[chipperclark]

  I don't often have a "negative" expression on this site but today I am having a right go at the whole situation we are in.

1. I have supported Albion since 10 October 1964 and have never been this down with the situation  we are in.

2. A complete "inept" showing by the team, over the season. No player got a better score than a 2 today from me.

3. I realise we are a Championship team playing in the Greed league, but these blokes are not giving a toss.

4. Can someone please write a letter to Slaven and ask him to come "home" and be our coach in the Championship next year.

5. SA please walk. Lai please sell you are killing our beloved club...we will be playing Walsall, Stockport and Blackpool (again) very soon at this rate.

6. I cannot even speak about the lack of money given to spend on "new" players it is a complete farce.

[Albionic]

I can accept that if you dont have the akkers you cannot spend them, thats fine, BUT at least be honest about it and the consequences thereof.
If the executives at the clubs delude the owners / managers and fans, then they deserve the sack. And that (is the only way I can reconcile the current situation, The executive are so frightened or self delusional that they have spread their bullcrap far and wide .

[darbolina]

I think we're a club rotting from the head at the moment.

The sooner Lai and Dowling go and fresh ideas (actually any ideas!) come in the better. Sometimes, a club needs a bad relegation to clear the decks. What is preventing Lai selling must be money. I have no idea of investing in football clubs but I would say his investment is going down week by week so if I were him I'd accept any offer and get out of our lives for good before it gets worse (double relegations do happen to poorly run clubs). As soon as we're back in the stadium , these losers running the club are going to get both barrels even from Albion fans who are some of the most patient with failure around.

From being a long time season ticket holder to now being completely fed up and a bit de-sensitized with the premier league and the sheer greed of it, even I'm angry at how poorly equipped we are this season and I expect no more than 20 points but comforted myself that we do it trying to play and scoring a few goals along the way. This is turning into the worst kind of relegation - a club meekly being spanked every week after setting up to defend. What really is the point of us in the premier league any more other than to cream a bit of TV money for a distant owner who doesn't give a toss anyway

[Albionic]

I think we're a club rotting from the head at the moment.

The sooner Lai and Dowling go and fresh ideas (actually any ideas!) come in the better. Sometimes, a club needs a bad relegation to clear the decks. What is preventing Lai selling must be money. I have no idea of investing in football clubs but I would say his investment is going down week by week so if I were him I'd accept any offer and get out of our lives for good before it gets worse (double relegations do happen to poorly run clubs). As soon as we're back in the stadium , these losers running the club are going to get both barrels even from Albion fans who are some of the most patient with failure around.

From being a long time season ticket holder to now being completely fed up and a bit de-sensitized with the premier league and the sheer greed of it, even I'm angry at how poorly equipped we are this season and I expect no more than 20 points but comforted myself that we do it trying to play and scoring a few goals along the way. This is turning into the worst kind of relegation - a club meekly being spanked every week after setting up to defend. What really is the point of us in the premier league any more other than to cream a bit of TV money for a distant owner who doesn't give a toss anyway

Not sure even that is a reason for us, can he ever profit from the club? He will have a hell of a lot of ground to make up to get the clubs valuation back to what he paid for it !  that would likely need a few seasons of stability (stop laughing) and some cup success to raise our profile sufficiently to hook a prospective owner.

[ex coseley kid]

4. Can someone please write a letter to Slaven and ask him to come "home" and be our coach in the Championship next year.

Great thread, like every post; and this: we would have gone down with him but longevity and trust in the man would have yielded results and we could have rebuilt in the Champs camp.

I wish he would come home; I feel I've seen enough of the Sam Allardyce Albion to know for sure now.
But I'm not blaming Sam. We need rid of the top level or we will sink without a trace. Skinner, Chiles, Clapton (!) - can we have a whip round please??

[gazberg]

Not sure even that is a reason for us, can he ever profit from the club? He will have a hell of a lot of ground to make up to get the clubs valuation back to what he paid for it !  that would likely need a few seasons of stability (stop laughing) and some cup success to raise our profile sufficiently to hook a prospective owner.

New TV deal in 2022 will likely increase every clubs and players value as it always does. Thats when he needs us to be in the PL as last resort.

[AlbionFan]

Regardless of the owner, board of directors, Head Coach, players, this is still my club and I love and care for it and refuse to let them diminish my feelings for the club.

The aforementioned will come and go, as they have in the past and will in the future, but as long as we have fans who love and care there will always be a West Bromwich Albion come what may.

