It's been almost five years since Jordao gave us our fifth win in ten derbies with W****s, and it's 3rd v 4th with both in impressive form (ours moreso, obviously). Really cannot wait!
We've played the V***a and Blues a lot more in these last five years, but for those of us (relatively) younger Albion fans it's been the Black Country Derby which is the big rivalry in our minds. I certainly had this match circled on my calendar when the fixture list came out. I'll be up at 4 a.m. Sunday morning here in California to listen to the commentary! Should PNE draw or lose at home to Hull City (they probably won't), the winner of the derby could jump into second in the table!
Oh and no-one will forget that this will be Tony Mowbray's first official match as Albion boss. It's really simple, Tony. Win Sunday (and hopefully next Tuesday and next Saturday) and you'll be an instant hero and godsend. Lose... well, let's not think about that at all. No pressure, eh? By the way, when Mark Venus takes his place in the Albion dugout, I'd much rather he get more stick from the away fans in the Smethwick End than from the home fans, please.
I found this gem from 13 years ago on Youtube recently. The Hawthorns, 5 September 1993 Of course, I wasn't there, but I'm guessing one or two BigSoccer members may have been. And our new assistant manager obviously... I have got one of those "Coucher & Shaw" shirts in my closet, however.
I wasn't at that one unfortunately (never made by derby debut til the Keith Curle encounter), though my brother was and I remember watching it on Central TV. That Bradley goal's a cracker, they'll probably/hopefully show it on the screens Sunday.
The Albion 3 The Dogheads 0 !!!! The Tony Mowbray era at the Albion got off to a great start with a satisfying thumping of the Dingles. We created quite a few chances in the first half, and could have had more than the two from Greening and Kamara. The W****s did look far better in the second half but couldn't create many chances. Perhaps the one negative from today was that the defence were on their heels for much of the latter 45 minutes. Pascal Zuberbuhler was quite poor in net as well, despite the clean sheet.
By the way, Kamara's now scored in every match he's played since he's returned. Six in four matches... amazing. I can definitely see why French or Italian clubs might have been very interested, but we MUST keep him, even if he is due for a slight drop-off in form.
Where do i start? Firstly the video. It's quality, i think it was JohnBoy who posted it on too before. He got it from the website i think. I was at that game in '93, i was 12 and was standing in the Brummie right in the middle of all that boinging. I could feel the stand shaking. I still rank it as my favourite game along with the play-off semi final v Swansea the year before. Those were the days. It's crazy to see how the ground has changed though. Darren Bradley was like a working mans Jan Molby, well a dead mans Jan Molby in fact. He was 6 stone overweight and would never be a pro nowadays but he could pass a ball, and as Albion players from that era go, he was classy. I think the team that day was Tony Lange Steve Lilwall Paul Raven Gary Strodder Daryl Burgess Darren Bradley Kieran O'Regan Ian Hamilton Wayne Fereday Kevin Donovan Andy Hunt Don't quote me on it tho because Donovan was a midfielder but i can't recall who came in for Bob Taylor. Kwame Ampadu was on the bench. I still maintain that Ampadu's cross for the 3rd was the only good thing he ever did for us cos he was crap. If you go back on to you tube there are some great vids from yesterday put up by some fans. The one where they are celebrating Greenings goal in the Smethwick had me in stitches. Anyway, the game yesterday. Nevermind the performance as solid as it was it was all about the atmosphere and the fact we totally tonked that orange shit. I was sitting close to the dingles so i was able to see the misery on their faces as they realised they were being outclassed. The atmosphere was unbelievable, a throwback to the days of the games i mentioned above. The noise was deafening at times and i can't remember celebrating 3 goals like that in a long time, in fact since the last time we played em. I was going berserk and i remember looking at the Smethwick and they were even worse but then, they do it like nobody else. They were really going for it. I was trying to scream at the the shit to '******** off back to Bilston and don't come back' but they were never gonna hear me. That journey home on the number 79 bus must have been a solemn one for them. I've been to pretty much every home game for the last 16/17 years and and therefore seen some of the most important games in our modern history but none of them come close to the derbies. As celebrations for goals go, they have never been as joyous as the ones against the dingles and yesterday was no different. I'd put it up there with the best games for sheer euphoria. It was amazing. 3-0 you dirty bastards! Devil Dave, what commentary did you listen to? I know on Capital Gold with Tom Ross he was going bananas when we scored and he's a Blues fan! You've got to get over here and come to one of these derbies.
It's clear from the times I've listened to Tom Ross that he seems to have a soft spot for the Albion despite being a Bluenose... he probably likes us better than the Dingles, at least. I thought yesterday was a BBC WM match, so I listened on Albion World yesterday. I can't get Capital Gold on the Internet but I can listen to BRMB Saturdays if we are on there. I can listen to WM for programmes like the Tony Butler phone-in and Daz Hale but they don't stream football. Finally, I agree. I've got to make it over there for a Black Country Derby... or any Albion match for that matter.