'The Cunning Plan'

In the iconic Blackadder TV show, Baldrick referred to his many unconventional but ultimately doomed ideas as a ‘cunning plan’..

Maybe this was Carlos’s methodology the whole time?

In many ways perhaps, WBA’s pre-season has been all about the crux ethos of any visionary leadership…

‘Trust the process’..

In a tumultuous eighty five days, we have seen the core of one team disbanded and the promise of a new one rising from the ashes, with an accent on a much younger group of players, from a far wider recruiting net…

Shilen Patel clearly set out the blueprint for sustainability in May, and was hugely backed by the Baggies faithful with a fantastic response through season ticket purchases..

Buying into a dream is never instant gratification, but the need for fans to be patient in this rebuilding process is imperative.

Restructuring our debt is totally paramount these next few seasons, particularly looking at what breaking FFP rules can do, when you consider sorry tales of Championship teams at the time, Derby County and Wigan Athletic…

Take your medicine now.

Play smart.

Be creative in the transfer market.

Through those green shoots for the future, one word will blossom.

Hope..

But, hope was seemingly in short supply during a tumultuous set of pre season fixtures, the nadir being a 4-1 defeat v Birmingham City…

Carlos Corberan, in his post match summing up, declared that this coming season in the Championship, would be ‘his most difficult of challenges’..

In many ways a red flag as potent as the ‘Tercio de Muleta’ is to a bull.

In matadorial speak..

Corberan is definitely a pragmatist and plays the hyperbole card very, very seldomly, so when you hear quotes like this, you have to read between the lines….

Corberan has done an incredible job since his arrival, critics of him tend to forget we were 24th and last when he took over the slipshod reins from Steve Bruce.

The Carlos revolution of detail, discipline and team first ethic, breathed new life into a stuttering Baggies team.

In reality, even under his leadership, we weren’t quite good enough to take the final step to at least a Wembley final and the monetary promised land of the Premier League.

Perhaps 300 Million good reasons.

Or in Baggies economy, 100 Brandon Thomas Asante’s, at the current Championship rate of exchange…

This Carlos cry for help, understandable, looking at an unbalanced squad, deep with youth and promise on the bench, but in reality weak in terms first team quality was partly answered this week, with the double signing of Gianluca Frabotta and Lewis Dobbins..

For Carlos to get this new blood, with more signings in the offing, gives WBA such a boost, and the season to come much more impetus and gravitas, as a squad and almost as importantly, as a fan…

Compared to last season, we have a squad shorn apart from the inevitable Cedric Kipre departure, ever dependable but aging Erik Pieters, the omnipresent Conor Townsend, the bulwark of midfield, Okay Yokulsu, top goalscorer, Brandon Thomas Asante, to Carlos’s favorite son, Matt Phillips.

The cumulative effect was bound to be huge..

The leaving loanees, M’Villa, Weimann and Johnston, obviously had very mixed impacts, the latter and by far the younger, exceeding by a mile, the impact of the veterans.

Those Albrighton type of loans, a direction we are far better avoiding in the future..

When you compare ages it’s informative in a very positive way.

The average age of the players leaving WBA last season is 28.5.

The average age of the incoming players is 24.2..

As a club, that is absolutely the right direction, particularly as we broaden our network of younger worldwide signings, surely the way to the future in every way.

Looking at this seasons squad we’ll need to maintain a similar defensive cohesion, that led us to have the third best defensive record in The Championship last season, conceding just 47 goals. 

At times, Corberan’s tactics can be seen as over cautious, but you can also claim that it was a case of common sense, looking at the squad he inherited and the obvious lack of potent and regular goalscoring options..

Alex Palmer turned down a transfer to Luton Town and a season in the Premier League, a decision welcomed by one and all, but harder to imagine the same scenario occurring now, in this ‘sell the assets’ mindset to reduce debt and salaries climate, we find ourselves in. 

Palmer is one of the best shot stoppers and most consistent keepers in the Championship, still only 27 years old and not close to being the so-called peak age for a keeper, where like fine wines, maturity counts..

The signing of Joe Wildsmith from Derby is intriguing.

A highly rated keeper, a year older than Palmer, and the reigning ‘Golden Glove Winner in Division 1, for clean sheets, suggesting an ambitious and ready to start custodian.

