Jimmy Greaves always spoke about football, in his Danny 'Imrayesque', Essex accent, as it being, “ A funny old game”.. When you look back at the 2025/26 Albion season, funny is not a word that springs to mind, considering this is our fourth lowest finishing position in our proud and illustrious 126 year history. From when The Strollers became The Albion. And stroll is what we seemed to be specializing in, seemingly sleepwalking into relegation and a future of facing the like

“Look at me!!” You are 24 years old. The realization of the dream could well be over, when it’s only just begun. And you’ve had previous. And you know, far more than most. This was exactly the same ending for your brother. Injuries are devastating, and as Daryl Dike was taking his deep, guttural and understandable frustrations out with his fists, punching the cart transporting him from Portman Road, the voice imploring him to 'look at me', got Daryl’s attention through his st

“Look at me!!” You are 24 years old. The realization of the dream could well be over, when it’s only just begun. And you’ve had previous. And you know, far more than most. This was exactly the same ending for your brother. Injuries are devastating, and as Daryl Dike was taking his deep, guttural and understandable frustrations out with his fists, punching the cart transporting him from Portman Road, the voice imploring him to 'look at me', got Daryl’s attention through his st

‘It isn’t acceptable’. Put yourself in James Morrison’s shoes? Crassly marginalized in the disastrous Ramsay regime, now asked to take the reins of a club in freefall, with the parachute struggling to open.. And within your first 26 Minutes of caretaker management you are 2-0 down to a team below you and have not won in seven games. Add in, undoubtedly your most potent attacking threat [Mikey Johnston] limping off with an injury that I’m sure immediately had portents of seaso

The Albion News was always the first thing I purchased after I arrived at The Shrine’, taking a bus from New Street Station, but one part of the essential Baggies match day almanac, in the late 1970’s simply wasn’t news. There was no need to look at the team list. The defensive core. Set in stone. If you are of a certain age, you just knew. To recite those five defensive names was as simple as breathing. Gooden. Batson. Statham. Wile. Robertson. A quintet of differing charact

Cometh the moment, cometh the man. No doubt, at this pivotal period in The Albion’s future, where the catastrophic drop off and the risk of potential relegation precipitous, at the last minute we turned to someone who knows... The club. The players. The tradition. Someone steeped in instant respect, such as is earned from an unbroken spell with the club that will reach twenty years in sixteen months time. That’s over half his life.. Commitment to a club cannot be more clearly

Dare to hope? Dare to dream? Targets change over time. The sheer notion of the possible relief at finishing the season in 21st position, in the second sphere of English football would have seemed an ambition of the lowest stratosphere, if this had ever been mumbled let alone proclaimed in 146 of the 148 years of The Albion’s proud existence.. But here we are… Dix games to decide our fate. Of course a season that started with a healthy modicum of promise, an encouraging ten po

‘I was of the feeling it was out of control I had the opinion it was out of control’ Bono. 1979 . We’ve all been in situations where control is compromised.. And often you are in the middle of it, realizing what is going on, but immune from activating the change needed.. I was a teacher for 35 years, and still look back to some of my early days and grimace.. You are there, but you are not there.. Looking back, it can be down to bad appointments, lack of planning, or le

For Eric Ramsay, the realization of a possible long term career as a professional footballer would only actually be a pipe dream.. Always the realist, even in his mid teens it seems coaching would be the vocation Ramsey could succeed at, although being a huge proponent of Futsal and a talented midfielder at Welsh National League level. But it was the inner voice. Informing. To truly make a mark at the highest level, Ramsay’s undoubted, natural intellect and tactical acumen w

You are said to born to lead. For some, it’s as natural as breathing. For others, it’s just not in their character, in their DNA. In other words… Do Not Appoint So it may well have proven for Ryan Mason, an ambitious appointment by the Bilkul Group, looking to hand their reins, long term, [and the obvious financial jeopardy of 'paying off' that contract, ‘if’, as the Mason scenario proved], with a recruitment failure. And not for the first time. Yesterday’s game against Lei

The centre forward position at the Albion has simply been revered over generations, a line of ascension only the very best of the best can claim to. From WG Richardson to Ronnie Allen, Jeff Astle to Derek Kevan, SuperBob Taylor to Cyrille Regis, swashbuckling strikers have been part of The Baggies DNA. And it’s a role we’ve been waiting to fill with a new hero for years.. Of course, there is no way a modest, softly spoken Norwegian could be anywhere near joining that pantheon

There appeared to be one wheel left on the Mason Wagon and the season was rolling along. 2-0 down at home to Swansea. A generous scoreline for the Baggies, who put the A in the word abject with a first half performance that may hopefully be the nadir of Mason’s stint at The Albion. Cometh the moment, cometh the man, and in any situation there is always a semblance of that key, defining word. Opportunity. That actual word knocked, starting with and possibly will be ultimately

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With WBA's spending budget heavily restricted due to the travails and errors of old regimes, the key to this season’s new signings is...