The Diary

10 November 2004: Robson - The Messiah, Or A Naughty Little Boy?

Well, at least we can cancel those GP appointments we?d all booked with the express aim of obtaining a large stash of tranquillisers to see us through the gloomy, arid weeks ahead; at long last, Jeremy Peace has made up his mind, and Bryan Robson is to be installed as our next manager. I suppose as soon as we heard talks with Hoddle had foundered on the treacherously-jagged rocks of terms and conditions; that plus Mr. H?s seeming great reluctance to soil his pristine, well-manicured hands with the ordure of a fierce relegation struggle, appointing the former Albion man was always going to be on the cards. To no-one?s surprise, approximately 24 hours after Megson left, up popped our former midfielder on TV, declaring publicly he was going to apply, and by default, almost, he?s now turned out to be our Chosen One. Forget Strachan, forget Hoddle; Robson is our man, it?s now been confirmed, and all that remains is for everyone to buckle down to the onerous task of keeping us up.

I can?t really say that Jeremy?s final choice, which may or may not have been the only flop-house in town at the time, had me positively drooling in anticipation of the prospect; to say otherwise now would have invited my trousers to spontaneously-combust in embarrassing fashion within a matter of seconds. To do so would have been hypocrisy of the worst degree after making my reservations abundantly clear via this column in recent days, but now he?s here, we have to forget all that; it?s imperative that all of us Baggies, myself included, give the bloke our total and unconditional support over the coming weeks and months, because he really is going to need all the help he can get. The bottom line is, whatever happened in the past, whatever passions and emotions, both positive and negative, were stirred up at the time of his leaving the Black Country, Bryan now begins his managerial tenure at our club with a totally clean slate.

So ? what positives has he to offer us, then? Well, at least he?s one of ours; admittedly, a Hawthorns alumni who was instantly transmuted into a hated prodigal the minute he and Big Ron left for the far more financially remunerative pastures of Manchester about 13 years ago, but he?s ?family? all the same. As far as that unsavoury episode?s concerned, what?s done is done; it?s a vastly dissimilar Albion, now, a totally different generation, both on and off the pitch, with totally different aspirations, and to harbour grudges after all that time would constitute churlishness taken to a ridiculous degree. You?d have to be a hard-hearted matriarch indeed not to welcome a favourite son back into the fold after all these years. Better, also, someone who knows the club well and probably cares, rather than some fancy-Dan or other who couldn?t give a flying fornication about what happens to us as long as his enormous salary gets paid into the bank on time. Additionally, and most importantly, Bryan has going for him the sole attribute that really makes players sit up and take notice; his many achievements in the game whilst a player, both with Man U and England.

As I?ve opined so many times before, if you look closely enough, you?ll find numerous close parallels between the world of top-class football and that of the military. As far as the latter?s concerned, the sole thing that gets officers and NCOs total obedience and respect from their men is the number of medals, campaign or otherwise, adorning their chests, the number and difficulty of battles they?ve fought in, and it?s the same with the beautiful game. When the chips are down, when there?s a bad run of results, when a manager has to make unpopular decisions that may adversely affect players, some of them very experienced and knowledgable indeed, that?s the first dissenting cry you?ll hear in any dressing-room: ? Oi, Gaffer. Show us your medals, then!? Bryan, having won pretty much everything you possibly can in the game with Man United and the national side, doesn?t have to prove a single damn thing on that score to anyone. His record speaks proudly for itself.

Another ?positive? to take from today?s appointment is that with the announcement comes the end of uncertainty and apprehension within the ranks as to precisely who the next gaffer is likely to be. Players are like kids in some ways; above all, they like their world to have stability, structure, and now Bryan is ?in situ?, so to speak, that?s precisely what they?ve got once more. I would also assume that players formerly frozen out by Megson, like Ronnie Wallwork, and Lee Marshall, will now be given a fair chance to prove their worth with the new gaffer. Clean slates don?t just apply to managers, do they? In Ronnie?s case, Bryan knows him well from the time of his loan spell at doomed Bradford, last season.

And, to be fair, you couldn?t really say Bryan was at fault for what happened there; as I understand it, when the guy was first recruited by the Bantams, he went there on the express understanding that money would be available to strengthen the side, so the first thing he did once properly installed in the post was to get some half-decent players in on loan. Only to discover, weeks or months further down the line, the money wasn?t there at all, so he had to send ?em right back again. Running a club that?s in administration and plummeting down the table like a half-end brick down a mineshaft is no fun at the best of times; with his options severely restricted right from the word ?go?, no wonder he packed it in come the end of the season, and Bradford?s relegation to the (now) First.

As far as the Middlesbrough years were concerned, the record wasn?t as bad as you might expect; two promotions, three cup finals, and a Premiership finish as high as ninth. What really did for him at The Riverside, though, was the latter part of his tenure, when nothing would go right, and a vastly more experienced Terry Venables had to be brought in to help stabilise the ship. And all those prohibitively expensive and badly underachieving foreign signings - Ravanelli, Junhinio, Festa, are some ? didn?t help the cause one little bit either. At least it seems very much as though our new incumbent has since learned from the mistakes he made there. Bryan has a deputy earmarked already; Nigel Pearson, who worked with him at Boro, was Bryan?s first signing ever at the club, and was later made captain there.

