ISSUE 12 WEST BROMWICH ALBION LONDON SUPPORTERS CLUB From the 03. 11. Editors’ Letter Our Top Prem Players Paul & Anoushka Probyn Aidan Rose editors Здравствуйте from Russia! This World Cup edition of Baggie Shorts comes to you from sunny Samara on the eve of England’s appear- 04. 14. ance against Sweden in the quarter-finals. At the time of writing we’re View From The Chair Pulis Purchases quietly optimistic, particularly since witnessing England finally over- Steve Watts Jon Want come their penalty hoodoo (we’ll be seeking therapy for the anxiety it caused, but it was worth it). Read about Albion’s ties with the world 06. 20. cup in Paul Probyn’s review of Baggies in Russia (page 06). Albion and the World Cup An Ode to Tchoyi In other news, we’ve got a no doubt equally exciting season of Cham- Paul Probyn Glenn Hess pionship football to look forward to, with a skeleton team devoid of even the stalwarts such as Foster, McAuley, and Yacob. We witnessed a tumultuous season with a fair few lows redeemed by a courageous 09. 22. final push under Darren Moore, which sadly couldn’t quite keep us up. Midweek Games Preview Q&A Aidan Rose Nick Grant by Aidan Rose Jon Want takes a look back at a mixed bag of signings under Pulis on CONTENTS page 12. But who have been our best Premier League players across the 11 seasons we have spent in the modern “top flight” since we broke into the rich league in 2002? On page 10 Aidan Rose exclu- GET IN TOUCH! sively reveals the results of our poll of London Baggies. E-mail us at: Elsewhere in this issue Glenn Hess continues his love affair with [email protected] @LondonBaggies Somen Tchoyi, while Adam Hess waxes lyrical about Romelu Lukaku. By the time you read this, Lukaku may well have become a member We always appreciate submissions, of the select band to have played for West Bromwich AND to have from match reports and photos to @LondonBaggies op-eds and think pieces. lifted the World Cup, although if Nacer Chadli’s run in the Belgium team continues, we may well have our very own cup-winner at the The Baggie Shorts Team: West Bromwich Albion Hawthorns next season. If he stays……… Supporters Club London Aidan Rose Paul Probyn Branch Glenn Hess Anoushka Probyn - Anoushka and Paul Probyn Photographs by Laurie Rampling 03. across as just a lovely individual it from the last few weeks of and a real “people person”. I the season, I’m less sure about suspect, with him being an ex- many of the players. We have centre-half, there is some dev- at least seen the club stalwarts ilment in there somewhere and strive to perform - Brunt and VIEW FROM I’m not sure anyone would be Foster in particular (and maybe sensible getting on his wrong include Dawson in that - albeit side. he may well be off elsewhere for next season). Brunt has I do recognise that some fans committed to next year and I THE CHAIR have misgivings about his ex- read somewhere that Gibbs had perience to work at this level, done the same. but in the few games he was in Steve Watts charge he did mix it with some Whilst these are pleasing de- pretty impressive managerial velopments, the issue about re- Well, it finally came to pass de- were always likely to stay up. talent and still came out on the placing our long-serving players spite the hope instilled during For us (and despite the poor right side of the win/loss line. has been an outstanding issue the last few games. Palace performance - largely for some time, and the higher understandable after we’d al- I’m confident that, because of echelons of the Albion hierar- What a magnificent show of ready been relegated earlier in who he is, we’ll all get behind chyseem to have lost their fo- defiance from Albion fans at the week) the final weeks were him and that in itself makes a cus on this. Crystal Palace even though it just a case of “too little, too pleasant change for an Albion will be Rotherham rather than late”. Manager/Head Coach. It is telling that Albion has ap- Shrewsbury we will be visiting pointed Ke Xu (aka ‘Ken’) to the this coming season. On a more positive note, at On a personal level, I just hope Baggies Board, who at 29 years least we now have a manag- that he is committed to being old is significantly younger than There were some lovely warm er who does seem to be very a little more entertaining than many of our players. In terms words from Roy Hodgson during passionate about the club. We Mr Pulis - ruthlessly effective of age profile, I’d certainly have the week and afterwards about were lucky enough to meet Dar- though his football