could easily have been justified a red card.

hutton wasn't even warned. however, there was an incident away from the play in the villa penalty area that saw villa midfielder, chris herd, dismissed for a stomp on jonas olsson. the baggies had a man advantage and a penalty. albion troubles with penalty kicks continued, as captain, chris brunt - normally a penalty taker of the highest order but having a poor run of form as of late - sliced the ball yards wide of the mark, wasting albion's first opportunity to equalize.

luckily, the baggies captain made up for it only minutes later with a perfectly delivered corner kick that saw jonas olsson heading the ball into the villa goal for honours even at the half; and another chris brunt corner kick in the 57th minute produced the opportunity for paul scharner to smash home the winner.

i've been to st. andrews to watch blues play. i've also bought tickets for and been to walsall, brentford, millwall, swansea, leicester city, bath city, yeovil town and bristol city. i was even at the old highbury stadium and stamford bridge in 1976 and made a single trip to the old wembley for an international friendly in 1974. while there are more than one or two of these experiences that have left me cold and without any feeling for the clubs involved, cardiff city was a low-point and the first time i have ever left a football ground before the final whistle.

travelling to see the baggies play in the championship two seasons ago was great fun. i saw them play six games in two visits, including the away match at swansea. not to mention that i could have made it to a seventh game if i had been enterprising enough to make the twelve hour return train journey to middlesbrough and back. truthfully, and with west brom now in the premier league, the championship provides much better opportunity for someone travelling from abroad with the intention of supporting their favourite football team live at the stadium.





i returned to canada too late (by just a few hours in fact) of even seeing the aston villa game repeated on TV and have only seen the footage offered on MATCH OF THE DAY and the 10 minute highlight video on the baggies website.

i am still fuming about this, and i probably won't get over it until my next trip to england sometime later in the new year. in my frustration, i have also promised myself that anyone seen wearing an aston villa jersey is going to get a hassle for it. even though it's not really my style, any villa supporter who crosses my path on this side of the atlantic will leave my presence understanding more about the historical animosity between their club and mine.

while i am thankful that the premier league has given us live TV coverage and repeats of all top-flight matches played over any given weekend, i shall have to wait until my beloved baggies are once again established as a major force in the top-flight and competitive european games have returned to the hawthorns on a regular basis before they'll be playing enough football for my convenience.

i won't be expecting that to happen too soon. i guess i can always hope for a cup run... a good home draw? hey, you never know!!

until then - and if you live in toronto and support the villa - you better stay out of my f**king way!!!

The Black Hole of the Premier League

west brom - as with almost all the other teams who've been identified as potential "strugglers" in the premier league - are having more trouble than usual making their pre-season signing targets.

while the baggies have cleverly kept together an all important core group of players, consolidated their targeted loan signings from last year, and have made some important new acquisitions in specific and identifiable defensive positions - including a second goalie, they have been unable to get any interest from suitable strikers at premiership level; and - if i'm to take the current postings in various online discussion forums as any indication - the supporters are beyond impatient. take a look at the shattering negativity of some of the more recent posts and subsequent discussions on BBC 606, for example.

there is a wide-held belief that it's all down to chairman, jeremy peace, not making an adequate amount of money available for transfers and player wages. i don't think it's quite that simple. for sure, JP has requisites, hard-line precedents, and a measured limit on what can be spent. but much of mr. peace's caution derives from the fact that the baggies simply don't have a rich owner, benefactor, corporate interest, or any other source of benevolent, interested, and ambitious money with which to strengthen the squad. therefore, it's got to be done in a measured and careful manner, with managable goals, that will ensure that the club is always at least competitive for a place in the top-flight, and does not go the way of leeds, sheffield wedneday, sheffield united, charlton, norwich, southampton, portsmouth and hull (to name just a few) who have all run afoul of what can happen to a club when it spends premier league money and doesn't live up to top-flight competitive requirements.

hull city, for example, played two seasons in the premiership before being relegated, but spent something more like three seasons worth of money in doing so. while the parachute payments will help with the club's debt, they will lose much of their squad and may eventually end up in a relegation battle at the wrong end of the championship. no matter what other criticisms you may have - and with JP as chairman - you will never see this at west bromwich albion.

