The Madeley diaries: Last day on tour

Far be it from this newspaper to encourage vandalism, but a polite tip of cap goes to whichever Albion fan spotted a unique graffiti opportunity on Saturday.

Players from both sides had to run the gauntlet of autograph hunters on their trek to the dressing rooms and Koln defender Tobias Nickenig stood still for too long.

The 23-year-old finally made it back to the sports hall – with “WBA” scrawled in blue pen across his white number 15.

What’s more, he appeared not to have noticed. Let’s hope he saw the funny side.

If Albion’s players looked tired in their final tour match, then the location of the dressing rooms didn’t help.

Both games during their week on the German-Dutch border were taken to small towns, giving fans of Borussia Monchengladbach and Cologne who live outside the cities a better chance to see their heroes.

The trouble was that the grounds in both Goch and Euskirchen were athletics stadiums – and Saturday’s venue had no dedicated dressing rooms.

So the teams changed in the neighbouring sports hall, leaving them to walk the best part of 500 yards to the pitch.

The entrance was so long and the route so blocked by fans that the game began almost 15 minutes late.

Among the problems of playing football at athletics venues is the presence of random track and field equipment around the pitch.

The high-jump crashmat was much too close for comfort on Saturday as Leon Barnett discovered rather painfully.

The defender challenged for a far-post header, over-shot the byline, hit the mat and somersaulted to a hault. Thankfully he was none the worse for wear.

Albion midfielder James Morrison has revealed how the players had an early warning sign of what was to come against FC Koln.

The squad were so exhausted after a week of fitness work that captain Jonathan Greening fell asleep at the lunch table before they left for Euskirchen.

The journey to the game didn’t help either. Dutch driver Hank kept some of the tired players awake with a selection of country and western music.

After driving through torrential rain between Venlo and Calais yesterday, it was pleasing to see the white cliffs of Dover emerge into view from our ferry yesterday.

Neither myself or photographer David Hamilton expected the homecoming we received, as the Red Arrows performed an impromptu fly-past in formation as we decended from the ship. We trust the Express & Star won’t be receiving the bill.

And finally… Final results are in from the hotly-contested Super Mario Kart tournament. Luke Moore claimed a convincing win with captain Greening trailing in last place.