Goodbye Slaven Bilic

There aren’t many clubs that would follow up a draw with Manchester City by sacking their manager, but West Bromwich Albion are not just any club and, if history serves to show anything, it would show that Albion are a club that should now be known for making decisions that can leave people scratching their heads. The dismissal of Slaven Bilic has done just that to many an outsider and many a supporter. But was it really all that surprising?

When Bilic joined the club, he arrived upon wave that had a mixture of optimism and pessimism. Having failed to win promotion the year prior, losing to Villa in the play offs, Albion became set to lose a number of first team players. The strikers, Gayle and Rodriguez, accountable for 46 of Albion’s goals, left. Craig Dawson left. There remained concern by the start of the season, mainly because the strike force was not good enough – Kenneth Zohore was signed from Cardiff for £8m, Charlie Austin signed for £4m…the only other recognised striker was Hal Robson-Kanu. But, despite the fears over strikers, there was optimism over the fact the club had managed to hire Bilic.

And it was an optimism that paid off. Albion played some genuinely exciting football. The concern around strikers shrunk a little as Hal Robson-Kanu seemed to discover a goalscoring streak he’d never had before in his career. The loan signings of Grady Diangana and Matheus Pereira were inspired, giving the Albion an attacking flair that had felt missing from the club for some years. There were goals from all over the pitch. It was as close to the Tony Mowbray style Albion you could get without having Tony Mowbray. Unfortunately, that also meant defensively Albion were often found out, but the attacking displays ensured it never really mattered to begin with.

But then, COVID came. The world stopped. Football stopped. And, when it finally came back, something felt different. The team struggled, players like Diangana and Pereira seemed to miss the crowd to play up to…form dipped. In the background, Brentford were winning consistently. Before lockdown, Albion were walking to promotion with Leeds. Following lockdown, and especially after losing to Brentford, it looked like Albion had fallen well off track and would be back in the pay offs.

Albion couldn’t seem to win the games that mattered. Any “must win” game would result in a poor performance. Albion drew too many games…and Brentford kept winning. The pressure told and there were real concerns…but luck was on their side. Brentford, to the surprise of many, lost their final two games against Stoke and Barnsley. Albion drew their final game against QPR 2-2. It was all that was needed. The club hobbled to automatic promotion…Slaven Bilic had a successful first season.

When Bilic joined, the club had made it clear that there was a two year plan. Promotion wasn’t key in the first season. The two year target was to achieve promotion by the end of the second year. Bilic had done it in one. In any other time, that would be recognised as a massive success and would probably give Bilic a year to just attempt the Premier League…but to ignore the impact of COVID on the “Two Year Plan” is as bad as ignoring the form of the team since lockdown.

For many Albion fans, the dismissal of Bilic is probably not as surprising as many would imagine it is or should be. In the 22 games since the return of football, Albion have only gained 20 points (4 wins, 8 draws, 10 losses). If that was a return of 20 points in 22 games in the Premier League you could argue it was a decent return…but 9 of the games were in the Championship. If you compare the final 22 games against other recent ‘harsh’ dismissals at Albion – Darren Moore (37 points), Roberto Di Matteo (23 points), Steve Clarke (20 points) and Tony Pulis (15 points) – it’s easier to understand why Bilic has been sacked. Football is a results business…and, despite a good point against Manchester City, the results haven’t been there for some time. The dip in form will have most likely been a major factor in the club not discussing a new contract with Bilic following promotion – something that, in hindsight, should have given warning sign as to what the club’s hierarchy may have been thinking about Bilic.

The argument against the results argument then falls to the “Two Year Plan”. The reality is that when the plan was put in place, it will have factored in parachute payments and gate receipts, as well as sales from the club shop, hospitality deals and more. COVID ended all of that. The reality is that promotion at the end of year one will have moved from a nice bonus to a necessity. As with all other businesses, plans had to change and the club had to adapt. Senior figures took pay cuts. Had the not won promotion, many people would have lost jobs…players would have needed to be sold. But now we find ourselves in an uncertain period. As COVID stays and Sandwell remains in tier 3, fans don’t return and the club don’t make the money they would have done before. And that creates more issues – all factors that would have played in to the decision to sack Bilic and, ultimately, hire Sam Allardyce.

There’s a perceived view around the club that the board did not support Bilic on promotion to the Premier League in the transfer market. The squad isn’t good enough and will always be in the relegation battle (at best). It still lacks a quality striker. Defensively it’s not good enough. But, play Devil’s advocate. The club spent more this pre-season than they have done in any other. In signing Diangana, the clubs transfer record was broke. Karlan Grant was signed for £15m. Bilic made it clear that he wanted Krovinovic – the club signed him back on loan. The ‘lack of support’ is not necessarily the excuse it could be. The argument should, perhaps, be around whether the money could have been spent wiser. You also have to factor in the reality that those in charge of the transfers at the club will recognise we needed more than most, but with the uncertainty of COVID – if it’s still a factor come the end of the season, as well as however much it has impacted finance already – will have likely prevented those in charge from wanting to spend more.

