The Diary

30 May 2007: Wembley 2007 - A Lesson Learned, In More Ways Than One?

So it all ended in tears, then, our 2006-07 promotion campaign. It?s never very pleasant to watch small children (and not-so-small adults) bawling their eyes out in their Wembley seats ? greater supporting experience will soon teach them that unhappiness and misery are common bedfellows with the path they?ve chosen to follow ? but although yesterday?s defeat means I?ve now experienced just about every kind of critical moment one can when associated with a top-level club over the years, bar a League championship ? Cup Final wins, ditto defeats: promotions, through three divisions: relegations, ditto: play-off semi wins, ditto one defeat: play-off final win, ditto defeat - it?s nowhere near the worst Albion moment I?ve ever had to witness.

It?s all relative, of course, but when you?ve seen your side travel to Wembley for a League Cup Final against a Third Division side, watch them go two up by half-time, then concede three in the second half, the last (controversial) one coming during the closing stages of the 90 minutes ? THAT?S misery. Ditto May 1991, versus Bristol Rovers, the day we found ourselves in that same Third Division for the first time ever in our long and proud history. On the Richter Scale of supporting moments when you?ve truly wished yourself thousands of miles elsewhere, that one must surely rate a figure of 10.

Other thoughts about yesterday? Yep, we knew we?d had a welter of decent chances, and stuffed up, but it?s only when you refer to the stats, you begin to realise the true extent of our underachievement on the day it really mattered. Those I quote are taken from the Daily Mirror, and read like this: Possession: Derby 44% Albion 56%. Shots on target: Derby 3 Albion 5. Shots off target: Derby 4 Albion 9. Offsides: Derby 2 Albion 4. Corners: Derby 4 Albion 6: Fouls (Remember what I said about Derby?s somewhat robust approach, kiddywinkles?) Derby 27 Albion 12. Bookings: Derby 5 (around half in the closing stages) Albion 3. Can?t help but see a pattern developing there. Oh, and another thing. It speaks volumes that the Mirror made Koumas their Man Of The Match: normally, the recipients of similar accolades come from the winning side.

As for Mister Poll, for whom this game was to be his whistling swansong, I?m now given to understand that he?s not sinking into blissful oblivion, as I?d thought, but taking up the reins of a media career instead. I can only assume he?s gone and joined the likes of Chris Kamara ? now there was a player to justify the existence of card-toting refs the entire length and breadth of the country, should you ever want to find a suitable role-model! ? wielding the microphone for Sky.

Should be particularly amusing to see what he has to say on the subject of refereeing and allied subjects, but what really did disturb me, last night, was going through our mails, and discovering that TV footage allegedly showed the Derby goalscorer, Stephen Pearson, calling Albion?s Sam Sodje a ?N****r. A lip-reading Baggie, watching on the box, was so disturbed by the incident, he felt constrained to send a post to the Boing site not long afterwards.

Not sitting close enough to the action to hear anything ? which I wouldn?t have anyway, as I?m also as deaf as a post! - or seeing the incident as it happened via TV myself, I?m not in a great position to either confirm or deny that was the case, but of one thing I?m sure. If Pearson did racially insult Sodje in that disgusting manner, then he should have walked, no two ways about it. Lacking more detail, I don?t really know precisely how close Graham Poll was to both men at the time of the incident, but I really do hope, for the sake of everyone concerned, that our wonderful whistler, finding himself caught on the horns of a potentially-explosive dilemma, didn?t simply decide to ?cock a deaf ?un? to the entire affair.

And there was another, quite different, aspect of our Wembley day that had my pancreas producing bile in great quantity. Even those watching on the box could see the evidence with their own eyes, empty seats - the best ones in the house, too ? forming a disgracefully-wide band of red girdling the entire stadium. Yesterday?s gate? 74,793. Doubly annoying, purely and simply because it wasn?t because of lack of demand, segregation issues, insufficient time to sell them, even, those seats remained unsold - but purely and simply because a bunch of complete tossers in suits were far too interested in fighting amongst themselves over who should get the biggest cut for selling them, and sod both sets of supporters, who could have benefited greatly, had those seats been made available by Wembley, as requested. As the chap who runs this website said in a recent mail - it stinks.

And then there?s various vexed questions surrounding the winners, Derby County, now rearing their ugly heads. On our way back home last night, our party discussed their finances at great length, but the consensus was that of that notorious ?50 million windfall, just how much would County actually get to use to buy in players? As I understand it, they still owe a considerable sum of money to their bankers ? I have heard the figure ?30 million bandied around, and the true extent of the debt may be even more than that ? so it?s not totally beyond the realms of imagination that one of the first contingents seen at Pride Park for ?meaningful discussions? will consist of bean-counters in grey suits, all possessing a swinging brick in lieu of a proper heart. Oh, well ? in the event of incipient pecuniary strangulation, they could always take a leaf out of West Ham?s book, and?. Yerss, well.

