Time to get behind the club as a long and painful post-mortem awaits should Albion succumb to relegation

Who will you blame should Albion get relegated this season? Jeremy Peace? Richard Garlick? Steve Clarke? Pepe Mel? Dan Ashworth? Peter Odemwingie? The players? The fans? Referees?

West Brom have suffered relegation from the Premier League on three occasions. Whilst Jeremy Peace and each of the managers in charge at the time received some criticism, most fans and pundits accepted that there were seventeen better sides than us in each of those seasons. That certainly is the case on this occasion.

Albion fans are, in my experience, a realistic bunch. Whilst I have heard the odd dreamer/moron (delete as appropriate) state that we should have spent tens of millions and targeted a Champions League spot after last season’s eighth place finish, most fans simply expected to keep the bottom three at arms-length and hoped for a cup run.

Pundits and neutrals are still of the opinion that there are three worst sides than West Brom. Indeed, the bookies – whose prices are generally reflective of public opinion – currently have us as sixth favourites for relegation. Betfair’s odds suggest there is just a 20% chance that Albion will go down and whilst general view from The Hawthorns is that the probability is much higher, the collective opinion is that this group of players is too good to go down.

There are a number of reasons why we find ourselves in a relegation dogfight, but the single biggest issue is that we have struggled to pick a settled side all season. If Steve Clarke knew his his best XI then he had a funny way of showing it. Keith Downing picked twenty-one different players in his six games in charge which suggests that he, too, found such a decision difficult. Pepe Mel has used twenty in his opening five matches. Injuries have obviously contributed to this number, but the fact is that with the exception of the Chelsea game – and the opening ten minutes against Villa – we have been poor in the first stanza of each of his games in charge.

I don’t blame Mel for struggling with this quandary, however, as our transfer ‘policy’ in the summer created a lop-sided and ever-more-ageing squad. Whilst we have had too many options going forward, our options at the back, particularly in the full back positions, are limited. Unless we use Chris Brunt as an auxiliary full back, we are only one injury away from seeing Goran Popov back in the side. That is truly worrying.

A consequence of the short-termism seen last August is that the ‘Peace Out’ bandwagon has come careering back into town. The success the club has enjoyed over the last few years had created a ceasefire of sorts between those who won’t hear a word against Jeremy and those who loathe the man. That all changed after woeful performances in the opening few games of the season, and Jeremy’s seeming reluctance to open his chequebook merely encouraged those who seek to criticise the man at every juncture.

I am not saying for a moment that I believe that the anti-Peace group want to see us relegated, but such an event will surely have a far more destabilising effect on the club and the fans than it has on previous occasions. The number of exits will be unprecedented which will make it very difficult for Mel – or any new manager for that matter – to ensure the club return to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

The atmosphere at the ground has been muted for much of the season and I have seen fans argue amongst themselves more this season than at any other time in living memory. The Hawthorns has never needed to be a fortress for us in the same way that The Britannia has for Stoke City (I like to believe that this is because we are a proper football side capable of performing anywhere) but it is required now. Regardless of what pundits, neutrals or bookies believe, one win in sixteen is relegation form and the slump needs to be halted immediately. It is essential that fans create a fervent atmosphere in our remaining league games as I, for one, do not wish to be viewing a ghastly post-mortem come May.

Words:DM

Hitman’s weekend hot ones

A second apology to my fans as I bet on Traore 3-1 @65 without telling you so another £130 profit.

1. Honduran Football, Liga Nacional, CD Montugau to win @ 1.6  (The Hitman jokes!)

1. Double; £10 on Newcastle & Spurs @4.4
2. £2 on Chelsea 2-0 @ 9
3. £2 on Frazier Campbell 2-2 (no odds yet)

Leftfield; UFC 170 Rory MacDonald by decision @2.26, Rousey by submssion @ 1.72, Cormier by KO/TKO @ 1.64

Weekend Hot Ones (Plus Hand-Egg Hot Ones)

