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Topics - DownInAlbion

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Fanzine?
« on: September 10, 2013, 01:43:51 PM »
Went to a leyton orient game the other week i brought their fanzine while my friend brought the official programme. i found the fanzine much more enjoyable to read and was just wondering if west brom currently have one? i never see anybody sellling them outside the hawthorns before games if we do

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General Football & Sports / Big Club?
« on: April 15, 2013, 03:38:17 PM »
Just came across this article which tries to define what exactly makes a 'big club'. Quite an enjoyable read and nice to see us sitting in 14th place higher than Forest, West Ham, Derby.....

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/sleeping-giant-or-minnow-how-do-you-measure-a-clubs-size-8570655.html



It is hardly surprising that Wigan Athletic have been unable to sell all their ticket allocation for today's Wembley semi-final – they took only 340 supporters to Loftus Road last weekend for a game that was pivotal to retaining their Premier League status. Accepted it was a Sunday game with live television coverage, and many fans will have saved their money for today's trip, but 340? By way of comparison, League Two Gillingham took 511 fans a similar distance to Rotherham.

To their detractors this is proof that Wigan, despite their Premier League status, are irredeemably "small-time". Yet Wigan are, by some definitions, becoming a "big club". They are among only 10 teams to have been in the top flight since 2005 and are one match from being one of six to play in both domestic cup finals in the last decade. Win today and they are in Europe for the first time. They are also sufficiently alluring for their manager to have resisted entreaties from Liverpool and Aston Villa.

What is a "big club"? It is one of the most provocative issues in fandom, one guaranteed to spark a debate in phone-ins and the comments section of articles on the web. Supporters of clubs such as Leeds United, Wolves and Sheffield Wednesday console themselves that, while they may not currently sup at the top table, they are a "big club", a sleeping giant just in need of prodding awake by the right manager-owner combination. Meanwhile Chelsea, despite picking up pots on an annual basis, continue to be mocked by fans of clubs such as Liverpool for having "no history", in part because for 20 years they had just four major honours to their name and an average gate of 18,787.

"Big club" perception depends in part on timing. The Big Five who conspired to launch the Premier League were Arsenal, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham. By the time the competition had matured, a Big Four dominated, with Chelsea replacing Everton and Spurs. Those two are now back in the trophy hunt, but have been overtaken by Manchester City.

Further back, a fan growing up in the 1930s would have regarded Huddersfield Town as a big club, while his sons would have no hesitation in thinking of Wolves as one and might well consider Preston and Blackpool similarly. Someone in their forties, growing up when those teams were in the lower divisions, would scoff at such descriptions, but would vividly recall Nottingham Forest conquering Europe and Bobby Robson's Ipswich Town lifting the Uefa Cup.

To my mind there are two measures of "bigness": historical achievement and supporter base. There is no doubt that Manchester United are now England's biggest club, as this week's huge sponsorship deal with Aon underlines. They have the biggest ground, most supporters and have won a major honour in each of the last eight decades. They struggled between the wars but were a powerful force in the early years of the century. After that there is Liverpool, trophy winners in nine of the last 12 decades and with huge global support, then Arsenal, who have the longest unbroken run in the elite, since 1919.

Historically, Everton and Aston Villa would be next. Both were founder members in 1888. Everton have been in the top flight for all but four seasons since, the most of any club, while Villa were early giants and have won the European Cup. But with three European trophies and a higher average gate, a case could be made that Tottenham are at least equal to this pair.

Newcastle and Sunderland each have a large and dedicated support, but only the older members can recall the glory years. By contrast, tomorrow's FA Cup semi-finalists, Chelsea and Manchester City, have gatecrashed the elite in recent years by dint of huge overseas investment. By modern measures (owner's wealth, global support and merchandising, Champions League participation) they are very big clubs, but their standing is not just based on the Premier League era. Before the arrival of Roman Abramovich and Sheikh Mansour they had each won a European trophy, the old Football League title, and remain the only clubs in the country to attract 80,000-plus attendances to a club match on their own ground.

Behind that top 10 are that group of clubs at present brooding in the Championship: Leeds, Wolves, Blackburn Rovers, Forest and Wednesday, who between them have won four European trophies, 14 league titles and 16 FA Cups.

This view is inevitably subjective. Leeds' status owes much to a golden period under Don Revie which coincided with my formative years, as did Forest's two European Cups, achievements which compensate for their relatively smaller historic average gate (they would be 21st in the accompanying table). Wednesday, admittedly, have not won much since 1935 but retained a "big club" image for many years because Hillsborough staged FA Cup semi-finals. Tragically, that status was not matched by their stadium management.