And what of Billy Davies, their manager? If the Mirror is to be believed, he?s now embroiled in a nasty little dispute with his board, and threatening to quit the club. It may all be hype, to solidly cement his case, of course, but who knows? A little bit of deja-vu, there, fellow-supporters: cast your minds back to 2002, and what happened just days after Gary Megson achieved automatic promotion for our side? Precisely the same scenario, but with an ending totally unique in the annals of the Premiership, as far as I can ascertain: the only manager in existence with sufficient clout in his locker to get a chairman unseated, rather than the other way round.

The seeming cause of the dispute, the treatment of Derby?s younger recruits by the club, plus harsh words from upon high (and from their own followers, it must be said) about the players Davies brought in for their experience, threatens to mar their celebrations considerably. As I?ve inferred previously, ?been there, done that, bought the T-shirt?. In fact, thinking back to yesterday, that?s precisely what one Albion supporter of approximately my age, sick to the craw of the continual barrage of insults from their lot, then ?losing it?, said to a bunch of them!

Mind you, there were quite a few other mouthy County supporters who were appraised in no uncertain terms by various members of our party as to how difficult they?d find the task of staying up, not to mention the small fact that they?d lose so much in terms of intimacy and contact with both their players and the club as a whole, once promoted. And they?d best kiss farewell to knowing precisely when a fixture is scheduled to take place. TV Big Moolah rules OK now, so future trips, both to the Park and to away grounds, will mean daft start-times. Fancy Saturday, midday? Sunday at four in the afternoon? Monday night? Saturday night at five? And all these changes foisted upon their people at very short notice indeed, which completely stuffs season-ticket holders working set shifts? The initial excitement will soon pall, once a few top-six sides have given them a thorough lamping.

And that?s before I even start to get going about the sort of leech that attaches itself to the flesh of a newly-promoted side, then proceeds to suck a significant proportion of all the goodness obtainable from it. As the German joke that did the rounds at the conclusion of World War Two once said: ?Enjoy the war, for the peace will be frightful?..?

The question of losing some of our more talented performers I touched upon in my previous instalment. Mowbray himself has said that some players will have to be sold in order to finance next season?s reconstruction work, so who will be jumping ship? It won?t happen immediately, of course: clubs hot on the scent of their expensive quarry will be reluctant to start paying summer wages for newcomers, so all the interesting business will be done when clubs reopen for business after the break, around July.

A shame we will be losing the likes of Koumas to the vultures, but that?s the way it is. He?s an ambitious lad, highly-talented, wants to do better for himself, has run himself ragged for the cause, this season, and because he has chucked everything into his game for the cause, as opposed to perpetrating the mother of all strops, as was his wont in seasons gone by, I can readily accept that.

Conversely, I shan?t weep salt tears when Joe Kamara finally hits the trail out of West Bromwich: all I see in that lad?s eyes these days are pound signs and selfishness. Had he been a tad more aware of the necessity to play as a team, and not for the sake of individual glory, then the ending might have been written vastly differently, the resultant lay-offs unselfishly donated for others to put away, thereby enabling us to pot enough points to make the question of surviving the play-offs an academic one only.

And in the backwash of our Wembley trip, perhaps it might be in order to say a few words about the travel arrangements for yesterday? To be scrupulously fair to Dave Holloway, Alan Cleverly, John Homer, and all the rest of the Committee, they worked their bloody socks off yesterday morning, on a totally-voluntary basis, and for that we should praise them all lavishly. Additionally, in the run-up to the game, they were to be rarely found in their own homes: no matter what the time of day or night, there they were, at the ground, either assisting in the Ticket Office, or helping out in the Club Shop. The logistics of the entire affair were absolutely terrifying; not the sort of thing I would want responsibility for, by a long way, and for that, I salute them: assuming their pivotal role so readily must have been really draining, both physically and mentally.

There were, however, some complaints from supporters about travel, most of which concerned the seemingly-chaotic scenes at the ground on the morning of the game, also the problems experienced by some trying to sort out bookings over the phone. We were affected by the latter problem ourselves, having paid by credit card, then assured by the person we spoke to that tickets would be posted out in good time, but once the (last chance) Saturday delivery came and went, but still no coach tickets, having to shift ourselves to the Hawthorns to sort the matter out personally with the Ticket Office people. And, as I?ve alluded to in my previous posts, we weren?t the only ones inconvenienced in that way, believe you me. Some got tickets in excess of those paid for, while others, requesting what amounted to a block-booking, received sod-all.

