'Younger, Leaner, Fitter'

Let the race begin.

Twenty four starters, some fancied more than others, come to the starting line for a 46 game marathon that will test minds and bodies

And most importantly, squads.

Last season, we literally got lapped by a couple of our fellow competitors, but under the good ship Mozza, finished with aplomb.

It’s scary looking back, only the teams due to visit ports like Burton and Bromley this season finished below us, the price you pay with an imbalanced squad and undoubtedly questionable leadership and vision.

Something had to change.

The lifeline was James Morrison’s accession , allied to other smart assistant coaching recruitments, creating renewed vigour and optimism coursing through the fan base, with I detect, a stronger sense of belief than for a few prior seasons.

Change was overdue.

Both in playing and coaching staff.

Decline can only be addressed by change.

One of the most important early decisions James Morrison made was to recruit a highly experienced No.2, who clearly knows this division inside out, and the re-signing of that trusted presence, Matt Gill, is absolutely key to The Albion building for the future.

The quietly effective Gil was in demand from other clubs, so for him to stay at The Albion says everything about one criteria missing at our club for far too long.

Stability.

Add in our ranks, the highly rated Gavin Strachan from Celtic, plus Tony McMahon, a fellow debutant with Mozza as teenagers, over half a life time ago for them at Middlesbrough, you are gaining a whole new framework of coaches, who see things the Mozza way and are not remnants of previous regimes.

Mozza’s only coaching retention is our goalkeeping guru, ( and noticeably slimmer from his summer hiatus), Boaz Myhill, whose role this season may well be key, seeing as this is perhaps the one area of the squad that may well most need strengthening, [Alex Palmer being the obvious ‘welcome home’ candidate, but finances may well preclude that.]

Out with the old and in with the new is actually packed with exciting possibilities, suggesting a sea change of pace, athleticism and availability over the last few seasons regression, as existing players have past their peak, new signings have under achieved or at times been injudiciously recruited to the level of this division.

Of course, severe injuries can harm a player’s impact long term, and we have been on the back end of that scenario for far too long, and the time may even have been overdue to move some of those individuals to pastures new, not stay on excellent salaries for at times, mixed rewards, in pastures green?

The arrival of Max O’Leary from Bristol City was a pure statement of the lack of confidence in Josh Griffiths and spelled the end of the Baggies road, for the perennially struggling Joe Wildsmith.

 A bit like Wrexham’s new wonder wing back, Danny Imray, O’Leary’s first impressions at The Albion, under the inept management of Eric Ramsay, were a worry rather than a confidence builder, but as the season wore on, and a better defensive shield formed, so did O’Leary’s self confidence, conceding a creditable less than a goal a per game, [21 games played, 18 goals conceded last season.

Griffiths is now a ‘Potter’ and Wildsmith is perhaps predictably still looking for work, but whether the Albion plan of O’Leary and the experienced new signing Matt Ingram, (who has worryingly only played 13 games in his last four seasons), is enough goalkeeping depth and talent for this campaign?

Full back was a position of rare extremes last season, the left side boasting our deserved Player of the Year in the form of the consistent and enterprising, Callum

Styles, compared to the right side being a conveyor belt of poorly matched players, some you couldn’t question in terms of endeavour, [Campbell], but overall it was a rotating door of the unsuitable for long term consideration.

Albion took a big step into rectifying this situation with the signing from Rodez AF of Nolan Galves, whose technical skill allied to a penchant to attack with raw pace will be a sight to behold this season.

I was impressed with the footage I saw on Galves as soon as the interest on him was announced, and perhaps boldly predicted he may well be our most impressive potential signing since we took a leap of faith on a Norwegian lad who nobody had heard of at the time, but two years later was marking Vinicius Jr in the World Cup v Brazil?

The wonderful Torbjorn Heggem..

With the French squad being overrun  with such depth and talent, of course, I of course don’t predict the same rise internationally for Galves, but at the price we paid, he looks to be a similar bargain signing.

