The Diary

04 January 2006: Yesterday - A Bad Day At The Office?

Now the dust?s finally started to settle after our defeat at the distinctly-grubby hands of ?Them? yesterday, time now for some reasoned reflection and pertinent thought regarding what went wrong, and how to improve matters in future. It?s primarily the future, especially in the short or medium-term, that I?m really worried about right now; once more, we?re back in the Slough Of Despond, and likely to start running out of road before too long. In some ways, I?m mighty glad we have a much-needed diversion in that Reading Cup game come the weekend, but having said that, should we lose to the Thames Valley high-flyers, as we well might, then recriminations are going to fly around the borough like bluebottles around a cesspit. If I were our manager, I?d keep a tin helmet handy, as a precautionary measure; come to think about it, a couple of beefy ?heavies? for ?minding? purposes might not be a bad idea also.

Whether ?in anger? or not, when you look back at yesterday?s dispiriting events, there are various related issues that simply have to be aired and discussed. Our squad rotation system ? that?s what it was versus both United and Liverpool, make no mistake ? while seeming to pay off versus Spurs, quite patently didn?t yesterday. Mind you, after this week, we won?t have the luxury of resting key people, especially up front; it?ll be very much a ?hands to the pump? job for up to a month. It?s our desperate short-term need for talented performers that will cause the problems, which is why it?s imperative we get skilled people like Wallwork ? never for one minute thought I?d be describing his contributions in such a favourable manner, but fair play to the guy, it?s astonishing to behold precisely how badly we all miss him right now ? Inamoto, and Gera back from injury and into Premiership action with all due haste.

If we must function for up to a month with a diminished strikeforce and only the ?usual suspects? chosen to play, then that?s the time such richly-talented people come into their own; creating reasonable goalscoring opportunities for ageing players whose game really isn?t about pace any longer. It?s either that, or start flashing some hard cash on a proven striker, it would seem. Unless ? and this probably is a big ?ask? ? somehow, Robbo can mend fences with Earnie, persuade the latter that both he and West Bromwich Albion were truly meant for one another after all, get him into the sort of bellicose frame of mind that has players quietly snarling ?Kill?.? in the tunnel before kick-off, then stick him up front as and when required. With The Duke, of course; mind you, he does seem to be having scoring problems of his own right now, yet another sticky issue for Robbo to surmount, I guess.

For an object-lesson on how to behave when dropped from first-team action, all Earnie has to do is look at The Pole In Goal, displaced by Kirkland at the start of the season. Instead of whinging about it, then throwing his dolly out of the pram, he simply bided his time; now, although fully-fit for the fray once more, even a classy performer such as Kirkland can no longer get a look-in. And quite right, too; for my money, The Pole In goal has been absolutely magnificent between the sticks in recent games, and long may it continue.

There is one small flicker of hope, though, insofar as Kanu is concerned. It now appears that Robbo is having urgent talks with the Nigerian FA around the thorny question of whether or not the lad can delay his flight to join international colleagues for the African Nations Cup competition ? hopefully, for as much as two weeks. If so, that would give us the benefit of his presence in an Albion shirt for both Saturday?s Cup game, and the one at Wigan a week later, arguably the fixture that?s of much greater importance to our intermediate and long-term Premiership prospects. Apparently, Kanu?s first game in the African Nations Cup competition is listed for January 24th, so even if he did play at Wigan, that would give him a full week to both travel and get used to his fellow-internationals? various footballing quirks and foibles.

What I do refuse to do right now, though, is join the ranks of the hysteria-merchants currently screaming blue murder about our failure to glean anything from either Man United or Liverpool. Expecting a side in our position to get anything at all from either of those meetings ? both away from home, of course - is like expecting a five-year-old to understand relativity theory; a very talented few can do it, sure, but the vast majority have to run with whatever intelligence they?re given via genetics, and base their reading-matter upon such literary delights as ?The Cat Sat On The Mat? instead. Villa? If you?ll pardon the piscine pun for a moment, they were a completely different kettle of fish; we could, and most certainly should, have done far better that we did. And maybe a sense of proportion should be applied to the situation; after all, that defeat was our first at home since last October, which wasn?t bad going, really.

I suppose what annoyed me more than anything yesterday was the sheer fact of losing to them in the first place. These games are always emotive affairs, and for very sound reasons, too. Strip the situation of its local derby connotations, though, and what you have left is a not-terribly-good opposition, as we saw when they played Donny Rovers in the League Cup recently. That heartbreaking penalty decision came at what was truly a crucial time for us; after gradually slogging our way back from that disastrous start to the second half, not to mention a very poor performance indeed over the first 45, we in the Halfords Lane Stand could literally scent a winner in the offing. Try as I might, I?m still not entirely convinced that our chum Rob Styles was correct in awarding that spot-kick in the first place, but the thing, now, is to take it off our backs, then get back into a suitably-receptive frame of mind for doing battle with the next-comers, Reading.

