The Diary

09 March 2008: TIME FOR THE BIG ONE, FOLKS!

My God ? what an incredible Sixth Round day it?s been. Whichever way you want to play it, it?s been an awful long time since I last saw such an horrendous attrition rate for Premiership sides, especially those basking in the Olympian heights of top-six status. Who would have thought Pompey capable of seeing off Alex Ferguson?s merry men ? or, for that matter, Barnsley propel Chelsea so rapidly towards the sign marked ?EXIT??

No fluke, either: having seen both games with my own eyes, I can say with some confidence that it wasn?t just a case of either mob getting lucky on the day. Nope, in both cases the wins were totally deserved, and well-thought out in terms of tactics, too. The upshot, of course, is that there?s only one Premiership side definitely in the semi-final draw on Monday, and that?s Pompey, of course. Cardiff have to travel to Boro tomorrow ? not forgetting, of course, a certain local side?s Sunday evening West Country tryst: Songs Of Praise it ain?t, unless you care to count the singing of Psalm 23 by devout away followers, of course.

This year?s competition has to be one of the most wide-open since 1984, when the attrition rate of top First Division sides was so great, even cynics like this column were privately wondering whether or not we could actually manage to ?go all the way?, so to speak. The answer was, of course, a resounding ?NO!?: we played Plymouth at home in the 5th Round, and it was The Pilgrims that progressed, not us. And that?s the very last time I ever help out supporters of rival sides with Cup tickets ? one of our works chappies, an ardent Pilgrim, plus son: and, just after the final whistle, guess who I bumped into, in Halfords Lane? A nice exercise in self-control, that one.

Their tap was only stopped at the semi-final stage, when Watford finally managed to sort them out at Villa Park ? and I ended up catching the same train as their supporters back down to Bristol. (From an Albion home game, on the same afternoon, to a particularly hectic birthday party for one of my colleagues, all in the space of one day. Oh, yes, and that very same bibulous evening, I made the acquaintance of ?Eric?, one of those very old-fashioned diving suits you still sometimes see on antiquated black and white films?. Perhaps it?s better not to ask, eh?)

We?ve still got to get past Rovers ourselves, of course, and if any of our people are already breaking out the bubbly, albeit in mind only, please be advised of the well-known proverb apropos ?many a slip twixt Cup and lip?. Both El Tel and I have extensive experience of similar knock-out competition heartbreak, so we?ll both be journeying to The Memorial Ground tomorrow with all our cynicism glands producing like the clappers.

Mind you, if we DO get past Rovers?? Forty years since our last Cup win, and as good a chance as you?re ever likely to get of pulling off the unthinkable? Looking at what?s left in the competition, still, I reckon we might have at least a reasonable chance of putting any of those to the sword. I wonder what odds the bookies are now giving on us ?going all the way?, given today?s radical alteration to the expected list of runners and riders?

Oh, dear ? here am I warning people NOT to get carried away, and what am I doing? STOPPIT, I say! While we?re on a Rovers theme, as per my remarks the other day, when trolling through the Sunday Times sports section about a fortnight ago, I was intrigued to find, in the inside back cover, a piece about the Watney Cup-winning Rovers side, circa 1972. My goodness, what a lot of Albion connections there, both direct and indirect. So, for your pleasure and delectation, here goes!

First on the list was Dick Sheppard, who paced his beat between the Baggie sticks back in the mid-to-late sixties. Not knowing anything at all about Rovers? finest hour until I read the piece, but knowing quite a lot about Dick and his usual goalkeeping style already, I wasn?t at all surprised to read that he?d been the hero of the hour at the final, eventually pulling off the penalty save (the game was decided on penalties) that sent the silverware hurtling in the general direction of the Pirates? den.

Neither was I surprised to read that at one point when with Rovers, he was out of the game for a whole year, the result of a serious head injury sustained while keeping goal for the (then) Eastville mob. As more mature Baggies will recall, he was always a keen proponent of what some might call ?brave goalkeeping? but others would simply term ?sheer lunacy? eg. his consciousness-altering (and painful!) attempt to prevent QPR?s Rodney Marsh scoring at Wembley in 1967. Sadly, Dick, working in double-glazing after he?d hung up his boots, died, aged 53, in 1999. I do have to wonder whether some or all of the multiplicity of head injuries he sustained over the years were a contributory factor to his early demise.

