Superbob frozen out

16 March 2003

In case you were wondering, some of the chanting of "Super" Bob Taylor's name at today's game against Chelsea may just have been down to an article in the Daily Star Sunday, which talks about the way Taylor's career has effectively been finished by Albion manager Gary Megson. Taylor is quoted as saying:

"I have no chance at all of getting into the first team. I haven't spoken to the manager in four months or he hasn't spoken to me in four months. I don't train with the first team. I train with the kids, the YTS's. I've had no contact with the manager. I hardly ever see him. We don't train with each other at the training ground. They go one way, we go the other."

Rumours have been circulating for some time among Albion fans about Taylor's exile from the first team and the reasons behind it, with one explanation being that he challenged Megson about the treatment of Lee Marshall, also banished to train with the youngsters for disciplinary reasons despite only joining in the summer and scoring Albion's first ever Premiership goal.

BOING readers who've watched the reserve games and the training sessions have been telling us this for some time, and despite Megson saying a while back that everyone in the squad was still part of his plans, and had a chance to earn a first team place, it was going to be hard for Taylor and Marshall to do this because he never saw them during training and rarely turned up to reserve games. So it was quite a surprise to hear Megson, interviewed after the Chelsea game by Tom Ross, saying exactly the opposite - that he saw Taylor every day in training and in the reserves. He did admit, however, that at 36, and having been injured for a few months, he felt it was unlikely that Taylor would be the same player that people remembered him as.

Not really in much of a position to claim a first team place then, is he?

PS: As a final sting, the article says that Megson has sent "shock waves through West Brom by refusing to commit himself long term to the club". It adds that Megson admitted to being contracted to Albion for the next three years, but added ominously that no one could predict the future...

Previous Stories:

  04 March 2003:  Blues k/o moved

  27 February 2003:  Ashley Read RIP

  25 February 2003:  Ronnie Wood - Albion Fan

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