might have expected it to be the other way the Albion and it’s only a pity ren fairly recently at a London been for long parts of his ten- around. that timing made it unlikely he Baggies event where he proved ure. could return to the Hawthorns to be an engaging and motivat- Have a fantastic Baggies-free hot seat. ing person. I’m sure Darren will put his own summer and please don’t forget stamp on things and hopefully to re-join. Palace certainly has an impres- I guess if there are any doubts we will get in the right person- sive strike force, and with their about him it’s how tough he nel to drive us forward. Whilst Onwards and hopefully up- team organised properly they might be because he comes Darren can take great cred- wards! 04. 05. too late. Albion fans scrutinising finished as England’s top scorer. his contribution to Poland’s dis- Albion and mal campaign may be forgiven England went one better in 1962, for feeling a sense of deja vu. losing to Brazil in the quarter fi- nals, again with Howe, Robson the World Cup Nacer Chadli also made it to Rus- and Kevan in the squad. Sadly sia despite his lack of playing time none of them made it to 1966, by Paul Probyn last season and Belgium’s wealth when Alf Ramsey’s Albion-less of available talent. He played squad lifted the trophy. wing-back against England in Ka- As Baggie Shorts goes to press, squad, Albion fans’ eyes were on liningrad, apparently picked just It was in the following tourna- the quadrennial World Cup hys- Egypt, with Ahmed Hegazi and Ali to make up the numbers in a poor ments that the name of West teria across England is fizzling Gabr, Albion’s mystery loan sign- game between two scratch sides. Bromwich Albion became most out. The national team may have ing, in the heart of the defence, closely linked to the World Cup, redeemed themselves after un- and both playing very minute of Chadli surprisingly kept his place albeit for the wrong reasons. Jeff der-performing woefully at a suc- the group stage. against Japan and scored the Astle, a nervous flyer, arrived in cession of tournaments, but an- winning goal in Belgium’s dra- Mexico City for the 1970 tourna- other four years must pass before Egypt were unlucky to lose their matic comeback. He then played ment after an epic bender on the they have any chance of emulat- first game, against Uruguay, for 80 minutes against Brazil in the plane (remember the days of free ing the heroes of 1966. A whole whom Gimenez powered in an quarter-final before the famil- in-flight booze?), and reportedly generation of English supporters 89th minute header - after which iar sight of him limping off, but stumbled through the airport dis- may live and die without seeing the finger-pointing TV cameras he was back again for Belgium’s guised in a photographer’s cape. us lift the Cup. focused on the unfortunate He- semi-final defeat against France. gazi - but after that it was down- So much exposure in the global The King played in two of En- Once again, the World Cup of- hill all the way to a point-less exit. shop window will probably mean gland’s group matches in Mexico fered ample evidence of the En- he never has to wear the blue and 1970, but is remembered only for glish Premier League’s global Similarly, Grzegorz Krychowiak, white stripes again. THAT miss against Brazil in a glo- dominance. But while some clubs despite his underwhelming form rious 1-0 defeat. Watching the re- saw most of their first team squads on loan at the Hawthorns from But, in truth, Albion’s relationship plays on youtube nearly 50 years shipped out to Russia, the busi- Paris St Germain, was a first choice with the World Cup has always later, it doesn’t look quite so bad: ness class seats on flights from in Poland’s midfield and played been a chequered one. The first Astle shot from close to the penal- Sandwell International Airport to 90 minutes in all three group World Cup to feature Albion play- ty spot and screwed the ball past Moscow were sadly vacant. games. His comedy backpass that ers was 1958; four, including Don the post with only the keeper to led to Senegal’s winning goal in Howe, Bobby Robson and Der- beat - an omen, given England’s With Gareth Southgate spar- Poland’s first game was cancelled ek Kevan, were members of the record from the penalty spot since ing Baggie blushes by omitting out by a rare headed goal just be- squad that was knocked out in then (until the victory against Co- Jake Livermore from his England fore full-time, but it was too little, the group stage, although Kevan lombia in Moscow).