CATEGORIES

albion v derby county

this was a 90 minutes that did have all the hallmarks of a classic fa cup tie but unfortunately those hallmarks tend to include the big club losing out to the smaller one after an impassioned rearguard action, helped by a healthy dose of (mis) fortune. on that score, this was the kind of game that has given the fa cup its huge reputation both in this country and around the world, but to be honest, we’d have much preferred a quiet, uneventful afternoon where, in the finish, the form book was upheld.

Albionship 3000

The Football League resumed just as this season will end, with the Throstles winging their way to Swansea, albeit that back on August 31st 1946, Swansea City were then still just a Town, playing their football on the Vetch Field rather than the Liberty Stadium.

Middlesbrough v Albion

We’ve been here before – notably at Hull and Sunderland – but the conundrum is, was this a point won or two spilled.

Chairman - John Williams

Things get taken for granted very quickly in football, such that very often, credit doesn’t get dished out when it’s due.

Jonny Evans - the way he plays . . .

The transfer market. It’s a difficult beast to handle, one fraught with danger, however good your research, however smartly you approach it. There’s always another club looking to steal a player from under your nose, or the player who looks a sure fire winner only to fail once a move is made. You can bring ten new faces in and watch them queue up to flop, or place your eggs in a solitary basket and still be crossing your fingers as the contract is inked.

the numbers game

statistically speaking, this has already been a big season for many members of the albion dressing room, with plenty more milestones in the offing for a few of them to boot.

in this proud land

in building a football club, a near 140 year old institution, there are countless crucial personalities and turning point moments that shape what the albion is today. in this series, we’ll be looking at many of them. in this of all weeks, who else could we turn to than the king himself…

Tony Pulis

‘We have given ourselves a chance of having our best season in the Premier League era, and we really want to capitalise on that opportunity over these next three months’

Albion V Crystal Palace

The problem with getting used to the finer things in life is that if, on occasion, you are deprived of them, it stings all the more. And that’s exactly what happened against Palace for, after an amazing run of seven home wins in eight Premier League games at The Hawthorns, a run where we’ve been scoring goals and creating chances aplenty, this was one of those afternoons where we could have played until Sunday and still not scored.

Everton V Albion

The game is, as the cliché instructs, all about results and, more than that, about scorelines. On the face of it, it looks as through Albion took a drubbing at Goodison and certainly the Toffees were the side deserving of their three points on the day. But look a little beyond the three goal difference and you’ll find a game that was much closer than 3-0 suggests and a performance that was far sparkier than the one against Palace a week before.

Dan Meredith

Dan Meredith has had a week to remember. A Premier League 2 debut away to Fulham at Craven Cottage on Monday evening was marked with a goal as Albion picked up a valuable point. Having been at the Baggies since 2012, in talking to us, the 17-year-old defender highlights the pride he felt at notching for the under-23 side for the first time.

Albion v AFC Bournemouth

On the opening day of the season, away back in August, I recall picking up the matchday programme, turning to the manager’s notes and reading a textbook use of the “Let’s get to 40 points as quick as we can and then see where we go from there” cliché.

Behind the Cover…

Last month, photographer Adam Fradgeley joined us at the training ground as we prepared our final batch of album / programme covers for the season under the watchful eye of the BBC and with input from The Vamps. Albion News was busy getting stuck on the A1 at the time – don’t ask – so we left sorting it all out in the capable hands of Gez Mulholland and today’s intrepid correspondent, and first time Albion News columnist, Mr Drew Williams…

Captains, My Captains

‘Very much a leader, someone never frightened to dig somebody out when it needed it, he commanded respect too, not out of fear but out of recognition that whatever he was saying was for the good of the team’

Darren Fletcher

‘We were pleased that the supporters at least had something to take home with them after following us in such good numbers in terrible conditions’

Albion v Stoke City

Given the demise of alternative football clubs in the locality, Stoke has become our de facto derby game these days and did this one ever live up to that kind of billing, a feisty, feverish, blood and guts encounter that included home heroes, pantomime villains and a fairytale ending where we all lived happily ever after. Or at least the ones who count did – us.

Albion v Sunderland

It’s a mark of Albion’s growing confidence, maturity and, overall, quality that without ever really getting close to our best form, and coming out of the shadow of consecutive defeats, this win over Sunderland was every bit as routine for us as Manchester United’s was for them when they were at The Hawthorns before Christmas.