April 2008 Archives

Around 2,800 Albions fans will be at QPR this Sunday hoping to see the Baggies lift their first title for 88 years.

But what about those stuck back at home?

Sky Sports have already announced their schedule and, understandably, they're going with the Stoke City game against Leicester and Hull's clash at Ipswich Town.

Baggies fan Steve Nash has already championed the idea of beaming the game back to The Hawthorns and the idea certainly gets the Birmingham Mail's full support

We all know there are two big screens at The Hawthorns already.

So go on Albion, how about it?

You can read more about this on:

http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-stories/2008/04/30/west-bromwich-albion-fans-want-big-screen-treatment-97319-20841848/

So how was it for you?

Tony Mowbray will be planning for the Premier League now and faces some big decisions over his playing squad.

Who to bring in? Who will leave?

One thing's for sure, Mowbray needs backing in the summer transfer window from Jeremy Peace.

The two clubs joining Albion not be as 'equipped' for the Premier League and then there's those who stay up this season.

Mowbray is right to ignore the 'superstars' or the washed up old pros, but equally they do need some experience, not least at the back.

It's clear that Gary Breen (the youngster from Man City, not the old man at Wolves) is on the 'list', as is Paddy McCourt from Ireland. Will Adel Taarabt come back onto the radar? He was certainly asked during the winter about regarding a possible loan deal - at the time Spurs weren't keen, but they'll be bringing in new players themselves. We mustn't forget that the under-used Do-heon Kim and injured Filipe Teixeira have the potential to prosper at top flight level. Will Zoltan Gera stay?

A new goalkeeper? I would say so. Most clubs run with three at top flight level and send one out on loan.

Up front, Albion already have Ishmael Miller and Luke Moore signing up. Kevin Phillips, I suspect, will be sorted out and I'll be even more amazed if Roman Bednar is allowed to slip through Albion's fingers. But then Mowbray may have designs on other potential goal getters.

It's going to be a fun summer.

*ANYONE notice the two linesmen on Monday? Matadar and Bull? Surely someone was having a joke?

And was that the famous Gary Hackett I saw running onto the pitch after the game?

So, Albion fans, it's just over four hours to kick-off, the clock is ticking.

Floodlights glaring, a roaring atmosphere, wall-to-wall noise from four sides of the stadium, the potential for a huge £40million prize jackpot by 9.35pm tonight, the fans of at least seven other clubs keeping an eye on the score for their own personal reasons.

It's what football is all about.

Just four more hours to kill.

Are you nervous yet?

Here's a bit of Sunday morning trivia for you...

As you all know, it's 88 years since Albion last won the Division One League title.

However, a fascinating stat shows just how success-starved Albion have become when it comes to winning the title of ANY League.

Albion, who have spent all but two seasons in the top two divisions, have not won a title of any sort since Fred Morris smashed in 37 goals for the Baggies on their way to championship glory in 1919-20.

Yet if you were to list all the clubs who have won a title since 1920 then Albion would come 88th. Incredibly 87 League clubs have won a title of some sort since then, whether it's MK Dons winning the League Two title or Manchester United claiming their 16th championship.

How do football managers relax?

Argentina's Cesar Luis Menotti smoked his way through their successful 1978 World Cup, as did Johan Cruyff when he was manager of Barcelona.

Others - the late Brian Clough for instance - liked (or in some cases still like) a drink or two.

Jean Tigana used to chew on a toothpick during games and I'm pretty sure John Gregory went through a phase of munching on lollipops during games.

Others bring in the psychologists and turn to sports science.

Some read and watch more football.

And then, as I revealed in the past, there's Tony Mowbray.

Last season he walked into a post-match press conference at Leicester scoffing Cadbury's Snaps like he hadn't eaten before. Something about needing sugar, he said. Yeah right.

The self-confessed chocoholic now tells us that he has a fridge full of half-eaten Easter eggs.

He told us this at today's press conference while he scoffed his way through a chocolate football, with the message 'Good Luck Tony' scrolled across - courtesy of Frank Skinner and Adrian Chiles, who recently sent him a chocolate Size 9 football boot (some people will do anything for free tickets)

It helps Mogga relax before the big weekend.

