1

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Next Head Coach Thread

« on: January 17, 2025, 04:48:20 PM »

What would be really classy would be Shilen flying in from the states and making the announcement together with his new chosen coach 😎

2

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Reyes Cleary

« on: January 16, 2025, 09:56:32 PM »

needs to lose some weight and get his **** in gear  c/f Grant

3

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Next Head Coach Thread

« on: January 14, 2025, 06:58:22 PM »

Would also be happy if Mowbray returned. My favourite Albion manager in my time watching us (30years), has also done well since leaving

Not sure whether I have forgiven him for trotting off to Celtic

4

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Next Head Coach Thread

« on: January 13, 2025, 05:30:49 PM »

For me the situation is that we are not much further than were on Christmas Day. We have perhaps ruled a few potential candidates out and know who is interested but we are no nearer now to deciding who we want. It also makes any transfer dealings more tricky. A sale of Maja and or Fellows would put any potential applicant right off.

Not necessarily, a new coach will not know the players and wot no doubt welcome some additional funds to bring in players he wants
Time is ticking though

5

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Caleb Taylor

« on: January 12, 2025, 10:13:30 AM »

I don't think he'll ever be good enough much as we all want him to be.

There is a racehorse called Ahoy Senor. He is a steeplechaser who falls apart too often over his fences because his brain can't get the message to his legs quickly enough. Caleb reminds me of him.

There were several moments yesterday where he hadn't got a clue mentally what he was doing. The first goal, the incident where he tried to head a clearance and almost chest flopped it. The time where he got caught on the ball and Bournemouth messed up a 2 on 1. All of these because his brain didn't think quickly enough so he just ends up with an ungainly physical reaction. Plus he turns like a snooker table.

I actually thought he looked OK with the ball at his feet but any time he was under any pressure defensively he couldn't cope.

Caleb isn't a kid anymore he's 22 sometime this month.

By all accounts he did very well at Wycombe. League one is probably his level.

Martin Bennet was 19 when he first played for West Brom, regular first team player the following year aged 20.  Bobby Hope 17  - Are we too cautious in player development, over coaching and over protecting

6

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Next Head Coach Thread

« on: January 11, 2025, 06:17:37 PM »

Please put us out of our misery and announce the new coach lets have something more positive to talk about and quickly move on to strengthening our squad

7

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Do you REALLY want us to be promoted this season?

« on: January 11, 2025, 06:13:44 PM »

Don't really want us to struggle and lose virtually every match and would hate to see us have the ecord lowest number of points for a relegated team

8

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Next Head Coach Thread

« on: January 11, 2025, 10:21:22 AM »

Pity we didn't really break the mould and instead going for a "not known here" , as an option get someone we don't know from Central or South America - They must have good coaches out there, mustn't they?
Then we could all unite and moan about the potential appointment

9

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Next Head Coach Thread

« on: December 27, 2024, 03:53:43 PM »

Encouraging to know we're not going to be rushed. First of all, and i know I'm in a minority, but I was never a big fan of CC and his overly cautious approach mixed with odd team selections/substitutions aimed at not losing. Secondly, I'm apprehensive about the January window and the prospect of losing our best assets (Fellows, Grant, and Maja) for way below their value just to raise a few quid. Therefore, I would really like to think that talks with potential new managers include  our intentions/plans for the window. But ultimately, I would like any potential manager to stand his ground during the whole process and argue that we should be building at team around people like Fellows.....and hopefully, any prospective managers should already know we're seriously lacking in attack-minded midfield players. For me, under CC we were so easy to defend against, and watching backwards and sideways passing all afternoon was beyond painful at times. I'm actually optimistic for a better future at long last.

The financial state of the club will be uppermost in our transfer activities, so any player will be for sale at the right price particularly if they have high salaries and shortish contracts

10

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Ousmane Diakite Signs

« on: December 03, 2024, 02:33:47 PM »

No, but his injury record is a pain in the a***.

