Worst team in the Prem.

[Johnny on the spot 1]

its irresponsible running a football club with only three strikers on the books in the first place but its corporate negligence risking the future of the club with the quality of ours
rondon 19 goals in 87 , hrk 5 in 40 , jay rod 2 in 15
yes i accept the stats don’t reflect the defensive nature of our play but come on how can we survive with this lot.

we can't !

[mickd1961]

I find myself in this strange hinterland of feeling completely disinterested at the moment.

I think that's the most dangerous state of mind of all,complete indifference!

It's not that I don't care because I do but I just can't waste headspace on this cluster f u c k.

Our club is being run like a modern day political party,it's full of "chinless wonders" who've somehow wheedled their way into positions of power and influence,non football people who are utterly clueless.

My grandson is only 4 months old so hopefully that useless little Chopstick Dick will have gone bust and gone by the time I take him to a match.

Maybe by then a "Albion of West Bromwich" fans club will be set up and we can all f u c k off down to the local park and watch something that means something to us.

[stripes39]

In 78-79 we were in for three trophies and ended up with none. That was unlucky and down to bad weather, but instead of making the team stronger they sold Cunningham, followed later by Robson,and Moses. We went into decline, ending in the worst spell in the clubs history.
In 2005, against all odds we achieved the Great Escape, all for nothing, next season they sold our only two strikers in January and we went down again.
They still penny pinch.
Feck em, we have great fans but they are losing them rapidly, and they will never come back.
HRK MY ARSE.

You say 'unlucky' 55 but had they invested in under pitch heating like a few clubs had back then, we might not have come off the rails in that 78-79 season. But I agree with your post. Who would have thought that having watched Bomber, Cunningham and Robson, we'd be watching the likes of Potter or Hackett strutting their stuff a few years later. We went from Giles, Atkinson and Allen to Buckley.

Regardless of who is running the show, we appear to penny pinch, want something for nothing and after numerous protracted negotiations, historically we end up going for a different cheaper target such as HRK. We shouldn't lose sight of what has been good but historically this attitude has been in our DNA.

What depresses me is that after all this time in the Premier League, we haven't really moved on from being touted amongst the newly promoted as relegation candidates. Year after year its the same. Any business that skimps on resource will eventually one day be caught out when various other factors all come together and WBA is no different. This might be the year. I hope I'm wrong as there are many games to go but a small part of me has started to ask, What is the point?

I'm not unrealistic in that I do not expect a top 6 finish but surely a consolidated 10 or 9th spot after our time in the Premier League and an occasional cup run is a realistic ambition? It just seems struggling is part of our club identity and a historic lack of ambition might well be the reason behind it.

[holmleighchris]

You say 'unlucky' 55 but had they invested in under pitch heating like a few clubs had back then, we might not have come off the rails in that 78-79 season. But I agree with your post. Who would have thought that having watched Bomber, Cunningham and Robson, we'd be watching the likes of Potter or Hackett strutting their stuff a few years later. We went from Giles, Atkinson and Allen to Buckley.

Regardless of who is running the show, we appear to penny pinch, want something for nothing and after numerous protracted negotiations, historically we end up going for a different cheaper target such as HRK. We shouldn't lose sight of what has been good but historically this attitude has been in our DNA.

What depresses me is that after all this time in the Premier League, we haven't really moved on from being touted amongst the newly promoted as relegation candidates. Year after year its the same. Any business that skimps on resource will eventually one day be caught out when various other factors all come together and WBA is no different. This might be the year. I hope I'm wrong as there are many games to go but a small part of me has started to ask, What is the point?

I'm not unrealistic in that I do not expect a top 6 finish but surely a consolidated 10 or 9th spot after our time in the Premier League and an occasional cup run is a realistic ambition? It just seems struggling is part of our club identity and a historic lack of ambition might well be the reason behind it.

You say this but others are in the same boat. Blackburn, Wigan, Villa, Sunderland and more would have also expected a consolidated spot. Of the current top flight Southampton, Palace and Newcastle could have the same reasonable aspirations. Everton achieve it but are well established. Fact is every season it will be any 3 from 13 to go down.
The irritating thing is our board should have fired Pulis in the summer, instead they looked at the 10th place league position and extended his contract. Most fans could see he was a busted flush by then,

[stripes39]

You say this but others are in the same boat. Blackburn, Wigan, Villa, Sunderland and more would have also expected a consolidated spot. Of the current top flight Southampton, Palace and Newcastle could have the same reasonable aspirations. Everton achieve it but are well established. Fact is every season it will be any 3 from 13 to go down.
The irritating thing is our board should have fired Pulis in the summer, instead they looked at the 10th place league position and extended his contract. Most fans could see he was a busted flush by then,

You're right in that there are many in the same boat. Ironically, Villa Wigan and Blackburn have all won something in fairly recent times.

