West Brom are the derby day kings
Monday 24th October 2011, 3:00PM BST.
West Brom blogger Jarrod Hill has branded the Baggies ‘the kings of the derby day’ after back-to-back wins over local rivals culminated with a rare win at Aston Villa.
Wolves last week, Aston Villa this week, we are the derby day kings. As a week goes it was pretty special and, from nowhere, Roy Hodgson’s team has clicked into top gear and the Hawthorns Rolls Royce has begun to purr.
I missed the gam,e due to being the best man at Pete ‘Hilltop Baggie’ Danckert’s wedding. But had regular updates from a wedding guest and we watched the game on match choice in the hotel bar.
With only one Villa fan in attendance and about 150 Albion fans celebrating it was a little one sided, a bit like the game itself some might say.
The turning point was definitely the sending off, Villa’s Chris Herd seeing red but, even up to that point, our boys were getting the better of our near neighbours.
The sending off looked a soft one to me but, then again, Jonas Olsson is not the type to make a song and dance over a physical tangle.
The linesman made a big call so you would hope he was positive in what he witnessed, I am not so sure but the boys could not be accused of looking a gift horse in the mouth.
Chris Brunt will never hit a worse penalty than the one he shanked Saturday but, with Jonas Olsson and then Paul Scharner finding the net, we still managed the win we have waited so long for.
Villa manager Alex McLeish had given out plenty of rallying calls in the run up to the game and his players definitely seemed fired up.
I may be an old cynic, but it felt like the Villa players had targeted Shane Long for some special attention.
Alan Hutton made one lunging challenge that could and possibly has caused damage to Long’s knee.
On another day with another referee, Hutton could easily have seen red and, although Shane tried to carry on, he eventually had to limp off, so fingers crossed he is OK.
His performance against Wolves the week before obviously had Villa on red alert and Hodgson will be sweating on the results of his scan.
His injury meant that Somen Tchoyi was thrown on to partner Peter Odemwingie and the pair of them went on to frighten the life out of Villas back four.
‘Saint Peter’ had a goal incorrectly chalked off for offside and his movement provided a constant goal threat.
Both of our goals came from set pieces and I cannot remember the last time that we had a team that is so good in the air.
Gareth McAuley, Jonas Olsson, Paul Scharner, Steven Reid and Somen Tchoyi are all big lads, even the guy delivering the ball in to them is over 6ft.
Paul Scharner again had his lucky shirt on and his finish for the winner was superb. The lads were then professional in seeing out the game for another derby win.
Special mention must go to the two new lads who have some in and played extremely well.
Gareth McAuley and Billy Jones may not have set the pulses racing when they arrived on free transfers during the summer, but their recent introduction has helped to solidify a defence that was leaking sloppy goals.
Steven Reid and goalkeeper Ben Foster still managed to gift another sloppy goal but, for the rest of the match, the back four looked untroubled.
Gareth and Billy both arrived having no Premier League experience and, although it’s still early days, their performances so far have been nothing short of remarkable.
Thanks yet again to our scouting team headed up by sporting director Dan Ashworth, This squad is getting better and better.
The three points were vital as we now head into a run of very tricky fixtures, but that is a blog for another day.
For now lets just enjoy the fact we are the derby day kings an,d with both Wolves and Aston Villa crushed under our juggernaut, who knows where we can go?
We now have three home games in the next four fixtures and, with our tails up and perma smiles on our faces, I am sure teams will not be looking forward to coming to the Hawthorns.
One last thing, congratulations to Pete and Chris on your happy day, hopefully I will see us beat Villa at their place next time!
Happy Baggies every where, let’s keep on boinging, enjoy your week, I know I will.
UK Sport
Latest Blog — Same again for West Brom
What a strange two weeks it has been since our last game. I haven’t looked over my neighbour’s fence with as much interest since Pamela Anderson moved in next door and regularly used her trampoline, writes Albion blogger Jarrod Hill.