as always, teams like manchester united, liverpool, arsenal, tottenham, manchester city and chelsea have a definite edge in attracting players. while this has long been true, it hasn't always been about the money! in the past, and for young footballers looking to get into their national sides or just expand their professional opportunities, these were traditionally clubs where one went to fulfill their aspirations.

but with the focus now shifting ever towards the financial considerations as the bottom line, sportsmanship and its attendant aspirations have been banished to an antiquated afterthought. coupled with the structure of the premier league, both financially and in terms of the number of player personnel that a team can now employ - the gap in between the top-half of the premiership and that of the bottom-half is finally and glaringly evident in a way it never quite has been before. the dream is more than over. it has been trashed and forgotten. even everton, the team that holds the record for the number of consecutive years in the english top flight - and a club that has always held its own with the other top sides, both on and off the pitch, - is now a second grade team with apparently limited resource; while the likes of wigan, west brom, and bolton are now treated as decidedly undesirable destinations to look for a career move.

nobody, it seems, is signing anybody.

indeed, the situation is so bad that roberto di matteo has now stated in an interview with BBC WM that he doubts there will be anymore signings between now and the beginning of the season. personally, i found it to be a bit out of character for di matteo, who usually does not discuss internal football politics with the press, and took it as a statement to the supporters demonstrating that this is the way things are at the moment and that he's as frustrated as they are. the all important required striker is just not there, and there's probably not much point in worrying about it until september or the right opportunity presents itself.

i think the baggies can take heart at the recent resurgence of midlands football in the premier league. with the relative and recent successes of wolves, birmingham, stoke city, and a squad that includes ishmael miller, roman bednar, simon cox, graham dorrans, chris brunt and a series of new defensive signings, i feel that things could be starting out a whole lot worse for the albion than they are.

Gone Daddy Gone!!!

sky sports


birmingham mail


well, it's that time of year: the post-season. and first word from the hawthorns is that robert koren is being let go. i don't know enough about football business to evaluate what the worth of renewing his contract in order that we might sell him and make a couple of quid might be; but i do know that the club is freely releasing a skilled and popular player, and - judging from a couple of posts on the BBC 606 - the supporters aren't generally thrilled about it.

i, myself was sad to wake up yesterday morning to the unexpected news, and so apparently was roko. i can't help but feel this is partly a result of the animosity that existed between himself and the gaffer back in january, when koren was consistently out of the team and there was talk of him joining tony mowbray at celtic. however, after jerome thomas got injured and roberto di matteo had implemented a 4-5-1 attacking formation, the slovenian international found himself in the regular starting eleven playing on the right-wing. while not his favoured position, he was an important part of the team going into that second-half of the season, and his contribution to the baggies' promotion campaign was substantial.



the trouble is that under tony mowbray the club picked up a lot of players who had similar skills and played similar styles. even the full-backs, with the likes of gianni zuiverloon, marek cech and gonzalo jara, are skilled footballers who play as well (if not better) at midfield-wing positions as they do their respective wide positions in the back-four.

with mowbray's legacy still evident at the hawthorns, it's safe to say that there is no lack of quality midfielders at the club: dorrans, mulumbu, brunt, thomas, morrison, as well as the out-on-loan jonathan greening and borja-valero are - to a man - comparably skilled all around footballers. striker, simon cox has even been used in central midfield, ahead of koren, to accommodate di matteo's 4-5-1 attacking formation. all things considered, though, i still think koren - by virtue of his intelligent and imaginative play - will be missed; and the club will have to bring back either greening or borja-valero to make up the difference.

i can understand why the club did this, but i don't doubt that it was a difficult decision.

WBA 1-1 Barnsley F.C.

live text replay



this really wasn't a match worth writing about. however, as good entertainers - and wanting to show they are still taking things seriously - the baggies started a full-strength squad, even though promotion was secure several weeks ago. the albion had a clear understanding of their professional obligations to other teams in the competition to try and get results from as many of their remaining fixtures as possible. for example, they gave sheffield wednesday a crack at championship survival by holding crystal palace to a draw at selhurst park last week.





while we are getting to see the likes of graham dorrans, chris brunt, roman bednar, robert koren, simon cox and ishmael miller in the side, there has been a real sense of diminished intensity about these last two games. certainly no-one wants to get pointlessly injured, and the tactic of playing a very technical passing and control game made it all seem a little like exhibition football. it was great entertainment when it worked and they managed to get a couple of draws where most teams would've rolled over and given up. but, by and large, it wasn't the most scintillating stuff.

i've got plenty of opinions concerning the situation of the baggies going into the premiership and where i think english football is going. a year and half's worth of writing a weekly blog on football has taught me a lot about the game from top to bottom. it's been a great year all around. hopefully, i will continue to improve.