Next on the list of ex-Baggies is Kenny Stephens, who played for us during the same period as Sheppard, going on to Walsall (all our players seemed to go there to ?die? at that time!), and on to Rovers after that. He now coaches amateur football in the Bristol area, apparently.

We now come to the first of the ?indirect? connections I mentioned earlier. In this case, Don Megson, father of Gary, of course. Much more well-known when with Sheffield Wednesday ? in fact, one of the clearest memories I have of Don was at Hillsborough, playing in defence for The Owls, back in 1967 ? he was manager of Rovers for some five years, from 1972 until 1977. After that, a move to America beckoned, to coach Portland Timbers. And lest I forget, I believe Gary was on their books as a junior, while Dad reigned supreme. Now retired, Meggo senior likes to watch son Gary?s Bolton side whenever he can.

Now here?s another name to conjure with, and for reasons which will shortly become all-too obvious. Remember John Rudge? No, he was never an Albion player, but he sure as hell was Port Vale?s gaffer, the time we played them in our 1993 Wembley Play-Off Final. But now with bloody Stoke City, of all people. And after all the time and energy he devoted to the Vale persuasion, too. To Vale followers, that little stunt must have seemed about as treasonable as naturalised atomic scientist Klaus Fuchs betraying this country by flogging Bomb secrets to the godless commies, during the tail end of the war, and during the period immediately afterwards. Yup ? he?s also on that photo I mentioned ? Rudge, I mean, not Klaus Fuchs! - but as a Rovers striker, albeit a rapidly balding one, back then. A reasonably decent one, too, grabbing some 17 goals for them, over the course of a three year spell at Eastville.

Not the most inspirational of Vale?s leaders, it has to be said: why could they only excavate some 12,000 followers for that game, when with our 40,000-plus contingent, we managed to practically fill our own end? And completely blow them away with our very own version of disgraced record producer Phil Spector?s ?Wall Of Sound?, too?

All answers on a postcard to the usual address, please. Oh ? and I?m also given to understand there is no truth whatsoever in the rumour Rudgie?s seeing a specialist shortly, with the possible aim of undergoing surgical separation of his head from that ghastly flat cap of his!

Given the strong Albion connections I?ve already revealed for your edification, Hereford United-lovers shouldn?t feel left out, either. I refer to Wayne Jones, who joined Rovers as an apprentice pro, then went on to win a single Welsh cap. After he left the playing ranks, he became a physiotherapist, first of all at Notts County, then in Qatar, one of the Gulf States. After that, he became Hereford?s physio, and still is. Loads of Albion connections at Edgar Street, of course, ranging from Tucka Trewick, to the lad they?ve only just sent back, and at our request, apparently ? ?Shergar?.

Turning the clock back to Thursday, the evening saw both myself and ?Im Indoors winging our merry way to Sutton Branch?s meeting, where the principal guest was none other than Ian Hamilton, midfielder in our 1993 play-off winning side, and ? so rumour has it ? dozy World War One general in charge at the Gallipoli campaign, performing disastrously, with the final ?grassing up? to the War Office (and, indirectly, into Prime Minister Asquith?s shell-like ears after that) coming courtesy of Rupert Murdoch?s dad, then a reporter for some Aussie newspaper or other, and not at all averse to grabbing the obligatory thirty pieces of silver in order to get a good story. Now you know where his son got it from.

No Mister Fart that night, sadly. Poor lad?s been running round like something demented, these last few days. He was scheduled to make the trip to Sutton, but had to cry off at the last minute. By ?eck, it?s a tough life being an OAP these days!

And I loved secretary Amanda?s introduction of our erstwhile midfielder, which alluded somewhat to his unfortunate tendency to describe circles, just like yer average Dervish. Or, as Mandy so descriptively put it: ?Just like a cat settling down to have a nice snooze?..? Amanda really does have a wonderful way with words, sometimes.