Makes you wonder how he remains so trim when, in truth, he could easily look more like John Hartson.

He must have a fast metabolism.

And, no, he didn't offer any of us a piece.

Cruel.

No doubt you'll have seen today's story, in another newspaper, which states that Kevin Phillips is off to Wigan Athletic or Derby County because he has rejected Albion's contract offer - even quoting a source close to the player.

Yet I witnessed Phillips' reaction down the training ground this morning when he read the story in the tabloid newspaper.

And the immediate reaction was one of surprise, followed by some head-shaking and a denial of all knowledge.

Albion, incidentally, also denied it.

Make of that what you will.

Truth is that Phillips may re-sign for Albion, he may not. But talks are very much on-going and will continue over the coming days and weeks.

Nothing has been decided. Nothing has been rejected or accepted.

So there you have it.

The story is that there is no story.

Every Monday the Birmingham Mail calls in at the Albion training ground for a chat with Tony Mowbray.

This week was no exception.

And, it seems, the pressures of Albion's promotion push, playing six games in 18 days and sleepless nights have got to Mowbray, a father to two young boys.

Igglepiggle, Upsy Daisy, Makka Pakka and the Ninky Nonk all got a mention after we'd finished discussing the nitty-gritty of managing a side that's on the verge of promotion.

Not quite Mowbray's list of transfer targets for next season but, as anyone will tell you, the characters from CBeebies' classic In The Night Garden, essential TV viewing in the Mowbray household (or indeed any household where young kids rule the roost).

The good news is that Mowbray's very own Mr Bump - Paul Robinson to you and I - should be fine after taking another blow to his head. Is it me or does Robbo seem to enjoy it?

In any case you get the feeling the Albion boss will be catching up on some sleep this week...

More interesting were Mowbray's thoughts on Do-heon Kim, Michal Danek and Crystal Palace skipper Mark Hudson, all of which you'll be able to read in Tuesday's Birmingham Mail.

And, of course, we already know the permutations about what could happen this weekend.

*No postcard this week. My Norwich observations are still stuck on the A14 behind a Wankel rotary-engined carrot grinder, somewhere near Newmarket.

Normal away-day service will resume at QPR.

**One last thing. A message to TV commentators. Robert Koren is a very simple name to say. There are no hidden accents and no quirks to the pronunciation. It's Ko-ren. Not Core-ren.

All you have to do is ask someone...

Albion players were at the Hawthorns today as part of the club's annual open day for the disabled branch of the official WBA supporters' club.

Tony Mowbray specifically switched training to enable supporters to watch the session from the East Stand's disabled facilities.

On a day Chelsea and Everton have been forced to play a Premier League game on a Thursday - inconveniencing fans from both clubs on a school night - it's reassuring to see that supporters are at least 'kept in the loop' by some clubs, if not by the financial super powers who control the game and have no interest in those who pay good money to watch the games.

None of this, however, explains the bizarre goings-on in Staffordshire.

Louise Griffin, wife of Stoke captain Andy, has taken it upon herself to rally the troops over in the Potteries.

The Stokette said: "We need to install belief in the fans. Right now there is something amazing happening in our city.

"We need to think like winners, get excited and get behind the lads. Think how great this could be for our city.

"We have lost a lot of our industry, the pots and mines and this has changed the city.

"Now we can put Stoke-on-Trent back on the map."

Presumably Tony Pulis was too busy studying the 'Excuse Book' to drum up any inspiration of his own.

And the situation isn't much better in Wolverhampton, where a trainee bus driver has ripped off the top half of his double-decker by driving it under a bridge.

It would be wrong of me to make a gag about open-top buses and Wolverhampton.

So I won't.

A few snapshots from last night.

1. How good was Albion's display? I reckon it was the best performance of the season so far. There has been more incident, more goals but man-for-man it's the most complete team performance I've seen of Mowbray's reign. Wolves didn't play badly, it's just that they couldn't live with their rivals. There wasn't a single below-par display from any Albion player. And nobody got intimidated by the occasion or the pressure.