Away from transfers in, one big example of the board and Bilic falling out came over the sale of Hegazi. Prior to the sale, Hegazi was on the fringes of the squad despite being one of the top earners at the club. Arguably, the impact on the finances through COVID and tranfers in will have made selling a necessity. Selling Hegazi removed a reported £70k per week off the table. In a business sense, it made perfect sense…but the signs were absolutely there that this meant issues with Bilic. To not inform him of the sale was absolutely shocking – regardless of whether Hegazi was playing much or not.

There’s then the added factor that the club is up for sale. When you look at the impact COVID has had outside of the Premier League, it doesn’t take much to understand the impact relegation would have on the value of the club. For Lai, he’ll want to make his money back. Relegation would see the value of the club decrease dramatically. Bilic isn’t getting the results…so, enter Sam Allardyce.

Allardyce brings a few certainties. It will be boring football…but he will make Albion harder to beat. The reality is, without a goalscorer, Albion’s only option is to become hard to beat and play on the counter. The team have shown against Manchester City and United, Chelsea and Tottenham that they can be hard to beat…but, in the games that matter (Crystal Palace, for example), they’ve fallen apart. This has been the Bilic curse since lockdown and the hope will be that Allardyce will stop that from happening. He may not be what Albion want, but he may be what Albion need. If Allardyce succeeds, Albion maintain value. Lai will sell and the club will look to move forward. Does Allardyce stay? Time will tell. The only certainty is that Albion are not a football club to a community in the eyes of Lai, but a business commodity – and one that he will want to make money back from.

Bilic has been a bit of a revelation at the club. The passion has been contagious and it’s been a pleasure to have him at the club. Prior to COVID, Albion were playing some of the best football I’d seen at The Hawthorns for many years. The signings of Pereira and Diangana introduced a flair not seen in the team for probably even longer. To say he won the fans back to the club, I feel, is harsh on Darren Moore following the work he did after Pulis and Pardew, but Bilic certainly helped keep those fans and gain a few more.

Bilic took a club and achieved. He leaves with the fans on his side, the players on his side and a reputation that will remain strong. But now the club moves on. And, for any doubts the fans may have, if Allardyce leads the Albion to a win against Villa in his first game then perhaps, just perhaps, the mood will start to lift again.

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A Retrospective Look: Lukaku At The Albion

There was a moment on transfer deadline day in 2013 where I thought, along with several others, that the unthinkable was about to happen. Albion were going to re-sign Romelu Lukaku on loan for another season.

News filtered through on Twitter – I even remember Stan Collymore (I know…), who worked at Talk Sport at the time, tweeting that he had signed for Albion. He wrote it in block capitals. I remember jumping up and going “Oh my God! Brilliant! Yes!” as if Albion had scored a goal.

But isn’t it just like the Albion to get it wrong?

Lukaku joined Everton, and Albion signed Victor Anichebe. It was like going out and saying, “Tonight I’m buying a brand new Aston Martin” but then coming home with a second hand Skoda. It’ll still get you from A to B, but it’s nowhere near as glamorous and it’s probably going to break down two or two hundred times along the way.

It capped a pretty dreadful transfer window at the club – arguably the start of a deterioration within the club as we failed to capitalise on a great opportunity to establish ourselves as a steady Premier League team – and the season that followed was a nightmare. Steve Clarke, who needed some luck, couldn’t get anything and ended up being sacked. Pepe Mel came in and got a cult like status for really very little. And following that came Irvine and Pulis. The Albion gradually moving backwards and the idea of having a player like Lukaku at the club growing more and more like a pipe dream.

But once upon a time, it did happen. Romelu Lukaku was sent on loan to the Albion from Chelsea to help aid his development and add a bit of quality to the Albion’s attack.

Aged only 19 years old, Lukaku came to the club having only played 10 league games for Chelsea without actually scoring. That stat didn’t really matter, though. It was well known that at Anderlecht Lukaku had made a name for himself as a strong, fast centre forward with a good eye for goal. He looked ahead of his years at Anderlecht, resulting in Chelsea paying good money for a teenager and seeing him picked for the Belgium squad at the age of 16. There was a real air of excitement about the Hawthorns.