So what did our lad have to say to us, then? Lots, as it happened, so here?s the condensed version, just like that nice Mister Campbell?s soup! A late start, unfortunately, but Ian soon made up for that with a practical demonstration of why he?s made his second career one in sales.

Very much reminiscent of the sort of chap you used to find flogging dodgy-looking gear in old-fashioned London markets: gregarious, outgoing and assertive, a smidgen of the sort of accent you used to hear coming from the West Ham lot, and all that interspersed with some really well-told tales. Alan Sugar, finding, in Ian, very much of a kindred spirit, would have lapped him up like gravy, no doubt about it. Normally, I lump those emanating from that part of the world in the same bracket as serial killers (gobby, rude with it, and loathsome to a ?T?, as far as I?m concerned), but once the lad got into his stride, any residual prejudice on my part towards that kind of character vanished as swiftly as the morning dew. Apparently, Ian works for Beacon part-time, now, usually on matchdays, but he still manages to get to see Baggies games as well. Since he hung up his boots, the business side of his life has very much come to the fore.

Regarding the current state of the top six championship clubs, he?s absolutely astonished at the staying-power of both Bristol City and Stoke at that end of the table, given the meagre amount of ackers available to both. Now we?ve managed to put together two straight League wins, he?s hopeful we can build further upon that, and regain the promotion spot we vacated during our recent bad spell. The Wednesday game was a pretty hard one to crack, he thought. Mostly down to the way the home side packed both defence and midfield, which, of course, made successfully penetrating their rearguard a pretty difficult ask.

Some lovely ? but quite unrepeatable! ? tales about his time at Sheffield United, with Warnock as manager, too. But even while working for such an unpredictably capricious and volatile character as Colin, he found the last few seasons of his playing career pretty tedious. He only found real happiness while at home with his family. He regards quitting ?The best decision I ever made?.

Having said all that, he had to admit he did enjoy the recent 1993 side reunion, held at The Hawthorns. In retrospect, he found that season ?A bit of a roller-coaster ride?. Ossie, and his constant exhortations for the side to ?Attack, attack, attack!....?, and just as swiftly followed by Albion Number Two Keith Burkinshaw, in typical Yorkshire fashion, and most certainly not as attack-minded as the little Argentine genius, moaning his bag off over it. Sad, because after Ossie and some of the others went, the chemistry that really made that 1993 side tick was gone.

Most members of that side, instead of regarding the Wembley trip as the pinnacle of their season, reckon there was much more to be savoured the night we played Swansea in the second leg of the semis. Ian?s entire family came down for the game. How did he rate Ossie as a manager? ?Top drawer,? was our lad?s instantaneous reply. ?Even when we lost, it was fun!? Other people on the coaching staff etc. he?d rated? Keith (Burkinshaw) and Denis Mortimer ? Keith, for all his grumpy exterior was a good coach, apparently. As for the late Ray Harford, ?One of the best coaches I worked under.? Having said that, Ian thought the fact he suspected the 4-5-1 system Ray operated was being ?found out? by other clubs was part of the reason why he decided to move to QPR around Christmas time.

Alan Buckley? Oh dear. ?He never changed the system: it was always 4-4-2. Very reluctant to change the format in any way, and was still operating that same system with Grimsby. Having said all that, he ?Loved Alan to bits? but Ossie was still the tops for him.

Apropos the contentious issue of an excess of foreign players in the game, and their attitude on the pitch, he does, like other ex-players, have misgivings. But this was tempered somewhat by his own admission that he really didn?t know members of our current squad at all well. He regarded Barnett as a bit erratic, OK when he had time on the ball. He?s very much a Greening fan: ?He makes things tick,? was the way the lad put it. Tex (now inured, of course) and Koren? Very similar playing styles. Brunt? ?We?ve yet to see the best of him.? He?d very much like to see Mogga go with a 4-5-1 system, and see what happens.

Any issues about supporters moaning about his style of play? ?I got a lot of stick, but supporters pay their money??? And yes, sometimes his parents and wife got a small lump of grief from supporters on a bad day, but that only represented a small minority of the mostly decent remainder. In that same train of thought, he did remember what a small but highly objectionable section of supporters did to young Scott Darton, in effect running him right out of the game. Possibly bearing that in mind, he did say that he?d much rather his son have some kind of a decent career behind him before going into football. As for his own time in the game, despite occasional unpleasantness and disappointment, ?I wouldn?t take it back for anything?.?