As for the morning of the game, I mentioned the length of those queues yesterday, but what I didn?t know, until I returned in fact, was that the last coach left The Hawthorns as late as eleven in the morning, which meant some supporters queuing for two solid hours in the rain. The problems were exacerbated by Albion stating the start-time was nine am. when it wasn?t. I?m also given to understand that some supporters, a tad anxious not to miss the start, and understandably so, elected to go down to London by car in the end.

How much was Albion?s responsibility, and how much that of the supporters club, I wonder? As we don?t move in those sort of circles, I haven?t a clue, but it might be a very good idea, once the dust has finally settled, for both Albion and the Supporters Club committee to have a little pow-wow together, and between them, try to come up with some sort of cohesive contingency plans for the time when we have to book coaches in such great quantities once more. A bit like the government?s contingency plans for all-out conflict, I suppose: gathering dust in some Whitehall (Downing Street?) safe for years on end, then pulled out as a matter of urgency once it looks likely that the balloon will be going up, big-time, but very necessary, all the same.

And there?s another thought, too, but nothing to do with Albion. Those who read this column regularly will know my views about the Prem and the great gouts of money currently swashing away within it, be it of TV, corporate, or other origin. As far as I?m concerned, an excess of filthy lucre changing hands, for whatever reason, inevitably leads to the strong possibility of clubs and individuals risking the taint of corruption upon their consciences ? assuming such people do have consciences, of course - but you see what I?m driving at.

Take the recent business with West Ham, and the Prem?s astonishing decision not to dock them points, even though adjudged to be in clear breach of just about every rule in the book. That really left me with a nasty taste in my mouth, and, not for the first time, wondering whether I really wanted to be part of that sort of thing any more. When I left the stadium yesterday, my principal thought on the subject of the Premiership was that Derby were welcome to it. They?ll learn.

Hell ? when everything first blew up at the fag-end of the season just gone, it even got me feeling sorry for Neil Warnock and Sheffield United, the real victims of the Prem?s pusillanimous conduct of the whole affair. When it gets to the stage where my personal sympathies end up going to the one manager slimy and devious enough to orchestrate something like The Battle Of Bramall Lane, then you really know you?ve got a problem!

And that?s about it, folks. Have a lovely summer, eat, drink and be merry, make babies, take up needlepoint embroidery, do whatever floats your boat, and I?ll be seeing you all at the Hawthorns, suitably refreshed, for the start of our 2007-08 Championship season. Right now, I?m going to have to pick up me balls once more, known more scientifically as organic molecules ? at least, that?s what they?re supposed to resemble, once they?re all put together correctly!

Because of all the running around we?ve had to do in the days leading up to Wembley, and the need to do this column on a daily basis, I?ve had to let that side of things slide temporarily, but now the season?s finished, I?ll be in a much better position to pick ?em up again, and complete the course. Who knows - with any luck, I?ll come up with a combo that possesses the admirable property of repelling all known forms of Dingle. If so, rest assured, it?ll be on the market, be it only from a stall in the one at West Bromwich!

And Finally??. Amidst all the despair of yesterday?s defeat, I think it spoke volumes, both for the man, and the admirable values he publicly stands for, to see Big Dave find some time to leave his rejoicing Derby colleagues yesterday, in order to have a few words of condolence and commiseration with his dejected former Albion team-mates.

With all the cynicism, excess, conspicuous consumption and hype that the game attracts these days, it?s fair to say it doesn?t usually get a good press, but as long as people like Darren Moore continue to demonstrate that life at the top doesn?t necessarily mean an abandonment of principled honesty and plain decency, then there surely has to be hope for its future. Given that life in the Prem?s fast lane with Derby may not suit him at this late stage in his career, it could well be that Darren will be moving on again, afore many more suns have risen over the East Midlands landscape.

Apart from the fact I seriously struggle to think of a better ambassador for any club, he?s got twin qualities found so rarely in players at this level, genuine charisma and strong ability as a leader of men. Even the police and armed forces have difficulties finding such people these days, so to have such talents benefiting the Baggies once more would be such a help in our drive to mount a successful assault on the Championship next season. My suggestion to Tony Mowbray, who will surely be looking to embark upon reconstruction work over the summer, once all the so-called ?names? have sought to leave the sunken ship? Whatever it takes, get Big Dave back in that Albion dressing room - and quick.

 - Glynis Wright

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