1. Ireland ahead at half time, Wales to win at full time £5 @ 9.2
2. Double; Liverpool & Sunderland wins £5 @4.41
3. Henderson to score 1st and 2-1 £2 @ 170

Tony… we were wrong

Admitting to having been wrong is never an easy thing. One only need study Joey Barton’s career in the most cursory of depth to realise that. I suppose, however, that I should admit to having been a little ill-judged when it comes to the subject of Tony Pulis. Before the former Stoke man was appointed Crystal Palace manager I wrote a piece for the Daily Mirror admonishing the club for having the temerity even to consider the Welshman as the successor to the outgoing Ian Holloway. After all, Palace is a club whose modern history was indelibly shaped by the flamboyant Malcolm Allison – a man who brought flair, glamour, good looks, free-flowing football and, ultimately, relegation to SE25. Like many Palace fans I recoiled in horror at the thought of Palace bringing in Peter Crouch and Matthew Etherington on sizeable contracts and tasking the likes of Ryan ‘He’s Not That Sort Of Player’ Shawcross with kicking anything in sight. More than anything, I thought Pulis’ appointment would lead to no tangible improvement in Palace’s results, given how bad the squad and its morale were back in November.

In the early days of Pulis, it looked like those sceptical about his appointment had been thoroughly vindicated. Palace played away at Norwich in a direct, unattractive and unambitious manner and ultimately succumbed 1-0 to another sloppily conceded goal. That performance looked like the worst of Holloway, an error strewn defensive display, with the worst of Pulis, as Palace struggled to create little of attacking note. But then the remarkable happened – Palace actually started to win matches. Many of the points garnered by the Eagles have been hard-fought and gritty; few people would want to watch back the 1-0 home wins over West Ham and Hull. Certainly this Palace team has developed a newly organised and resilient streak which had looked conspicuous by its absence earlier in the season and has long been a hallmark of Pulis’ teams.

But there have been moments where genuine quality has been demonstrated by Pulis’ Palace. The first half against Spurs, where but for Jason Puncheon’s stratosphere piercing penalty the Eagles would have been comfortably leading at the break, was as good a half of football as Palace have played in years. Cardiff were put to the sword with a display of attractive passing, albeit direct, football, during which Palace created chance after chance. The Eagles were also one of the few sides to visit the Etihad this season (prior to Mourinho stealing our thunder) having limited the home side to a solitary goal, in a match that the away side really should have won.

Even the signings made during the January transfer window by Pulis’ Palace seemed a world away from the man who once signed Dave Kitson for £5 million and thought it would be a good idea to acquire Tom Soares for a seven figure sum. Rather than Etherington and Crouch, in came Tom Ince, Joe Ledley, Scott Dann and Wayne Hennessey. A mixture of youth and experience, and no shortage of ability. While Spurs will tell us of the dangers of assessing the relative merits of a transfer window without ever seeing its effects on the pitch, it’s still true to say that Palace’s January acquisition policy was a world away from the vast wastage on mediocre players which Pulis oversaw at the Britannia.

Having taken over with Palace at the foot of the table, and been given no hope of survival by the entire footballing world, there is no doubt that the Welshman has done, and continues to do, a fantastic job in SE25. Notwithstanding the universal acceptance that he has been just what the club needed there is no doubt, however, that Pulis has had more of the rub of the green than his predecessor at key times in key matches. The aforementioned game against Hull at Selhurst Park saw the Tigers waste a series of excellent chances that on another day surely would have been dispatched. But Palace have certainly worked for their luck, and few would begrudge them a lucky win here or there given the modest resources with which they are working.

That all said, I still have a reservation or two about Pulis. I worry about the longevity of his tactical approach. I have fears for the extent to which he will buy into Palace’s previous Academy-led approach. I sense problems as reports suggested an ideological rift between manager and board in January, with the former favouring older heads and the latter wanting youthful exuberance with sell-on value. But all of those worries are an argument to be had further down the line. For the moment Pulis has given Palace unlikely hope of Premier League survival – he has done all that has been asked of him and more. He has certainly proven me, and many others, irrefutably wrong.

Words: Andy Street