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Simple case of rugby tactic’s by mccleish,long was marked as the danger man and he was their sole target.
Dirty player and an even dirtier manager for no doubt setting it up like that.
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Could not agree more but this is only because we have a Manager who knows the game inside out and the players are benefiting. What happens next because Roy is in the final 9 months of his contract I believe and will we get him to extend? No talk as yet about this subject & I would have thought it would have been high on Jeremy’s agenda except he is more interested in buying shares.
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My opinion. Huttons was a red, Herd’s was soft and wouldn’t have been pleased had it been given against us. And Odemwingie was offside, any goalscoring part of of your body can be offside and his whole body was leaning in an offside position. But you win some you lose some. Just glad we got another victory. Heard long may have broken a bone, but that could just be rumour
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Everything you have mentioned will be discussed by everyone else but I want to bring to the attention of everybody of the blantant penalty we should have had in the first 5 minutes which astonishingly was not even shown on Match of the day.I had a ticket in the Trinity Road stand towards the Holte End and Shane Long controlled a pass,flicked it up and Dunne stuck his hand up to stop it going round him and Long appealed loudly,Obviously all the Seals were quiet and it would be impossible for any Albion fans to see it as they were in the furthest corner away.The seals around us were all saying how did we get away with that as it was blatant and with Odemwingie scoring an onside goal which was ruled out the Seals can moan about as much injustice as they want.I have waited since 1982 when Statham scored the winner in the league cup quarter final to come away from that place with a gloating satisfaction.A good competent team performance without setting the world alight with Olsen and McCauley outstanding.
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Good Blog Bomber – hope the best man duties went well. Congrats to Mr and Mrs Hilltop.
As results go – this was huge. Another 3 points to help increase the gap between us and the bottom teams with a tough run of fixtures to come. However, this was a win for us the fans. I’m 32 and hence wasn’t even alive when we last won at VP. A special win for sure.
However, I can’t help but feel that the edge has been slightly taken off it by the low levels of interest in general shown by Villa fans (most my mates are Villa fans). Villa seem to be in a terrible spot right now as a club. There is no hope, no belief and actually no interest in the club from the fans perspective. It feels like they’re just going through the motions. Never have I seen so many empty seats for a Villa v WBA game – nor such a terrible atmosphere (from the home end). I guess this is the premiership’s doing and who can blame fans for having lost interest in the teams like Villa who have nothing to play for bar 8th at best each season. If the Albion can establish themselves over the next couple of seasons I guess it will be the same for us as we have no sugar daddy coming in like Man City or Chelski…… hence no real hope of achieving much more than top half finishes with a possible European qualification.
Anyway – two solid performances (but not great) have given us 6 deserved points. I have worries about Thomas’ poor run of form as he was again the weak link on Saturday. Fingers crossed Gera gets his chance soon. I have to take my hat off to McAuley for such impressive displays since being given his chance. I know he hasn’t been up against too much and I do worry about his lack of pace but so far he has proved me wrong with my initial opinion. Lets hope it continues against Carroll and that horrible man Suarez on Saturday.
Time to kick on in the next few weeks and really show how far we have come on since last season.
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Congratulations Chris and Pete. (A quick chorus of: “You don’t know what you’re doing”
seems appropriate). Marriage is a word, not a sentence is the only advice I have as we here will clock up 60 years next July.
More advice: (nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition), Chris, never, ever try to stop the football.
Pete, do the washing up you idle sod.
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I don’t normally do it but there is a thread on the darkside regarding the “netto Ghetto” being a hostile place.
Them dingles aint half giving it some to That expensive defender of theirs. HAHAHAHA
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Bomber,
Firstly congratulations to Chris and Pete. Hope there will soon be a few navy blue and white striped fledglings to cheer ALBION on.