Crystal Palace 1-1 WBA

live text replay



as i have said in a previous post (and maybe even more than once): this is the best albion team in years. having already secured promotion, they seem intent on ending the season by making an emphatic claim as to their quality. this was clearly reflected not only in the swaggering, easy win over middlesbrough 8 days ago; but also - and more importantly, in the team selection since their win at doncaster assured them automatic promotion and perhaps a run for the title. however, newcastle won the division a few days later and made the baggies' second place finish in the table a foregone conclusion. but the albion, it seems, have no intention of letting up.

to evidence their commitment to keep their unbeaten streak going, roberto di matteo has stuck with his current preferred personnel: a back four of ried, tamas, olsson and cech; his five man mid-field comprising koren, cox, dorrans, mulumbu and brunt. roman bednar has been the preferred single striker, and only the absence of ishmael miller on the bench was a conspicuous non-selection.

to be fair, the only thing that prevented the albion from winning this one was julian speroni, the palace keeper. it could have been 4 or 5 had the goalie not turned in a really brilliant performance. i mean, there was a moment where he literally willed the ball over the cross-bar from point-blank range off the end of robert koren's boot.

while the baggies were slow to start, by the mid-point of the second-half they were playing very clever control football, and attacking the palace goal at will. speroni's continuous heroics were really all that kept the londoners level, and ultimately with a real chance at victory. deep into injury-time, gabriel tamas cleared a shot off the albion goal-line which would have seen palace snatch the win.



roman bednar's cleverly worked header coming back off the crossbar came at a time when the albion were having long spells of possession, and showing, in very clinical fashion, how effectively they can attack. but just as in their previous meeting earlier in the season at the hawthorns - and despite a much better performance from the baggies on this occasion - the eagles defense was resolute. only a tightly marked gabriel tamas header squeezed home from a graham dorrans corner-kick was able to break through the palace defending and level the score to provide the final outcome.

their intention is clear and to their credit, the baggies want to wrack up their largest ever points total, and the individuals in the squad are still hungry to add to their season goals tally. above all, i think that they want to go into the premier league with a feeling of being in form. the albion are taking advantage of what are essentially open opportunities to play football and get results for the fun of it. roberto di matteo knows that any further successes and ending the season on a high note will only instill confidence going into a premier league campaign.

while i was lucky enough to get actual live TV coverage of this, i still tuned into the ALBION RADIO commentary to see what dave bowler, the club's publications head and ALBION RADIO colour-man - had to say this week. the question was put to him: what division would you prefer to be competing in, the premier league or championship?

to be fair, the question was designed to provoke a response as to the general state of football in england, such as it is. mr. bowler conceded that one really wants to be in the premier league, and from the point of view of being at the outset of a season, this is especially true. we want to believe in the idea of "living the dream" and that our beloved baggies might be able to compete with the likes of manchester united, chelsea and arsenal. but in the end, and as mr. bowler rightly pointed out - and in reference specifically to this idea:

"the trouble is," the albion publications editor explained, "is that it's exactly that: a dream - instead of something that should be a possibility!!!"

the premiership is a league where there are six or seven teams that are able to play at this level in the right way. the rest of the pack stumble around with varying degrees of success and failure at either qualifying for a secondary european competition or settling in and avoiding relegation. this year in the championship, aside from newcastle and the albion, there wasn't a lot - in terms of talent, quality and organization - between the third place and twenty-third place teams. so the championship is the more exciting division to watch, but is limited in the quality of its football.



the football league, in general, is much more competitive. both swansea and leicester city came up from league 1 last year and have competed successfully for a place in the championship top six all year. only a recent slip in form has seen the swans pretty much out of it, while leicester look to have secured a play-off spot.