Also very much in retrospect, he did concede, now, that he may have exited the Hawthorns somewhat prematurely. Not long after he?d left, so had Denis Smith (I got the impression those two didn?t quite hit it off), with Brian Little taking over not long after that.

Team spirit in the current squad? ?Excellent? At long last Mowbray has won over the fans.? And, on a vaguely-related theme, he wished he?d been born slightly later, for the simple reason that had that been the case, he?d have picked up considerably more money, and enjoyed sharing a dressing room with some very gifted players indeed. Despite previous comments about the formation we played, he does like the fluidity of the current system, which seems to confuse defenders.

The new Wembley? He wishes they?d retained the twin towers when they rebuilt it. As for the concept of the FA Cup semi-finals being held at the FA?s pecuniary black hole, he?s not in favour. ?Should be held at a neutral ground ? but it?s all about money, really?.? His personal Baggies Player Of The Year? ?Greening: great vision and work-rate for a player.? Piped up a wag in the audience, ?he?s only changed since he turned to God!?

He was a great fan of Ossie when he played for Spurs, also Glenn Hoddle. Although he was, by nature and upbringing, an Arsenal supporter, Ian would walk willingly onto The Shelf at White Hart Lane to see the two of them strut their stuff for Spurs, normally regarded by Gooners in precisely the same light as we do The Dingles. And, at that point, there was a very sudden break arranged: our hero had just been ?taken short? and couldn?t possibly put the act of micturition off for even one moment longer!

Returned, and bladder now reduced to a much more comfortable size, Ian then continued from where he?d left off. The PFA? Ian wants to se the union becoming more proactive on various contentious issues, such as the dangers faced by players off the pitch, eg: alcoholism, gambling to excess, and so forth. There had been much in the public domain about Gazza getting ?sectioned?, but these things also happen to players further down the league, but with much less publicity (and, presumably, much less in the way of sympathy attached to lower league players ending up in a similarly bad mental state).

Ian also believes that the current non-contributory pension calculation for players, earnings-based, essentially, is wrong. He thinks ex-players should be entitled to a pension based upon a flat rate sum, irrespective of how high or low they end up by the time they retire. When he was at Lincoln, he saw some players coming in on a three-month contract: from that, whether there?s a further offer depends upon the sort of season you?ve had. Some end up hired on a month-to-month contractual basis only.

Football was a working-class game, but it?s been taken over by the middle classes these days, like the rugby. You?ve got to be wealthy to support Man United or Chelsea, on a regular basis. A lot of clubs struggle with finances because of reliance on gate receipts with very few alternative revenue streams, whereas the Premier league clubs obtain millions in that way. He isn?t happy how things have panned out for such clubs, but their grounds are always full every week. He?d like to see some sort of salary cap imposed.

The England gaffer? He didn?t think a lot of the McClaren era, or the period immediately before that, either, but he backs the new guy. Sven didn?t have a bad record, actually, but it didn?t stop him getting the boot.

How involved was he in Beacon Radio? A fair bit: he?d been recruited via corporate functions he?d done, Q and A sessions, and when the station was looking for an ?expert commentator?, his name was put forward by someone. After a trial, he was given a contract. Sadly, he won?t be going to Bristol, as their technology isn?t up to the job of directly plugging in with beacon, so they?re having to do it via BRMB. Can we do it? Bless him, he thinks we can shave it by the odd goal!

So there you have it: Thursday night with Sutton Branch, all in a nutshell. Mind you, our former midfielder?s mention of Sunday night during that meeting brought with it a sharp reminder that I shall be hovering over a bit of a personal dilemma when it comes to the contentious business of choosing what I?m going to wear to the game.

My original intention had been to enter completely into the spirit of the thing by wearing my 1968 replica shirt, the one with the stripes in, and regulation white sleeves with blue cuffs. (The white Wembley number I can wear at A Certain Place Only, so that one will be completely out of the reckoning, of course.) Just one problem there, folks ? for both of our last two League wins, I?ve had on my upper body a green and yellow striped shirt of late 1970?s vintage, which is hardly the same as my authentic-looking blue and white stripey number, is it?