COYB!!!!

[gazberg]

Regardless of the owner, board of directors, Head Coach, players, this is still my club and I love and care for it and refuse to let them diminish my feelings for the club.

The aforementioned will come and go, as they have in the past and will in the future, but as long as we have fans who love and care there will always be a West Bromwich Albion come what may.

COYB!!!!

This is true.

[seteefeet]

I get all the doom and gloom but I don't get the sink without a trace thought process. There is nothing to suggest that will happen
Yes we'll go down but we won't have crippling debts or malingering players on £100k+ per week. We'll have a squad that, whilst crushingly poor by Prem standards, for which Bilic is partly to blame, will be more than equipped to challenge in the Champ.

Hopefully a new DoF, new manager, get rid of some deadwood, possibly sell SJ and MP and we'll be in a strong position come August.

Unfortunately, unless a moneybags owner, with a heartful of goodwill comes in, when we do yo-yo back up again, we will probably be exactly where we are now.

Long term plans are great but, without the cash, they are futile.

[KN22]

I don't often have a "negative" expression on this site but today I am having a right go at the whole situation we are in.

1. I have supported Albion since 10 October 1964 and have never been this down with the situation  we are in.

2. A complete "inept" showing by the team, over the season. No player got a better score than a 2 today from me.

3. I realise we are a Championship team playing in the Greed league, but these blokes are not giving a toss.

4. Can someone please write a letter to Slaven and ask him to come "home" and be our coach in the Championship next year.

5. SA please walk. Lai please sell you are killing our beloved club...we will be playing Walsall, Stockport and Blackpool (again) very soon at this rate.

6. I cannot even speak about the lack of money given to spend on "new" players it is a complete farce.

Great post, spoken from the heart and I can echo every comment. I only started loving the club in 1969 though 

[iwastherein68]

I get all the doom and gloom but I don't get the sink without a trace thought process. There is nothing to suggest that will happen
Yes we'll go down but we won't have crippling debts or malingering players on £100k+ per week. We'll have a squad that, whilst crushingly poor by Prem standards, for which Bilic is partly to blame, will be more than equipped to challenge in the Champ.

Hopefully a new DoF, new manager, get rid of some deadwood, possibly sell SJ and MP and we'll be in a strong position come August.

Unfortunately, unless a moneybags owner, with a heartful of goodwill comes in, when we do yo-yo back up again, we will probably be exactly where we are now.

Long term plans are great but, without the cash, they are futile.

Do you think so mate? I cannot believe that the current squad, with a couple of exceptions would have any appetite for a promotion battle, to take them back to the Premier League when they know that they cannot perform at that level. Get rid of as many of them as possible and reboot!

[miggybaggy]

You know how you love your other half to bits and will do forever....but there are times when you cannot stand to be in the same room because they make you so ******* ANGRY!! 

[seteefeet]

Do you think so mate? I cannot believe that the current squad, with a couple of exceptions would have any appetite for a promotion battle, to take them back to the Premier League when they know that they cannot perform at that level. Get rid of as many of them as possible and reboot!

I do mate, the gulf between Prem and Champ is massive, look at Norwich.
The two that HAVE to be replaced are Livermore and Sawyers. If we can solve that issue then the likes of Bartley, Ajayi, Townsend, Furlong, OShea, Diangana, Grant, Robinson, Snodgrass along with a few new recruits and hopefully a couple of the kids coming through, I would be confident.

However, given our budget and recruitment structure, I think it near impossible for us to build a squad capable of gaining promotion and then competing in the Prem.

[darbolina]

If you look at teams who go down and struggle, it's because they had a 'bad' relegation. In all of our years of boinging up and down, relegations were mostly good, maybe the Robson one in 06 was a bit dreary but after a bad start Mowbray came in and lifted the place with fresh ideas.

The squad wouldn't get straight back up in my view. It would have the same failings it currently does - the spine is weak (centre backs, centre mid and up front), lacks physicality in midfield (no legs), no recognised goalscorer in the whole squad and lacking in spirit/ fight when the going gets tough. Other than that, we'd be nailed on champions and 100 points here we come 

[gazberg]

We absolutely will not get promoted next year if we stick with these lot regardless of who is in charge. They are broken. Mid table at best. Essential we dont resign the majority of the out of contract players.