Isn’t it nice to write a blog after thumping our two West Midland rivals in the same week, bet your fingers were itching to get on the computer?. I’m not going to say good blog after those exquisite performances doesn’t seem appropriate does it?. Said every thing else, oh, just a word for Tchoyi, he went round those Villains like a dose of the clap.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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Hope Shane gets well quickly , cannot condone the vile’s tactics at all and just hope Coxy takes his chance
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5 we will always struggle not because we not got sugar daddy but because we got a chairman who refuses to spend,we must be one of the richest clubs in the prem when you look at the incomings and outgoings.
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Long out for 6-8 weeks. Real shame for the lad as he was just starting to hit form. It does open the door for Cox and Tchoyi, dont think Bednar or MAF have a future at the club. Some fans will ask about Wood returning from Blues, but i think his education would be better served remaining in the Championship this season.
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i see Long is out for 6 weeks,this poses a real problem who do we start with now,Po isent scoring so i think we are in bit of bother now,hope im wrong but i fear im right again.
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I posed this question on Facebook yesterday – to the club?
Why are they not persuing punishment for Huttons tackle?
Long is out for “up to” 6 weeks and yet Hutton can play on without hinderence.
What sort of support is that showing to Shane?
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Sorry Bomber but Saint Peter was offside , not by much granted but off , shame cos it was a great finish.
Shame about Long but two weeks of that will be taken by the international break and Roy has other options , for instance 4-5-1 with the Marvellous Magyar coming back into the team.
As Laguna Kev would say , tranquillo everybody.
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Hi Jarrod,
looking at the current situation,it does show how quickly things can change in football.
Just half a dozen games ago,our neighbours in wolverhampton were puffing out their chests,smiling from ear to ear,and bragging about being ‘top of the league’,whilst laughing at us right down at the bottom,holding everyone else up.
They also took great satisfaction in telling us what a top quality signing they’d made in Roger Johnson,while we’d picked up a couple of lower division freebies,who’d be out of their depth in the top flight.
I don’t need to tell anyone that the whole picture has now turned completely upside down,with wolves looking up at us,and many of their fans feeling a lot less complimentary about their new Captain.
What’s ironic is that last season,several wolves fans came here to say ‘all that matters is how things look at the end of the season’.
Very true.
So we do have potentially tough games coming up,but we knew that when the season started,and who can tell how these fixtures will pan out?
Next up is Liverpool,a game many Albion fans would have written off in the past as a certain defeat,but do we feel the same way now?
So I for one won’t be worrying about future games,we have the privilege of being a premiership club,playing one of the most successful clubs in Europe next weekend(knowing we beat them last time out),and I’m just gonna enjoy being there.
While Adrian Chiles worries about how many goals the ‘pool will put past us,I’m thinking-’wouldn’t it be a great time for Peter O. to really hit form and score his first hat-trick for us!’.
Or maybe Somen Tchoyi will-
after all,everyone was convinced we’d lost at Newcastle,until…………
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It’s a blow to have Long sidelined,but you just have to take these things in your stride and move on.
Many people felt him and Peter O. weren’t hitting it off as a partnership,and when Tchoyi came on at villa,he turned their defence inside out,so yet again,worrying about these things is futile,someone else may come in and be an amazing success!
As Max says,tranquillo………..
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9 BASHFUL.
Obviously this is a false name as BASHFUL would be to shy too post with all of us rough boys that continually attack you. So as an amateur sleuth I’m launching an investigation before Sherlock gets in. Lets go through the usual suspects.
HAPPY I think we can safely rule him out of our enquiries
SLEEPY might have woken up and thought he were still in the 1960′s.
DOC surely if there was a Doc at Moulinex they wouldn’t have all these injuries Shadrag goes on about.
SNEEZY might explain the content of the post sniffing powder affect the brain.
GRUMPY would obviously be the prime suspect except that we knew all along it has to be DOPEY.
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Thats terrible news for Shane, perhaps Villa can pick up he medical bill for it? I doubt it. We should really press on this as it wasnt just a mis timed challenge but a deliberate lunge.
