http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/west-bromwich-albion-chris-lepkowski-2999987Let me help jog your memory.
West Bromwich Albion, managed by Tony Mowbray, were a week away from playing their first game back in the Premier League, at Arsenal.
They had played their final pre-season friendly against Real Mallorca the previous day, a game in which Neil Clement suffered his final, terminal knee injury.
Manchester United had just beaten Portsmouth on penalties in the Community Shield.
On that Sunday night I was due to meet my mate in a Black Country pub.
I was delayed because Albion had just announced the signing of Abdoulaye Meite from Bolton for a deal of around £2million. A pint was waiting for me when I arrived. All was good in the world.
Apologies for raking up bad memories of a poor player but this particular signing is significant in Albion’s timeline.
It was the last time Albion paid £2million or more (or indeed any significant amount of money) for a player from another Premier League club. They did later spend cash on Nicky Shorey, who arrived for around 1.4million from Villa in July 2010, but that was an exception. The Meite deal remains the notable milestone.
Back in summer 2008, Albion had already spent £3.25million on Liverpool’s Scott Carson and would pay a record £4.7million on Borja Valero before that August window closed.
That Meite was pretty much the last cash signing of such value from a top flight club and that Borja is still the club’s record signing tells you a lot about Albion’s transfer policy in the five years since.
Albion were relegated in 2008/09 and things changed.
Around then I recall a conversation with a senior member of the club’s hierarchy.
The context of what I was told has stuck with me since. It might not be exact, word for word, but the gist of it was: ‘transfer fees are, generally, dead money’. That statement shaped the club’s semi-official transfer manifesto.
Mowbray’s signings during the summer of 2008 were a watershed moment for club - essentially because, with one or two exceptions, they weren’t good enough in the main. The failure of those players prompted a re-think within Albion’s boardroom.
No longer would Albion be willing to shell out several million for little-known Spanish midfielders or Bolton’s reserve defenders.
In the three years since their return to the Premier League in 2010 Albion have only twice spent in the region of £4million - Shane Long in 2011, Ben Foster the following year.
For added perspective, 11 clubs currently in the Championship and a handful of League One clubs have spent more on their record signings.
Transfer fees, of course, don’t always reflect the true worth of a player’s ability. It’s merely a price tag determined by a selling club regarding their value of a particular player.
If you want a more true reflection of a player’s ability or attributes then the wage a player commands is a more accurate barometer - hence why it is no coincidence that a list of clubs’ wage levels in descending order tends to match the finishing position of the Premier League.
Albion, to their credit, have been one of the clubs to buck that trend in the last three seasons.
The Baggies have conducted their transfer business somewhat successfully since that watershed 2008 summer. A combination of scouting and due diligence into players spanning months, sometimes years, has helped bring in high quality players for little cash.
Gareth McAuley, Claudio Yacob, Youssouf Mulumbu and Billy Jones are the obvious success stories.
You sense that Albion regard finding the next Yacob as a challenge, an opportunity to flick a disparaging hand at the Establishment's desire to spend big money as if to say 'you can do it your way...but we've proven we can do it our way.'
It's worked so far. They should be rightly content with their record.
There have been the odd aberrations along the way, but it has generally been a succession of thumbs up.
Steve Clarke said last week this summer’s transfer programme would remain the same - one cash transfer, the rest would be loans and frees.
But now is the right time for Albion’s decision makers to consider a rethink of strategy.
The new media rights’ deal means every Premier League club will be entitled to £65million. How this will impact on this summer’s transfer market remains to be seen.
The Baggies find themselves in a place where they might need to invest a little more than previously to move the club on. They will now have the means to do so.
Whether Albion can continue to prosper within their current modus operandi is debatable.
Their transfer achievements during the last three years should be rightly lauded.
Yet the new TV deal means the football climate stands on the cusp of potential change. We might witness a shift in how the transfer system evolves and Albion have to be ready for that.
What has worked well for the Baggies in recent years might not necessarily be enough in the future.
On that basis, Albion shouldn’t be too dismissive of flexing their transfer protocol if the circumstances are appropriate.