[seteefeet]

If you look at teams who go down and struggle, it's because they had a 'bad' relegation. In all of our years of boinging up and down, relegations were mostly good, maybe the Robson one in 06 was a bit dreary but after a bad start Mowbray came in and lifted the place with fresh ideas.

The squad wouldn't get straight back up in my view. It would have the same failings it currently does - the spine is weak (centre backs, centre mid and up front), lacks physicality in midfield (no legs), no recognised goalscorer in the whole squad and lacking in spirit/ fight when the going gets tough. Other than that, we'd be nailed on champions and 100 points here we come 

Norwich had a bad relegation mate, 21 points, 5 wins, yet are 6 points clear at the top of the Champ with very much the nucleus of the relegation side.
Sort the midfield and we'll win it at a cantor.

Don't see it as relegation see it as promotion to the Championship. Come August we will all be full of hope, with a clear and realistic goal and it won't be feeding off the big boys scrapped hoping for the odd draw.

[baggie82]

Norwich had a bad relegation mate, 21 points, 5 wins, yet are 6 points clear at the top of the Champ with very much the nucleus of the relegation side.
Sort the midfield and we'll win it at a cantor.

Don't see it as relegation see it as promotion to the Championship. Come August we will all be full of hope, with a clear and realistic goal and it won't be feeding off the big boys scrapped hoping for the odd draw.

You missed the bit where Norwich sacked Daniel Farke last December, employed an old school brute to try to starve off relegation, then entered pre-season with no manager, no plan and a disgruntled squad; or maybe they dealt with things a bit more realistically.

[Maresca Was A Baggie]

SKY have ruined football in this country. It doesn't matter how much money they plow into the game, as most ends up in the hands of the players and their agents. At the end of the day, having the extra millions doesn't buy you better players, as the market reflects the amount of money washing around. You just pay even more for an average player. I read the other day that Leicester pulled out of a loan deal because the player wanted 300k a week. It's utter madness. Look at Villa last season - Where did spending 100m get them?? It's all relative. We spend 75m, Man City spend 500m. The gap will never close now we have mega rich billionaires on the scene. It's no longer a sport in the purist form. It's who's got the cash to splash. And whats the point of having League 1 & 2 - What do they aspire to?? I couldn't really care less about football anymore - having it rammed down my throat almost every night. And to be brutally honest im not too fussed about how WBA get on, because whats the point? All SKY do is promote the top 5 or 6 clubs. The rest are literally just making up the numbers.

[ex coseley kid]

SKY have ruined football in this country. It doesn't matter how much money they plow into the game, as most ends up in the hands of the players and their agents. At the end of the day, having the extra millions doesn't buy you better players, as the market reflects the amount of money washing around. You just pay even more for an average player. I read the other day that Leicester pulled out of a loan deal because the player wanted 300k a week. It's utter madness. Look at Villa last season - Where did spending 100m get them?? It's all relative. We spend 75m, Man City spend 500m. The gap will never close now we have mega rich billionaires on the scene. It's no longer a sport in the purist form. It's who's got the cash to splash. And whats the point of having League 1 & 2 - What do they aspire to?? I couldn't really care less about football anymore - having it rammed down my throat almost every night. And to be brutally honest im not too fussed about how WBA get on, because whats the point? All SKY do is promote the top 5 or 6 clubs. The rest are literally just making up the numbers.

I wish I didn't agree with you - except that I will always care about the Albion. Sky have f***ed it up ... for anyone not old enough to remember pre-Sky days I actually have some sympathy. It's symptomatic of the whole of society though sadly, our aspirational, narcissistic and materialistic culture... sorry to sound like an oldie but there's something to be said for level playing fields.

I wish 'football' would implode altogether but it won't happen. Money really is the route of all evils.

[WBASPE77]

This group are a bunch of losers and have been for the best part of a year now. Four wins since lockdown. In order for us to have any real crack of he top six next season, as least ten of those players need to be sold .

I've lost a lot of interest in this team, not because weve lost so much but the lack of goals, the fact that its so rare we play well, and we have a team that doesnt give a damm so why should I. Its got the point that were on BBC 1 3pm saturday can i be bothered to watch Sawyers and Livermore, not a chance.