I hope Simon Cox gets a chance as he fully deserves it.
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First of all BASHFUL has moved to 12 and DOC has put in an appearance.
13 Supermaths.
I know what you mean but the real question is, why should the club need to pursue this. Why are decisions that rely on TV evidence so arbitrary? Had this been done to Ashley Young a quick moan on MOTD by Ferguson would have had the powers that be running around chasing their tails but like I said yesterday, ‘it’s only little old Albion.’
15 Rocket.
I also remember reading a post that said ‘some Tesco bags are saying they will overtake us when they play us.’ It went on to poo poo this citing the easy games they had to come QPR, Swansea etc. Suddenly their fixture list doesn’t look quite so easy.
14 Max.
Do you do it on purpose? Being an easy going sort of bloke I bend over backwards looking for things I can agree with you on. Then you come up with PO’s goal being offside. The replay clearly shows he was in line and a couple of seasons back refs and linesmen were told that in these situations they should give the benefit of the doubt to the attacker.
On the other hand I’ve seen Baggies on here saying that Herd’s sending off was wrong. I posted yesterday to point out that although no contact was made the intent was there. I suppose I should really be proud of the fact that generally we have the most fair minded fans, so well done Max.
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10 & 12
Being a dingle, surely you`re GRUMPY
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BEEVOWER
You have made me feel very old with your ,’ i was not alive the last time we won at Villa Park’. Which is not 100% correct because that was in the league, we did win there in the League Cup after that when Derek Statham scored the winner, 1980 or 1981 not sure of the exact year, no doubt other bloggers may know ?.
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bully hoo,
my oppo Watson is off sick for the next six weeks. i wonder if you’re available to step into his shoes?
personally i just can’t be bothered with the Shirley Bassey case anymore, it’s got very boring now
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19 TRBH
That’s EXACTLY why we should be pursuing it.
And to be honest, why are attacks like that allowed on the field of play? If that was in the street then Hutton’d be up on a charge of assault.
Maybe someone can answer the question for me (as I honestly don’t know the amswer) of:
When did a football pitch become exempt to the laws of Great Britain?
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21 – I stand corrected WHB….28, 29 or 30+ years – whenever the last victory at VP was before the weekends result – it was certainly too long ago!
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No.2 Forever Albion
Silly comment , the more successful the club are the more the value of the shares increase so it is in JP’s interests to keep RH at the club.
I think you are right Jarrod , Shaun Long was targeted and I am disappointed that Mc Leish has not condemned that tackle from that Scottish thug. Long is now out for up to six weeks with a chipped bone in his knee and all Mc Leish can do is bleat about their sending off. I hope the appeal fails. Still one consolation is that we had no need to target anyone on the Villa side as they appear not to have a single player to offer any threat.
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3 Matt:
You’re right about the offside rule, not many people are aware that you’re offside if any part of your head, body or legs are past the second last opposing player…strangely the arms don’t count in this bizarre rule.
13 Supermaths:
The club can’t pursue anything re. Hutton as Dowd saw the tackle and deemed it a fair challenge. Again, ridiculous rule.
Any whinging Veeeeeella fan:
Hahahahahahahahahaha!
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TRBH
I do not do it on purpose honest !!! and thanks for your praise , i know it must of cost LOL.
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17 Bully,
if you read my post at 91 on the match report thread,then read TC’s reply at 93,you’ll realise that calling him DOPEY is actually a compliment.
DOPEY must be Clacka’s much more intelligent Brother.
In 2-3 years on here,I really can’t think of anyone as stupid or pointless as this joker.
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21 mornin’ Max,
it was Jan.’82 when we won in the league cup at villa park.
I looked it up in my copy of ‘The Boy’s Own Book of Villa Getting Stuffed’.
p.s.- thanks for the ‘support’ concerning what TC village idiot said.