This move allowed Josh Griffiths to be moved on to another loan spell to Bristol Rovers, to fully develop his game and not to sit on the bench.

Experience counts.

The much maligned Conor Townsend’s was a Corberan staple, not everyone’s cup of tea, but offered a dependability of selection, and a guarantee of whole hearted effort, one of those who always played for the shirt and as a lower league signing can be perceived as someone who made the absolute most of his opportunities at West Brom.

I have huge respect for him.

I imagine Conor would be the last player angling for a move, but in football you never know, and after six seasons, he returns to the much vaunted world of the Premier League and Ipswich Town.

Fair play to him, an admirable lad in so many ways..

Cedric Kipre in particular, after one season of absolute brilliance for us, and some impressive loan spells, his performances were bound to open eyes from suitors across Europe.

It was no surprise being out of contract, our Player of the Season returned to Ligue A and a life back home in France at midtable Riems, who like us, have had their glory days many decades ago.

And so from our previous season's solid defence, we lose our two left footed starters.

Never a good scenario….

A club like ours, spreading a wide scouting net across continents, for younger recruits, can pay incredible dividends, and something we sadly have declined to do over recent years..

The return to a smarter and wider vision started early with the signing of ex Rosenberg product Torbjorn Heggem, who from footage and early impressions, displays solid technique and wonderful athleticism, predominantly left footed, comfortable in a back three or four..

Two words.

Huge potential.

At just over Half a Million, a really good investment.

Add to this the recruitment of Juventus left back Gianluca Frabotta, originally at Bologna, [hopefully the tentacles of the multiclub, multi league investments by the Patel’s can pay off here and in the future?]

For the past three seasons, Frabotta has been loaned out by Juventus to various Serie B clubs, hopefully a multi year contract will produce peace of mind and a long Baggies future, judging by Gianluca’s positive initial WBA interview a desire to rebuild his career with a veneer of stability is the way forward for us and him.

Juventus, smartly put in a clause whereby they’ll reap 20% of any future transfer fee.

As Turin’s Vecchia Signora, wear stripes and also proudly wore pink over many seasons, I think Gianluca will feel at home in our 2024/25 kits..

The existing stalwart trio of Furlong, Bartley and Ajayi have been with us for a total of almost 500 appearances and at this stage, we are pretty much aware of their strengths and weaknesses..

Furlong’s durability, being the youngest of our defensive trio and averaging over 40 appearances in the last three seasons, says a lot about how important he will be this season in a squad shorn of numbers, and little cover at right back.

The returning loanee Caleb Taylor, recent beneficiary of a new four year contract, says much about the faith WBA has in him.

The sustainability of so many Championship clubs is the lifeblood of pushing on your home grown talent and hopefully this will be clearly seen with Caleb’s role in the coming seasons.

The other central defensive signing is the ex Man Utd and 'Boro defender Paddy McNair, on a short term contract is a very smart move, and follows in the footsteps of that beyond esteemed Northern Irish Baggies duo of Jonny Evans and Gareth McAuley.

McNair is due to fly out to San Diego for a three year contract with the new MLS franchise, with a name as solid and stoic as his defensive reputation, San Deigo FC on January 1st, so gaining a classy, short term deal can only be of benefit to everyone concerned.

Alex Mowatt was such a revelation last year, an under appreciated player, I raved about in last season’s WBA preseason preview as someone who’d have 

‘A huge impact and change a few people’s opinions’.

I was delighted to be proven correct.. 

It took until the 8th League game of the season for Mowatt to make his first start of the season last year and he simply never looked back, the consistent heartbeat of the team. 

Mowatt’s dovetailing with Okay Yokulslu in a predominantly deep central midfield axis, was impressive but it was correct to be judged by Corberan as essentially short term. 

Due to age and contractual details, our midfield pair were destined to go their separate ways, due to both ending their WBA contracts one year apart, in my opinion, we made the right move keeping Mowatt and moving on Yokuslu.

Mowatt deservedly gained a new and improved two year contract, I can easily see becoming WBA skipper at some stage in the not too distant future..

Okay, after some very impressive cameos in the Euros for such an invigorating and enterprising Turkey team, proven to be a great window for the Turkish Süper Lig.