There are other storied clubs in the Championship: Derby County, Ipswich and Burnley have won the league post-war while Bolton have an illustrious history. It is certainly arguable that if a Super League were constructed based on history and support a third of the clubs would come from the current Championship.

Though shaped by the past, however, football lives in the present. The move to the Olympic Stadium could enable West Ham to become accepted as a big club one day; they already have a large core support and respected heritage. The likes of Southampton or Cardiff City could force their way into the VIP area through further benefactor investment – though the new Financial Fair Play regulations make that more difficult. West Bromwich Albion will have their adherents, but now we are getting into the realm of decent, medium-sized clubs, not "big" ones.

What does seem certain, in the internet age, is that "big clubs" are going to get bigger. In the early days clubs were constrained by the size of their hometown populations: thus the clubs fed by the big conurbations of London, Manchester and Merseyside eclipsed the cotton towns. Now the entire global population can be tapped: witness the multilingual club websites being created to build on the Premier League's worldwide TV coverage.

Crucial to this marketing is success. Victory in the FA Cup would do wonders for Wigan's profile, which has grown hugely at home and abroad in recent years thanks to their weekly TV presence and multinational squad. Wigan have already made giant progress – 20 years ago they averaged 2,598 at the gate. That season, Fulham and Reading were in the lower divisions and had sub-5,000 averages. Both have increased attendances five-fold. No one would describe them as "big clubs", but they are a lot bigger than they were.

Chelsea benefactor Matthew Harding once said one of his ambitions was that when he offered someone a ticket to Stamford Bridge they would not ask "who are you playing?" but would go just to watch Chelsea, as is now the case. That, perhaps, is the best definition of all of a "big club" – a team the neutral goes to watch.

'Big club' top 20

1. Man United

2. Liverpool

3. Arsenal

4. Everton

5. Aston Villa

6. Chelsea

7. Tottenham

8. Newcastle

9. Man City

10. Sunderland

11. Sheff Wed

12. Wolves

13. Leeds

14. West Brom

15 Nott’m Forest

16. Blackburn

17. Sheff Utd

18. Derby

19. West Ham

20. Bolton

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Recall of Romelu Lukaku?
« on: October 29, 2012, 06:07:02 PM »
With it emerging that Lukaku may be returning to Chelsea in January I was wondering how many people would miss him.
Im torn between the two in; the last few appearances I don't think his been that great got a goal against Newcastle but should have had  3! Im sure Long or Pete would've tucked away those two one on ones he wasted.
Also instead of developing another clubs player would people rather see us developing our own such as Berainho and Wood who have both been sent out on loan and scoring goals?
Would any of you prefer to see Rosenberg getting a chance?

On the plus side coming off the bench in certain games he has been very effective he destroyed Carragher and Liverpool, nearly got the winner against Man City and he does offer us an alternative to Long has he is much stronger.

After some consideration I suprised myself by thinking I wouldn't be that bothered to see him leave in January what about the rest of you?

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General Football & Sports / Chelsea Lodge Complaint Against Clattenburg
« on: October 28, 2012, 08:07:37 PM »
Chelsea have lodged a complaint against clattenbury for using inappropiate language towards two chelsea players. Two players are unkown but are both black and rumours on sky sports saying it might be racial but this hasnt been confirmed yet.

Crikey!

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West Bromwich Albion FC / The Beginning Of The End?
« on: May 25, 2012, 12:00:38 PM »
Just read on SkySports that Odemwingie wants to leave so he can challenege for silverware (looks like a move back to russia) as surely his not good enough for the top 4 teams in this country. Will we get a striker who will score double figures two seasons running for the price of Odemwingie?
With Roy already gone and our new potential managers who are being mentioned dont give me as much confidence as roy, Olsson also looks to be heading on his way out is this the beginning of the end of near top half premiership and being 'top of the midlands'?
I know this all sounds very pessimistic but in my eyes it doesnt look great and a fear the 'yo-yo' tag may just be waiting around the corner for us again or who knows even worse....
Somebody please fill me with optimism for the new season!

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West Bromwich Albion FC / How Important Is The Manager?
« on: April 23, 2012, 10:22:39 PM »
In my eyes VERY. We now have a great manager/head coach  with Hodgson and now looking like an established premier league team - finally! Breaking records and look to have a strong squad in depth and some potential premier league stars coming through the youth.

Meanwhile in Stafford....Wolves have Connor in charge and according to this article
http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/7695439/Moxey-Connor-could-stay he could be staying there next year. He currently is yet to win in his 10games in charge and has a terrible goal difference. Wolves squad could be torn apart this summer (would you mind Fletcher, Jarvis or Doyle?) and if they dont come here they are sure to go to another premier league team with a few others.

So in your eyes how important is the manager/head coach?

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