His debut came in the first game of the season at home against Liverpool – a game that would later become famous for Brendan Rodgers and his envelopes – coming on as a second half substitute and scoring a header in a surprise 3-0 victory. It was a great way to start, and had fans believing that the hype was real…but Lukaku could rarely break in to the starting line up. Instead, Peter Odemwingie and Shane Long were preferred.

The 2012/13 season started off brilliantly for the club, and by the end of November the club found themselves sat fourth in the league, occupying a Champions League spot heading in to December. It was a real “pinch me” moment for the Albion faithful. Totally unexpected, the team were flying, and even when the club had dropped to seventh by the end of December it still felt like a dream. It felt like ‘little’ West Brom had arrived.

Then came the January transfer window and the saga of Peter Odemwingie and the QPR car park. Things were never the same after it, and form dropped massively. The incident with Odemwingie (who had now also started arguing with fans over Twitter) resulted in him being dropped from the starting 11, leaving a gap for Lukaku, who had previously mainly featured as a sub.

And this is when we saw what he was capable of.

Eleven goals in the second half of the season, resulting in him becoming the highest Premier League goalscorer in Albion’s history. His last actions at the club being an incredible hat-trick in the unforgettable 5-5 draw against Manchester United, Alex Ferguson’s final game.

The second half of the season, and that hat-trick, cemented Lukaku as a massive fan favourite. He had the buy-in of the crowd already, but stepping in as a heroic figure, as such, following the ‘betrayal’ of Odemwingie secured him a status afforded to few at The Hawthorns. He deserved it, too.

In interviews it was clear just how much of a perfectionist Lukaku was; he was articulate, critical of his own performances and always looking at how to improve. He had a determination that was clear in the way he played and the way he carried himself. Despite being so young it felt like he had more about him than some of the older players at the time.

I remember when I first saw Lukaku play at The Hawhorns and I was struck by his size and speed. For a guy that looked so big, he moved so well…but he was raw. The potential clearly there, but it wasn’t fulfilled yet. Of course it wasn’t, he was playing for Albion. His first touch often let him down, but if he got the chance to hold the ball then you felt that something could happen. His size intimidated defenders and, at the time, the Albion had some good players who could help him out up top. The team posed a threat.

It was easy to see why he was a bit part player in the first half of the season. Peter Odemwingie was superb for the club – it’s still such a shame it ended the way it did – and Shane Long was a brilliant partner for him. The team were performing so well, it would have made little sense to alter things to make space each week for him. But, in a way, this is where part of the problem comes when looking at Lukaku at Albion.

There is no doubt that as a player he improved as the season progressed. That raw, powerful striker at the start of the season had turned in to a solid, ‘too-good-really-to-be-at-Albion’ striker…but his form came as the rest of the team fell apart. The final 18 games of the season from January onward saw Albion lose 10 games and win only four. Of those four wins, Lukaku scored in all of them.

An argument is sometimes made that the majority of Lukaku’s 17 goals meant very little over the season – even amongst the four wins it’s argued that his goal against Liverpool was a second in stoppage time where Albion were already 1-0 up and his goal against Southampton was the second in a 3-0 win…potentially these games were already won.

What feels odd is that a team drops in form, but the key striker rises to prominence. It’s very rare that a striker will grab the headlines for a team that continues to lose, but he did. And for that to happen, in a way, demonstrated how good he was becoming. Romelu Lukaku was a bright light in a very dark end to a season.

When that final game of the season came round, and Alex Ferguson came to the Hawthorns with his Manchester United team for his last game I felt the writing was on the wall. We’d been beat 4-0 the week before by Norwich, we couldn’t buy a result. United would want to leave on a high. Ferguson would want to leave on a high. With the game at 5-2 to United after 80 minutes, it felt like it would only go one way.

It didn’t.

Lukaku saved his best for last. Having already scored Albion’s second, he popped up with two in five minutes and helped Albion finish the game 5-5. This was a player that had well and truly landed. It felt like he knew this was his big opportunity, and I don’t think any other player in the world would have had the same impact.

It left me feeling like we’d seen someone special play in the blue and white stripes. We’d watched a young boy with bags of potential join, and in that last game seen his potential become fulfilled. It felt like we’d been on a journey with him and, I think, that’s why so many of the Albion fans still hold him so close to their heart. This felt like a feel good story and we were a big part of that story. We all invested in to that story. I also think it’s why Lukaku still holds the Albion in such high regard. He came with a point to prove…and, by the end, he did it.

