Blog: The new season arrives for West Brom fans

In the close season, Britain eventually has a male Wimbledon champion and the Ashes have been secured.

But what's changed at B71 over the summer and what should our hopes and expectations be after last year's record-breaking season?

Since that remarkable 5-5 draw against Premier League champions Manchester United in May, a few faces have departed.

Gonzalo Jara, Jerome Thomas and Marc Antoine-Fortune became peripheral figures in the squad over the last year or two.

While I'm sure they leave with the best wishes of most supporters, I don't think many would argue with them being deemed surplus if the club is to continue progressing.

Romelu Lukaku also left the club, returning to Chelsea after his fruitious loan spell with us. Given the vast amount of money Chelsea forked out to buy him, a permanent deal was always unlikely.

He signed off with a hat-trick against the champions, perhaps befitting of his explosive last few months with us. Many have dubbed him the new Didier Drogba.

I remember watching him at Queens Park Rangers on Boxing Day where his hold-up and link-up play reminded more of Mickey Evans than Drogba.

Yet as the season unfolded, with more game-time under his belt, his all-round game matured beyond comprehension to supplement the undoubted raw talent he possesses.

The game at Reading - the first 80 minutes anyway, I have blotted out the rest - and Sunderland at home stick out in my mind as days where he was simply unplayable.

However, while Lukaku and his 17 goals will be very difficult to replace, I think it's easy to forget that we gained the majority of our points last season before Christmas.

It was a period in which Lukaku started only six games so, as much as parts of the national media would have you believe otherwise, we're certainly not a one-man team.

Lukaku's departure isn't necessarily going to send us into a spiral of decline. I would argue the fitness of the players that make up the spine of our team are far more critical to our prospects.

At the time of writing, we've brought in three players that weren't present last season- Nicolas Anelka, Diego Lugano and Matej Vydra.

The pedigree of those players, particularly the first two, is something most West Brom supporters won't be used to, it's certainly a world away from snaring Brian Quailey from Nuneaton Borough.

I have had the privilege of seeing Anelka a few times in pre-season, not always a great barometer of a player's ability.

However, he looks as though he's lost none of the exquisite touch and technique we've come to associate with him during a career that's spanned London, Paris and Madrid amongst other places.

The timely opening of West Bromwich's new shopping centre certainly prolongs the theme of fashion that you associate with the aforementione.

Let's hope that him stepping into the shoes of Lukaku will prove just as seamless a transition.

I can't profess to have seen a massive amount of Lugano, but you don't earn 85 caps for Uruguay, many as captain, if you're not talented.

Given the apparent lack of pressure on Gareth McAuley and Jonas Olsson, particularly as the latter struggled for form in the closing stages of last season, this signing can only be deemed a good thing.

I'm also quite pleased with the addition of Vydra. He brings pace to the squad which is one area we were lacking, particularly when you consider we like to play on the counter-attack.

You aren't voted Championship Player of the Year if you are a bad player.

Previous winners of that accolade include Rickie Lambert, Adel Taarabt, Kevin Nolan, Phil Jagielka and our very own Jason Koumas and Super Kev who, if he's half as talented, as will be a huge success.

On a slightly less inspiring note, Sylvain Ebanks-Blake also once won the award.

If you consider Anelka, Lugano and Vydra to be replacements for Lukaku, Tamas- assuming he leaves- and Fortune then you'd have to say it's been a pretty good summer so far.

My only concerns are that all three are very much short-term signings, Anelka and Lugano arguably only have a year or two left and, if Vydra plays well, he may well price himself out of a permanent move.

Given that so many of the squad are thirty or above, it would be nice to see some longer-term signings through the door.

One player mentioned is Scott Sinclair, who we're reportedly locked in negotiations with.

To me, Sinclair would bring a width, pace and ability to beat a man that the squad doesn't have in abundance, particularly if and when Peter Odemwingie leaves.

To my mind any team outside the top six would take Sinclair, I find it slightly unnerving therefore that our pursuit of him has been so public.

Given that it seems Salomon Kalou will be staying in France and that both were touted as our so-called 'wow' signings, I'd suggest it'd be quite a blow to players, management and fans alike if we end up with neither.

Generally-speaking, I have been a huge advocate of the Jeremy Peace regime at West Brom, I can also understand why we rely heavily on negotiation.

We have such smaller financial margins to play with than many of the teams around us.

But I do feel the advantage of saving half a million here and there on this deal is significantly outweighed by the risk of losing out on the player.

That's unless, of course, there's a very good alternative that we don't know about yet.

In terms of hopes for the season, I think most fans would accept it might be difficult for us to replicate last year's eighth place finish.

A lot will depend on transfer activity of course, but a finish somewhere around mid-table must be deemed another success. A cup run would also be most welcome.

On a personal level I hope we can fill the ground a little more this year- the supporters are certainly out there- and re-establish the sort of electric atmosphere we all know and love at the Hawthorns.

For me, there were times last year when apathy and disgruntlement were more prevalent than they perhaps needed to be.

Generally speaking, I think we have always had really supportive supporters and I hope we can show that over the coming season. After all, isn't that supporters are there for?

It's great to be back. Come on you Baggies!