1

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Atmosphere at Home Games

« on: April 16, 2024, 11:25:05 AM »

They clearly don't make bald Bond type villains like they used to Jeremy    .

villainous work is hard to find these days 

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Atmosphere at Home Games

« on: April 15, 2024, 11:55:33 AM »

quite possibly the worst atmosphere last night for many years, the times i use to get excited going to home games, now its a chore. hopefully it changes with whatever the new owner might have in store from next season

the game didn't help, an 8 o'clock kick off as well.

i'd been in the pub since 5:15 and tbh i was ready for bed at half time.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Callum Marshall Joins Albion on loan

« on: April 10, 2024, 02:27:14 PM »

We were really short up front so as an extra body why not? However across very limited minutes he looked out of his depth at this level. That is not to say he won't have a future in the game but right now not at the Championship level. I bear him no ill will it was a loan signing that didn't work many don't.

BTA, Weimann and Maja with Wallace as backup if needed.

we play one up top i think 4 options is enough for us. and we have Phillips back now as well for cover on the wing if we need to play Wallace elsewhere

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Callum Marshall Joins Albion on loan

« on: April 10, 2024, 08:51:39 AM »

must mean Maja is pretty much fit then if we've let him go back

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: 100 points

« on: April 02, 2024, 09:02:51 AM »

which is absolutely crazy when you consider how the gap between the premier league and the championship is widening at the same time.

looking at the 3, Leicester may be in financial trouble and have a points deduction waiting for them along with needing to strengthen the squad, Leeds have a very very good championship team but will also need strengthening and Ipswich have a team they built largely in league one for the championship but are overperforming most weeks.

2 of the 3 that will come down walked the championship last season and have barely made any impact in the premier league this season, the team that scraped into the playoffs and were the underdogs of the 4 are the ones who have the best chance of possibly surviving this season.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Mikey Johnston joins on loan (Official!)

« on: March 18, 2024, 01:01:13 PM »

Off topic but I really agree. He wasn't a top player and had to build his way up. He won Leicester their first ever FA cup and was generally good there, however they didn't reinvest last season and struggled because of it (a bit like Palace this season but worse off). I would say that he has a tendency to bottle things such as the league with Liverpool and the Champions League with Leicester. Nonetheless, he is clearly capable and has mostly had a good managerial career.

the possible points deduction hanging over them is why they couldn't invest. they run the risk of a points deduction now dropping them into playoffs and possibly not gaining promotion or starting next season in the prem on negative points

7

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Play off Points Target

« on: March 18, 2024, 11:59:52 AM »

According to Opta, we have the second easiest run in, while Hull and Coventry have the fourth and sixth hardest respectively. Hull have drawn their last four, including a creditable result Vs Leicester, but also throwing away a lead Vs Blues.

The game's not played on paper but we're in pole position for those outside the top 4

no games are easy in this league, it's what makes the championship one of the most exciting leagues in the world in terms of results.

for us i thnk it's more about who we will face in the playoffs (trying not to get ahead of ourselves however).
Southampton for us are the team to avoid as we have 2 losses against them and the style of play seems to be one we can't deal with.

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Albion Matchday Forum / Re: After Match Debate

« on: March 18, 2024, 10:51:43 AM »

Pretty sure this was raised on his own thread when he was still with us. That and comments attributed to members of his family online too from memory.

i remember this, didn't or doesn't a family member run a twitter account looking at analytics of albion or something

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Albion Matchday Forum / Re: After Match Debate

« on: March 18, 2024, 09:02:36 AM »

TGH looked out of his depth at times and that was the reason for the fouls he was committing. and that is out of his depth against us who were in second gear for most of the game.

interestingly on radio wm on the way home the reporters and host were hinting at attitude problems with him that were happening before he left us.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: WBA NEW OWNERS - Bilkul football

« on: March 14, 2024, 01:10:31 PM »

with regards to the loan, much like your own mortgage there will probably be penalties in paying it off early due to the interest that is on it.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Under 23's / Academy Thread

« on: March 14, 2024, 10:22:17 AM »

they will still have contacts at all the junior levels of training camps they set up while here. so i would expect it to carry on for another 2 or 3 years at least.

the one benefit however is they can only have so many in an academy until it starts to have a negative effect so it will balance out over time.

and how many academy players actually make the grade, with the vile now pushing for champions league the level to make the team has just increased even more.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Action For Albion/ Potential Takeover

« on: March 12, 2024, 02:10:17 PM »

Having hosted Andy Street in my company's office many times recently.
He does say a lot, no idea if he was involved or not however.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Okay Yokuslu

« on: March 11, 2024, 09:09:11 AM »

That's what you call making clean contact with the ball........ And close to the corner so gave any keeper no chance.

if the keeper had got anything on it he'd have been in the net with the ball

14

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Albion Tackle Crowd Behaviour

