Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
Albion blog: Chocolate Teapot
Tuesday 24th March 2009, 9:10AM GMT.
Albion blogger Jarrod Hill has found the perfect likeness for the Baggies’ attempt to compete in the Premier League – what should happen next?
Chocolate teapot is the best way I can describe this seasons attempt to compete in the Premier League – looks good but is ultimately ineffective.
Our manager Tony Mowbray’s after match comments alluded to the fact we have found the spending power of established top flight teams a difficult gap to bridge. I understand his feelings, but have we used our funds wisely?
He can be described as being a little stubborn in his belief on how the game should be played, but some could argue we lack the financial clout in order to attract players good enough to play that style in the toughest league in the world.
It was another clash of styles on Saturday, Bolton are very much a Gary Megson side, tough to break down and physically strong. Yet again I find myself repeating the words we did enough to win the game but didn’t – to be honest it has driven me nuts this season.
Our failure to win on Saturday has surely secured our place in the Championship next season and, although difficult to accept, we should be looking at putting together a plan of action for attempting to bounce straight back up.
Big decisions will have to be made and quickly, do we keep Mowbray? Who do we let go? Who do we look to sign?
Personally I would keep the manager, his experience is growing and he knows the Championship as well as anyone. I would hope his second attempt at the Premier League would prove less of a learning curve, having been there before and hopefully learn from his mistakes.
The subject of who to let go will depend on what offers we receive, but in the main I would hope to keep the majority of the squad together.
James Morrison and Jonas Olsson have proved to be capable of playing top flight football and I would be loathe to let them go. Robert Koren, Jonathan Greening and a number of others also know what it takes to win the Championship and again keeping them would be crucial.
Fringe players such as Carl Hoefkens, Pele and Jared Hodgkiss may look to leave for regular football and the list of potential incomings will depend on who goes.
Obviously much will depend on the financial implications of being relegated, but our chairman Jeremy Peace has publicly stated that we are prepared for the drop in revenue – good job too.
One thing I do want us to develop or recruit for next season is a back bone, a bit of bottle for the games when our football will not win the game alone.
Sponsored Links
Business Awards
Read the full story here
Full coverage of awards celebrating the region's best businesses.
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Express & Star and Shropshire Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
LIVE traffic updates
Road, rail and airport - latest
Our new, live traffic and travel updates service - check before you set out.
OUR NEW APP
Get the new E&S app
Download the Express & Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
expressandstar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
I’m not gloating, i’m a Wolves fan offering an opinon for whats it worth. I hoped you would stay up-for midlands clubs in general. There are a lot of smaller clubs in the premiership will less illustrious history than ours who are established up there. Mowbray has spent over 20 million in transfers now while that doesn’t compare to the big four, its still a decent amount. He has taken massive gambles on unproven talent from abroad and he didn’t replace Phillips. Mowbray cocked up bigtime there and his tactics have been very naive. I remember saying last summer that they should sign James Beattie, somebody who has premiership experience. I also think Carson was a huge gamble, his confidence has took a massive knock after that clanger for England. Finally, who was the last player who come through your youth setup and a name for himself? Maybe thats something that should be addressed. You’ll bounce back and maybe Mowbray will be a better manager for it.
Report abuse
Agree with you Jarrod.
Sad that TM seems to think “bottle” and “backbone” equate to kicking the opposition which need not be the case.
Also, did you notice the Liverpool goal at the weekend?
Goal keeper launches ball to Liverpool player downfield who belts it into the net!
Not the TM way.
TM is right in the respect that you do need to play possession football in the Prem, BUT it has to have a scoring edge which needs skill and speed in the final third of the pitch to achieve.
Also, most established Prem teams have the ability to mix their football up and adapt as the game progresses, hence the way Liverpool scored at w/end!
Yes. Keep TM and all the successful players but there could be an initial backlash in the Championship especially as other teams will work extra hard to beat us.
With all the great Albion fans supporting the team, we should do well, so get your season tickets bought!!
Report abuse
1. some decent points but in all fairness our manager does not really have much input into transfers and it was down to the Chairman over Phillips but thats water under the bridge so to speak. The club on a whole has addressed the youth system and has some very promising young talent coming through, but keeping hold of youngster’s is difficult when the “big” clubs come sniffing around.
I agree TM has spent 20 million but he has sold 16 million worth of players not making excuses just staing facts (I sound like rafa)
Report abuse
We would be foolish to sack Tony Mowbray. He is rebuilding the club, there are youngsters in the background, the football ethic is the correct approach. Our problem in the main is FINISHING. Something we did with ease last year. Would Phillips have cut it for us? Who knows? I personally think not and I think Kevin knew it too. Water under the bridge anyway. I am of the opinion we should go all out attack for the last few games. We can’t do any worse and what is there to lose? Might as well go in a blaze of glory, rockets and fireworks. Much more fun. On the plus side, we have unearthed Dorrans, Olsson and maybe Martis. Morrison, Koren, Greening and Robinson are good enough to play in the Prem. The nucleus is there if we keep them. Brunt is improving too. Sensible pruning is all we need.
