Not Worth the Price of Success

with the reports this morning that the FA is now going to offer dan ashworth the opportunity to take over as the national team's technical director, as a west bromwich albion supporter i have to wonder, is intelligent and prudent management leading to modest success as a PREMIER LEAGUE club worth it?

in these days where supporters want it all and expect it NOW; and where club owners are by-and-large egotistacal gamblers who understand little about the business of football and are willing to incurr huge debts and invest large parts of their personal fortunes in buying their way into the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE, i would suggest perhaps "not". at least for the albion, anyway.



when jeremy peace took over as the major share-holder in the company that owns west bromwich albion, you might have asked, "will we ever play in the PREMIER LEAGUE?"

the answer would have been that it was "highly unlikely". however, through the virtues of patience, prudence, hard work and intelligence, the baggies have become a mid-table PREMIER LEAGUE club who might have a shot at winning one of the two major cup competitions sometime in the next 5-10 years. while this took almost a decade to achieve, including the restructuring of west brom's management set-up, and actually running the club at a profit, it seems to have served as little more than a development scheme for improving the resources of the english national team and providing valuable experience towards managing a winning side to the FA CUP and UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE title.



after 18 months in charge of the baggies, head-coach roy hodgson was offered the job with the english national team with no other serious contenders in sight. as a supporter, you can't imagine what a massive disappointment this was. it reminded me how - and as one of the best teams in the country - it seemed like the baggies used to unwittingly develop players for the big cosmopolitan sides, leaving them only extremely limited periods of time in which to achieve any major successes.

for example, after being scouted by the albion while playing for leyton orient, and just one full season with the baggies, laurie cunningham was bought by real madrid. manchester united swooped in and took not only bryan robson, but the player who had ostensibly been brought in to replace him as well, remi moses. as if that isn't bad enough, they also took one of our brightest (and decidedly most flambuoyant) managers in the likes of ron atkinson. man. u. went on to become one of the dominant forces in english football while the albion sank into nearly two decades of mediocrity. this sad state of affairs reached its all-time low with the team being relegated to the 3rd division at twerton park on a spring afternoon in the mid-1980s.

1978-79 was the only time since the mid-1950s that an albion side was good enough to win the league, and they only had the one opportunity.

between 1978 and 1982, west bromwich albion had just missed out on a EUROPEAN CUP semi-final as well as runners-up spot in the league by a single goal in each competition respectively. they also lost two FA CUP semi-finals in the space of 4 years. barring a play-off win that took them back into the first division (now called the FOOTBALL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP) in 1993, there would be no estimable success for the albion again until jeremy peace took over the club as a full-time venture.



mr. peace is not the typical businessman turned football chairman. first and foremost, he does not have a large enough personal worth to invest in the club that it would make any difference, and is therefore forced to either seek outside investment or run the club at a profit. this is a fact that is not always clearly understood by those among the albion supporters who largely characterize him as a tight-fisted and miserly so-and-so. of course, he would be much more immediately popular if he sent the club into unsustainable debt and got arrested for money-laundering, but all his years in investment banking (among other things) taught him to be far too responsible about business to win popularity contests. while a personal fortune of £40 million might seem a lot of money, in top-flight football it would only buy you one andy carroll, a reserve team goalie and a couple of aging impact players before going broke.

football has become ruthless and it seems that when you create something of worth - regardless of what it cost or the time it took - it becomes all the more expensive to hang onto. and no matter what you think of him, jeremy peace has created something worth hanging onto.

Striker, Striker Burning Bright...

we all pretty much knew it was going to happen, but the wait is finally over. reading striker, shane long, has finally signed with the baggies for what is almost as much as the club have ever paid for anyone, anywhere at anytime: £4.5million. iglesias borja-valero is still the club's most expensive signing at £4.7million.

while borja-valero came highly touted by then-baggies manager, tony mowbray, the spanish international produced only 3 assists in his 31 starts for the albion, and never generally worked out. in fact, he has spent most of time at the albion out on loan with several different top clubs in his native spain.





shane long comes to the hawthorns as the most highly touted player since roy hodgson took over and the gaffer is expecting big things from his young signing. last year in the championship the 24-year-old striker scored 25 times in 51 starts. that's an impressive record in any league and hodgson believes that long has what it takes to be competitive in the top-flight and become a bona fide baggies' legend, along with names like clark, regis, taylor, and phillips.

at the same time, it looked like ishmael miller was going to nottingham forest, and was scheduled for the routine medical on monday. however, forest have since reported that they are close to signing matt derbyshire from blackburn rovers leaving us all wondering where that puts the miller transfer. news stories from yesterday, including a statement from forest manager, steve maclaren, suggest that miller is perhaps a second choice to another target signing.

this has revived speculation that miller might be set for a transfer to middlesbrough, and a reunion with ex-baggies manager, tony mowbray, who has always been one of miller's greatest proponents.





whatever else is happening - and with reports that peter odemwingie is going to be out of the side that will be opening the season at home to league champions, manchester united on sunday - long is probably going to find himself thrown in at the deep end with an opportunity to make his mark in a big premier league fixture almost immediately.

it was long who scored the solitary goal in a 1-0 win for the royals that put west brom out of the FA cup last year.

despite being a near record signing, this was the only significant money the baggies have had to spend on what looks to have been a really successful transfer market. billy jones, gareth macauley, martin fulop and zoltan gera all signed on free transfers; while high-profile goalkeeper, ben foster, came on a loan deal from cash-strapped local rivals, birmingham city. long is the sixth deal of the transfer window and there is still a single loan spot left should west brom need to use it.





so, while there is still room and time to make one or two more deals, the baggies do not feel pressured on the issue, and with shane long's signing, both roy hodgson and dan ashworth feel they've got a complete side and are ready to begin the new top-flight campaign.

as well, there are also three or four top academy players at the hawthorns - in the likes of sam mantom, george thorne and craig dawson - which will not impact on the 25-man team roster that the gaffer will soon have to decide on. the albion have made it clear that there is still room for another defensive player should the right opportunity present itself.