I tried to reply at the time but they blocked my post.
I think it was before the watershed……..
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24 BEEVOWER
Your not wrong there mate , far to long.
30 CANTELLO
1982 was it, i know i attended with my late Father and both of us going mental when we scored , happy days. As for the ‘support’ anytime mate .
27 SNOW WHITE
15 onside goals last season sunshine and two this , one against your beloved Wolves and thats what really hurts , is it not ?.
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34 sneezy clacka-
you believe me and Wall Heath are the same person?
So I guess you haven’t seen the big colour picture of us standing next to each other-it has been shown on here at least three times.
But then again,only REAL Albion fans know what’s going on here,not frauds who keep hiding behind false names.
You really are such an idiot.
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34
That’s right mate how clever, you only have to learn spelling and grammar now , perhaps your Mother will let you out when you have , exciting or what ?
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35 CANTELLO
Lets hope it does not get shown again !!!! LOL.
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Hi Bomber,
Great blog, fantastic to revel in these successes given the anxiety on here only a few weeks back. Much like Beevower, I wasn’t alive last when we last won there (in the league as Max rightly points out), so a hugely special day, especially having grown up amongst Villa fans.
I’m glad you mentioned Jones and McAuley, there was a blog at the beginning of September where general consensus was we were short at the back, in reality none of us had seen these two, we’d just written them off as Championship quality. Both now proving really valuable assets and proving so many of us wrong so credit where it’s due. Also to echo what Streetly mentions, Olsson has been colossal, what a guy he is.
Chris Wood- agree with you, lot of talk of bringing him back. For me his touch and technique still short of even Cox never mind PO, ST or SL. He’d be better served staying where he is rather than being loaded with expectation and brought back. I think only recall him if he’s threatening to get Blues promoted, which would compromise the chances of securing Foster!!
Finally, congratulations (or commiserations should that be?) to Hilltop!!
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Forever Albion
Fabio Capello is also out of contract in 9 months time. I suspect this is why Roy isn’t in a rush to put pen to paper. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was discussed when we appointed Roy and used in bargaining to lure him to begin with. JP’s not daft and would doubtlessly prefer a contract even if only for compensation purposes.
Also, whatever JP’s busy doing now. He’s spent the last 9 years overseeing a steady and progressive rise in our football club’s fortunes…..
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WARREN
I wonder if Wood will be used along with Myhill as makeweights in a deal to secure Foster ???.
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37 Max,
I thought you’d be happy,after all that publicity you became a star,now everyone in the country nose who you are……….
(sorry ’bout that).
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SNOW WHITE; BASHFUL; SNEEZY; GRUMPY; DOC.
I have you sussed. All of these names can only point to the fact that you must be a dingle as they are all characters from a story by the Brothers Grimm i.e you and your fellow Wulfies right now!!!
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Bomber,
do you know when the next ‘Hilltop’ video’s due on here?
I just want to see his mobile ring halfway through the interview,and a voice on the other end shouting ‘Peter,when are you coming home?-if you’re not here in 10 minutes,your dinner’s in the cat!!’.
It should double the viewing figures……..
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If sneezy really is a dwarf, and he really is a Wolves fan, does that mean he isnt big and he isnt clever?
Warren
Football seems to have a way of changing so quickly doesnt it?
I must admit i couldnt see a way of 4-4-2 working. But then Tchoyi has been re introduced and it looks to work. SL and PO too similar? I think so, Tchoyi and PO now the first choice as SL out, Cox now needs to step up to the plate as he will inevitably be called upon.
Two wins on the bounce and the confidence the boys needed is back.
On the dark side i see Wolves fans calling for Micks head. What i dont understand is why they see it as his fault? He was given one new signing to a team that scraped staying up and asked to turn around their fortunes.
Now that one player he signed is being given the “mol” treatment. How come the Wolves are not asking why greater funds were made available? As they watch the new stand go up around them?
