WBA Are The Latest Victims Of Football Fantasy
West Brom are now mathematically relegated. Well, what did they accomplish? Did they enjoy their stay? And despite all the nice touches their midfielders have had, will we really miss them?
Every season one of the promoted clubs takes on their mantle; they will be the promoted side that will play “The Football.” Their manager will announce that they will be “sticking to their footballing philosophy” before popping across the Atlantic to sign a South American playmaker and using his African layover on the way home to pick up a couple of substandard five-cap freddies from somewhere like the Congo.
This approach will not pay off. It never has. It’s stupid, naive, and fantasist. It’s a defeatist approach to the Premiership and it’s a cowardly cop out. The teams who come up and take this approach are tourists who belong in the second division.
What did Mowbray honestly think would happen? That he could instill the spirit of Cruyff and Neeskens into his random exotic journeymen, charge gung-ho towards the snarling bulls of Chelsea or razor-sharp counter-punches of Manchester United, and come out smelling of roses? It’s utter lunacy and invites only one outcome. Comprehensive relegation.
But here’s the clever bit. Because they make nice shapes with the football in midfield, nobody will mind one bit. They’ll put together some nice moves, score a few goals while they’re at it and everyone will wish them well when they’re eventually relegated with a brutal goal difference. They might even get to sell some of their better players to a good team with ambition at the end of the season.
Never mind the fact that the most important parts of football happen in either penalty area. It’s what you do in the massive green bit in between that makes or loses friends. And WBA have made many. When the world is watching, put your best foot forward.
But, as we all know from experience, friendships fed by blazing sunlight do not survive the death of summer. In a years time we’ll have forgotten about how WBA tried to make nice shapes and play proper football, because other teams will be doing it in their place, and doing it better. So no more culture from Borja Valero or Felipe Teixeira on Match of the Day, but that’s okay, because Burnley will be doing it instead, throwing passes about like confetti, finding solace in a one touch move that doesn’t quite find the striker and collapsing like a house of cards as soon as Fernando Torres gets the ball to his feet.
What a contrast Stoke make. Simple, uncomplicated football. It’s what they’re good at, and they aren’t going to change for anyone. At least, thats what Tony Pulis would have you believe. Of course, they have changed from the team that won promotion by adding genuine, proven Premiership class, in Beattie and Etherington. Their combination of experience and hunger could only get them so far – their smart buys have taken them the rest of the way. But because they did no posturing or fancy-danning, were they relegated they would certainly have been forgotten. Credit to Pulis for having such faith, and not being vain enough to care what the pubic at large thought.
And because they’re such a tough team to beat and have such a strong identity, don’t be surprised to see their affair with the Premiership stretch for years. Nobody gave Bolton a hope when they first came up, but by staying unpretentious, they’ve carved out their niche in the elite. WBA, by contrast, were only ever going to be a fling, simply fun whilst it lasted, and forgotten when the next plucky outsider pops up.
And that is their ultimate failing. By playing pretentious, almost arrogant football, they’ve traded off any hope of survival before a ball has been kicked in exchange for the passing goodwill of the masses as they sink back to where they belong.
And this, really, is the crux of the matter. The Premiership has places for only 20 teams. Is there really space for one that isn’t there to win?
The author of this article, Ben Johnston, can also be read over at www.inbehind.com
What utter tosh this guy writes, if you want to talk about foreign journeymen, look at liverpool ,Chelsea, Manure, Mancity. Because clubs try to play football without a sugar daddy or getting into 100’s of millions in debt they will be forgotten. If thats the case then weall will be playing a different sport in 20 years time. what happens when the moneymen dissapear because the have found a new passtime, or the banks call in the loans.
This bloke needs to get into the real world, as hes the one who believes the football fantasy.
