WEST BROM- THE BEGINNING...

Little 'boings' his way in to the Baggies

Hi guys,

Been a while since I last posted (was that long ago I was still at Fenerbache!) but a serious case of being flat out busy moving house whilst doing the 50 hours a week to afford the move in the 1st place meant I wasn't able to spend as much time on SoccerManager or Top 100 as I would of liked.
The house moved went ok. We still have stuff packed in boxes but seeing as it's now 3 weeks since we moved in, I'm assuming those boxes are filled with crap that we don't need!! Anyway on to the real move FENERBACHE TO WEST BROM!!

After re joining Top100 with Fenerbache I made it clear to Frank that if an English club became available I'd like to be considered for it, The vacancy at Sunderland came before West brom but like that just wasn't going to happen!! I'd rather shit in my hands and clap than ever take over at that lot. However it wasn't that long after when West Brom came calling and although not the best side to work with I decided to go for it and leave the Turkish Giants and come back to manage in England.

Quickly I noticed I had an ageing 1st team and little youth to play around with, and just a few quid in the bank so it was going to be hard mixing it up with signings. Notable 1st team signings since I took over include
# Rob Elliot (free agent)
# Gueida Fofana (Lyon £6m)
# Karl Darlow (Charlton £1.8m)
# Alex Pritchard (Greuther Furth part-exchange)
# Ashley Westwood (Real Sociedad part-exchange)
# Jordan Mutch (Buraspor part-exchange)
# 11 players for the development squad
I also in the last 24 hours agreed a fee for Jonathan BIABIANY from Inter Milan who will be the biggest signing I've made at £11.5m, big fee but the 88 rated Frenchman can play both flanks which helps. I have tried to stay local(UK signings) but lately have come up short adding to my squad with talent, the 2 goalkeepers both could rise, Elliot has been player of the season for Newcastle before injury sadly ended his season and the Euro's for the Republic. Darlow is a good shot stopper who will play the part of back up to my 1st choice Ben Foster. The 3 English lads I signed in midfield were just squad signings, but I know more about these squad signings than the players they replaced. In terms of what is left at West Brom I will listen to offers for Beharino but will have to be a offer that suits me, 2 for 1 is a must to improve my team. Gomis can also leave maybe for a younger 87/88 rated striker.

On to results since I have arrived and I have been happy enough with the start, 10 games 3 wins, 5 draws and just the 2 defeats. Solid if not spectacular!!
17th March 1-1 Dynamo Dnipropetrovsk A
20th March 1-2 River Plate H
24th March 4-1 Celta Vigo H
27th March 2-2 SC Internacional A
31st March 3-2 AZ Alkmaar H
3rd April 0-1 Malaga A
7th April 2-1 FC Koln H
10th April 1-1 Atalanta A
14th April 0-0 Southampton H
17th April 3-3 Montpellier A
So as you can see a mixed bag, if you're a glass hall full guy its 1 defeat in 8 and that's me! I'll take the positives.

As with my other posts I will end with my thoughts on the messed up world of Newcastle United.

Since my last post the wally with the brolly was escorted off the premises with a nice pay off for failure, whatever possessed us to appoint another failed manager from the lower leagues (Pardew another) escapes me, it was only going to end one way. The biggest crime was it didn't end sooner, after Chelsea give us another hiding he should of went then, we had 18 days till the next game but he survived and by the time he finally got the bullet it was too late. Newcastle being Newcastle then pull off the coup of the season (biased yes I know but who cares) in getting Rafa Benitez in as manager. A proper manager, not some Ashley yes man, and he has had a reaction of sort, yes just 1 win in 6 but small steps have been made. We look more solid(couldn't of looked less solid if we tried tbf) and we seem to have a bit more fight in us, last night against City for example we produced our best performance of the season. A bit fight in the lads, A bit of passion sadly lacking this season and if it wasn't for the mong running the line who didn't flag the blatantly offside Aguero we may of sneaked back to back wins. As already said the damage was already done prior to Rafa's arrival and unless we pull 3 wins from last 4 games I feel we are down, we still have Palace at home and Villa away which both need 3 points. However we also have Liverpool away Saturday and finish with Spurs at home last game(hopefully title is done and dusted one way or another and they have buggar all to play for) and we need to win one of them to stand any chance of staying up. All we ask for is somehow to get Rafa to stay on at end of the season but championship won't appeal unfortunately.
Relegation will spark a messy few years I fear, We won't be back any time soon.

Till next time have fun