Report abuse
NO OUR BIGGEST PROBLEM IS DEFENDING
Report abuse
I accept TM is inexperienced at this level. An even bigger reason I would have thought to have brought some experience into the team.
he has not spent wisely and will Peace trust him with the cash again?
Report abuse
I disagree. Mowbray should be sacked. He has done nothing but weaken our squad with his poor purchases. His tactics are naïve to say the least, he is unbelievably stubborn and his post match comments about his footballing beliefs make me cringe! When he came to our club we had several players who were of Premiership quality, Kumas, Davis, Gera, Mcshane, Camara. Who do we have now? Olson and Morrison? That’s about your lot.
Report abuse
makelele just passed the ball to the nearest man..keptit simple and did all the dirty work better than anyone. and players like that don’t seem to be expensive. george boateng i said at the start of the season, who can play a bit aswell. don’t understand TM does my head in with his “well im gonna stick to my beliefs” you need somesort of backbone in the premier league and someone whos gonna take responsibility. greenings no captain and i really don’t think he’s good enough physically for this league. 20 mill basically went on the players we had last season. i agreewith the dingle who said beattie. better than luke moore and probably cheaper.i rate chris brunt butnopoint playing him at all.he doesnt run at the defence and wen he whips a beauty in has anyone been in the box apart from 1 player.no good.simpsons overrated doesn’t look interested.i wish i could tell mowbray what i think but he obviously wouldn’t listen to any1 with his poor signings. really poor decisions. and its ok to say he made wrong decisions now, i could have told him that at start of season.
Report abuse
7.. They all left for more wages!!!!!! how can that be down to the manager.
West Brom have a wage structure so we cannot keep or atract the best players until we break with that! get used to it.On the other hand we will always have a team to support
Report abuse
Jarod, some good points as usual, but I would disagree that we did enough to win on Saturday as I do not recall their keeper having a real save to make during the entire game. I’m not a big fan of Carson as he has cost us at times this season, but I thought credit where credit is due, he kept us in the game on Saturday. Looking forward, whichever division we are in, I would like TM to stay. I like the guy, yes, he is stubborn but I generally enjoy going to watch the boys play and believe that is something that people cannot deny. The guy has made mistakes, the biggest was for me without doubt paying out £5m for Valero when we needed a quality centre half or striker. We needed impact at either end of the field and I do not think that Valero’s signing has improved the overall quality of the squad. Players we must keep? Olson, Morrison, Koren, Greening, Dorrans, Tex and possibly Fortune is we can get him signed up. I will get a slating from some but I would also keep the Loon as the guy has quality but he is low on confidence and will improve. If he had been with a bigger side he would have been rested long ago. I think Miller’s injury came at a bad time, the guy was actually starting to make me eat my words and he will be like a new signing next season. Bednar may be worth keeping but he is not a first choice Premier League striker. One of my hopes for next season is that we see a full injury free season for Clemo. We have missed him big time and a fit Clemo would have made a difference. The remainder of the season will come and go and unfortunately it looks likely that it will be Championship football next season but with the nucleus of the team intact and TM in charge, with a few quality additions I really believe that we are not a million miles away from being a half decent side. Keep believing…you never know.
Report abuse
I don’t think you could disagree with the fact that we haven’t got the same financial clout as the experienced Premiership teams, but what about the other two teams that came up with us ?
We finished last season as champions and so, all things being equal, should be better than Stoke and Hull even if none of the three teams can compete financially with the established clubs. What really gets me about this season is how both Stoke and Hull have overtaken us. We were much better than both of them last season, had a side that was supposedly better set up for playing in the Premier League, and had the experience of having played there on two previous occasions. If you look at the side that played against Bolton, the only improvement on last year would be Olsson (and possibly Fortune). I’m afraid that TM has made poor signings when it comes to spending “big” money, which is disappointing given how good the majority of his “value” signings have been.
If both Stoke and Hull come down with us, I will feel a little better , but if either survive, as seems likely, then it really will have been a very poor season.
Report abuse
As Reading found out last year – who’d want to buy players that finished bottom of the league?
Morrison might get a bid or two – but I don’t fancy the club wanting to sell.
Other than that who, in a bottom of the league team would improve a team that finished higher?
By definition – no-one.
Despite all our fears there isn’t going to be a host of clubs beating a path to our door – even the 3 that go up will probably steer clear as our boys don’t play the type of football they’ll be looking to play.