You certainly cannot imagine the Albion not pushing on from deep this season, and the Galves/Styles combination will offer such attacking intent from wide positions.

George Campbell’s move to his rightful strongest, starting position of centre half, unveiled a majestic, athletic central defender, who may well have a lot on his plate this season, but George is used to that!

Wedlock, a new country, and a new starting position at The Albion, were just part and parcel of the Campbell experience in July last year..

For George this season, a strong leadership presence he consistently delivered in at times difficult circumstances, simply adds up to the growing belief that he has all the traits to be a ‘captain in waiting’ for the club, and has already taken on this role in pre-season games, with Mowatt’s possible transfer, a full time possession of the skipper’s armband.

Campbell’s impact off and on the pitch has been immense, remarkable as he was a largely unheralded signing when George joined us from CF Montreal, thirteen months ago.

The balancing act for George this season may well be dovetailing the demands of a 46 game Championship season, with playing regularly for the USMNT.

I was reliably informed by a US media contact that Campbell will be part of the Pochettino rebuild of the US, even before the 1-4 shellacking against Belgium in the 2026 World Cup, (with or without that crass Trump assist of reinstating Florian Balogun).

USMNT urgently need a left sided central defender , as their World Cup skipper Tim Ream has now retired and the time is ripe for Campbell to be a prime candidate in this rebuild now Poch, [who has already selected George in Jan 2025 for his national debut], will be actively rebuilding his squad.

The September international window for USMNT is VERY tough and no doubt if/when Campbell is selected he’ll be fully tested, with FOUR games in eleven days, against tough, physical opponents with their own points to prove in firstly, Peru and Chile, with the final two games against the bitter border rivals, Mexico and finally Canada.

The Nat Phillips/George Campbell partnership at the end of last season showed real promise and you can only imagine be developed even further this season, and it’s hoped Chris Mepham also finds the form he had largely with Bournemouth and on loan at Sunderland, than at The Albion last season, when his self confidence seemed to be eroded at an alarming pace.

Hopefully a more clearly defined role under a more stable management group can revitalize 'Meps', allied to a clean bill of health, also a similar scenario hopefully for Krystian Bielik, like Mepham, still just 28 years old.

It’s arguable anybody gained more confidence from James Morrison’s management stint than Ousmane Diakite who traversed the at times unassailable bridge of ‘filling in’ to actually ‘belonging’..

This will be the likable, modest Malian’s third season with The Albion, and at 26 years old, the time has to be now.

Diakite made massive strides under Mozza, now is the time to kick on, [although his goalscoring rate is a grim as many of the previous faces filling in central midfield, going as far back as the days of Jake Livermore, Oussie has scored only one Albion goal so far in almost 60 appearances).

‘M and M’ have of course been our regular incumbents in midfield for the Albion in recent years, Mowatt and Molumby being part and parcel of the so-called engine room for 333 games between them now, but have combined for an underwhelming total of just 31 goals during that period.

Of course when we look at the strengths of either player, goalscoring is not exactly high on the list, but it’s an area of the pitch we need to get much more from, and for many, a change of personnel is overdue, with the likelihood the hard working and more disciplined Molumby, who did so well under Mozza last season, is rightly the one to stay.

Mowatt is heavily linked to a transfer to Derby County, can still be deemed a very good passer of the ball, but age waits for no man, and in the last year of his contract, turning 32 in February, it may well be time to take whatever value the club can get from a player who will leave for nothing at the end of the season.

Albion’s signing yesterday of France Under 20’s player, Rabby Nzingoula was one few predicted, and the role of central midfield looks to have a long and overdue emphasis of athleticism and youth.

It was informative hearing Nzingoula’s first Albion TV interview, being particularly impressed with Mozza’s background of excellence as a midfielder, believing his boss is someone who can impart coaching from the basis of knowledge of the intricacies of a playing perspective, being a key reason he signed a three year contract.

European talent seems to be the DNA of our new signings, Felix Horn Myrhe may well been Mozza’s main target, ( there was a seed of doubt over sell on value for a time), but it was brilliant to see the Norwegian international sign for us, the more cultured, intelligent players at club, the better.