A builder buys the club for a tenner and plows the clubs money into ermmmmm building the stadium. Gives the manager peanuts to develop a squad that scaped staying up and now they are struggling. Why arent Wolves fans berating Steve Morgan?
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39 Warren,
don’t worry mate,
if RH does leave,there could be the perfect replacement available.
After Sunday,I have a feeling Sir Alex might be looking for a new job this summer…….
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Wall Heath
Yeah you might be right although the Blues fans I know tell me Myhill is rubbish!! I wonder if we’d be reluctant to allow the first real graduate from our academy system to leave whilst he’s still on a learning curve? I guess the final decision would be Roy’s.
Bomber
You’re right about things changing mate, don’t know if it’s just me though but I’m quite excited about the prospect of Tchoyi and Odemwingie together!! They could wreak havoc.
As for the Wolves, who knows? A multitude of reasons I imagine. However I think broadly speaking as so often we see with them lot, their fans expectations are so detatched from reality. Their essentially a squad of workhorses with one or two genuinely quality players, they were never gonna finish in the top half.
The one thing quite saddening is that Mick McCarthy comes across as a genuine, hard-working bloke and in the grand scheme of things has done a fantastic job for them. Whether he’s the man to lead them forward, who knows, but I think he deserves a bit more respect and to maybe depart with a lot more dignity than looks likely. I’m glad that didn’t happen with us and Megson or Di Matteo.
CR78
I’m not sure I’d like Taggart as our manager, it’s all well and good playing beautiful attacking football when you’re better than everyone else (well, nearly everyone…..). We’d have to change our tactics when we weren’t playing Wolves or Villa. What odds on Derek McInnes if he does a decent job with Bristol City??
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45 BOMBER
They have spent a fair bit on Fletcher,Doyle,Hunt,O’hara and Johnson , rough estimate 25 million pounds over the last two seasons on those 5 alone , for Wolves that a’int peanuts .
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47 Warren,
now you’ve done it-
you’ve replied to Max,and also mentioned Sir Gary and Derek McInnes in the same post-
music to his ears-it’s the dream team!!
When JP has enough shares to sell the club,the new owners will be looking for a management team that’ll be a popular choice with the fans (well,some of ‘em),so there you go.
Watch this space……….
(p.s.- talking of Mick,I see he’s said that any wolves fan that criticises him,Karl Henry,or Stephen Ward are mindless idiots.
So I make it he’s still friendly with about fifteen hundred of the faithful?).
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The way McA is playing Tamas must feel a fool now :-)
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I don’t know about anybody else but I’d love to see the club offer Paul Scharner a coaching role when he stops playing. He seems to have really grown to love the club and the fans, he has always conducted himself in a very professional manner regarding training diet etc and he is obviously a deeper thinker than the average footballer (not too difficult I know.) Perhaps a future West Brom manager?
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23
You ever tried watching Rugby?
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32
Sorry if my error upset you grumpy but you should be more forgiving of those watching the Albion before you were born. Don’t be a pain over Shane.
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(10)
Doc,
Stop moaning because Jeremy didn’t lash out £7m for Johnson. We will just have to manage with McAuley and our new left (Or right) back, Billy “The kid” Jones.
(51)
Bully,
Couldn’t agree more about Scharner. We all know he tells it as it is. Wonder what sort of “Hair dryer” he has got, must be called a “Ferguson”.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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Crikey….. I go abroad for a couple of weeks and whilst I’m gone we beat wolves and villa, kill Gaddaffi, record our third clean sheet of the season, Man Utd let in 6 goals, mick blames Scharner’s T.shirt for something and then offers out all their fans for a fight with Roger Johnson holding his coat …… I’m booking another holiday ASAP !!!!
p.s – all the best to Shane Long…..
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55 Happy,
welcome back-
I think it’s all down to something that got into the water supply just after you left.
Whenver I come back from abroad,people say that the only news is it’s been raining here………..
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