None of our lads would walk into another premiership side at the expense of an existing player.
Look at Koumas, Gera, and Kamara as examples (although I accept Davies is a pretty integral part of Villa’s side – he was the exception to the rule).
Although I’m expecting us to go down now (first time I’ve said that too) I’m still hopeful we’ll get the Stoke City monkey off our backs before the season’s out.
Here’s looking forward to another goal-fest next season….
Cheers!
Report abuse
9 BB.
It’s all to easy for these people who have full benefit of hindsight. I’m surprised he missed KP off his list. Then there are the ones that say everybody who is not in the team should be in it, the theory being that they must be better. Even when it’s players they haven’t actually seen play, like Mulumbu. Fantasy football has a lot to answer for.
Report abuse
the question of do we stick or twist with mogga will be answered by JP in the coming weeks,with foresight its easy to say we should have brought this player or that player,the one thing we all know is the current financial crisis will have more of a bearing for the next foreseeable seasons to come for not only our club but many others, JP& MOGGA HAVE CUT THEIR SUITS TO THEIR CLOTH.. there is no R by us yet…THE CLUB IS IN SAFE HANDS WITH JP& MOGGA…YOUVE SEEN THE LIGHT NOW KEEP THE FAITH…
Report abuse
I think WWFC can attract a different calibre of player for next season then Albion have ben able to not because of wages because of ambition. We take thousands away every game, home games will be sold out every week and we already have young players who are colleagues of other under-21 internationals etc. I wish Albion all the best but Mowbrays interviews after a game our getting boring.
Report abuse
Iam looking forward to us playing in the
Fizzy Pop League next season with Tony Mowbray at
the helm,he may not be up to prem standard but the
bloke is a dam good Championship manager.
If Jeremy Peace can keep hold of all our players
then we stand a great chance of bouncing straight
back,although I cant really see us keeping
James Morrison,if our first 11 could look
something like then us baggie fans will have
another 100 goal season to look forward to.
Another good thing about the Championship is
there`s more night games to get excited about
and thats one of the things I really miss.
Carson,Zuiverloon,Meite,Olsson,Robinson,
Morrison,Dorrans,Koren,Brunt,Teixeira,Bednar.
Report abuse
12.
Championship manager
Now THERE’S a game!
Report abuse
11.
Let me pull you up on one or two things:
“I think WWFC can attract a different calibre of player … not because of wages because of ambition.”
Based on what evidence?
“We take thousands away every game”
As do we.
“home games will be sold out every week”
What? All of them? Fulham? Wigan? Bolton?
“we already have young players who are colleagues of other under-21 internationals”
Oh, the old I-once-played-with-someone-that-played-for-the-Welsh-Under-21′s argument. Based on that theory, we should win the World Cup!
“Mowbrays interviews after a game our getting boring”
And MM is sooo inspiring!
Until you’ve got something useful to say please feel free to crawl back under the rock from whence you came.
Report abuse
10 lw, you took 200 to cardiff,800 to palace,wont go to brum cuz you say its to dear,aye boing boing you must have come on a skateboard
Report abuse
terry we took 1600 in the week to crystal palace, 800 to cardiff so a saturday evening Televised game?
You brought players in a very amateur fashion. Valero- seen play 45 mins in a friendly and paid 4 mil for him? zuiverloon? Carson? luke moore?
Wolves have a chairman looking to drive the club forward, we have some of the best young players in the country. A few experienced heads our needed (Sol Campbell-free) but I fancy us to stay up. The calibre of player who will fit into our transfer policy are:
Huddlestone- been on loan, borught up in area.
David Wheater- borough going down
Adam Johnson- see wheater
Michael Ball- free, man city not extendingdeal
Danny Gabbidon- westham
Callum Davenport- fell out with zola
Kris Boyd- rangers- they want rid-natural gs
Joe Ledley- cardiff
The future is bright, the future is gold. Wouldnt mind Olsson or Cech maybe 2.5 for both?
Report abuse
I love the way buying the England international keeper in Scott Carson is “amateur” – that show’s why MOwbray is a football manager and you’re (I assume) not.
Also, Zuiverloon and Donk were part od the Dutch Under 21 (there’s that argument again!) side that won the European championships – they were both expected to sign for Barcelona – but we pipped them to them.
Valero. Former Real Madrid midfielder. Young (ish) – very talented, but I agree he’s not at his best in a relegation battle (which shows ToMo had ambition when he signed him that we wouldn’t be where we are).
Which brings me on to the back 4 of Wheater, Gabbidon, Ball and Davenport.
Oh, how my sides ache at the thought of those 4 keeping you up in the Prem!! Thanks for that!
