Saturday was like a re-run of Christmas; having achieved a replay with Charlton it is the equivalent to those socks and dodgy jumper you received on December 25th, unwanted, writes Albion blogger Jarrod Hill.
A fellow baggie said to me on Friday: “I do not care whether we lose or win, but we do not need a replay”.
A poor game and a below par performance has resulted in the very thing we did not want, but looking at it positively, we now have an excellent chance to progress in the competition and meet Peterborough in the next round.
Looking at the draw it does present us with an opportunity to progress further, but do we really want to??
Personally I still love the FA Cup and want us to go as far as possible, but many fans see it as a distraction to our push for promotion.
This month we are witnessing the madness of the transfer window, and although both our manager and chairman have declared their collective belief that they prefer to do the majority of transfer business in the summer, we still find ourselves being linked to various players.
The dilemma we face is that the type of player we need to be looking at are players that can operate in the Premiership.
Whatever ins and outs happen this month I have total faith in Mowbray.
Megson did a wonderful job for our club and achieved so much, I will always cherish the two promotions he gave us, (especially the first one).
Robson somehow achieved the impossible with survival Sunday, (maybe more luck than judgment though).
Yet I still feel that Mowbray will achieve more, much more. The style of football he has introduced is a joy to watch, we are winning games, and the squad is at its strongest I can remember.
I know things can change quickly in football (we only have to look just down the road for proof), but I feel he is building something special.
Yes there will be glitches and some below par performances along the way, and lets face it we are Albion, so you can expect nothing to go perfectly, but ultimately I and the majority of fans I talk to are 100% behind our manager.
Simply put, In Mowbray we trust!!!!!
Albion fans, what do you think? Have your say below
27 Comments
100% correct BUT to keep him we need promotion,on the subject of the fa cup,if we beat charlton and “the posh” which is easily possible then the draw may be favourable but then all the fans get excited ,being top of the league means we are better than some prem clubs and definately in a better frame of mind ,so does that give us a real chance of cup glory ..who knows but the league must be no 1 priority (unfortunately)!!!
When we went up the first time under Megson, we had a cup run to the quarter finals then, only beaten by Fulham 1-0 at home. Can history repeat itself??
I just wonder……..
Yes I am a TM man but but we MUST improve our dodgy defence with quality defenders and get another keeper as good as Deano if we are to go up and survive. Don’t understand at all the subs on Sat.Was Robson back to make those decisions? And although I love what TM has done I cannot understand buying MacDonald who looks iffy and has done for 18 months. I also worry about Barnet a lot—he cost 2.5 mill and just ain’t the biz. Yes we have the best midfield in the world but TM and MV who were both top defenders please get it right at the back—
I was hoping for a mid-table prem team in the draw, someone like Newcastle, Spurs or Reading. That would allow us to see where we REALLY are in comparison to the premiership sides and which areas, if any, we needed to strengthen. It wouldn’t matter so much if we went out, but what TM and the players could’ve learnt about how good they really are would have been extremely beneficial. If that happens after beating Posh (assuming we get that far and do) it will be after the window closes and too late to do anything about it until June.
Hi Jarrod. I like the title of this weeks blogg - where ever did you get it from ??
I also now think a cup run would not be the worst thing to happen to us. i believe we have the squad and the manager to be able to select a cup team without harming our promotion chances, which MUST remain our priority.
If the cup gives a few fringe players a game or allows TM to experiment with formation then I think its a good thing. I think we can beat both charlton and Posh - and then we will probably get a prem team - and that will be interesting..
As for the transfer window - we don’t need any emergency buys so IF a good player becomes available then fair enough, but for the first time ever we may not buy anyone now but wait till the summer - like all the best teams do !
Glen.
While I know what you mean about the defence creaking under pressure, this is more about the style we choose to play than the quality of defender. Three points for a win means that one win is worth three draws (ask the Wolves.) We have Alby, Cesar and Pele all looking good at this level. Barnett and McDonald are both young players learning their trade, they are both excellent physically and show the right attitude to learning, the rest will come, give them a chance (and the managers judgement.) We started the season with the Dingles rubbing their hands at our ’stars’ leaving the sinking ship while the mighty Wolves would march on to promotion and some of our own fans worrying that so many new players would take until christmas to bed in. Well christmas has been and gone and we’re top of the league. Let’s trust TM and enjoy our current position, we’re not gloating, most of us are hoping for promotion not taking it for granted. Anyway I’ll go before this turns into a blog.