"and there are people who talk about this like it's a bad thing?!?!" mr. bowler exclaimed.

his point is that people have lost sight of what english football is supposed to be about! the fact that a team like wimbledon, in the 1980s, worked their way up to the top-tier from conference football fairly rapidly, and in 1988 they finished in the top ten as well as defeating liverpool in the FA Cup final. now that's living a dream!

i'm going to be optimistic about the future for the baggies in the premiership. however, i'm not looking forward to celebrating a series of 15th and 16th place finishes and calling it a big success on an ongoing basis. i can only imagine if that became a year after year, long term proposition - as it does for many teams in the premier league - it would start to get on my nerves. i would eventually welcome the prospect of an entertaining championship campaign as opposed to protracted premier league mediocrity.

and these situations are getting to be more frequent and unsustainable. of the teams relegated from the premiership this year, one is direct result of (or, at least the situation severely aggravated by) a points deduction for entering administration. while a second team is working up a plan to avoid the need to enter into a financial administration in order to clear up a £35 million debt. three or four years of spending premier league money and then being relegated is an increasingly perilous proposition.

luckily, the albion isn't run on the idea that staying in the premier league is worth damaging the club over. i think that's partly why the baggies have yet to successfully establish a relationship with the top-tier since the inception of the premier league.



however, i am very hopeful that things will be different this time. the key to the short-term will depend largely on the current central core of players. it will be in the fact that players like chris brunt, marek cech, robert koren, roman bednar, james morrison, ishmael miller, and even graham dorrans will all want to make a decent showing of this in order to keep the team together. for a player like dorrans, it's a chance to see some real success and establish himself as a premier league player. for others, it may be the best chance that their ever going to get at long-term premier league careers. this team wants to make a go of it and has the basis of personnel to do it with.

when i think of the sides coming down from the premier league, and i look at newcastle and west brom already going up, the premiership is probably going to be a bit stronger and the championship a bit weaker next year than they were this. it may even be a further widening of the gap between "first" and "second" division football in england!?!? all i can say at the moment is that i would rate this particular baggies side as being the best team in years. they will at least be competitive with the likes of wigan, wolves, west ham, bolton, blackburn, stoke etc. - and may go on to find that they are even a bit better than that!

Doncaster Rovers 2-3 WBA

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with their ultimate fate on the season completely in their own hands for the second week running, west bromwich albion won a fourth promotion to the premier-league and the right to wage a fifth campaign in england's top-flight next season. this now sees a decade straight - starting with the promotion play-off loss to bolton wanderers in 2001 - in which the baggies have been directly involved in competing for either relegation or promotion.

last week - and prior to the baggies' 1-1 draw with watford - i woke up, as usual, just after 9.00 AM (EST) in order that i should be awake and coherent when the baggies kick-off at around 10.00. i showered, got my coffee and connected to the ALBION RADIO transmission on the club website. i was just in time to catch the regular colour-man (as well as the club's director of publications), dave bowler - and anticipating the baggies imminent return to the top-flight, delivering a lengthy diatribe about the relative pointlessness of competing in the premier league, with its ridiculous financial structure(s), horribly over-paid players, and lack of opportunity for any modest club, such as the albion, to be competitive at top-level anymore.



while making a series of fascinating points, he concluded that - and west bromwich albion aside, for the moment - that the premier league needs a major over-haul. while it has managed to establish itself as the top football competition in the world, it runs the danger of financially, and structurally destroying itself. in a year that saw the first premier league competitor enter financial administration as the direct cost of an FA Cup title and 7th place league finish two years ago - his observations are not only timely but evident.

he went on to point out that alex macliesh is a definite candidate for manager of the year for leading birmingham city to a respectable mid-table finish, illustrating that in the premier-league even genius is very often reduced and limited to nothing more than a kind of relative yet admirable mediocrity.

as a positive tonic to any negative critique of the premier-league - and for anyone who missed it on the midlands' edition of BBC's LATE KICK OFF show of two weeks ago, jeremy peace articulately and with evident intelligence outlined the structure of the club, and explained, in very general terms, what the club's goals might be going into the premier-league:


BBC interview with jeremy peace


this was not a great match, but the baggies score goals and that is what wins them football games. however, i get the impression - and having been to the hawthorns on five different occasions this year (and one away match at swansea) - that this has not been as loved, and possibly not as well respected an albion team as some other sides of the recent past. but then, maybe folklore requires time - and the onset of its psychological aspect, nostalgia - for legend to become manifest? perhaps it's just the nature of humour in the black country character? i don't know...



my visits to the hawthorns and the liberty stadium showed me - and much as i had already surmised - that west brom supporters are among the most loyal, intelligent, knowledgeable and passionate fans in the country. they are also some of the most negative, apprehensive, pessimistic and critical supporters you'll find anywhere. they look back to their various golden eras and revere the names of astle, brown, cunningham, kevan, glidden, richardson, pennington, robson (bryan and bobby), regis, taylor and phillips with a fanatical pride; and although the occasion sometimes few and far between, they know how to celebrate their success's in style. they can also be painfully negative:

"well that was a terrible game of football, wasn't it?"

this might be a typical hawthorns' reaction at the final whistle to one of the best games played in the country that day.

"i think brunt looks like he's just about given up!"

this said about a man who scores every three games and delivered a stunning perfect through-ball for ishmael miller that set up the first goal in the game about which the remark was made.

and nothing makes a west brom supporter more nervous and edgy than the baggies entertaining a one-goal lead.

"i don't like the look of this!" is a quiet and constant utterance heard around the hawthorns when the baggies do have a single-goal lead.



with west brom now unbeaten in 9 games running and automatic promotion to the premier league assured, it's time to put talking comic, black-country misery on hold for a moment and assess the season and speculate about next year.

i actually believe that this is the best west brom side in years. it's the best albion side since i've been following the team, anyway. it's one thing to be a good championship side relying on kevin phillips ability to score 25 goals a season in order to assure success, but this year was a true team effort and the overall quality of the club is at a whole new level altogether.

there is no doubt that chris brunt, robert koren, roman bednar, ishmael miller, scott carson, graham dorrans, abdoulaye meite and perhaps a few others are all better players than the last time that west brom was in the premier league. they have also strengthened the centre-half positions with the addition of gabriel tamas, and have a better defensive foundation than during their last top-flight campaign, as well.



roberto di matteo has proved himself a young, astute, forward-looking, current and up-to-date coach and manager. he inherited a side which, while having intelligently retained a core group of players, saw the new gaffer starting the season at the same disadvantage tony mowbray had ended last campaign with: that is, the long-term injuries to james morrison and ishmael miller; as well as the unresolved suspension of roman bednar which left the baggies playing without either of their top strikers at the outset of the season.

the most notable thing about di matteo, though, and right from the first match, was that he had re-invigorated a number of individual players who had become unhappy or went under-used by tony mowbray. he coaxed a couple of goals - as well as several good games - out of luke moore. robert koren, marek cech, and chris brunt all became integral and important players in the team after each had been linked to moves away from the club. and when the other strikers struggled for scoring form, simon cox came into the first team and scored 5 times in as many matches.

while it was unusual for the albion, di matteo introduced a very successful 4-5-1 playing formation that supplied a very entertaining and successful attack element. it was a very astute adjustment for the gaffer to have made given where the team's all around talent lies.

where tony mowbray had tried the same type of thing with ishmael miller, he abandoned the formation for a standard 4-4-2 with a rotating selection of utility forwards after the young striker was injured and out for the rest of the season. the new gaffer, however, used any striker he had on hand, including luke moore sometimes, in a purely positional role, realizing that the scoring strength he had on the team was - and in a team rich in mid-field talent - going to be as much with the mid-fielders as anywhere.



i think this demonstrated that di matteo seems to know where football and management tactics are going; where tony mowbray was a prisoner of his beliefs and ran the team too much on ideals, form in training, and a commitment to faith in a pure passing game which was sometimes a little one-dimensional and single-minded. this was most clearly illustrated in a league match at home to chelsea last year in which the albion thoroughly controlled the match for the first 20 minutes. with the baggies unable to make anything from their superior possession, however, chelsea scored on their first opportunity to counter and the match ended in a 3 or 4 goal drubbing.

i believe that this albion side will make more out of a full complement of strikers and a good passing game in next year's top-flight competition than it has in the past. what is most desperately needed for them to be a competitive side in the premiership is improved tactics and positioning of the defensive setup. if they can tighten things up, buy at least one more top central defender and a second goalie (in light of dean keily's move into coaching), cut out a significant percentage of mistakes at the back and capitalize on their scoring opportunities, the baggies will find survival in the top-flight at least possible.

