The Madeley diaries: Baggies on tour

No pre-season tour is complete without a spot of good-natured ribbing about clothing.

Given his dress sense during his first season at The Hawthorns – cowboy boots are never a good start – Ishmael Miller arrived in the Netherlands odds-on favourite to produce the first offending item.

He did not disappoint with a pair of ‘Battenburg’ trainers that ensured a week of abuse.

The yellow, light blue and pink Adidas footwear was so bad the normally silent goalkeeping coach, Joe Corrigan, led the banter.

The only man offering any comfort to Miller was the barber responsible for defender Pele’s new haircut.

The red mohican that the Cape Verde international has chosen for the new season could hardly go unnoticed.

Good news from the Netherlands, where summer signing Luke Moore is looking pacy on and off the training field.

The £3m capture from Villa is looking keen on the field but back at the hotel he has taken his new team mates to the cleaners – on the Nintendo DS.

Moore wiped the floor with an eight-man field in a Mario Kart ‘grand prix’, although a steward’s enquiry has already been called after his previous gaming exploits gave him the advantage of a souped up van – effectively a battering ram on wheels.

Jonathan Greening was less successful, although his decision to play as the go-karting princess caused plenty of amusement.

Satellite navigation is one of the wonders of the early 21st century, but in this part of the Netherlands it is not quite faultless.

The hi-tech system that brought us 450 miles from the Black Country to Venlo without the hint of a wrong turn, yet could not manage the final three miles from the centre of town to Albion’s training base.

First came a dead end then a trip in the wrong direction down a one-way street before we were delivered to our final destination – the centre of a Dutch housing estate.

Eventually a friendly local came to the rescue. So thanks to SamSam, who definitely got the better of TomTom on this occasion.

Incidentally, Tony Mowbray’s mobile phone was rarely parted from his ear at the team hotel yesterday.

We later found out why, as Marek Cech headed to join his new teammates…