A return to his homeland to Trabzonspor, with Okay in the final year of his Baggies contract at 30 years old, has to be the right move for all concerned..

Ironically, it could well have been two Baggies at Trabzonspor, as they took an early and keen interest in Cedric Kipre, but having one Baggie in the Turkish Ligue 1 wearing a literal identical kit to Aston Villa would have been hard enough to watch.

The Lewis Dobbins deal makes it a little more palatable now.

Yokulsu, such a class act, seemed really popular at the club, but the prospect of losing him on a free transfer months from now, was something too clearly avoid.

Jason Molomby missed much of last season with a foot injury and who knows what was going through his head in that confrontation in the not so friendly game against Real Mallorca, possibly the personal realization of the damage one late challenge can cause, led to his over reaction

and subsequent fight with Samu Costa, a Portugese player who is also no stranger to a yellow card..

It looks pretty certain, Molomby will miss the start of the season, and hopefully this red card is a one off.

Ironically, physicality is the least of Molumby’s issues, he offers undoubted energy, but all Corberan’s principles of play involve building from the back and an absolute dependence on maintaining possession. Yokuslu thrived at this.

Hopefully Molumby’s comfort in possession improves.

There is a reported interest from Jayson’s former team, Millwall, in taking him back to The Den, but it’ll leave us very short of central midfielders, relying heavily on new signing Ousanne Diakite to stay fit.

You can understand Millwall’s interest, as they always seem a high energy team, that’d suit Molumby’s style of play.

The second product of the wider net policy for bargains was the signing of Ousmane Diakite, the Malian from FC Hartberg in the Austrian Bundesliga who finished a credible 5th last season, with Diakite missing just one game..

Diakite looks a tall, elegant, defensive central midfielder, perhaps written off earlier in his career with a string of injuries in his late teens, but if he stays fit [and last season was an indicator of improved fitness], well worth signing, particularly at just 24 years old.

A risk?

Possibly..

But I’d roll the dice on a younger player’s fitness such as Diakite over short term, older loanee with zero sell on value..

Mercurial, can be a property that allures but also can frustrate in equal measures..

The start of last season, Jon Swift was arguably our best player until his injury in our 3-1 defeat to the ‘Rooneyless’,  Birmingham City.

 If you think decline can be quick in The Championship, consider Birmingham’s trajectory, eleven games into the season, that 3-1 win put Birmingham just 2 points off 3rd place in the division.. 

They ended up relegated…

Swift, on returning from injury, never got close to his early season form, maybe his new blond short haircut can inspire him?

Grady Diangana, as mercurial as they come, and the epitome' of the mercurial is seemingly a capacity to be prone to injuries..

Hearing Grady had picked up a calf injury in July came as no surprise wiothhis checkered fitness record , but when you analyze it, in mid June, Grady was with the DR Congo squad for World Cup qualifiers.

Extreme travel, lack of rest and injuries are often comfortable bedfellows..

It comes as a bit of a worry with Grady’s notorious injury record, that Dr Congo will be playing two African Nations Qualifying games, in September, October and November 2024, traveling not just to central Africa but also, Guinea, Tanzania and Ethiopia..

Semi Ajayi will have similar demands with Nigeria, who will have three games in Lagos as well as fixtures in Libya, Benin and Rwanda, and if Diakite starts his Baggies career well, who knows he may get invited to join the Mali squad?

A long and demanding season awaits in SO many ways..

Wide midfield has our X factor player and in monetary terms by far, our most saleable asset, Tom Fellows..

The patience Carlos Corberan took to start Tom in a league match, from his loan spell at Crawley Town was quite extraordinary, but undoubtedly as a fan you could clearly see the potential of Fellows as one of those rare, old school type wingers.

The classic drop of the shoulder,.

Change of pace.

Heads up, early awareness

Inventive crosser.

In a word, electric..

Ask any veteran Baggies fan and this was simply manna from heaven for a club steeped with wing talent over many decades.

Tom is undoubtedly a Premier League player in the making, starred on his debut for the England U20’s, maybe the best news last season was the signing a new three and a half year contract, when many of us fretted the end of his contract would be the end of Tom for us.