Watching him now, it’s interesting to see how much he has changed. I don’t see the love for the game in him so much at Manchester United…the style of play just doesn’t look to suit him as much as it should…but also, the perfectionist aspect of his character doesn’t feel as prominent as it once did. Where, at Albion, you could sense he strived to improve, it now sometimes feels like he’s just there. His first touch still lets him down too much, and his goal scoring form has started to drop. There are rumours that he may be sold this Summer, and I hope it happens. As a football fan, and as a fan of the player, I’d like nothing more than to see a truly fired up Romelu Lukaku again.

In a different world, that fired up player could have had another year at The Hawthorns. His rise in form giving massive reason to be hugely excited at the prospect of seeing him at the club for another year. It wasn’t to be. Stan Collymore lied to me (I was foolish to believe him in the first place), I celebrated for no reason.

But I’ll always be grateful we got to see the young Lukaku play for the Albion. The majority of his goals may have meant little in the grand scheme of things, his form may have peaked as the team began to drop…but it felt like we had a player of importance. It felt like we had something special. It felt like we had an attraction.

And, at the end of the day, it’s those type of players we want to see, and those type of players we end up remembering.

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Disappointment, Frustration and Hope – Doing An Albion

My first taste of an Albion Villa derby came 21 years ago, 1998, in the FA Cup. Managed by Denis Smith, it was a very different time to be an Albion fan compared to what it’s like now. After starting the 97/98 season quite brightly under Ray Harford, the season would eventually peter out after he left to join QPR and Smith could only manage to get to 10th in the league.

I remember when the FA Cup draw was made and we were drawn against Villa my Dad, far more than me, was massively excited. This was the rivalry of his childhood. For my generation we had grown up to despise Wolves, but for my Dad it was all about Villa. This was the first time we’d faced them in 8 years. You could tell that this meant something else.

The day came. I remember that I was kitted out in an Albion tracksuit (the kind of thing an 11 year old can get away with but now, as a 32 year old…not a chance), Dad had his Albion shirt on. Our team had the likes of Alan Miller in goal, Lee Hughes and Andy Hunt up front, Kevin Kilbane and Richard Sneekes in midfield…Shaun Murphy and Shane Nicholson in defence…and we were up against a strong Villa that had Dwight Yorke, Stan Collymore, Gareth Southgate and Ian Taylor in. My Dad and I knew it would be tough to get a result but you’ve always got hope and…

4-0. We were destroyed. Simon Grayson opened the scoring early, Yorke scored two in quick succession and then Collymore (obviously him…it had to be him…) finished it off. A day to forget. We hoped, maybe one day, we could get out revenge. At the time, the play offs were in our sights but it didn’t happen and we wouldn’t see Villa again for a few years.

At that time we used to go to the Midland Red Social Club in Quinton every Saturday (I don’t think it exists anymore). It was populated by Birmingham and Villa fans, few Albion in there and perhaps some silent Wolves. I went still in my Albion tracksuit. I remember my Dad saying to me during the night that he was proud that I was still wearing the colours even though we’d been thrashed to which I replied something along the lines of “well, they need the support more than ever now and I’m still proud to be an Albion fan”.

A full 21 years later and that stance has always remained, albeit tested on several occasions. The tracksuits don’t exist anymore for me, even the shirts have become more “laze around the house” attire, but the love for the club has always been able to fight through and remain, even at the times when I’ve really felt like giving it up.

Since 1998, times at the Albion have changed dramatically. In 98, the thought of sneaking in to the play offs and getting promoted was like a pipe dream. Unimaginable, almost. But we finally got there, and for some time we actually established ourselves as a decent, if unspectacular, Premier League team. A succession of years of bad management, from top to bottom, has seen the club drop back down in to the Championship and now facing the play offs, with Villa being our semi final opponents.

When I think back to how I felt as an 11 year old thinking about Albion, and compare it to now, the difference is huge. I fell out with the club, and refused to go to the Hawthorns at all, during the Tony Pulis years. For me football had always been about the enjoyment, more than anything else really, and I felt we sacrificed that in hiring Pulis just hoping that he’d be able to keep us just afloat in the Premier League. Even thinking to that 1998 team, when we were far from great, we had players that made it entertaining – Hughes, Sneekes, Kilbane, Hunt all had the ability to make you leave a game and feel like you’d witnessed something good. Under Pulis, we had better players, but played a style that nullified them (for an example, look at Rondon at Newcastle and compare to the Rondon that played for Pulis) and just made it so boring.

After Pulis and the shambles that was Alan Pardew, the club went back to one of their icons, Darren Moore. In the space of a year, my connection with the club had grown back. Moore made the club feel like it’s old self again, brought that connection with the fans back and made me care again. Ultimately it never worked out for Moore and he was dismissed. It was a sacking that pained me more than any other, even though I felt it was the right call. I wanted Moore to succeed. I wanted him to be the one to take us up and move the club forward. I wanted him to help turn me back in to that 11 year old kid, excited about the Albion even when we lost. I had missed that feeling…Moore got it back.

