Albion banishing inferiority complex
Friday 30th April 2010, 9:20AM BST.
Albion’s management team want to banish the club’s inferiority complex in the Premier League.
The Baggies will bid a fond farewell to the Championship on Sunday for the fourth time in eight years and hope they can next season rid the club of its ‘yo-yo’ label.
When the players return for the new campaign in the top flight, they will find boss Roberto Di Matteo and his staff driving home the message to “aim high.”
Coach Eddie Newton said: “I don’t know what’s happened in previous seasons under previous managers but if you go up there with that inferiority complex, the Premier League will find you out.
“They can smell it. They will hunt you down and take advantage of any weak link. They will punish you – things you may have got away with in the Championship you will not get away with in the Premier League.
“Our intention will be to aim high. If you aim high and fall short and that’s the middle of the table then fine – we can live with that.
“If you go in with that ‘survival’ mentality it can drag you down.”
Newton is both confident and optimistic that the Albion squad already has qualities that will thrive in the Premier League more easily than in the division they are now leaving.
Although signings are planned, so much of the club’s prospects will be decided by what is already in the dressing room.
He said: “We need to be positive, we need belief and most of all we need that togetherness. Of course there are going to be hard times.
“I felt for Gianfranco Zola at West Ham a few weeks back when he was under the cosh and I looked at his fixtures – Chelsea then Arsenal. I thought – ‘Where the hell is he going to get a point from.’
“But that is the Premier League. We have seen teams get off to an unbelievable flier such as Hull but once you start to fall away then you really get into trouble.
“We will need to stay together when the tough times come but we believe the players will do just that.”
UK Sport
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