This one worries me also, but for entirely different reasons. If you sit and look at the respective fortunes of both clubs thus far this season, our tie with the Thames Valley mob is almost a repeat of what prevailed when we took on Sunderland at their place, the first season we achieved top-flight status. I?m not going to dwell upon it unduly, as I?ve already gone over similar ground in a recent offering; suffice to say that getting into the hat for the next round would represent a tremendous psychological boost ? and not just for players, either. I really do hope we?re taking this game seriously; I just can?t help remembering what happened with Sunderland after they lost to us that icy January day four years ago. Their followers were absolutely suicidal afterwards, causing an emormous tidal-wave of popular pressure that eventually saw Peter Reid getting his cards from the Wearside outfit. But it?s not going to come to that, is it, children? (Said she, both sets of fingers crossed!)

If it?s January, it?s got to be time for a certain sort of journalist to emerge from a near-on three-month slumber. Yes, already, there are clear signs the silly season is once more upon us. Ever since the night church bells (and fireworks!) saw in the New Year, various stories connecting us with various players (or, conversely, DIS-connecting!) have reproduced like bacteria over the back pages of certain publications. It?s then, you thank the Lord you have enough common sense doled out to you to treat most with the contempt they truly deserve. On the other hand, some really do seem as though they?ve got ?legs?, as they say. This list isn?t exhaustive by any means, just a selection ? so read into each what you damn well want.

First off is the buzz that Cardiff want to take Jason Koumas off our hands for around ?1.5 million. That?s fine and dandy by me ? by doing so, Cardiff would solve what has been a bit of a festering sore on the bum of our favourite football club for far too long ? but what I?m having trouble with right now is trying to work out where Cardiff ? who genuinely haven?t two beans to rub together ? are going to find such big-licks dosh over the long term.

There?s absolutely no-one bankrolling the Welsh side, at present, and they?re currently leaching money like there?s no tomorrow, so how to achieve it? Off the top of my pretty little head, I really can?t think of any Cardiff player that would get our manager having wet dreams in his sleep over, so little prospect of a part-exchange, methinks. Could this be done as a loan deal, I wonder, with the move being made permanent come the end of the current season?s hostilities? That would, at least, give The Mad Mullah plenty of time to come up with some means of financing the deal (vagrant thought; if they defaulted on payments, would we send Big Dave round to give them a timely visual ?reminder?, I wonder, with Little Dave providing additional ?focus? by threatening to kick their shins in as well?), and both chairmen would end up happy.

On the other hand, there?s still the thorny question of Our Jase?s telephone-number salary to sort out; he?s hardly going to want to take a wages cut, is he? Again, the attendant financial issues surrounding any proposed deal refuse to go away; depends, I suppose, on how badly Jason wants to put West Bromwich Albion behind him. And how badly Cardiff City want him.

Another buzz I saw tonight concerned Middlesbrough defender Ugo Ehiogu, who is reportedly a prime Robson ?wanna-buy?. Apparently, Boro boss Steve McClaren has been told he must reduce the club's wage bill if he wants to sign new players this month, and the former Albion and Villa lad could be one of the players sacrificed. (But, if you want to keep on the right side of me, DON?T ask about the circumstances surrounding his departure to The Land Doug Ellis Forgot - around 1989-90, was it?) At present, Ugo is currently battling for his first team place with Chris Riggott ? who just happens to be our very-distant relative by marriage, would you believe? - and might well welcome the chance for more regular football at the Hawthorns.

Now it?s the turn of Plymouth Argyle's midfield playmaker Akos Buzsaky, who is reportedly the subject of a ?1.2m transfer bid from us. The 23 year old Hungarian international has been the subject of varied transfer rumours for several weeks, and it did originally look as though West Ham United would finally win out, but Sunday?s News of the Screws reckoned that we were now the more likely of the two to grab his body. Buzsaky has not yet played a full season in English football; he was initially on loan at Home Park midway through last season, with Plymouth then permanently securing his services from Portugese side FC Porto for ?250,000 come the end of hostilities.

Buzsaky has recently been in and out of the Plymouth team due to a persistent groin injury ? yes, sounds horribly familiar, doesn?t it? - and with Plymouth currently on a good run in the Championship without Buzsaky having playing regular first-team football, the ?1.2m on offer would represent a nice little bit of business for the pasty-crunchers. Having seen the lad perform versus Leeds the other night ? their home game with Leeds, which they lost 3-0 - he didn?t look at all bad. Skilful, always ready to run at people, but perhaps a bit of a light-weight for our requirements.

Other transfer stuff? If you really want a good giggle to go with your mug of coffee, I have seen it in writing recently that Fulham want to acquire the services of Kanu for their very own. For some unaccountable reason, they seem to think they?re in with a chance, as well. In your dreams, Al Fayed ? unless you just happen to know something I don?t, of course! There?s also something to the effect that Championship second-placers Sheffield United are wanting to take The Horse off our hands. True, he?s from that area (ish: I remember a much younger version of him playing up front for Halifax when they were non-League, and absolutely murdering Hereford at The Shay, too) and a move in that direction would probably suit him ? I believe he has business interests there - but, as Robbo quite reasonably pointed out, with Kanu and Joe Kamara both bombing off to Africa very soon ? but see above - it?s going to be very much a case of ?all hands to the pump?.

And finally?. Back again this Friday evening, when I hope to have for you something about the other time we played Reading in the Cup, way back in the late 1940?s. Should be pretty good fun to compare ?then? with ?now?, so watch this space.

 - Glynis Wright

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