Then the frustration. More mismanagement. The sacking of Moore did make sense results wise, but the sacking of Moore with no succession plan was, and is, beyond naive. It’s foolish, and it puts the club in limbo. It also alters the way in which the club can be perceived – compared to the other three teams in the play offs this year, we stand out as a team that doesn’t seem to have a plan. If we go up, James Shan will have an undeniably brilliant record of results as caretaker – is it really that unlikely that the club could decide to do the same with Shan as they did with Moore and promote him? Likewise, if we fail, is it really that unlikely that the club could decide to stick with Shan because it’d be a far cheaper alternative than looking elsewhere and “he knows the club”? This isn’t meant as a dig at Shan, but it is laughable, really, that a club potentially 3 games away from promotion doesn’t know who their manager is for after those 3 games. It’s even worse when you’re already thinking the club will probably get it wrong when they make a final decision, too.

And this is the biggest frustration with Albion. We had a chance to really reset this year, but have failed to do so. Although it’s been more exciting this season, performance has been poor most of the time and we’ve been reliant on a great strike force. It pains me to think that several of the issues we face as a club come from planning…and you can look over the years, back to Steve Clarke’s last Summer in charge, perhaps even further, and see that it is planning that hurts us most. This season we’ve struggled defensively…but in Craig Dawson (a player I’ve generally always liked) we have a defender that doesn’t want to be at the club and promotion, essentially, hinders his chances of a move away – we should have sold him last Summer – and then you look at, say, the decision to loan out Allan Nyom but have no plan to replace with another right back. Poor decisions. In hindsight, the last Premier League season, paying the ridiculous wages for Krychowiak and Sturbridge, Chadli and so on, have bitten us. If we don’t go up this year the potential for implosion next year is massive because we will absolutely have to sell to make amends, but we won’t get the money we may have got the year prior for the likes of Dawson and Rodriguez, for example.

But then comes the thing with football, and the Albion. Despite the poor planning, despite the frustration, despite the poor defending and performances, we finished fourth and are now two games away from Wembley, three games away from the Premier League. My heart says we can do it. My head says we need to do it but I don’t think we’re consistent enough. But this is football, and the heart will always override.

In a week that saw the impossible completed by Liverpool and Tottenham, it gives all fans hope. The unlikeliest of results are always possible. We go to Villa Park on Saturday as the unfancied team, in my opinion. Villa have ended the season in brilliant form. They have some of the best players in the league. They are a good team. But so are we. There has to be belief.

For all the frustration, the anger…the Albion are my club, and I have to believe things will go well. Although I have supported Albion long enough to know that, if we can, we will find a way to mess it up. We call it “doing an Albion” in our house.

21 years ago, my Dad was excited because we had Villa in the cup. Now, we have them in the play offs. I’m excited, I’m nervous and I’m absolutely dreading it. We’ve made up for that 4-0 drubbing in 1998 on a fair few occasions in recent years but none would make up for it more than beating them over two legs now. A few good results will make me forget all the frustrations…even if only for a few weeks…and it will mean everything.

The nail biting has already started. The anxiousness has kicked in. But deep down I can’t wait.

Now, I just wait and I hope. Hope that we do it. And, most of all, hope that we don’t “do an Albion”.

A Forgotten Rivalry Or A Return To The Dark Ages?

I’m normally one to try to write blogs like articles, taking note from my journalism and media writing lectures at University, trying to be as unbiased as I can regardless of topic. It’s not always easy, and I’ve battled against myself at times when writing about West Brom, the club I support. For this, though, that approach would seem off.

It’s been an awful week for the Albion. We’ve gone to Villa Park twice, just 4 miles up the road, and got beat twice. This isn’t a great Villa team we’ve lost to, it’s a pretty awful one…but both times, they deserved it. The Tuesday evening game was a shambles; we went there for a draw, nothing more. I heard the BBC commentator talk of how we dominated the second half and were desperately unlucky but I didn’t see that at all. Villa wanted a win, we wanted a draw. Villa won.

On Saturday, we travel 4 miles up the road again, this time in the FA Cup. First half, we are in control. Brown Ideye, a player I have supported through thick and thin, misses a glorious chance after just 8 minutes. At that point, I said to my other half “We’ve lost this.” We are so utterly predictable. Ideye barely had a look in after that, Berahino didn’t do much…and as for creativity in midfield we may as well give in. Going in at half time with the score at 0-0 I tweeted that we could live to regret those missed chances, and boy did we.