Come on you Baggies. 1931 and 2008.
You want to be careful Jarrod,
“in Mowbray we trust” some of our lesser enlightened neighbours will
accuse you of pilfering their catchphrase.
On a serious note,
you are right, for me TM can do little wrong.
The fact that he was disenchanted with our last two away performances, illustrates his desire/expectancy not only to win,
but win with aplomb.
I know he is not so naive as to think every game will be a
exhibition in football,
but to show displeasure when it`s not,
is fine by me.
The FA cup……i stated last week
that i`m in two minds about this competition,
it`s good to win games at any time…..but at the detriment of promotion ?
The classic example of this is very recent history………….
Midlesboro,
we played superbly well in the replay only to lose on penalties,
we played so well the next day i made a statement to some work colleagues that i could not see us losing another game that season……….err whatta mistaka to make.
A mistake so bad, that it ranks along side the 80 year old couple
who wanted musically cultured holiday coupled with peace and quiet and chose……….Ibiza.
200,000 is no money today so mcdonald is worth a gamble,you could buy 10 players and only one has to be half reasonable to make you a profit!!!!
On a completely different theme, has anyone read Adrian Chiles book??
It is an excellent read and very funny, a must read for all Baggies fans, and no i am not Adrian Chiles publisher!!!
Also are we on the box Saturday?? Due to the 5.20pm kick off??
Yes Bomber on Sky mate
Bomber - yeah i read it… its excellent.
makes you realise that there are fans, and there are FANS !!!!
Any footy fan will enjoy it - not just albion fans. My only critisism of it is that it was written in the season we went down - but i guess thats part of the story !
Lets never forget what Gary Megson did to save this club.He built the foundations in which we now sit apon.Ifeel TM is also doing a fantastic job keep it up TM we are ALL behind you. PS. just wish Jearomy Peace had a bit more respect for Gary Megson whatever their differences are.
Lincoln Baggie 12 - I think every albion fan is grateful to Megson for what he did here - from relegation fodder to playoffs to promotion - little short of a miracle.
But he is now the manager of bolton - a team who are likely to be our rivals - both on AND off the pitch. There is plenty of talk about him wanting some of our players so if Peace dislikes him - and doesn’t take his calls then thats fine by me.
I also remember the great days we had under Atkinson - but i also remember how he tore the team apart after he left…. Meggo has his place in our history - its his place in our future i am more concerned about !!
I hear what you say Happy Baggie i hated Atkinson and do still loathe Man U for stripping our club but until and if Gary does the same i will still have a soft spot fot him.
Everyone knows the extent of damage
done when Atkinson went to Man U.
But believe me this is nothing to the damage he intended.
I was talking to a certain ex
Albion ex England left back,
on BFR`s departure Robson and Moses
ALREADY knew they were following him,
and with his brash ridiculously extrovert egotism Atkinson
PROMISED Regis,Cantello,and aforementioned left back that they would be following him too.
Mr Millichip consequently scuppered this plot,
what amazed me is when they took him back for a second term.
Going back to the blogg - I trust TM cos I think he has the vision and style to make my team great again.
I think if / when we get promoted in May, his style of football will keep us there for many years to come…
Its not often that a proper “footballing” team gets relegated is it ? Its usually the teams who play fear football, or who buy and use negative players who end up getting relegated. The “flair” teams, the ones who can really play football tend to do ok.
We will never win the premier league (not in my lifetime and I’m only 44), we may never get into the top 4 - it may be 20 years before we get into europe - but the longer we can hold onto Mowbray, the more success this club will have - even if success means not being relegated.
We will need to buy good players, we will need to develop those players and we will need to send younger players out on loan - but Tm has all this in his plan. People sometimes compare us to Arsenal - but thats because in my opinion TM is very similar to Wenger.
Long may he reign !!
TM was a great player and is now proving to be a top draw Manager of integrity, not a combination easily found.
I was v.young in 49 when I first started supporting my home team down at the front, by the little white wall at the Halfords Lane corner. What a joy to see our current team trying to win by playing good football, after all this is the style of our heritage.
Yes £200K is peanuts for a decent player like McDonald but I worry that he may not be able win a 70/30 ball. Miller is v.good on the ball but also finds difficulty winning it. Oh for the likes and guts of Clive Clark. Guys winning is not enough, surviving gloriously is better.
wbaforever - it always amazed me that BFR didn’t come in for Regis And Decca.. glad to hear sir Bert put a block on it.