I agree about Pulis as I'm sure that the reason for keeping him after a 10th place was the logic that he'd never been relegated. Despite the way things were going, I'm sure it was the lack of ambition in the club that thought it better to hang their hat on someone who had never gone down as the goal was not to get relegated. Problem with standing still is that others around you overtake you and you go backwards hence our current predicament. Every supporter wants the best for their club and not everyone can have it but as with any competition, you look at it with a realistic view as to what is a reasonable or realistic finishing point.

[boingy]

That's us.

Regardless of others being just below us I see better quality in every other team around us,even those at the very bottom.....I would take the main two strikers off every other team in the bottom ten.

We've been sold a pup with every striker we've bought since Odemwingie,we couldn't spot a striker if we had £100m to spend.

We haven't even got the nous to loan a player like Batshuayi.

Five years ago I was strong in my opinion on here that Chris Wood was a class act but our "experts" at the club knew best!

We pay hundreds of thousands in wages to numerous recruiting experts like Hammond and the rest of his cohorts yet most people on this board could put together a better team than this bunch of f u c k I n g morons and we'd certainly find better strikers.

Mr Lai is going to lose his shirt having bought this "dog" and 18 months from now he'll be watching us in League One because I'll say it here and now,this ponderous outfit will not cope in the Champ.

I truly believe the only way we stand a chance of survival is to call on the trusted old guard of Brunt,Morrison,MacAuley and Yacob and to beg or fund two quality finishers in January.

This f u c k up has been long in the making,many of us have seen this coming for three successive years of transfer windows where we've failed to add any real youth or pace to our ageing squad.

We played a struggling Blues and first hand saw the talented Demari Gray....£2m.....that's all that was needed but no,not bright enough to spot a bargain.

Same previously with Redmond.

Matt Dougherty at the Wolves impressed me in a poor side last season,he'll be a good Prem player a year from now.

Barry Bannon runs the show for Sheffield Wed every week.

Ben Brereton at Forest will become a class striker.

Some good picks at Bristol City.

It's not rocket science but we try to make it so.

Well at least that's Xmas sorted for me......I'm not wasting my time watching this shambles again until I see what Lai is prepared to do in January.

Well done to all you away lot and those willing to suffer every week but I've done the third division and Woking and on the down slope towards 60 I'm not doing it again,not under this regime.

I'd rather start from scratch with a fan owned club in the West Midland League than suffer under this bunch of fools!!

Right now I would totally agree with you Mick. Every prem side has strikers I would love at this club. We dont have anyone worth giving away. Its always been about the strikers. Would love to see the smiling faces that used to be at this club, scoring goals and smiling about it instead of looking like its a chore. Even Lee hughes could make things happen through desire even if there was nothing on. We have to buy someone who wants to score in January because we could well be bottom by the 25th....and we know what that can mean.

[Johnny on the spot 1]

Right now I would totally agree with you Mick. Every prem side has strikers I would love at this club. We dont have anyone worth giving away. Its always been about the strikers. Would love to see the smiling faces that used to be at this club, scoring goals and smiling about it instead of looking like its a chore. Even Lee hughes could make things happen through desire even if there was nothing on. We have to buy someone who wants to score in January because we could well be bottom by the 25th....and we know what that can mean.

& we all thought the Saido Berahino saga was a nightmare, remember him ! We ain't got no one who could lace his boots when his brain was engaged.

[baggieal]

You're right in that there are many in the same boat. Ironically, Villa Wigan and Blackburn have all won something in fairly recent times.

I agree about Pulis as I'm sure that the reason for keeping him after a 10th place was the logic that he'd never been relegated. Despite the way things were going, I'm sure it was the lack of ambition in the club that thought it better to hang their hat on someone who had never gone down as the goal was not to get relegated. Problem with standing still is that others around you overtake you and you go backwards hence our current predicament. Every supporter wants the best for their club and not everyone can have it but as with any competition, you look at it with a realistic view as to what is a reasonable or realistic finishing point.

We finished a respectable 10th last year and were crap the last third of the season. This season, the first third has been crap and as so many on the board commented - we have the best squad ever this year! So, it's not unfair to expect Pardew to finish at least 10th - tick tock tick tock!

Feck the excuses Pardew - just get on with it, and to soon to judge you, but most players do raise the game when a new manager comes in. The players on Saturday did not raise their boots from the clean cut grass to fight your corner so lets hope you do something with a better squad than last year - 10th is not unfair! Prove the Newcastle and Palace supporters wrong, who were glad to see the back of you and Carver!