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« on: December 30, 2012, 04:21:28 PM »
So then, Saturdays defeat rounds off what has been a very good year for this football club which has been further highlighted by the misery surrounding our fellow Midlands clubs. I don't know about anybody else, but in terms of calendar year, this has been without doubt my greatest 'year' in following Albion which is backed up by us having the best squad of footballers I've ever seen.
So much has changed over the twelve months. I remember towards the start of the year Roy Hodgson was drawing criticisms for our poor home form with fans complaining of a lack of entertainment and to an extent, I was firmly in that package as I thought we were incredibly poor. It started off against Everton with Hodgson's refusal to make any changes in a game which was incredibly dour. In-fact, we made one. A substitution in the 94th minute where Graham Dorrans got a grand total of 10 seconds replacing Chris Brunt who had done some damage to his ankle. Again, January and parts of February received criticism for our style of football until we faced Stoke away which was our first bit of history we corrected. How many years had it been since we last won at Stoke? 28 years or more was it? And in the 90th minute Graham Dorrans corrected that. I remember being on here in the build up to the game and Hodgson was getting some stick for his team selection which saw the re-emergence of Marc Antoine Fortune and Gabriel Tamas starting at right back. Needless to say, it proved to be a masterstroke from Roy as we reverted to the 451 fans has suggested and we controlled large parts of the game and with lady luck on our side we cancelled out that long hideous record against the Potters and notched three points on the board.
In my opinion, I don't know about anybody else, but February was the year which changed our fortunes and certainly gave the club the feel good factor heading into the remaining months of the season. It started with a defeat to Swansea in the snow where for large parts we were second best. Again, Hodgson received more criticism as we headed into the Black Country Derby which changed the seasons of both clubs. We all know what happened, Peter Odemwingie created a bit of history as we stuffed five past the side from Stafford. The manner of the victory and the football we played was incredibly promising and the benchmark for our season. We continued that sizzling performance by sweeping aside Sunderland 4-0 who were in good form under Martin O'Neill and then we swept aside Chelsea with Andre Villas-Boas receiving his P45 from Roman Abramovich. The important thing about that month is that it eased any fears we had about relegation and probably retained our Premier League status at a time where fans were becoming a bit uneasy about our form and the football we played.
The feel good factor saw us beat Liverpool at Anfield for the first time in christ knows how long, if I remember correctly wasn't it so many years to the day since Jeff Astle scored our last winner on the Anfield turf? Well anyway, we weren't particularly brilliant, but it was another stuffing for Dalglish and another away day victory. Although March was disappointing, April proved to be a decent month with victories over QPR, Blackburn and Liverpool and the disappointment of drawing to Aston Villa.
It was then when we knew about Roy Hodgson's departure and we gave him the send off he deserved. I think it's always important we remember the successful work he did in retaining our Premier League status and also taking us to terrority the club had never been before. I was disappointed to see him go but after weeks and weeks and weeks of suggestions we finally got our man in Steve Clarke - regardless of whether he was first choice or not.
The summer window was a success and so was the start of the season with Clarke proving to be quite a dab hand at this managerial lark, in the opening weeks we blew aside both Merseyside teams and also got a well deserved point at Tottenham. From there we've gone from strength to strength with memorable victories against Chelsea and an away win at Sunderland - The Sunderland win being more memorable as it took ourselves to 3rd in the Premier League - Somewhere we'd never been before. 3rd at the end of November!
All that promise and the dreams of Europe started to become only a dream when we suffered defeats to Swansea and Arsenal and our annual defeat to Stoke, some raising question marks of our football which had otherwise been OK up until this month. Still the two wins recently have helped to steady the ship and confirm our status as a top half side going into the new year.
We're currently on 33 points from 20 games. The most we've ever been on at this stage - What a successful and proud year this has been for the club and just to think, it all started with that demolition of Staffordshire.
Have we ever had a better calendar year as a club where we've achieved so much?
Here's to a positive and equally successful 2013!
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