The Diary

30 August 2006: Sunderland v Albion - Keeping A Sense Of Proportion.

My message for you wonderful Baggie lot out there, just over 24 hours after the event, and the dust still to settle properly on the wreckage? An easy one, actually: how does the phrase ?DON?T PANIC!? grab you? No ? I?m serious. Even now, the mailing-list for this site still hums red-hot with Grade-A recrimination and red-mist anger at yesterday?s non-performance. If that?s the sort of reaction we?re getting from a list with a membership mainly comprising the more intelligent, thoughtful and restrained end of the supporting-spectrum, God only knows what sort of stuff is hitting the other Albion sites, right now.

We really do need to retain a sense of proportion, here. Gutless? Spineless? OK, so we?ve lost our first game thus far this term, and under less than ideal circumstances, too, but it has to be borne in mind also that yesterday was only our fifth punt for the full three points thus far this term, and not the forty-fifth. Now is not the time for supporters to drag out their favourite bits of sackcloth from their wardrobes, then spend the remainder of the day indulging in a blood-strewn orgy of self-flagellation that would have sent the Inquisition (or its modern-day incarnation Opus Dei) weak at the knees, were they around to watch, which they?re not, of course. In other words, sure, it was a defeat, yesterday afternoon was most certainly NOT our finest hour, but at this early stage in the proceedings, not necessarily a disaster. And, in any case, being a ?veteran? of several less-than-thrilling League encounters back in the ghastly days when Don Howe/Ron Saunders/Keith Burkinshaw/Brian Little ran the ship of state, compared to that little lot, our current gaffer barely scratches the surface when it comes to considerations of potential incompetence. In other words - think on, then move on. Rapidly.

As I pointed out yesterday evening, from the moment those turnstiles opened, the entire span of that abortive Stadium Of Light affair belonged, body and soul, to Sunderland Football Club, Niall Quinn, Roy Keane, plus, of course, their ultra-buoyant Cecil B de Mille-orchestrated massed home support. Given the most unusual nature of the circumstances, and the enormous emotional volatility of a distinctly-success-starved Mackem Army, it wasn?t too surprising that the arrival of the aforementioned Messianic two on the Wearside scene provided the perfect catalyst a proud, famous - but currently-dormant and underachieving - club so badly needed. And it showed. In the face of that virtual tsunami of raw emotion, Man Urinal, the mighty Arse, or Russki-run cash-cow Chelski, even, might have ended up completely overwhelmed.

And there?s yet another pertinent message for the troops emerging from the wreckage tonight. The fact that yesterday?s defeat might constitute some kind of pay-back for the two occasions in recent seasons ? I?ll leave our successful 1992 Cup-tie at their place completely out of the equation for this one - we travelled to Sunderland mob-handed, then went on to virtually mug them. Remember our last promotion season? That muggy wet Sunday when we went to their place for a crucial promotion ?crunch? game, where a stalemated draw would have been perfectly acceptable to most travelling Baggies, but, come stoppage-time, the unlikely pairing of Jason Koumas and Lloyd Dyer suddenly gave us other, vastly more profitable, ideas?

Yep ? my main recollections of that last-gasp winner totally revolve around the devastated look on the faces of the home supporters as the ref pointed to the centre-spot. Talk about ?The Silence Of The Fans??... In the twinkling of an eye, effectively, their previously-strong upwardly-mobile aspirations got one hell of a battering, one from which they never really recovered. It?s not all that often in a lifetime you get to see around 20,000 people, all with lips fashioned into an O-shape, and every single chin striving manfully to bash its way clean through to Australia, now, is it? And, that wasn?t all. Just two seasons further down the line, and both sides now Premiership clubs, we were to upset them again, with yet another fortuitous injury-time strike. No promotion issues left a-dangling this time, just Albion?s late, late snatching of the draw after the Mackems had led for most of the game. That was also the occasion where I only managed to see a third of the allotted 90 minute action ? dodgy coaches, huh! ? but that?s all water under the bridge now, of course, and quite right too.

Back to 2006, again, and my opening plea to keep things in perspective. OK, we lost. Badly. But no-one was blown to smithereens, starved, tortured, lost limbs, or made homeless, were they? Forget it. It?s over. Gone. Finis. A horrible blip, more likely than not. And that brings me neatly to my next point i.e. where we go from here, and, if applicable, what we can do to ensure we reach our desired goal. What do we need to change, if anything, to get us back to winning ways once more? It goes without saying, of course, that as a result of our Wearside failure, that crushing burden of expectation we?re all familiar with asks ? no, demands, more like! - that our next scheduled League encounter assume an importance totally at odds with the quality or otherwise of the opposition.