[Jack Thrust]

SKY have ruined football in this country. It doesn't matter how much money they plow into the game, as most ends up in the hands of the players and their agents. At the end of the day, having the extra millions doesn't buy you better players, as the market reflects the amount of money washing around. You just pay even more for an average player. I read the other day that Leicester pulled out of a loan deal because the player wanted 300k a week. It's utter madness. Look at Villa last season - Where did spending 100m get them?? It's all relative. We spend 75m, Man City spend 500m. The gap will never close now we have mega rich billionaires on the scene. It's no longer a sport in the purist form. It's who's got the cash to splash. And whats the point of having League 1 & 2 - What do they aspire to?? I couldn't really care less about football anymore - having it rammed down my throat almost every night. And to be brutally honest im not too fussed about how WBA get on, because whats the point? All SKY do is promote the top 5 or 6 clubs. The rest are literally just making up the numbers.

Totally agree with all of this. Absolutely no interest in football outside of Albion and that's more tradition than any enjoyment I get out of it (except beating the dingles constantly - Ha!).

As for our current state, to be honest we still have some way to go to approach the absolute nadir of my Albion days which is Alan Buckley buying Grimsby's worst players and delivering an astonishing 11 straight defeats. My first season was 93/94 so I missed the drop to the 3rd tier.

As useless as Lai is I wouldn't swap him for Tony Hale or the state we were in then. At least we have a training ground!

[seteefeet]

You missed the bit where Norwich sacked Daniel Farke last December, employed an old school brute to try to starve off relegation, then entered pre-season with no manager, no plan and a disgruntled squad; or maybe they dealt with things a bit more realistically.

No I didn't, but you keep making every post about Bilic and revelling in our subsequent decline, if that's what floats your boat.

[darbolina]

Totally agree with all of this. Absolutely no interest in football outside of Albion and that's more tradition than any enjoyment I get out of it (except beating the dingles constantly - Ha!).

As for our current state, to be honest we still have some way to go to approach the absolute nadir of my Albion days which is Alan Buckley buying Grimsby's worst players and delivering an astonishing 11 straight defeats. My first season was 93/94 so I missed the drop to the 3rd tier.

As useless as Lai is I wouldn't swap him for Tony Hale or the state we were in then. At least we have a training ground!

Yep , I agree with this and the previous post. Football has become about the money and the game is actually pretty boring these days. I've been watching older football a bit, Gascoigne documentaries, Maradona documentaries most recently and it was genuinely better , more unpredictable to watch. I'm not that fussed about watching well drilled banks of four , breaking into a Christmas tree to feed a floating number 9 blah blah blah

I might start watching some non-league, maybe that will get my love back a bit?

[BaggieBoy04]

I watched The 1989 Division 1 game between Liverpool and Arsenal and generally enjoyed that game I recognised some of the players, players were men who crunched into challenges and wore heart on sleeve. I've watched various clips of our games if we had the technology not the one In Football but in society and had good old Football I would enjoy it passion, crunching challenges, proper last gasp FA Cup Upset's as opposed to knowing Yawn Man City will beat this team and mostly importantly cracking atmospheres not knowing who will be up there say we could be up there next season with Wolves and Villa in a 3 way fight which we win on the last day. Most kids today get in football due to money and video games I played physical Football before I touched a Fifa game or fully understood Football eg the rules who was top of the league all I knew was I in my garden pretending to play for the Baggies kicking a ball around today because of Money players won't care same for every generation after and that saddens me. I'm done with us this season Slav reunited us Big Sam well I'll back him but I'm already doubting him and as for our owners I would get in trouble the stuff I would say. But the one thing that keeps me staying interested is we are Albion and supporting this little club in the Black Country is fine by me

[costa blanca baggie]

I watched The 1989 Division 1 game between Liverpool and Arsenal and generally enjoyed that game I recognised some of the players, players were men who crunched into challenges and wore heart on sleeve. I've watched various clips of our games if we had the technology not the one In Football but in society and had good old Football I would enjoy it passion, crunching challenges, proper last gasp FA Cup Upset's as opposed to knowing Yawn Man City will beat this team and mostly importantly cracking atmospheres not knowing who will be up there say we could be up there next season with Wolves and Villa in a 3 way fight which we win on the last day. Most kids today get in football due to money and video games I played physical Football before I touched a Fifa game or fully understood Football eg the rules who was top of the league all I knew was I in my garden pretending to play for the Baggies kicking a ball around today because of Money players won't care same for every generation after and that saddens me. I'm done with us this season Slav reunited us Big Sam well I'll back him but I'm already doubting him and as for our owners I would get in trouble the stuff I would say. But the one thing that keeps me staying interested is we are Albion and supporting this little club in the Black Country is fine by me

We’re not a little club...certainly not in the Black Country.