Has anyone else seen the new dvd “250 greatest goals” ??
Can’t believe there are whole sections devoted to Kamara and Koumas and nowt for lee Hughes.
He did a terrible thing, but he has done his time. He scored over 100 goals for us but now he is being written out of our history in a Stalin-esque type fashion.
I’ve had a good feeling about Mowbray since he joined. We are onto a winner with this guy fellow Baggies. I notice that the fans are starting to sing his name. Let’s give him our full support, through thick and thin.
Happy.
Hate to disagree with you but I’m with Lincoln and Forever. Big Fat Ron was a legend in his own lunch time. He is credited with building a great team, people forget that apart from Brendan Batson he inherited the rest (Ronnie Allen’s scouting and Don Howe’s youth policy provided them.) What BFR did was take the most talented set of players at the club since 1961 when I started watching them and fail to win anything. Not satisfied with that, he tore the guts out of the team when he left. In his book he states that the Albion board couldn’t wait to take the money, they actually said that Robson was not for sale. Until ‘Captain Fantastic’ started sulking and effectively sabotaging the club by spending the whole game in the centre circle, he was 18 months into a 5 year contract at the time and the club had paid his wages through two broken legs as a young and not highly promising player. The fact that this club not only took back BFR as manager but also Captain Judas speaks volumes for the pride of various boards at the club. Luckily the fans are loyal, patient and forgiving.
The real bully - i’m not sure you HAVE disagreed with me. All I said about BFR was we had great days with him - which is true. But he then ripped the team apart - not only by taking Roson & Moses but in doing so by breaking the spirit of the team - so we are agreed in that.
To be fair to BFR I think he also brought in Gary Owen, Peter Barnes, Martin Jol plus a few others, and his style also brought out the best in players like Ally & Bomber Brown and wee Willie on the wing - he got a good team playing great football.
we may have won nothing under him, but we played in europe, got to 2 FA cup semis and only missed winning the league when the bad weather hit our style of play that December.
Your point about robbo is spot on - in HIS book he admits to telling BFR “don’t forget me” when he left… I was gutted when we took BFR back as manager - not so bad with Robbo as players come and go.
My point to Lincoln is that I just worry that Megson may be another ex-manager that tries to rip our team apart.
TRB.
Re: Bryan Robson
Absolutely 100% spot on mate,
i well remember his petulance when
a move was first rebuked.
A night game against Boro (i think)
when he effectively manufactured his
move by not even pretending to try,
the deserved abuse he got from the fans was LOUD.
I`m not exactly
Marvo the memory man
and after deliberation, that night
match was against Grasshoppers Zurich, in the uefa cup………
definitely…err probably……perhaps…..HELP!
I know that behind the scene’s players get “knobbled”, but I prefer to put my trust in TM and Peace’s ability to manage such situations.
I may be wrong but I do not think that their is much in the way of a rapport between Peace and Meggs.So perhaps judgements will be clouded by former issues? In addition I believe that TM places a great deal of kudos in team spirit and it seems that a kernel of the players have reciprocated that philosophy in some of there press utterings.
But then hey I may be naive, but better the optimist than a Dingle who are currently tearing MM apart over two foreign players thay know so little about.
Happy.
Wasn’t having a go at you but BFR and Captain Judas are two topics that are guaranteed to get me going. I tend to agree with you on most things and it seems we’re not a million miles apart on this.
Forever.
Thanks for your memories, I’d never have remembered who it was against but the picture of the ‘wonderful’ Bryan walking around in the middle of the pitch are etched in my brain forever. It’s not that I blame either of them for leaving us, what gets to me is the fans who have a rose tinted view of these two, especially Robson and yet slag off Gary Megson (and yes I will be cursing him if he tries upsetting our applecart, although I think these rumours are more likely the press making 2+2=5.)
Keep up the high standard of entries on here, anyone who doesn’t know what I mean visit the Wolves site.
Sorry just read the title and thought back to the line I heard last season: “In Mick We Trust”. Not trying to have a pop, justing saying how quickly things can turn.
I’m not sure whether I support Mick or not any more but seeing how well TM has got you playing, good luck to you
26 Wulf.
Read last sentence of 25, that’s the difference.