The Diary

19 September 2003: Sutton Branch Snippets

Just back from Sutton Coldfield branch where chairman Jeremy Peace was the guest, and as promised, here?s a distillation of the main issues discussed tonight. A pretty good turn-out, considering that Lee Hughes, Big Dave and (I think) Rob Hulse were performing at The Throstle Club, but a few miles down the road, but we reckon there?s more to be learned from a club official than there is from players, so overall, I reckon we made the correct call there.

As I?m not conversant with shorthand, I?ve had to compile these notes largely from memory (with assistance from ?Im Indoors), but by and large, these are the main points. First, a word about the Throstle Club. As some of you may know already, that will be closing, but no closure date has been decided upon as yet. Jeremy suggested we take that one up with Mike O?Leary (who is going to be a busy man in the next few days, but of that, more as we go along). The plan is to demolish all the existing buildings on that site, and build in their place a sports complex which will operate under the aegis of the school that?s planned for the site of the old Thomas Telford Secondary ? veteran Baggies will remember the place from when it was going full-blast. This establishment?s sports facilities will tie in with our plans to have Academy status; youth head honcho Mark Ashton is currently liasing with the school people on the plans. We?re assuming there will be some sort of bar facility provided in the recreational part of the school, as it?s intended for wider use, of course. Jeremy also pointed out that the new Halfords Lane Stand would also probably incorporate bar facilities for supporters when rebuilt.

As for the normal clientele of the Throstle Club, they?ll be accommodated in the Woodman pub. Yes, there were plans afoot to demolish the place and put extra seating there, also in the Millennium Corner, but the club have since looked at this option further with the architects, and have discovered it?s more cost-effective to completely develop the Halfords? Lane Stand first instead. Apparently, it?s more awkward, technically speaking, to build around a corner, and this is reflected in the cost; the most we would gain in terms of increased capacity would only be a couple of thousand or so seats. The plan now is to gradually up the capacity of the ground, with the corners being filled in last, but all this change is, of course, dependent upon us regaining Premiership status once more ? and staying there this time.

We then raised the question of priority categories for both the Hartlepool and Gillingham away games. It seemed to us that in the interval between applying for tickets for the first fixture and the second, the club had completely moved the goalposts; for Hartlepool, had the numbers of applicants exceeded those of tickets, then a ballot would have taken place (because the numbers didn?t exceed tickets, this wasn?t necessary, as it happened), while for the Gillingham game, if demand exceeds supply, the pecking order is going to be based upon away season-ticket number instead, lower numbers getting priority. Why the complete change in the pecking-order for the two games? We also raised the question as to whether there was any possibility of linking factors like number of years supporting the team away from home on a regular basis with names, so that those who?d really supported ?when we were c***? could be rewarded for their loyalty by having first dibs at scarce tickets. Again, Mike O?Leary (I told you he was going to be a busy man pretty soon!) is the person in a position to give us some definitive answers on that one.

We also asked as to why the club were still selling Cardiff tickets when we knew very well the game was going to be called off. It?s a no-brainer, really, as there?s an international games scheduled to take place at the Millennium Stadium just down the road on the same day, we?ll have at least six players on international duty, and Cardiff will have around three. The game would be postponed on police advice alone, as there?s no way the Cardiff force could cope with two major football matches on the same day. Additionally, Cardiff?s ground is used as a ?park-and-ride? point for visiting international supporters on those occasions. The problem with selling tickets for a postponed fixture would be that some people wouldn?t be able to attend the rearranged game due to work commitments and so forth, and the club would then either have to give refunds to a lot of people, or suffer grief if they didn?t. Again, poor old Mike is going to be the person to ask. Incidentally, when I checked our mails prior to penning this column, I discovered one from a supporter (Exeter Baggie Julian Rowe) informing me that the club were now finally telling people via their recorded phone message-line that the game was likely to be switched to November 2nd. so it would appear that Albion have now finally twigged the game will definitely be off!