And therein lies the danger. The vastly-inflated expectation-level currently endemic at Planet Albion, I mean. For motivational purposes, it?s a damn good servant, but one real bad ass of a master when out of control. Probably not a wise topic to illustrate my point with, right now, this one, but I?ll draw a deep breath, and go for broke anyway. Remember the Dingles, and what happened the season after they finally hit the big-time, then got dumped? That?s right, twenty minutes into a game ? any game - and still no goal in sight (or one scored at the ?wrong? end of the pitch, more like), cue a mass-outbreak of chest-thumping, breaking of twigs from trees, all closely followed by an uncontrollable urge to raise a mighty paw to the sky, then pluck an unsuspecting plane from out of it. (Perhaps it?s better I leave the question of what would happen to any Fay Wray look-alike sitting in the John Ireland Stand aside for the moment!).

Seriously, though ? two less-than-successful Championship seasons, two managers further down the line later - and they?re still left standing at the station. With their parachute payments finished at the end of last term, and sugar-daddy Sir Jack not so keen to flash the cash this time round, could all this stop their current promotion tap well and truly in its tracks?

Do you see what I?m getting at? Again, supporters have to develop a keen sense of proportion about yesterday?s events. Owing to internationals next weekend, we haven?t got a game ourselves, but come September 7th, our next Hawthorns opponents will be Leicester City, an outfit currently stuck halfway up the table, but one yet to win away from home. Get a decent result from this one, and we?re back on track once more. Stuff up badly ? as a result of our own incompetence, basically ? and we may then have real problems for the management team to sort out. Several losses on the trot can make a side enter a negative-feed-back cycle of its own making very quickly ? and, as we all know from Premiership days, once you?re in that sorry state, it?s a real sod to get out of it again. That?s the time to really panic, Baggie people.

One more consideration to bear in mind? By the time we next pull on replica shirts in anger, the transfer window will be firmly shut, not to open again until the New Year. That can work both ways, of course ? with, or against. The former on account of the fact that other rivals can?t engage in serious team-building operations themselves until the champagne corks have popped for Hogmanay, the latter because we can?t either ? a potentially more serious problem, as we do seem to make a point of operating with a squad with some signs of having been pared right back to the bone.

Oh ? lest we forget, now that Jason Koumas has finally called it a day on his childish spat with management, provided he responds in an adult manner from here on in, and less like a petulant, hormonally-rampant teenage ?Kevin-clone? ? ?Aw ? you?re SO unfair, Bryan ? I really hate you!??? ? I do harbour serious hopes of us ending up with what?s virtually a ?new signing? for our midfield. And one we know can do the biz at this level, too ? anyone else remember his single-handed demolition of Notts Forest, back in the middle of our last promotion season? - which neatly brings me to yet another apposite thought about yesterday?s defeat. Could it be that some - if not all - of our current troubles might just stem from the possibility that a few of our lads are experiencing problems of readjustment to the less-skilful, more physical requirements of this level, a situation made somewhat worse by two full seasons spent sampling the heady delights of the Prem?

The one question remaining before the end of the current month is whether or not we search the last-minute transfer market for further team-strengthening purchases. Should we do that, then this coming Thursday might well prove a bit tasty. Not just because of that, mind - in terms of what our immediate rivals might be up to as well. Yes, I know that our dynamic duo are firmly denying they want to further strengthen the side over the course of the next two days, but we all know ? or should ? that any ?no? expressed in footballing circles has an uncanny habit of first becoming ?maybe?, then a categorical ?yes?. I?m female, slightly adipose, and given to warble a bit when taking a shower ? so the time I?m really going to hit those top notes is when the clock chimes five times on deadline day!

And Finally?.. Unless we do something really drastic and/or newsworthy in the transfer market over the course of the next couple of days, consider this my last effort until next Saturday night, when I?ll be looking towards pulling together all the news and gossip I can related to our favourite football club. Plus my own Albion-inspired activities, not to mention those of others, of course. After that, pill-popping cat in tow, we?ll be heading off out for the Herefordshire boondocks once more ? now my telescope is safely in-situ down there, I plan to do some serious stargazing while I?m at it, weather permitting, of course - returning to the bright lights again that following Friday, nicely in time to watch us take on Leicester City the following Saturday, of course. So, until either day cometh, or both, it?s a big ?tara? from me, then!

 - Glynis Wright

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