I love the idea of signing players from one side that’s got relegated in the misguided thought that they’re going to know how to stay up next season! Brilliant logic.
Report abuse
20 Albion where after Valero for some time, do you really think a football club would buy someone after 45 mins??
unless you have an insight into board level of Albion how can you comment on the “very amateurish fashion” of purchases
sometimes you post some decent stuff but other times it’s just nonsence.
you and I both know that you have 2 hopes of signing either Cech or Olsson for £2.5m and one of them is bob!!
Report abuse
supermaths… Good post
Report abuse
Why even give the moron LW the benefit of a discussion ???
He has proven over many months that he is best ignored and left to his own idiocy. His constant berating of Scott carson shows a lack of football understanding and an inability to offer reasonable comment to anything not coloured orange.
His on going facination with comments attributed to Hoekens were bordering on obession… very unhealthy.
His bumbling drivel has given us all a good laugh over the season (my favorite was his financial advice to JP – classic) – but to engage him further is to encourage him – something we should definately not do.
I am now enjoying his wolves team selections for next season….. but its best to read, chuckle, and move on.
LW – buffoonery legend !!!
Report abuse
Phillips has scored 13 in 30 appearances (including as sub) in the championship this year. I think you exaggerate any belief that he has been missed. Losing Miller to season long injury just when he was looking much better up front was far worse.
Mowbray has shown he can win the championship title, exactly who are we going to get who has more credentials?
Oh and I am confident that there will be at least 8 to 12 clubs going bankrupt in the next 12 months due to the credit crunch, thankfully we will not be one of them!
Report abuse
I made my comments about the club known on Sunday, but they vanished! I hate agreeing with a Dingle, but we do lack ambition.
I’m not suggesting we spend beyond our means, but people have said we’ve sold and brought roughly at the same level of income and expenditure. What’s the real financial investment in the club?
Having a safe pair of hands isn’t enough; Peace screwed up big time last summer by trying to be too clever and as a result we’ve got no major sponsor. The Board is run by small time charlies who are more concerned about losing their own power and status than taking the club forward in any meaningful fashion.
Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory springs to mind.
Report abuse
For what it’s worth I believe that the greatest fault lies with the wage structure. It’s well documented that there is a direct correlation vbetween a club’s wage bill and league finishing position. It can be argued that we could have bought a top quality player instead of two more average ones, but this argument founders against the wage structure. OK, we could have bought a £7m player instead of a £4m and a £3m, but would a £7m player have been happy to be within such a pay scheme? I think not!
Report abuse
24 Happy.
Totally agree, except that it’s like having a scab. You know you shouldn’t scratch it but…
26 Baggiebob.
How much are you offering to invest? Or are you offering to introduce some big time Charlies? It’s always easy to criticise but try doing it constructively. What are you offering, except that we should spend more money that we don’t have. This would mean going into debt at the time the country is in a financial crisis, and possibly bankrupting out club. If you have an alternative idea no one else has thought of we’d all love to hear it, especially our board of ‘small time Charlies.’
27 New Angle.
Great idea. Except that what you suggest would lead to a queue of players asking for pay rises. Yes you could say no to them all and have a squad of unhappy players. Or you could say yes and borrow the money to pay the wages against the clubs future. It’s a good argument to say that TM should have bought the players that have come off IE Koren, Olssen, Fortune, Bednar etc and not the ones that haven’t been so successful. This would have needed hindsight which is something only some of our fans seem to possess.
Report abuse
Good points as ever!
You talk about players moving on though and realistically how many clubs are going to want them?
On LUke Moore’s form who is going to want him? Especially as no doubt Peace will be demanding a fair few million to try and reclaim some of what we paid for him! Who is going to want an overweight Meite who no doubt is on hefty wages? Who is going to want an ineffective at both premiership and championship Chris Brunt, who again will demand a decent price tag and wage bill? I could go on…
Report abuse
28. I take your point, but I would advocate that if we want to become an established Permiership Club, then we need to maintain a wage structure but ease the whole framework upwards. This will rsult in additional costs and an answer to this may be a smaller squad or a higher calibre. I am lead to believe that our highest paid players are on £25k per week plus a few small add-ons. If you assume that the average is £18k/week and we could lose one third of the squad the average could move to £27/k with no increase in the wage bill.
Report abuse
24 – Happy.
I tried having a conversation with him the other day and it ended up being an ‘I know more than you do’ 1 way conversation.
I tried talking football to him, but he obviously just thought I was having a dig and didn’t actually read what I was saying…..again I have given up on talking sense to Shadrag.
It’s like in ‘I am Legend’ when Will Smith thinks he’s cured the Zombie woman……it’ll never happen!!
Report abuse