Terry then asked Jeremy the question he?d first put to our manager at the Shareholders For Albion AGM during the summer, i.e. whether we?d be better prepared for the Premiership next time round (assuming there?s going to be one, that is). That, some of you may recall, was the one where our manager chose to extract a few words from the original question and turn it around on Terry. Jeremy replied we?d have to be; after nine months at the coalface, Albion now understood far more what the Prem was all about, financially and otherwise. Jeremy is now in contact with all the Premiership chairmen, and we also have better contacts in other countries. The aim is to review progress on attaining ?P? on a ten-match basis; if we?ve got twenty points by the time the first ten are done with, forty by the time the next ten roll round etc. etc. we?ll be well on course for either automatic ?P? or a pot at the prize via the play-offs. Jeremy stated that of the two options, he?d rather we did it as of right, and not have to play the additional games. Although we?ve not yet completed a quarter of the fixtures, contingency plans are already being made should we do it the first time of asking. Talking of contacts in other countries, an interesting snippet: something we didn?t know is that Albion?s Danish scout, Tommy Moller, is the son of the current Danish national coach, and ex-Baggie Romeo Zondervan was instrumental in bringing Joost Volmer to the club.

Allied to this, the question was also raised about whether there was a policy for looking after incoming players. The reply we got was interesting, largely because we had made similar suggestions to the club a few seasons ago about the same thing, but never received any feedback as to whether our idea was a ?goer? or not. Our correspondence with the club was originally sparked off by a possibly apocryphal account of how Igor Balis had great difficulty in opening an account with a bank in West Bromwich because of his poor skills in English. Apparently, incoming players are now given a ?welcome pack? provided by Neil Smart, who is the club?s head of Human Resources. This points the newcomers in the direction of such people as estate-agents, banks and car dealers ? the sort of stuff new players need to know to get themselves and their families settled in with the minimum of fuss. Jeremy pointed out that while this information about the area and its amenities was pretty comprehensive, a balance had to be struck between ?spoon-feeding? incoming players i.e. doing everything for them, and leaving them to sink or swim by their own efforts.

There was more stuff, of course, but those are the salient points. Once more, a bloody good meeting ? and, ladies, the ham and cheese sandwiches at the end were ?historic?. Well, if Michael Winner can say that in his Sunday Times restaurant reviews, then so can I!

There was a giggle-making end to the proceedings, though. Apparently, last season, one of the Sutton members, Tim, embarked on a small wager with Jeremy - a fiver was the stake ? about some Albion-related matter or another, and come the end of term, our little mate?s bet went right down the Swanee, so what did Tim do? He framed the fiver, and had mounted on the frame a little silver plaque that said: THE CHAIRMAN IS ALWAYS RIGHT! This was duly presented to Jeremy at the end of the Q and A session, and fair play, he absolutely laughed his socks off as it was handed to him!

And finally?? One. Tomorrow, it?s a break from the routine of First Division football for us, as ?Im Indoors and myself are heading in the direction of Burton, where Nigel Clough?s lot are due to face the mighty Bulls, who are currently riding high at the head of the Conference table. If United perform with the same passing-and-movement pizzazz they displayed at Farnborough the other weekend, then we?re in for a cracker, and Richard O?Kelly will be in for a pay-rise before too long. Will let you know what happened tomorrow night.

Two. I don?t know how he does it, but of one thing I?m now certain. El Tel, alias The Old Fart, is to information technology what icebergs were to the Titanic all those years ago. How come? Simple. After a lot of bother because of correspondents erroneously transposing one small detail of his email address, Terry decided to change it, so he contacted his ISP, went through the instructions they sent him on how to do so, did the deed ? only to find, several hours later, that his PC wouldn?t let him into his emails at all; the darned thing wouldn?t accept the password for some reason or another! The strange thing is, though, he?s still receiving this column on a daily basis, so something?s getting through, there. However, all is not lost; after Monday?s reserve game v Man Urinal, we?re heading on out to El Tel?s place, and Si will get his thinking cap out once more. We will restore communication, even if we have to rig up a couple of tin cans and a piece of string to achieve our objective, so if you want to mail Terry and you can?t get through right now, be patient!

 - Glynis Wright

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