And nothing financially for WBA in return…

Being a lifelong Baggies fan, with solid parental advice happily swayed Tom to stay in pastures green.

Not pastures anew….

Tom progressing at this rate, bids are bound to occur from Premier League teams.. 

In the financial peril we are in, a lucrative bid may be too tempting to turn down??

My advice to fellow Baggies..

Watch and wallow in Tom’s ability.

Reality hopefully won’t bite too soon..

By far, one of the best decisions Carlos Corberan made last season was making Jed Wallace his captain.

Jed’ss character and leadership off and on the pitch were beyond reproach, a natural leader, respected by one and all at the club..

This selflessness was very obvious, always putting team before self, playing a variety of wide and central attacking roles.

Comparing his two seasons with us, Jed has scored six both times, but his assist output lessened, down from 8 to 5.

No doubt playing less on the wing has greatly impacted Jed’s opportunity for assists, his role redefined particularly due to Dike and Maja’s injury woes.

With our current financial woes, the notion of big money signings is impossible to imagine, many fans clamouring for the return of Mikey Johnston whose hopes were doomed.

Johnston, at his best, was untouchable, scoring some absolute crackers, but the MJ impact lessened the longer the season went on.

Scoring a superb goal for Celtic v Chelsea, in a pre-season game, did little to convince many Celtic fans of Mikey’s value..

Being appreciated is never a given..

The biggest worry for me is goal scoring. Every team above us scored at least eleven more than our 70 goal return.

Part of the need for a new direction was the selling of our top goalscorer from the last two seasons, Brandon Thomas-Asante, whose transfer to Hull City ended up getting scuppered by Coventry City.

A deal that gave us more cash and I think a team that will suit BTA's style of play far better..

Thomas-Asante did split some supporters viewpoints, undoubtedly the most genuine of characters doing so much for team spirit, on and off the pitch, working tirelessly, and often isolated in the lone striker role.

BTA subtly but pointedly mentioned his lack of forward support, in his candid but heartfelt ‘farewell WBA’ message..

But despite two seasons of undoubted effort and no doubt huge improvement in many ways, BTA’s finishing was never clinical, and under Mark Robins, astute coaching and more attacking oriented style at Sky Blues, I think it’s a real astute signing by Coventry.

BTA is just 25, I think he’ll make further progress and do well there..

Daryl Dike’s absolute nightmare of long term, major injuries since he joined us, is heartbreaking, and as a Baggie living in the States, I saw a lot more of Daryl than most local fans, seeing him live and on TV.

I truly thought we’d made a really good signing.

But injuries break the spirit, soul, body and ambition of a player..

The Achilles Tendon is the Achilles Heel of all sports injuries, something that is so difficult to come back from, regardless of sport…

Some fans mention, cutting our losses on Daryl for a return to the MLS? 

One thing worth considering is six MLS teams play on turf, not grass, and the risk of sustaining the type of injury Daryl has suffered from twice, is absolutely magnified.

Knowing Daryl’s character, he’ll be doing everything to return to the sport he loves, but it’s a really hard road ahead..

And double injuries in a short space of time is something Josh Maja also knows only too well?

Compared to Dike’s non contact injuries, Maja was the victim of two brutal lunging tackles that incredibly did not result in a red card for either player.

SFC’s Daniel Ballard’s challenge bordering on an assault was in particular was horrendous.

A new season awaits for Josh, and hopefully the second of his three years with WBA will be more sustained in terms of injury free and more fruitful in front of goal.

It’s the least Maja deserves.

In the past twenty three seasons, only twice has a Baggies player scored more than Karlan Grant's total of 18 in 2021/22.

Those two clinical finishers were rightly revered in their short spells with WBA.

Kevin Phillips and Dwight Gayle.

But put it down to Bilic paying over the odds for a striker at such a pivotal conjecture for WBA, or perceived lack of application and work rate, but Grant has never been a particularly popualr player at West Brom..

Grant's second season of his four year contract at WBA resulted in a paltry strike rate of less than one goal in ten games, and last season's loan spell at Cardiff City, Grant doubled his goalscoring tally to an underwhelming six.

But it took forty games..

So here we have Grant, like Kipre past season, returning from Cardiff in the lasr year of his four year contract, and six months younger than Cedric was, at just 26 years old.

