The Diary

06 March 2004: Baggies Into The Sky-Blue Yonder?

At last ? a chance to get my breath back after something of a busy evening for us. Mind you, I almost had to be picked up off the floor tonight; in what must be a ?first? for us, our mad Welsh printer actually managed to make the trip from Cardiff to the Black Country without suffering any delay or mishap whatsoever! Even more astonishing, he was early for once. Attention Old Cross customers! We delivered your copies tonight, so should you want a Dick pre-match, they?re now on sale behind the bar. Subbers, of course, should have had their copies plopping on their doormats this morning - unless you happen to live in some really remote part of the world. Sorry, but all you Aussie readers out there will just have to step up the removal of funnel-web spiders from the dodgier corners of your dunnies in anticipation of the arrival of your monthly fix (which comes to you courtesy passing kangaroo/wallaby/Rolf Harris plus ?wobbleboard?, of course).

For the benefit of those who aren?t subbers, and just ?stop us and buy one? outside the ground pre-match, I?ll just say that tomorrow?s offering sends the reader on an unashamedly-nostalgic sort of trip this time round. Open those pages, and you?ll find reminiscences of both the Fifties and Sixties, plus fond recollections of an Eighties end-of-season friendly with a difference ? and how! Oh ? and as this one is our penultimate offering this season, if you want to chuck your own hat into the ring concerning any Albion-related matter, get your literary offerings off to GD Towers pretty quickly, as time, tide and printers wait for no man ? or Baggie, come to think about it. It?s your last chance of the season, remember, so get those pens a-quiver on the old writing paper pronto!

Tonight, the Old Fart was in fine fettle on Radio WM?s Fans? Forum, hosted by Franksy, of course, and broadcast live earlier this evening. (Hope all you Baggies Down Under managed to pick it up OK via the internet, by the way, because it took The Fart quite a few phone calls to finally extract the relevant info from The Beeb!) As the show was a four-way thing, there was much lively debate between representatives of all our local clubs, so The Fart told me, and a good response on the phone-in front, as well. All conducted in a most constructive and civilised atmosphere, so I?m given to understand, which makes a pleasant change when compared to similar discussions held on other stations; the difference, comparatively speaking, between what goes on at the Oxford Union Debating Society, and the saloon bar in a Wolverhampton spit-and-sawdust pub. ?Nuff said.

Tomorrow? I?d like to think we?ll end up scooping all three points from the cookie jar, but we?re currently at that stage of the season where anal sphincter muscles tend to go ?all-a-quiver?, collectively speaking. Big Dave passed a fitness test yesterday, so he?ll be available for selection, I suppose. Presumably, it?s ?as you were? for Chambo, despite that superb display of his versus Norwich the other night. There is one other variable in the equation, though: will our leader plump for 4-4-2, or revert to 3-5-2?

Will our gaffer risk Hughsie, or keep Facey on the job? It?s not going to be an easy 90 for us; having won four away on the bounce, The Sky Blues are on a bit of a roll at the moment, and are currently harbouring play-off ambitions of their own. I believe they?re going to be bringing quite a contingent with ?em tomorrow, so it?s up to us to rise above the ?smell of fear? that?s pervading the place post-Rotherham, and give it some really big licks in the ?noise? department. As it proved both at Sheffield and at Carrow Road, a red-hot atmosphere really does make for top-notch performances. At the moment, the almighty adrenalin surge provided by crucial games seems to bring out the best in our players, so it?s obviously in our best interests to make the Hawthorns atmosphere as white-hot as the interior of a local foundry ? assuming there ?s some still in business. As it?s in our leader?s best interests to genuinely give us something worth getting laryngitis for, of course. Chuck caution to the wind and pick a side and players really capable of getting behind their defence, and giving our visitors what-for? It really would help. Honest. Even Meggo himself has admitted we can be boring, so were we to do that instead of reducing the whole thing to a war of attrition, as we usually do at home, the problem would take care of itself, wouldn?t it?

