Striker chaos

10 September 2001

Following the substitutions of both Jason Roberts and Danny Dichio during the 4-0 win over Manchester City at the weekend, Albion have announced that BOTH players have managed to break a foot and will be out of action for about six weeks. The news comes as a major blow to the club, although they were heading into tomorrow night's cup game against Swindon without Dichio anyway as Sunderland had refused permission for him to be cup tied.

The club have refuted suggestions that Roberts was rushed back too soon from his previous broken foot (the same one), and that a few more weeks on the sidelines would have made no difference. However, it doesn't lessen the blow - Albion are down to just two fit strikers in Taylor and Dobie, with James Quinn for cover.

The injury to Dichio doesn't seem to have put manager Gary Megson off signing him after enthusing about his performance at the weekend. Dichio and Roberts proved a handful for top-of-the-table City throughout the first half, and Dichio has stated publicly his desire to join the club permanently.

And, as if that wasn't bad enough, Megson himself is being linked with the vacant managers job at Coventry City following their parting company with Gordon Strachan this morning. However, with them being supposedly £25 million in debt and now having to find another million to buy out Strachan's contract, their spending power now looks more limited than Albion's. Having spent the last year carefully building a strong team at Albion, will he really want to leave?

And speaking of team building, there is still no news on the Darren Moore saga other than a comment from Megson on local radio after the game on Saturday. Nobody can seem to remember the exact wording, but the jist of it was:

"Darren's agent rang me to say that unless he got this and that, he wouldn't be coming. I said fine, then he won't be coming."

Previous Stories:

  27 August 2001:  Still no Moore

  26 August 2001:  More sweets for the lads

  25 August 2001:  Moore finally on the way?

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