Am I expecting a Grant resurgence?

Probably not, but with our paucity in terms of finishing and the delicious duel pace, now offered by Tom Fellows and the newly signed loanee Luke Dobbins, coupled with the need to impress new suitors, as all out of contract players to be must, stranger things have happened..

Two very varying skill sets and talents, as well as career arcs have recently emerged, in the quest to also desperately improve our threat close to goal.

The signing of the seemingly journeyman Devonte Cole, gives WBA more of a traditional target man, being his tenth club in the last decade.

In a career that at times in Cole's early days underwhelmed…

A more promising future though may be seen in the past two seasons, with Cole missing just one Division 1 League game out of the 92 played and scoring a very respectable 33 goals..

From Carlos’s soundbites, he was impressed by the longevity and durability of Cole, now aged 29, and a 2 year contract is an opportunity he may not have expected at The Hawthorns, to make a name at a club famous for it’s strikers..

If Devonte’s finishing is half as good as his dad’s I’m sure we’ll be more than happy..

The very recent signing of Lewis Dobbin on a season long loan from Aston Villa was for me a tremendous and welcoming surprise, lured by the vision and character of Carlos Corberan when discussing the possible move with the WBA boss..

Watching footage of Dobbin, I’m hugely impressed by his pace, inventiveness, dribbling skills and massive promise.. 

A player great on the eye and bound to be a fans favorite..

Our last loanee with such attacking verve, we also signed at the same age [21] was Harvey Barnes.

Although stylistically different, Barnes being a more powerful runner whilst Dobbins glides with pace and more intricate foot skills.

Gladly and reassuringly for us, Lewis’s impact will be a whole season, not the glorious 6 month flirtation we had with Harvey.

2018/19 season at WBA was never quite the same when Barnes returned to LCFC…

This may well be a season of huge opportunity for younger players to make an impact and nothing pleases the heart more than home grown players succeeding..

Could Mo Faal be the first home grown finisher of any sustained repute we have been hoping for since the brilliant Saido Berahino made his debut for WBA? 

Steve Clarke, made the judicious and impressive decision to promote ‘Bera’ as WBA’s main striker, eleven seasons ago..

Time flies..

Faal scored a respectable six goals in 20 games for Walsall in 2024, maybe it’s his turn now..?

Another homegrown forward option is Reyes Cleary, at 20, may seem more suited to a spell on loan?

Just two first team cameo appearances as a teen, otherwise only playing age group football for WBA…

In midfield, the very confident attacking presence of Fenton Heard, whose close control and vision in his Baggies Cup cameo stood out.

At U18 level last season was impactful 11 goals and 10 assists in 47 appearances, being slight of frame, how would Fenton cope with the hurly burly of The Championship?

Another debut I enjoyed was Harry Whitwell, a classy operator at U18 level, good vision and work ethic, stylistically a classic No 8 style in the making.

It’d gladden the heart to see one of our own make it…

On Saturday we visit a team where one of our own now thrives.

Sam Field..

85 days since our playoff defeat, we begin the season with a difficult visit to the most improved team in The Championship, QPR in a challenging month of August, where we will have to hit the road running..

Our first home game will undoubtedly be a battle against Championship favorites Leeds, then a trip to Lewis Dobbin’s birthplace and the intense rival and literal cousin in stripes who we seem to face on an annual basis, regardless of division, Stoke City.

Our final August fixture is a home game v Swansea City, who’ve beaten us five in our last six meetings…

A quartet of games to really test us…

I predicted last season West Brom to make the playoffs in 6th place in a blanket finish, going down to the last game, and was not far off with that prediction..

This season, there seem to me, more X Factors than before, in this second year without parachute payments and the healthy widening of our recruitment web.

A new, young, hopefully exciting, developmental WBA team in so many ways will emerge.

It’s going to be a fascinating season, but patience as a fan base may be vital as it may take time to gel.

I’ve always seen the core of The Championship as being very close, and see nothing changing this season.

Reaching the playoffs for a second season in a row is a possibility, but it may well be very close.

I see us improving as the season and team develops and cautiously predict 6th..

If we make it, watch out, we'll be dangerous..

Enjoy the season, fellow Baggies!!