I was interested reading your comments and as I did I was starting to wonder who you actually were. A journalist? Possibly, certainly the lazy and ignorant manner of your prose would make one think so. Perhaps you are just a fan. Of whom? One of the big four who sees football as only relevant while one of those exsulted clubs is involved. Let me try to put you right on a few issues. The way a team decides to play is obviously an issue for that particular club, for its manager and its fans. I am not going to criticise Stoke because of their pragmatic approach. Their style reflects the nature of their manager, rugged, aggresive, high tempo and constantly in your face. For the neutral there is not much to admire apart from the fact that this season they have avoided the dreaded drop. WBA are also a reflection of their manager. They play with honesty, integrity and try to observe the basic principals of entertaining football, play the ball on the ground and do it with a certain style. Now noone can pretend that they have been successful in this however this all boils down to how does a club with no obvious capital investment become one of the regular members of the EPL. Not a team that survives from year to year by the skin of its teeth but who is comfortable in the company of their more exsulted counterparts. Well the answer is that you look more long term and build from the bottom up. I would not expect you to know this because you talk from a position of ignorance but this club has invested its precious pennies in an academy which has just won the Nike cup at under 15 level. Their are a number of talented youngsters pushing to get in the first team and all teams at the club whatever level play the same way, passing football. So it is true that this year has proved to be a step backwards but for a club like ours it is the only way to bring about sustainable success. For you to comment as you do is typical short term, shallow and totally lacking in insight. I am now convinced you are a journalist.
Hi Ben,
Don’t agree at all Pal.
I see you are enthralled by the fantasy that is the premier league. I’m a West Brom fan and a very proud one.
I’d perfer to go down playing like we do than watch a team stop up playing like Stoke.
You talk about fantasy!!
We are one of the very few teams that live within our means. Fantasy belongs to Man Utd, Real Madrid and Chelsea. Lets see when the bottom fall out of the fantasy football cloud cuckoo land and see who survives and has the last laugh.
Can’t remember the last time West brom brought a youth player through the academy……………
Let me guess, you’re either a Joke fan or a joke fan, right?
“Pretentious”? “Arrogant”?
Obviously very emotive words loaded with loathing for a Club representing artistry over pragmatism.
Will the Premiership miss such attempts at authenticity? I doubt it, because just like you it’s only interested in one thing and that’s the filthy lucre.
The reason West Brom went down is because they lack a Sugar Daddy willing to gamble the future of the Club on the back of their own private fortune.
Pay peanuts and you know what you get? As usual, the team with the lowest wage bill, exits stage left. How surprising?
Stoke for your information invested what West Brom’s whole defence earns in one week, in the wages of one of the players that you claim improved (don’t make me laugh!) their cynical approach to the gaining of a foothold in the Premiership.
Will the Premiership benefit from the inclusion of such snarling cynicals like Pulis at Clubs like Stoke? Or Bolton? Or Wimbledon for that matter?
I’m glad you think so. I’m also glad that you appear to be in the company of a deluded minority for while you’re revelling in such delusion, why don’t you read a real article on the game in today’s Telegraph.
An article that laments the passing of such a noble Club with marvellous supporters and genuinely communicates what a poorer place the Premiership will be next year without them.
Personally I feel, that you are simply avoiding the difficult truths.
WBA fans are living in a dreamland if they think that just playing nice football will get them anywhere.
Perhaps you should take your heads out of the sand, fingers off the keyboard, and actually watch some football.
Harsh, very harsh. How can you even say that they weren’t there to win? Every team wants to win as much as they can. A pathetic attack, kicking as team and it’s faithful supporters when they’re down. To call battlers and fighters arrogant, thats arrogant in itself. You my friend, are a complete and utter Pillock.
The ‘Joke’ is right. And I’m a West Brom supporter. There’s truth in his words, even though it’s the harshness of them may rankle.
The declaration by Mowbray that passing, beautiful football is all may be admirable, but this season has seen him stick to principles that have left out any realism or pragmatism when faced with what a killer league the Premiership is. Its strengths and force, its total, utterly steamrolling character had been either misjudged or totally ignored by Mowbray, who has spent most of this season flinging on ineffective players onto the field who have faced other teams – whether great or modest – with all the courage of startled deer. You don’t even have had to look far to notice how badly this has turned out.
Switch on MOTD and see Albion in the last two minutes of the programme making Hansen and Lawrenson’s job easy. Read newspaper reports and see the last paragraph where the journalist has to mention us to signify that we actually turned up.
10 or 20 minutes of a match where West Brom tapped it around midfield whilst getting soundly beaten does not make a Premiership team. This season, Mowbray, when facing games featuring the top four Premiership clubs, virtually admitted that they were write-offs and, instead, concentrated on supposedly ‘winnable’ matches after that. Before a ball was kicked. Most managers would’ve seen those games as a watermark of how far their teams had come and would’ve relished them as tests, no matter the outcome. Not Mowbray, who just buried his head in the sand, and waited until it was all over, even coming out with ‘positives’ when it was plain that there were none to be seen. Only idiots would presume we gave of our best.