2. Had to feel for poor Shelton Martis. Albion's greatest-ever Dutch Antilles international was beckoned over by a group of 'corporate guests' (presumably Wolves fans) following his warm down. One of the suited-and-booted brigade produced a camera and asked: "Any chance of a photo, Ishmael...?" Shelton's turn of pace was impressive to say the least.

3. Pubs shut, cafes closed, shops with the shutters down - Wolverhampton city centre was like a scene from a post-Apocalyptic film yesterday tea-time. Please, no jokes about it being business as usual then...

4. Which got me thinking how Glasgow, Manchester, Sheffield, north London police cope with derby games? Does the whole of Glasgow shut down four times a year when the most political and intense of all derbies comes along. Of course it doesn't. Yesterday's atmosphere and the frenetic pace of the game underlined why local derbies are better played under floodlights, not at midday on a Sunday lunchtime when too many fans are still hungover from Saturday night to care much for singing or chanting.

5. Barnsley v Hull was live on TV. Wolves v Albion wasn't. How wrong could Sky have been? Okay so the first match might have had more goals but I bet their viewing figures would have been greater for what we're told is England's most fierce rivalry.

BATON down the hatches, lock away your daughters, keep your trousers fastened.

The Wolves v Albion clash has been described as the biggest football rivarly.

And rightly so.

The Black Country derby has come out on top in the Football Rivalries Report 2008, published recently by the New Football Pools from information gathered from more than 6,000 members of the Football Fans Census.

Liverpool and Everton may be regarded as one of the biggest but the two sets of fans were sat side by side until recent games. Some even described it, wrongly in my view, as the 'friendly derby'.

Villa and Blues - one has won the European Cup, the other a Sherpa Van Trophy. Hardly an equal match, despite Blues bucking the trend during the Enckelman years.

Norwich and Ipswich hate each other but are 50 miles apart - a journey which takes three days and two nights to complete in a Massey-Ferguson.

Manchester United and City? City have had the upper hand this season but you can't compare the two.

Spurs and Arsenal used to be big but, again, Arsenal have pulled way ahead of their rivals.

The East Midlands offers little, Southampton and Portsmouth has become a mismatch and the two Bristol clubs very rarely meet.

Sheffield's bragging rights may be important in Woodseats but, sorry fellas, the game lacks the intensity to make a mark on a national scale.

Newcastle and Sunderland go close, as does the poisonous Welsh meeting between Swansea and Cardiff. But in both cases one of the two rival clubs has spent long periods in a different division to their nemesis. And how can the Welsh meeting really be taken seriously when the two cities are just as busy squabbling over a game which uses a funny shaped ball.

Millwall and West Ham is more about fighting than football. And, again, when do the two clubs ever meet?

Albion and Wolves has everything. Two clubs who are fairly similar in size, stature, status and historical achievement. They are just 12 miles apart, the fans work together, live in the same streets and maybe even belong to the same family. It's more than just a football match. Equally it's more than just an excuse for a few thugs to beat seven bells out of each other.

It's got a historical significance but maintains a huge presence in today's more diluted climate.

Surely no other derby in England ticks more boxes than tonight's fixture.

And then there's the small issue of a promotion battle.

Anyway, enough of that - here is the full list.

1. West Bromwich Albion & Wolves
2. Ipswich Town & Norwich City
3. Liverpool & Manchester United
4. Portsmouth & Southampton
5. Cardiff City & Swansea City
6. Aston Villa & Birmingham
7. Sheffield United & Sheffield Wednesday
8. Bristol Rovers & Bristol City
9. Newcastle & Sunderland
10. Brighton & Crystal Palace
11. Derby & Nottingham Forest
12. Blackpool & Preston
13. Darlington & Hartlepool
14. Luton & Watford
15. Blackburn & Burnley
16. Port Vale & Stoke
17. Arsenal & Tottenham
18. Grimsby & Scunthorpe
19. Everton & Liverpool
20. Leeds & Man United
21. Chester & Wrexham
22. Chesterfield & Mansfield
23. Northampton & Peterborough
24. Bury & Rochdale
25. Man City & Man United
26. Coventry & Leicester
27. Millwall & West Ham
28. Accrington Stanley & Morecambe
29. Colchester & Southend
30. Macclesfield & Stockport

So, what do you reckon? Agree or not?