With all the usual typicality of Albion, we came out for the second half and within 6 minutes we are 1-0 down. Villa’s first proper chance, and it goes in. That right there is the difference. It doesn’t matter how ‘in control’ you are, it doesn’t matter whether you’re the better team overall, if you don’t take your chances you lose. Football is not a difficult game, but we love to make it so.

The second half saw Villa come at us. We had to open up after the goal, so it’s inevitable that more chances will come against you, but we were poor. Like the first half on Tuesday night I felt a distinct feeling of ‘Villa want to win, we want to draw’ coming over me. It looked like we wanted the replay. And then came the Yacob red card.

As bad a decision as I think I’ve seen in a long time. Bacuna comes in, Yacob stops. I’m of the opinion that had Yacob knocked the ball forward, Bacuna would have taken him out and probably injured him. In the end, it’s a block tackle from Yacob, Bacuna actually hurts himself. Play carries on for a few seconds, then ref calls a halt, and a red card.

If the referee seriously felt the challenge warranted a red, why did he hesitate? It wasn’t advantage that saw us play on for 5 seconds. It was a poor decision. Did it cost Albion the game? No. As much as I love Claudio Yacob, he isn’t a game changer, and if anybody could honestly say we looked like we were going to grab an equaliser then I wish I was watching the same game. We were out by that point. Scott Sinclair’s goal, the same Sinclair that was so dire at Albion last year, was just icing on an already very poor cake.

Grealish’s red card, also, was a shambles. If a man the size of Joleon Lescott dives in front of you when you are running at full speed how are you meant to stay on your feet? But it’s irrelevant, the game was won for Villa.

I won’t sit here bemoaning Tony Pulis and his tactical decisions. Had Ideye scored, we’d have won on Saturday…but games are turned on those missed chances. We saw that when Mowbray managed us in the Premier League. Before this week the overwhelming view across Albion fans was that Pulis was a saviour. He still is. He’ll keep us up, same way that Sherwood will keep Villa up; but I can’t help think what little that says for the “best league in the world” that two teams so poor will end up surviving yet again.

Away from the shambles on the pitch, it’s impossible to miss the shambles off it.

Prior to the FA Cup game, several Albion and Villa fans had voiced concerns about the late kick off, especially when considering the fact the teams were playing each other two times within five days. But the sheer ignorance to the concern from both the police and the FA just goes to confirm my beliefs that there is a ridiculous underestimation of the rivalry between Albion and Villa across the region and the nation. Whereas my generation feel Wolves are the ‘big’ rivals, for the generation just below me, and the ones below that, Villa is the big one.

I’m not defending fan trouble by saying “we are big rivals”, but it was, just like Albion, so predictable that trouble would flare up.

The reaction to the pitch invasion is, quite rightly, one of disgust. However, it yet again highlights just how little the national media and police, and (by the lack of stewarding) even the football clubs, think of THIS local derby. Had it been Villa v Birmingham, surely the stewarding would have been better, and the policing. Had it been Albion v Wolves, you’d imagine the same. Would there be as much ‘shock’ or reaction had this happened at an Villa/Blues or Albion/Wolves game? I doubt it. But this is Albion/Villa…it isn’t the ‘biggest derby’.

On the pitch invasion, I’d also like to add that had this been at The Hawthorns, and it was Albion winning 1-0, then believe me, it would have happened there, too. I love my football club, but to say that we wouldn’t have done the same is just pure nonsense. Every club has idiots, and, unfortunately, I’ve been watching our idiots grow over time.

Running on the pitch before the game is over is awful; the threat to players’ safety is incredibly visible because of that, and, ultimately, this will play a part in speeches that are bound to come saying that football fans never learn. It’s just disrespect to the game, the players, and, in my view most importantly, the fans that paid over the odds to go and watch it in good nature. Imagine that’s your child’s first game that you’ve taken them to and that’s what they see.

And then, on to my fellow Albion fans; are we any better? Yacob gets sent off and then some mindless bunch start ripping up seats and throwing them on to fans below and on to the pitch. It’s a disgrace and I sincerely hope that they receive the same justice as the people that invaded the pitch before the game finished. And for those that will have read this and gone “We wouldn’t have invaded the pitch…” think about this with the seats.

I remember when we got to the FA Cup Semi Final and got beat by Portsmouth. I went to the toilet after the game, and when washing my hands, some guy with an Albion flag came in and started smashing it to pieces, hitting it against the walls, doors, sinks and so on. There were kids all over the place. This guy with the flag looked about 30. Do you think he would run on the pitch? Do you think people smashing chairs would run on a pitch?

The media reaction is that this was a ‘throwback’ to the dark ages. I don’t necessarily agree with that. Pitch invasions happen. Had this been Bradford, it would have been greeted as one of the great sights…but it wasn’t Bradford, it was Villa, and it was a local derby.