We’ve improved over the last few games but that’s when it’s been too late. Strangely, people have seen these handful of games and determined that’s how good we are, ignoring the great many others where we’ve been complete rubbish, easily played against, easily beaten. Three months without a win is the sign of an ‘entertaining’ team apparently. We’re down at the bottom of the Premiership and relegated for a reason – our manager’s cowardly approach, poor buys and decisions and our club’s timid attitude, not even willing to pay an extra non-club-sinking million to buy a player who would have improved our chances.
But I disagree with the comment that our football can be classed as arrogant. You need a strength of character to be that. Neither the team or manager of West Bromwich Albion has had this quality for nearly all this campaign.
On the whole, a very decent article.
West Brom fans may point to the fact that they’ve played “proper” football, but where has that got them exactly? More to the point, how can one style of football be called “proper”. Football is a sport, and as such, the aim is to win. Any style of play that is within the rules and spirit of the game should therefore be judged not only on it’s aesthetic value, but more importantly, on it’s ability to bring results.
West Brom came up with the intention to stick to their “footballing principles”, but trying to out-pass the established premier league sides is an exercise in futility. I would even go as far as to argue passing backwards and square, backwards and square, does not represent the aesthetically pleasing football the Brazilians from Rio De Smethwick would have us believe.
Any promoted team trying to survive in the premiership, a league which is still inherently dominated by power and pace, needs firstly to find a way to compete and bridge the gap in talent. Stoke have bridged the gap with sweat, blood and a team spirit the like of which I haven’t seen at my team in all my years watching them. How have albion tried to compete? By attempting to play better teams at their own game. Without significant amounts of money to invest in talent, this approach for promoted teams will never pay off, and I’m afraid if you persist with it, you will never be more than a yoyo club. Stoke now have a second season of premiership money to bolster our squad, and can slowly add more skill and ability to the ranks.
As for the claim above
“I’d perfer to go down playing like we do than watch a team stop up playing like Stoke.”
As a Stoke fan I’ve had the most enjoyable season in my 15 or so years of being a Stoke fan. And we’ll still be here next season. I don’t care how we play, I simply want us to win.
So goodbye West Brom, we’ll miss you (and our annual six points) next season. Hurry back.
Hear Hear ! The truth hurts the deluded. Protestations of wounded amour propre aside, it’s about time the media all adopted a more realistic tone. Allowing the Arsenals and Barcas and the West Broms of this world to bleat about playing beautiful football which those nasty boys who tackle and play more directly deflate is only to encourage the mythology perpetrated by the Beeb in particular with their celeb fans’ twisted views nebver being actively challenged, (yes Chiles and Skinner, I’m talking about you!)
I did enjoy seeing good football in the Hawthorns. Borja Valero and Fortune are really good players, and although the team couldn´t make it to the Premier next year… it was worth trying.
Bang on. About time somebody said it, instead of pandering to the idiotic assessment “oh but they play lovely triangles in the middle of the pitch”. Ever since he slagged off my team Sunderland for daring to score more goals than them I have had no time for the gutless wonders. At least Stoke have bottle.
Let me ask you this, if you were ‘The Best Fans In the World’ would you need to set up a limp wristed gentlemans club to start singing ( St Pauli ) songs. I think you know the answer to that.
Tippy tappy rubbish.
Absolutely spot on article.
The risky and dangerous approach from West Bromwich Albion would have been to try and make themselves a more steely team and grind out some results in the same way Stoke did. That might have worked. Instead they just carried on playing their pretty patterns, going nowhere fast and getting turned over by teams who were quite happy to let them knock the ball around aimlessly and then hit him where it hurts. Stoke deserve far more credit for their achievements. They adapted to life in the higher tier by finding a system which not only suited them but also worked.
im am aa proud season ticket holder at wba i lets start off by saying i would rather be watching west brom play decent football, then watching stoke hoofing the ball up and down the pitch all day long thats not ffotball thats rugby. i mean when you come to watch football you want to watch nice attacking moves finished off well.
in wba case its not that we didnt produce enough its that we didnt finish so its nothing to do with the midfield its to do with our attack u muppets. at least our fans dont jst jump on the man utd bandwagon and jst watch them win week in week out. lok at the 09/10 fixtures funny that man utd have birmingham first game and burnley next or vice versa. and how the hell rob styles is still allowed to ref games after his dreadful preformance against us vs man utd i will never no. liverpool at home after the 2nd goal went in the fans reaction was superd we were still singing and we never gave4 up.
we will see who is laughing when you are 100m pound in debt whilst wba are debt free