Note on a Winng Streak (part 3)

WBA 3-2 PNE

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another day-trip to birmingham... a match involving two of the football leagues original founding members, and - as far as the first-half goes - probably the best 45 minutes of football i have yet seen at the hawthorns.

the match started off as a high-spirited affair that temporarily took on a kind of carnival atmosphere as the baggies went up 2-0 within the first ten minutes. fast, flowing football saw both sides creating good attacking opportunities early on asking serious questions of both goalies and their respective back lines. however, it was the albion who made the initial breakthrough.




ben watson scored his first goal in west brom colours through a build-up of long-range inter-passing between robert koren and ishmael miller. the return ball from koren deflected off a north end defender, sean st. ledger, and broke opportunely for the on-loan wigan mid-fielder to pounce and blast home from about 5 yards out, just on the 6 minute mark.

a few minutes later, and with the hawthorns beginning to buzz, graham dorrans, taking the ball just inside his own half and leisurely advancing, spotted chris brunt open and in space upfield. he delivered a brilliant and casually placed ball forward into space, and brunt, timing his run to perfection, caught out the lily-whites' off-side trap and easily beat andy lonergan for the second time in 5 minutes. it was beginning to feel as if we were going to be treated to a vintage baggies' goal-scoring clinic.

the first half would eventually provide the five-goals that made up the final score-line, and within minutes we were all brought back down to earth with a thump as the lily-whites mounted an effective attack requiring scott carson - playing well and back on home turf after his ironically poor performance in earning a clean-sheet against swansea - to make an athletic diving save on an open header following a dangerous cross from ross wallace to palm the ball away to safety. on the ensuing corner-kick, however, preston full-back, sean st. ledger, shook off his marker to head home wallace's in-swinging delivery from point blank range. 2-1 to the baggies...



just past the half-hour mark, and the team's playing good stuff at both ends of the pitch, graham dorrans restored the albion's two goal lead scoring one of the goals-of-the-season on a spectacular free-kick from 35 yards out that flew into the top right-hand corner of the net, leaving andy lonergan again with no chance whatsoever. the carnival atmosphere and prospect of a high-scoring win for the baggies was back on.

this was re-enforced as dorrans - making the finest individual move of the match - weaved his way to the bi-line down the left wing and delivered a cross that ishmael miller really looked like he might have done better with, ultimately heading the ball wide of the preston goal. the baggies looked to be just buzzing with attacking menace at this point.

however, just before the end of the first half - and similar to chris brunt's goal at the other end - preston striker, neil mellor, found himself in space and on the end of a through ball that split the baggies' defense and beat the off-side trap. finding himself one-on-one with albion goalie, scott carson, the preston striker pushed the ball to the outside, past the sprawling keeper and shot home from a sharp angle to restore the lily-whites single goal deficit.



despite conceding two-goals in the first half, scott carson, had a much improved performance from the mid-week match at swansea, and was responsible for several fine saves as well as being quick and decisive about coming off his line to clear - something which had given him definite problems at the liberty stadium on the previous tuesday.

while goals and attack were the theme of the first-half, defense and good goalkeeping were served up as second-half fare. while the baggies have never been famous for holding on to single-goal leads, scott carson and company did an admirable job at doing just that for the last 45 minutes. with a good deal of fine football played in the middle of the park, neither team was really able to penetrate deep enough in attack to cause any real danger in the final third, and the sure hands of both scott carson and andy lonergan picked out anything that came their way.



as i made my way back down halford's lane to the hawthorns station and the trains back to west birmingham, i was feeling an exaltation at my team's performance since i had been in the country and attending matches. i couldn't remember anything in my life having gone so well. i had come hoping to see at least two victories and perhaps a draw. i had no worries about the next fixture, which would be my last live match - and my last visit to the hawthorns - of the season. i had been to the hawthorns four times now and attended one away match. i could boast that i had never seen the baggies beaten or played to a draw. in looking forward to the coming match with coventry city i knew - and with a sense of absolute assurance - that providence would not betray me now.

