Ally Robertson: New West Brom signings pop in for a chat at The Hawthorns

Albion new boys Torbjorn Heggem and Ousmane Diakite popped into The Hawthorns last week as they were given a look around the place and what goes on.

I was there with supporters’ club chief John Homer and former winger Gary Hackett for the Football Memories Group, a programme for fans with Alzheimer’s and Dementia. We’d just finished our group and were told they were coming up, we didn’t know anything about it.

It was great to spend just a brief five minutes with the two new boys and hear them in good form. Both of their English was fine.

I spoke to our Norwegian, Heggem, and I had some specific instructions for him...

I said ‘well you’re the centre-half, you get to tell them what to do!’ And when the two of them were together I said to Diakite ‘now you’ve got to listen to him, he’s the defender!’

I told Diakite he has to do as he was told! Somebody told them who I was and I said to them I played nearly 700 games for 18 years here and I had one main message for them. I said ‘the one thing you will find is how great the fans are – they are fantastic’.

‘As long as you go out there and give 100 per cent of yourselves out there. We can’t all play great every single time, but as long as the fans can see you trying, they will support you all the way through’.

I think in a way they were a bit overwhelmed and didn’t quite know what was going on!

I was lucky to be next to them and able to chat with them. I was keen to tell them how great the club is, how great a move it is for the both of them. I told them how I loved every minute of my 18 years and love the Albion and their supporters.

They stayed to have some photos with whoever wanted them taken, which was lovely.

The two of them looked fit as a fiddle, tall and thin. They are both young lads and you can tell that.

With the weekly session we held it’s always great to see the older supporters come in.

We set questions for them and they have to remember them every week – and they remember things we don’t!

It’s fantastic to be a part of, to see them come in, smile and enjoy the meeting.

Gary is always good with things like that. He was our guest and he’s done it before, he’s very good. He can come again next year!

We’ve got a summer break for a few weeks ahead from the Alzheimer’s and Dementia group, but we will go into the next room to the Hub group with all of the supporters there and spend time with them from 12pm to 4pm. We do questions and answers and get guests involved if we can. Anybody is always welcome to come along to The Hawthorns Hub for a cuppa and a chat – supporters and non-supporters.