No doubt, ‘FHM’ is looking to have his peak years at The Albion, being 28 years old in March 2027.

Like many of the new signings, it seems the Wearside wisdom and vision brought forward by Mozza were key factors in convincing Myrhe to be a Baggie, and the proven pathway shown to Norwegians to develop their careers at The Hawthorns must also be instrumental.

A Brann v Baggies pre season game would be fun, but would probably be precluded by the Scandinavian seasons finishing in June.

A loan experience offers challenges that age group football simply cannot match in terms of taking you out of your comfort zone and pitching you against older players.

It can simply make or break a player.

It made Tom Fellows.

It looks to have been the making of Harry Whitwell, whose loan spell at Forest Green Rovers was heralded as brilliant by his boss, Robbie Savage, and although underused on his return, now looks fully ready to make the step up to Championship level football, this season.

Whitwell has certainly physically matured, and a bit like Diakite, it’s a question of belonging, rather than striving to make an impression.

As it’s the final season in Harry’s Albion contract, big decisions will have to be made to see if Whitwell’s career is to be long term a Baggie or not?

The portents look good.

James Morrison publicly stated he sees Harry very much in his plans for this key season in Whitwell’s career, to let such a potentially talented player to walk away for no value is a scenario no one at The Albion wants to see.

In a similar developmental curve is Ollie Bostock, the temptation to loan our young Welsh winger out for a season, with the option of a recall, must be one well worth considering?

With wingers, the mercurial Mikey Johnston at last has a Morrison management team behind him, but where Mikey fits in a team formation favoring a narrow midfield is a conundrum Mozza and co have to consider.

Last season it was Flamengo who were perhaps improbable suitors, and where Mikey fits in with Mozza is an interesting early subplot to consider?

For a lad of just 22 years old, over 160 appearances for both club and country is testament to the demands made on Issac Price, whose mixed bag of a season last year, may well be traced to the variety of managers he had, and range of roles asked to play.

Certainly under Mozza’s charge, a more settled and confident Price returned and with the new Albion signings equally at home in fluidity of formation and roles therein,

I expect a really good season from Price, who should combine superbly with the equally technically adroit, Felix Myrhe.

Goalscoring has been an expensive Albion problem, and not having a top scorer break a dozen goals in the past four seasons since we returned to The Championship is a stat that is truly damning.

The core of that underscoring, oft injured group have now moved on, and we look younger and sharper at the business end of the pitch and may well dictate whether we can make a run to the play offs rather than look over our shoulders as relegation contenders, as we did last season.

Natural goalscorers are at such a premium, on loan Dwight Gayle displayed that elusive trait and for sure it was an integral part of the Kevin Phillips DNA.

Have we found a natural finisher in Jimmy-Jay Morgan?

The early signs look promising , a player oozing self confidence, whose movement, intelligent interchange of position and eye for the goal, at least from first impressions.

Morgan is miles away from being a Gayle or a Phillips, but the early signs are good, and the contrast for us compared to recent seasons, may well be marked.

Of course, being just 20 years old, JJ has a lot to learn, and The Championship is a very unforgiving division, but playing off the hard working and physical Aune Heggebo may br a combination that might work this season, and give us a threat from a partnership we’ve not seen for some time.

In interviews, the term JJ Morgan used regularly was ‘positional fluency’, and I think this is fundamental to the way Morrison sees the Albion play.

The key to Mozzaball, is movement, comfort on the ball and pace of the counter attack should make us easier on the eye and make this season one of the more enjoyable of recent years at The Hawthorns.

We look in my eyes, a younger, fitter, stronger squad, although there are bound to be the proverbial bumps in the road with a noticeably younger team, I definitely see corners being turned, from lessons learned BOTH off and on the pitch. This is to be a higher level of Championship football this season, with the extended play off offering hope to more teams than ever..

As a Baggie, I think like all of you, we are very well aware of the adage, ‘it’s the hope that kills’, but I still see us finishing in the Top Ten.