For me, questions have to be asked of Aston Villa and the stewarding – have they forgotten the type of game this was? If it had been Birmingham, there would have been more stewards…should they have anticipated this could have happened? And for the police and the FA, similar questions…have they forgotten just how big a rivalry this actually is?

A shambles of a footballing week from Albion; we weren’t good enough on the pitch in either game. And an utter shambles off the pitch in the end from both Albion and Villa.

Simply put; not good enough.

Rebuilding Relationships and Eating Words

It says a lot that many West Brom fans were disappointed to leave The Hawthorns having seen the team draw against Manchester United. Seeing what would have been a famous win snatched away with a late equaliser put a slight dampener on what was a great night to be a Baggie. A strong organised defensive performance to be proud of.

How times have changed. My last blog on here was called ‘Spitting Feathers’. It was me discussing how very unambitious the hiring of Alan Irvine was, discussing what I was viewing as a stagnation at the Albion. I felt we were heading backwards. Recent weeks, and performances, are making me think I may have spoken too soon.

And I’m not just talking about Irvine there. I’m talking about the club as a whole. The relationship between supporters and club is growing again. The right moves are being taken. The media and PR side to the club has been enhanced (we’ll ignore the Fellaini tweet…) because they’ve hired people that Albion fans know and respect in Chris Lepkowski and Martin Swain. The support for the ‘Justice For Jeff’ campaign has grown.

It’s the little things that matter most sometimes, though…and, for me personally, the biggest indication of the club ‘giving back’ to the fans happened on my birthday on the 28th September. The other half had treated me to tickets for the Burnley game, and with the tickets she had a letter. I opened it to find a signed note from Alan Irvine wishing me a happy birthday on behalf of him and everyone at the club. It may only seem a small gesture to many…but it meant a huge amount to me. Not just because I had received a letter from an Albion head coach, but because I saw it as the club improving relations. Would this have happened last year? Most probably not.

It feels like we are getting our club back.

I’m not naive enough to believe that it’s all hunky dory because of these examples. I know full well the relationship between the club and fans will never be as close-knit as many would like it to be. I know it’s still early days and the good feeling about the club could crash down as quickly as it’s built up. I know there are still questions to be answered by Jeremy Peace for the debacle that was last season; a season that, potentially, could have set us back a couple of years…may still have set us back. We are a club that is still rebuilding off the pitch. And on it?

On the pitch we look completely different. Irvine has, so far, done extremely well and I’m very happy for him. I wanted him to make me regret criticising him being hired and thus far he is doing it. The team look as organised as I have seen for years…at Spurs we defended resolutely, kept shape and got a great win. Against Burnley we kept shape again, we dominated…if a move didn’t work we went back to defence and started again, we opened Burnley up. Tactically it was probably as good as I’d seen from Albion since Hodgson’s days. And last night, against United…kept shape, defended incredibly well and we were very unlucky not to get more than just one point for our efforts.

Irvine has got the team looking organised again. It is reminiscent of Hodgson’s time at the club – everybody knows their role, everybody knows their job. They look well drilled. In comparison to the latter stages of Clarke’s reign and all of Pepe Mel’s, we look miles better. We look a new team. Craig Dawson looks like a new player, Saido Berahino just gets better and better, and Graham Dorrans seems to have gone back in time and recovered his old self. Joleon Lescott adds confidence at the back, even if he doesn’t have a decent game, Andre Wisdom is getting better with each game, we’ve not really even seen our £10m striker Brown Ideye yet…there’s much to be positive about at Albion at the moment.

So, Alan Irvine, keep making me eat my words. Keep proving us all wrong. And who knows where we could end up at the end of the season.

Another One Bites The Dust

Saturday 24th November 2012, West Brom had just beat Sunderland 4-2 away from home, notching their 8th league win of the season in just 13 matches. The mood at The Hawthorns was buoyant; Albion had just recorded their fourth win on the bounce, something they’d not done in the top flight since 1980, and they were sitting third in the Premier League.

European football actually felt like a real possibility. Albion were beating the likes of Chelsea and Liverpool. The fear that came with Roy Hodgson’s exit was dispelled. Steve Clarke was in, and the Albion looked a different class.

But then, like most things with the Albion, there’s a sour turn.

In the following 25 league games that followed, Albion won 6, drew 5 and lost 14. So far this season, Albion have played 16, won 3, drawn 6 and lost 7.

41 games, 38 points. Forget Europe, it’d be far more sensible to start planning journeys to Bournemouth and Huddersfield.

