The Diary

11 March 2005: Belated Sutton-Branch Buzz

Greetings, pop-pickers, for what will be my last offering until around a week on Sunday. Having performed a lot of jiggery-pokery getting rid of unwanted bullet-points and such things ? and it?s better left unsaid the amount of unseemly swearing I did to get to that stage; and as for ?Im Indoors, who had to come and bail me out when nothing I tried worked, perhaps that bit?s best left unsaid! - here?s the lowdown on last Thursday?s Sutton Branch meeting I promised you last night. Tommy Gaardsoe was the guest of honour, of course, and well done to Mandy and all the rest of the bunch for their persistence in persuading the lad to come and give up some of his precious family time just to be there for our followers. His wife, Anne, was going to come too, but she was unwell, unfortunately.

As for Tommy, Amanda, Sutton Branch?s prime mover and shaker when it comes to this sort of thing, tells me that he really was a superb advertisement for the club, and at a time when the less-than-savoury antics of other players seem to hit media headlines on a regular basis, he really did West Bromwich Albion proud. He was a lovely guest, by all accounts - such gentle good-humour, which, going by our very positive experiences of Danish people, all gained over the course of the four previous occasions we?ve gone there for pre-season tours, sounds about right.

The snippets Sutton members gleaned? Well, after playing, he?s not sure if he wants to be a manager, but will probably want to do a degree! (Mature-student access to higher education is easier in Denmark than it is here, these days.) He definitely wants to go back to Denmark, though, in the end.

Away from the game he plays golf (with Purse, Scimeca, and some others) and he and his wife love the musicals in London ? they?ve seen Mary Poppins twice, and The Woman In White is the most recent!

He liked Megson because he signed him, but he also likes Robson. The former used to insist they gather at a Bromsgrove hotel at 11.30 on match days to eat pasta together, which was a pain for someone living in Sutton Coldfield. Robson lets them stop at home and meet at the ground at 1.30: ?You know what you?ve got to eat? is his line. He also discusses playing ideas with them, rather than tell them what they are supposed to do.

Zoltan?s English is not good, and he just nods and says ?yeah, yeah, yeah? to everything! (GLYNIS-NOTE: I wonder if any of the players have ever said to him something on the lines of : ?You with us for the chocolate and banana-ice-cream orgy at the Moat House this afternoon, then?? just to wind him up, and he?s simply gone: ?Yeah, Yeah?.? etc.?)

He shares a room with Albrechtsen (not surprisingly), and someone asked if they speak Norwegian together! After much sniggering, he said that of course, they speak Danish to each other. Martin?s English isn?t as good as Thomas?s. (He too lives in Sutton, apparently, so another potential guest there, I wonder?)

Opinion of referees? ?Well we need them, don?t we?? was the swift rejoinder to that one. No particular problem there. He was very proud of his debut for Denmark against England. He liked Ipswich as a town, and coming from the country in Denmark, it was a good place to start. He came over when he was 21, some 3 years ago. He prefers the red away kit to the yellow and green, but understands the fans have an affinity with the latter. Florida was good, and a superb chance to bond with a drink or two!

Reading away last year (GLYNIS-NOTE: for those new to this column, or non-Baggies, that was the day of our annual fancy-dress away trip, which this time, had a predominantly Viking theme in honour of our Danish defender, whose calm and steadiness at the back was instrumental in us winning promotion to the Prem the very first time of asking!) was fantastic, and a day he?ll never forget, with the tribute to him from the fans. Favourite grounds? St. James Park, perhaps. Least - Millmoor! His player of the season? Clement, and Zoltan. Does he hear what the crowd sing? Yep, he certainly does!

Robson continues the routine of playing music in the dressing room before the match, although Thomas doesn?t see the point. He also doesn?t see the point of the Premier shake-hands, either! There are no particular jokers in the pack - they all try to make one another laugh. He liked knowing that the fans call Albrechtsen ?Action Man? because of his hair, and will pass that on to him!

And so a very pleasant evening flew by, and by all accounts, he was absolutely thrilled when Sutton Branch presented him with a gift of cut-glass decanter and glasses!

So there you have it. It?s a much sparser account than the sort I normally offer, but circumstances dictated we couldn?t make it to the meeting, sadly. It?s also second-hand, so if I?ve misinterpreted Tommy?s remarks in any way, please accept my sincere apologies; the blame very much lies at my feet, and not those of Amanda.

And that?s about it for a while. While you?re off to Chelsea, bombing down the M40 in the general direction of the metropolis, we?ll be sniffing the country air in quantity (and whoever replaces the phrase ?country air? with the word ?glue? can go forth and procreate, as well!), and taking in the multiplicity of joyous sights and sounds ? smells, if you happen to be near a dung-heap! - one normally associates with that verdant time of year. We will, however, be nervously listening in while the game?s in progress. All being well, though, we should be back come Sunday night; whether I complete another installment or not that evening will largely depend upon what, if anything, has happened to our favourite football club while we?ve been away. Should everything seem calm and tranquil, though, I?ll probably burst into print the following night. Until then, have fun.

 - Glynis Wright

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