What might help generate a suitable atmosphere, in an indirect sort of way, is the fact that two of The King?s grandchildren will be matchday mascots tomorrow. I?m sure I won?t be the only one sensing shades of The Sixties when young Matthew duly plonks the ball in the back of the Brummie Road goal, then raises his arms aloft in the manner of his famous grandfather, as he?s promised to do. All those at that end of the ground tomorrow, don?t forget to give the lad a big token of your appreciation; if things go according to plan, he might well be doing it for real in around 15 years time, so why not give him a taste for it while he?s still at an impressionable age? Another vagrant thought about tomorrow: I notice also that The Soup Dragon has urged Scouse Jase to find the form he displayed before Christmas, the sort that reached its devastating apogee versus Forest at the City Ground. Were that to happen, I don?t suppose I?d be arguing, either, but trust our ginger-nutted fireball to spoil it a bit by also telling the lad he needs to get more involved, defensively speaking. A bit like buying a Roller, then only driving it at 30 miles an hour, or less, if you ask me. Creativity? Initiative? Not in this club, sunshine. Just get out there and bloody DEFEND?.!

Talking of The Dear Leader, today saw Round Two in the verbal fisticuffs between him and Darren Huckerby, of Norwich fame. As you may know, the other day, The Ginger One finally revealed unto the media why our club?s pursuit of the ex-Man City player rapidly fizzled out. Money, or the lack of it, basically; his wage/bonus demands were deemed excessive by our lot. Fair enough, or so we thought, but around lunchtime today, Huckerby took the whole debate one stage further by declaring, via the WM sports desk, that he?d never discussed money with WBA. When telling Megson his reasons for not wanting to come to the club, he?d told him he couldn?t work with/for someone who treated others as he (Megson) did i.e. by shouting at his players in the manner he did, and treating seasoned pros like 15 year-old kids. Huckerby?s words, not mine, remember!

Interestingly enough, when I came to view the latest on the club website tonight, there was, for our leader, what I thought to be a very diplomatically-worded explanation of his comments! His normal reaction to such slights is to verbally blast the offender into orbit, so why not this time, I wonder? He started off by saying, ?I must apologise if I have upset Darren Huckerby,? went on to say that Huck was correct when he said he didn?t speak to him (Megson) about money, but then pointed out he?d had such discussions with Huckerby?s agent instead, which is splitting hairs a little! No, it?s quite correct that Gary has never coached or managed him, as our manager pointed out, but Huckerby must have got the info about our managerial methods from somewhere, mustn?t he? As I?ve commented before, football is quite a closely-knit community; when one player (or manager!) moves elsewhere, his new team-mates are on the blower to mutual acquaintances as quick as shit on castors to get some gen on their newly arrived colleague/gaffer. Presumably, that?s what happened in this case. ?Ill-informed?? I really do wonder.

Ever heard the phrase, ?To every dark cloud there is but a silver lining?? Well, there is a footballing equivalent, and it rattled into my inbox earlier today. (Thanks for the info, John Bayliss!) Apparently, the Gillingham-Wigan tryst, postponed on Tuesday night, won?t be taking place next week, as we?d quietly suspected might happen. I haven?t a clue when the fixture will be sorted, personally, but because they couldn?t mutually agree on a quick resolution of the problem, there?s a lovely bonus for us ? Jason Roberts will still be suspended by the time Wigan come to town on the 16th of this month! Just as well, really, because I was already getting, mentally, grim forebodings of what might happen. Having said that, as yet, I haven?t seen confirmation in the press of this, but knowing my informant as well as I do, I?m pretty sure it?s on the level.

A belated ?well done? to our kids for getting themselves into the final of the Midland Floodlit Youth League Cup after turning over Kidder Harriers 4-2 on Wednesday night. Kyle Patterson, Ben Paszkowec, Rob Elvins and Junior Smikle were the scorers, and according to the official website, youth team coach Craig Shakespeare was dead impressed with his teenage charges for their fine achievement. At least our kids? Cup success has been deemed worthy of public mention, which wasn?t always the case in times of yore, so I suppose it?s better than a bloody great thump on the nose, when you come to think about it. Unfortunately, no mention was made of their opponents in the forthcoming final, so I?m still a bit in the dark about that bit, but when I find out, I?ll let everyone know, of course.

And finally?.. A little snippet gleaned from my big sister tonight about my naughty brother-in-law. Remember when The Saddlers thumped us 4-1 in that awful Bescot opener to the current season? Well, literally within hours of that win, there were giant posters splashed all over the window of their club shop ? in case you didn?t know, it?s in Walsall town centre, and not far from the West Bromwich bus terminus ? inviting punters to purchase the video of that game; as I understand it, there was quite a run on the thing at the time. Fast forward, now, to a few weeks back (aw, you know what I mean!) just after that vital midweek return-match win over our near-neighbours. It so happened that my relative by marriage was standing right outside that same shop the day after ? and guess who cheekily popped in to ask whether the video of that game was being rushed out in similar fashion to the one last August?

 - Glynis Wright

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