To put that in to further perspective, in 38 games last season, Wigan achieved a total of 36 points and got relegated. In 2011, Birmingham were relegated from the Premier League after achieving 39 points in 38 games. If the best the Albion can do in their last 41 games is 38 points, then there needs to be serious questioning of where Albion want to be.

When Steve Clarke started at the Albion, there were questions over his lack of experience. The start of the 2012/13 season quickly took away any doubts about the man, and, arguably, that incredible start was one of the major factors to Clarke not being relieved of his duties earlier. After all, Clarke is a great coach, and if he could help achieve that start then surely he could also be the man to stop the poor form?

The real test for any manager is how well they recover from a period of poor results. The difference between the great and the good can be seen with ease when you look past a run of bad form and see it turned around. Arsene Wenger, for example, has overseen Arsenal through periods of awful form only to pick them back up. Alex Ferguson at Manchester United could have a terrible start to the season but then turn it round and win a trophy. To be fair, David Moyes, when at Everton, always seemed to have a poor start and then fight back and achieve a top 6/7 position.

Unfortunately for Steve Clarke, much as with Roberto Di Matteo when he was with Albion, you never felt that he knew how to stop the downfall. To be fair, you could almost feel that the fates were conspiring against him, not wanting him to stop the fall.

Last year, the poor form really kicked off with the Peter Odemwingie saga. This year, the poor form has been maintained with a series of ridiculous refereeing decisions, injuries and some individual poor performances. Steve Clarke is a nice guy, but someone up there has definitely got something against him.

But it would be wrong to say Steve Clarke has just been unlucky. Several journalists and pundits have argued that one of his biggest misfortunes was not being able to re-sign Romelu Lukaku. On TalkSport this morning, I even heard a comment saying that Lukaku actually helped carry the team to last years success. It just isn’t true.

Lukaku would have arguably helped convert several of the chances missed this season, but the fact is that Lukaku was a bit part player for the club during the successful start to the 2012/13 season. When Peter Odemwingie decided he’d had enough, then Lukaku came more to the forefront. And, fact is, Lukaku’s good form coincided completely with Albion’s downfall. Bizarrely, despite scoring 17 goals, Lukaku never actually did anything that significantly added to Albion’s points total.

If Albion had signed Lukaku again, would he have been enough to keep Steve Clarke in a job? We’ll never know. What we do know is that the board actually went out and spent the money in the summer, albeit late on, after Clarke had made a point of saying things needed to change. Sessegnon, Anichebe, Anelka, Amalfitano, Luganu, Vydra and Sinclair were all bought in, and Albion raised their wage bill and broke their transfer record two times. There is enough quality in the team to achieve as they did last year without Lukaku. Steve Clarke will have known that, and Jeremy Peace does know that, and there lies a massive reason as to why Clarke has gone. For the first time that I can think of, it’s entirely plausible to argue that West Brom are underachieving in the Premier League.

But away from poor luck and transfers, my mind was made up on Steve Clarke on one Monday night not so long ago. Albion are 2 nil up against Aston Villa, but the second half has been poor. As an Albion fan, we’ve seen this many times before, we know what’s coming. Villa are getting more and more comfortable, and Albion are looking like they’re unsure how to respond. Paul Lambert makes a triple substitution, bringing on pace against Albion’s fairly slow defence. 10 minutes later, it’s 2-1.

The signs are there. Albion are throwing it away. The players look lost. Everyone can see that a change is needed because Villa have figured out the Albion’s game. They’re starting to become dominant. A change in tactics is needed; but nothing comes until the 73rd minute. A first substitution for the Albion, a chance to regroup and change style and try to get control back. But, no. Clarke brings on James Morrison for Stephane Sessegnon. Like for like swap, no alteration in playing style. And then 3 minutes later, it’s 2-2.

Two points lost again, but it could be three, because Villa now look like they want it and Albion seem to be having some nightmarish performances amongst the team. The worst of the lot, Goran Popov at left back, is finally removed in the 83rd minute for Victor Anichebe, a striker. I sit there thinking “we’re going 3-5-2 then” but again, no. The players stay where they are, and Anichebe comes on as a roaming second striker. We play a 3-2-3-2 formation. The game sizzles out for a 2-2 draw.

In the weeks that follow, similar tactical decisions are made. But, perhaps most striking, the game that the Albion play had changed. Shane Long scored a marvellous goal from a long ball against Villa, and that was now the tactic. Don’t play, just hoof to Shane Long. It didn’t work.

And that is the reason Clarke had to go. There was never a Plan B, there was no escape route. Albion were the Titanic, and Steve Clarke was our very own Edward Smith. Afraid to change, and, unfortunately, a victim because of it.

Adam