WBA 3-0 Leicester City F.C.

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when these two teams met in the reverse fixture back in the early months of the season, newly promoted leicester city were a surprise form team and - along with newcastle united - were the best footballing side that the baggies had had to play up until that point. west brom won that encounter by a score of 2-1. it was one of their rare single goal victories and one of the toughest matches won.

as the two met this last week at the hawthorns, the albion were now the form team of the division, who may still challenge the mighty toon for the division title, and leicester city are a club that have surprised the critics, over-achieved on the season, and are now desperately clinging onto a place in the playoffs despite a recent run of poor form.

whatever happens, both teams can be proud of their accomplishments this season, and both have been a real credit to english league football. leicester city for bouncing back from the curse of having tried to compete in the premier-league then suffering the increasingly frequent double-relegation that follows; and the albion for being the only real "second-division" club left in england - and thus, for both better or worse - a team in a class all their own.



while the 3-0 score-line - provided by the returning james morrison with a contribution of two goals from baggies' stalwart, robert koren - was certainly flattering to the albion, and unfairly diminishes any good football city played on the day, the baggies probably deserved this - but more for the good fortune that becomes part of a winning team's habit and character than anything else.

it is quite normal for football fans (and albion supporters more than most, it's probably fair to say) to hit the panic button at two games lost in succession, or a three or four game winless streak. they tend to imagine the worst and faith in their team is always at its lowest when entertaining a 1-0 lead; but the baggies did, in this match, transcend the usual pressure and pessimism that comes with the possibility of imminent success in professional football.

a month or so back, when west brom lost to bristol city and QPR, then were knocked out of the FA Cup by reading, the online albion message-boards started filling up with negative posts about both the team and gaffer, pointing out how roberto di matteo's MK DONs had suffered a late season loss of form, which cost them missing out on automatic promotion and ultimate loss on penalty kicks in a first-round promotion playoff to swansea city. i even saw posts on the BBC 606 which were direly predicting that that the baggies wouldn't even make the playoffs at this rate, and that they just weren't good enough!



my fellow supporters confound me sometimes, as i have never doubted for a moment that the albion were going to finish second if not win the division outright! you can be as negative as you like, but roberto di matteo has done a brilliant job at managing the resources available to him this season. for the most part - and with rare exception - his team selection, attacking formation, and real-time match tactics - although occasionally baffling to the average punter - have been a superb example of economy and intelligent management. he's developed a good system, has inspired both the team in learning how to win in style, and re-invigorated the spirit of many of its individual constituent components, as well.

i hope, at very least, with the baggies now looking more likely challengers for the division title than playoff candidates, that the supporters can relax their customary pessimism and really enjoy the last few games of the season, looking expectantly to the day - which is soon to come - when the baggies clinch automatic promotion back to the premier league. because i seriously have my doubts as to how enjoyable that's actually going to be!

Notes on a Winning Streak (part 2)

Swansea City 0-2 WBA

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there is a kind of sameness to football stadiums nowadays. where highbury, loftus road, upton park and stamford bridge of the 1970s were distinctly different places, each with its own character and every stadium around the country had its own unique qualities, the liberty stadium reminded me of a three-quarter size, claustrophobic hawthorns with a surprisingly small washroom facility. the colours may vary, as well as some of the smaller details, but it seemed to me that the modern football ground is now just a variation on an architectural theme.

the security - and in special regards to tickets and match admission - was much tighter and strictly run than at the hawthorns. where match-day admission is available to away supporters for west brom home games, you can only gain entrance to the liberty stadium through purchasing tickets from your club of origin - and visiting supporters are limited to one ticket per membership. there are no match-day ticket sales for the visitors end either.

also - and unlike at the hawthorns - the entire north stand is designated as the visitors end, and is accessed only by the most remote and isolated of all the park's entrances. passing through two seperate gates in the space of about 50 yards under the watchful eye of several swansea stewards, who are required to ask if you are indeed a supporter of the visiting club - the segregation of home and away supporters is much more rigorous than at the hawthorns.