Now for the cruncher: do I continue wearing the later model shirt, despite the fact it has little relevance concerning the life and times of Messrs. Ashman, Astle, Brown, Kaye, Clark etc., or do I go with the so-called ?zeitgeist?, thereby giving the nod to my stripey number? Or should I grab hold of a dress reaching halfway to where the sun don?t shine, and all swirly with multi-coloured psychedelic patterns, at that? Backcombed hair? Blimey, think of the effect of all that hairspray on the ozone layer! Demos, Vietnam War, uppity French students in Paris, idiot-boy Nixon running for US president? And a Prime Minister who spent much of his time trying to convince us all that recent devaluation of the pound, as per the recent act of Chancellor Denis Healey, wouldn?t materially affect those in our pockets?

OK, then ? and just think. Back then, most of the ills that currently beset the world hadn?t even been thought of. But despite all the above, everyone seemed much happier. Must have been all that weed floating about at the time! High time we got some kind of smile back onto the faces of West Bromwich people by getting us into the semis, then, isn?t it?

I had meant to say something more about the injury to Tex ? an anterior cruciate ligament, is my understanding of the situation, poor sod ? but time has beaten me to the punch. Our players have expressed a desire to do well in both Cup and League for him, given the poor sod won?t be back until the autumn, at the very least. ?Let?s win it for Tex? seems to be the current Hawthorns mantra. He?s returned to Portugal, apparently, with a view towards undergoing reconstructive surgery on the injured knee within the space of a few weeks.

There are some doubts, still, whether Bednar (does he REALLY drive a Vauxhall Astra, as one website claimed earlier in the day?) will be fit: having emulated a Certain Revered Baggie Person by scoring in every round thus far, it would be a real shame to see him get denied the chance of keeping on schedule to better that further up the line.

The match fitness of Hoefkens is also a worry: publicly, Mogga reckons he?ll be OK for Rovers, but just like any self-respecting Scots person, ?Ah hae ma doots?.? According to the Express And Dingle, Slusarski, who banged in four for the reserves in midweek, will be on standby should any one of our more regular crew not come up to scratch through injury. Mind you, his first team experience being restricted to one appearance as sub only, would he really be the right kind of bloke to sling in at the deep end?

Rovers? They reckon a flu big has ripped through their playing staff, which accounted for their relatively poor showing at Donny Rovers, the other night. Striker Richard Walker, and midfielders Chris Lines and David Pipe remain doubts after succumbing to the bug, but coach Paul Trollope is confident that they will recover by Sunday evening. On-loan midfielder Andy Pulis is cup tied and can?t feature for the Rovers anyway.

So there you have it. After today?s results in the other ties, one of the best opportunities we?ll ever have of ?going all the way?. Normally the entire thing is well and truly sewn up by the big boys by the time you reach this stage of the proceedings ? but, as we?ve already seen, only one Premiership side is definitely through, this far, and if Boro fail to sort Cardiff out, the results could be even more embarrassing for the top flight. (Care to claim the Championship is by far the inferior competition of the two, now, Mister Lawrenson?)

Because of the dimensions and capacity of the ground, we may not be able to go down to ?Bristle? mob-handed, but I?m sure that what we lack in numbers, we?ll quickly make up for in terms of noise produced. We can genuinely do this ? so COME ON YOU BAGGIE BOYS!

And Finally?.. He did it last Saturday, and again last Thursday evening. Won the card the Supporters Club always put around the Hawthorns pub prior to a home game, did my hubby, making him some forty squid better off, as a result, then, not content with that, scooped the pot yet again at Thursday?s Sutton Branch meeting. As a result of that one, I?m now an Albion jumper better off than I have been, of late.

But my other half?s success at this particular extracurricular activity now makes me seriously wonder whether or not his luck might be fated to run to a third time, and one even more profitable than the previous two could ever be.

After all, doesn?t folklore insist that these things always come in threes? I wonder if 'Im Indoors fancies doing my Lottery for me next week?

 - Glynis Wright

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