When will we learn our lesson in gambling on such signings is a waste of money, a space in the squad and delaying the introduction of our own academy products

11

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Callum Styles Joins Albion

« on: November 26, 2024, 10:55:16 PM »

I’d really like to see him tried in midfield instead of Molumby

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Lewis Dobbin signs on loan - official

« on: November 26, 2024, 10:52:31 PM »

Definitely bobbins

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Albion Matchday Forum / Re: After Match Debate

« on: November 02, 2024, 11:31:07 AM »

Styles is not a fullback, his energy and determination may be better employed in midfield, generally back four pretty solid considering they had not played together. Midfield is the problem with Diagana and Wallace contributing nothing. Racic has skill and ability to make a pass but really needs to adjust to the championship and use his physicality better, Mowatt cannot do it all alone. Swift added to the midfield when he came on but when he starts he lack momentum. The overhead from Cole showed one of the few moments of skill and is worth a place on the bench. Fellows and Johnson  ----Meh Maja, Furlong and Grant the best of the bunch (Never thought I would say that about them last season)
We need a midfielder with the vision of Swift and the tenacity of Molumby who incidentally was one of the better players in his cameo

14

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Fenton Heard

« on: October 31, 2024, 09:01:21 PM »

Has all the skills and vision but needs toughening up to a mans game where they are certainly more physical than u21

15

Albion Matchday Forum / Re: After Match Debate

« on: September 28, 2024, 03:14:56 PM »

Back to rubbish by Bartley and Furlong. Swift is anything but, generally a poor performance. Manager not to blame, gave our back up mid fielders a chance to shine but they didn’t take the opportunity. Fellows will have learnt a lot from today and pleased to see he kept trying and fighting to succeed. Poor goalkeeping and a lucky deflection gave them a start, better second half. What happens when Mowatt gets injured?
It really is time to shuffle the back three, dropping Bartley and bringing in a fullback in his proper position

16

Albion Matchday Forum / Re: In Game Chat

« on: September 28, 2024, 01:11:25 PM »

Good to see Furlongs positional awareness is back to normal

17

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: What has happened

« on: September 22, 2024, 09:28:36 PM »

Okay v Huddersfield begs to differ

18

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Darnell Furlong

« on: September 04, 2024, 11:47:44 AM »

Players are now hitting peak at 30-34, Darnell has improved no end the last 2 years.

Im a fan myself. Always liked the lad.

They do  say that you can prove anything with statistics. If possible could you please provide a link to your claim relating to players peak being 30 to 34. If that is statistically correct  I wonder why so many clubs don't seem to have squads dominated by that age group and why so many players on the current available list with no club fall into the older age group?

19

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Darnell Furlong

« on: September 04, 2024, 08:54:30 AM »

People seem to have a fixation with age ! Given the improvement in fitness, dietary standards etc turning 30/31 is no longer the beginning of the end for professional sportsmen . If Darnell maintains his recent injury record I see no harm in tying him down for another 3 years or 2 years with 12 month option . He is still improving as can be witnessed by his performances so far this season !

At my age I have no fixation whatsoever about age or fitness. However the underlying problem is still the financial situation within the club, where the utmost care must be taken with regard to player salaries and length of contracts together with maximising future resale value. So when looking at player contracts the player market must play a part in the decision. The club has shown over this transfer window the ability to find and loan/buy players that could possible be at least equal or better than those released or contracts expired. I'm confident the club will not sign players or resign players with limited shelf life and no resale value

20

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Darnell Furlong

« on: September 03, 2024, 07:23:59 PM »

Well he is 29 this October do a 2 year deal max

But no resale value and relatively high salary !!

21

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Darnell Furlong

« on: September 03, 2024, 06:08:27 PM »

The old promotion linked pay rise might do it

Please no, we need younger and better
Age and resale value will be non existent 

22

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Where will we finish this season?

« on: August 30, 2024, 11:45:09 PM »

Yes agreed on the striker comment. Not digging Cole out because he clearly is our 3rd choice but the drop off from Maja and Dike to him is huge. Praying for all strikers to remain injury free.

We have an opportunity in January - the recruitment team are already on it, global search for a striker

23

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Mason Holgate joins on loan

« on: August 30, 2024, 11:20:07 PM »

Welcome back, and with your help I hope we do a little bit better and gain promotion

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: What a window !!!!

« on: August 30, 2024, 11:03:02 PM »

Nearly perfect - so close to getting a striker  but well pleased with the quality of Holgate and the positions he will cover

25

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: What a window !!!!

« on: August 30, 2024, 07:26:26 PM »

Nearly an exceptional window, not finished yet, maybe just maybe we’ll get a decent young striker on loan
If not I look forward to January where we can add a better footballer in Central Defence and a young competent fullback to give furlong a run for his money

Then we would be in a decent position to challenge for promotion and if not the year after with further strengthening and the current squad and youngsters will be up to speed and as a club will be free of the current financial restrictions