this was my first away match as a baggies supporter and i felt as if i had been thrown into the cauldron of seething football lunacy.



when i go to the hawthorns i sit in the upper tier of the east stand. it's generally more laid back, family-oriented and probably the best place to actually watch football from in the whole place. here in south wales - and much as i had expected - the atmosphere among the traveling albion faithful was much closer to that of the smethwick end home supporters corner than anything else.

while it is an indispensable and necessary component in regards to the atmosphere of live football, i'm not much one for continuous singing and chanting, and i think it can actually be a terrible distraction to watching the match. for example, there was a fellow sitting a few rows in front of me whose continuous efforts to get a chant or song going required a constant, long-distance conversation with one of his mates sitting about fifteen rows back and in the next block of seats over. he was so engaged in this activity that i'm sure he actually only saw about half the match. still and all, i appreciate that someone's got to do it.

"get on the bawl, moore, y'lazy fookin' bastid'!!!" a guy in front of me yelled in vain frustration at the albion's starting striker.

"that's it," the guy next to me reacted sarcastically, "let's get behind the club!!!"

having drawn an ugly glare in response to his comment he waved his hands in front of him to diffuse any escalation of hostility.

"just kiddin', mate," he quickly explained, "just kiddin'!"

swansea, while having no ability to finish, are the only team that i've seen this year to really badly outplay the baggies in terms of extensive possession, and only their lack of a goal scorer had kept the teams level at half-time. the swansea mid-field was excellent and held the ball for long periods of time during a first-half where both youssouf mulumbu and graham dorrans were struggling badly with their first touch and the most rudimentary ball control seemed to elude them. scott carson looked more than a bit shaky through being dangerously indecisive about coming off his line for the ball on a couple of potentially critical occasions, and he was lucky enough when a swansea cross into the box came directly back off his near post and fell safely for the baggies to clear.



the best player for the albion on the night was probably ben watson. while far from having an exceptional game, the on-loan wigan midfielder was much less tentative both on and off the ball than any of the the rest of the visiting team, and was the only albion player who was consistently able to control the ball and get any kind of move started for the baggies.

the second half was better stuff from the albion, but it was a match which was like one of those long nights in europe when both teams are forced into shutting up shop early and hoping for the one bit of chance needed to snatch a single goal, and then play to hang on for the final whistle. almost the entire game was played in the middle of the park with neither team exhibiting any incisive build-up in the final third.

i really couldn't see a goal coming in this one, and i doubt that anyone else present at the liberty stadium could imagine a winner emerging here either. however, and in much the same fashion as on the previous saturday, giles barnes, who had come on as substitute for chris brunt, made a direct run at the swans penalty area, then cutting in from the left flank, the midfielder went down and a penalty was subsequently awarded.

the west brom supporters, all seated behind the swansea goal instinctively went mad with delight. unlike the penalty on saturday, where i think everybody knew it had been a case of winner's luck, this was a stonewall penalty. although the TV replay was less convincing, when viewed from the perspective behind the goal in the liberty stadium's north stand, there was no doubt that angel rangel had clipped barnes with his right knee and at very least given the albion midfielder an opportunity to go down and win the spot kick.



graham dorrans summarily put the baggies ahead from the spot and with only 12 minutes remaining it wasn't long before the swans fans started making for the exits. i spread my arms wide and sang psalm 23 along with the other several odd-thousand albion supporters who'd made their way down from the midlands to south wales that evening.

for the baggies, however, there was one more turn to redeem what had otherwise been a most unmemorable and uninspired game of football.

as swansea went forward in an attempt to find an equalizer, the albion were left an opportunity to counter-attack, and in the 89th minute ishmael miller found himself with enough space deep down the right-wing with a chance to run the ball straight at goal from an acute angle. with everyone anticipating and getting ready to defend on the goal-line, miller pushed the ball to the outside and around the sprawling swans keeper, maintained possession and composure before ultimately burying it in the back of the net for a goal that exhibited a cool, mature sense of patience and wonderful individual skills.

happy enough with the victory - and without a taxi in sight - i walked back to the hotel confidently musing at how the baggies were now going to beat preston north end on saturday.