« on: March 08, 2024, 09:22:19 AM »

there were police in the Smethwick end for the coventry game with a sheet of paper with faces on.

they removed two people during the game.

could be linked to the trouble at wolves game

15

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: WBA NEW OWNERS - Bilkull football

« on: March 04, 2024, 02:26:08 PM »

i would say it shows he and his family are sensible with money as well.

we won't be throwing cash around like the early Lai days for sure.

also seeing where Bologna are in Serie A now is promising as it will surely be a club that we have good contacts with.
the number 2 for Coventry on Friday (left sided centre back) is on loan from Bologna, wouldn't be surprised to see him with us next season on loan.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Grady Diangana

« on: March 03, 2024, 10:32:18 AM »

take his goal away on Friday night and it was like playing with 10 men

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General Football & Sports / Re: Bad Owners

« on: February 28, 2024, 03:59:18 PM »

So this is the murky world of football ownership. She owns 10% of the club which is now apparently 6% (rumoured) but that % was bought by a company that she is a shareholder of and not directly by her herself, she was the face of the consortium as such that led the takeover so there was no need for her to undertake any fit and proper tests for the takeover.
https://journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/lawandarts/announcement/view/459

Interestingly she owes this 35m to a greek shipping magnate, it wouldn't be the same greek shipping magnate that owns another premier league club would it ?

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: WBA NEW OWNERS - Bilkull football

« on: February 21, 2024, 03:21:43 PM »

Jeremy, you will have to move all that £200m out of the way and dust them off, Mr Patel will be willing to pay handsomely for them.

By "my locker at work",   I assume you mean the locker in the changing room for your 100m olympic pool at you Jersey Mansion ?

did i say locker, i meant safe in my underground bunker courtesy of the money received from Mr Lai!

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: WBA NEW OWNERS - Bilkull football

« on: February 21, 2024, 01:02:40 PM »

The plan under JP was not to reroute the road but instead leave the road there and build the new stand over the top of it.

correct. i have the design drawings for this in my locker at work

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Mikey Johnston joins on loan (Official!)

« on: February 18, 2024, 11:40:28 AM »

great running with the ball and direct, got to the edge of the box and then didn't know what to do.

however that was against what i think we can agree is a premier league defence for a premier league level squad.

will be interesting to see what his decision making is like against some of the lesser teams in the league as feel he could be a real threat.

would add that he showed up more in this game against Southampton than he did against Cardiff.

21

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Action For Albion/ Potential Takeover

« on: February 16, 2024, 10:31:51 AM »

What a beautiful day. The sun is out and so are the unmentionables. A very grateful thank you to the pronoun in the sky. May treat myself to an early start in the pub ahead of tonight's game. Or possibly even a very early start. Brilliant news. COYB  .

have you hung your washing out then?!

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Guochuan Lai

« on: February 16, 2024, 10:30:59 AM »

There was a report done by someone who specialised in the Chinese economy which suggested that Chinese consortiums had taken an interest in Midlands club to benefit their steel productions off the back of HS2.

Lai, if he specialises in anything, would surely have seen some property developments to accompany the HS2 works which would have made us an attractive prospect to his investors.

However, HS2 stalled and the Chinese Government pulled up the draw bridge and the rest is history.

the chinese were also looking at a lot of local based steel companies but then the chinese government pulled the plug on letting money out of the country.

23

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Ian Pearce

« on: February 16, 2024, 09:34:05 AM »

I would give him no prep time and get him in the office and ask to see the recruitment / retention / development strategy for all playing staff including the academy, dependant upon what I see, I would make my decisions. (No cohesive plan, there is the door)

Whilst IP has not performed it could be that he has not been allowed to perform,

If retained it would be clear that its on the basis that next window MUST be a success measured against the boundaries he is given.

(Devils advocate)

i don't think we can risk a transfer window with money with him as well.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Action For Albion/ Potential Takeover

« on: February 16, 2024, 09:14:10 AM »

All I can say, as a more recent (post-Peace) minority shareholder, is that it’s just as well that Lai didn’t buy out the minority shareholders and get 100% control, because the legal aspects of not being able to prejudice the rights of minority shareholders were an effective brake on Lai doing any more damage once it became known what he’d been up to.  I’m not going to say much more than that, but it terrifies me to think what extra damage he could have done without that factor in place.

maybe one for in a few weeks time, as i'm sure there is a lot more to the story than everyone knew.

everyone played some kind of a part in stopping Lai from the minority shareholders to A4A and even the fans chanting about him, lets enjoy this moment of relief and be able to look forward together as one once again.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Guochuan Lai

« on: February 16, 2024, 09:11:28 AM »

turned the best part of 200m into about 15m after loans paid off.

he's lost 185m of other peoples money, hope he likes being locked in small rooms and let out for an hour a day.