An interesting choice, that one; prior to becoming England Under 20s manager last summer ? they recently won their first game with him in charge - Pearson was involved in running ?UEFA A-Licence? coaching courses for prospective managers, and it just so happened that Pearson was the lecturer on the one Bryan attended. As long as the guy?s as good in a practical sense as he seems to be theoretically, then we just might have acquired an asset there. Mind you, he does have a bit of ?previous? under Megson, when the pair of them were running things at Stoke; they only left because of the Icelandic influx at director level, Pearson lasting a tadge longer there than our former gaffer.

I have to say that despite the doubts I harboured previously, I?m greatly encouraged by all the positive messages from Middlesbrough supporters posted on various Albion-related message boards this evening. All of these refer to the highly entertaining and attractive type of fare Robson served up at The Riverside whilst gaffer there, and the thread running throughout that both he and Pearson would do a good job at our place. I?m also pleased to see glowing endorsements from former playing colleagues such as Cyrille Regis and John Wile, who both mention the wide number of contacts he has throughout the game, and the tremendous reputation he clearly still enjoys out there. If Bryan can get classy players like Jason Koumas ? and, being a former midfielder himself, he should have no difficulty whatsoever understanding where the former Tranmere player?s coming from ? firing on all four cylinders again after having lost their way a little under Megson, and get people like Sakiri believing in themselves once more, then he?ll do all right by me. And should the guy can get our footballing ethos even part of the way back to what it once was back when the bloke was a player for us, then verily my cup runneth over indeed.

Of course, in the backwash of his appointment, there will be some current members of the training staff who?ll very shortly find themselves not featuring anywhere in Bryan?s plans, but having said that, I do sincerely hope that a place in the sun can still be found for Frank Burrows. After Megson?s departure, the one thing that impressed me most about Frank was the sheer amount of dignity and decency he exuded when interviewed on TV. Most certainly of the ?old school?, is Frank. What with the flat cap and everything, he?s not exactly Beau Brummell when compared to footballing fashionistas like Mourhinio of Chelski, but that?s not necessarily a disadvantage, is it? To Bryan?s credit, he has said he?ll evaluate all our current staff over the next few days, which is fair enough, so with a little luck he, too, might regard Frank an asset to the cause.

If I were Jeremy Peace, I?d be sweating buckets right now. Why? Because our chairman has put every single bit of his credibility on the line appointing Robson, that?s why. Megson, you will recall, was wholly a Paul Thompson choice, so his many failings during the latter part of his tenure weren?t directly attributable to the current Hawthorns regime. Should Bryan fall short, however, as President Truman might have said, ?the buck stops here?. Robson is a Peace appointment, totally and utterly; should things end in tears for whatever reason, our Chairman?s authority would instantly be blown sky-high. For Jeremy?s sake, as well as Robson?s, I really do hope everything works out.

Things aren?t going to be easy; as I said recently, any new manager will have to hit the ground running in an effort to stop the rot ? and the transfer window not being open for a couple of months yet won?t help either. Having said that, in my opinion, there exists a nucleus of players already here who have sufficient skills to keep us in the higher sphere. Sure, the next few games won?t be easy; it?s Boro this Sunday, currently high-fliers in the Prem, followed by The Arse and Man United. The last two I regard as lost causes, pretty much, but what might help us there is the fact that every player in the squad will be busting a gut in order to impress their new manager. Players finding themselves in that position will smash through their normal ability and skills ceiling; the choice between getting in the new manager?s good books and being left on the sidelines concentrates minds wonderfully, sometimes. Our manager?s ?honeymoon period? could be most instructive. Maybe, just maybe, because of that, we might even end up with something tangible to show from those last two. And maybe, just maybe, we?ll even rediscover the reason why we we all became Baggies in the first place.

And finally?.. A fond farewell to Scott Dobie, who went to Millwall today for approximately ?750K; ?500K now, ?250K should they get promoted to the top flight, and a 15% sell-on just to apply the cherry to the pinnacle of the icing. While being really pleased for the lad, who didn?t have the best of times under our former manager, by all accounts, and knowing he?ll be linking up with former Baggie Danny Dichio at The New Den, I really can?t help but wonder as to whether it?s the right move for him or not, those bright lights and all that. When we interviewed him for the fanzine a couple of years back, my overwhelming impression of Scott was of a well-spoken, articulate, but slightly self-effacing young player. The sort of lad who?d be much more at home in the sticks rather than the heartless city, and might have been better off plumping for Preston rather than the London side. Still, what?s done is done, but for all that, I?ll never forget the massive contribution Scott made to our first promotion, two long seasons ago. If for that reason only, I genuinely wish him every success with his new club.

 - Glynis Wright

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