[No Air]

January 3, 2009

Mowbray heads for Parkhead

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Tony Mowbray has today secured his long awaited move away West Brom to join SPL giants Celtic. The 45-year old Scotsman's last game in charge of the Baggies ended in a 3-0 defeat to Portsmouth in the FA Cup earlier today.

In early October 2006, media reports linked Mowbray with the vacant managerial position at West Brom. On 10 October, it was confirmed by West Brom that they had asked Hibernian for permission to interview Mowbray, which was granted the following day. On 13 October, West Bromwich Albion announced that they had appointed Mowbray as their new manager.

Mowbray replaced Bryan Robson as Albion manager, and immediately faced the task of returning the Baggies to the Premier League after relegation under Robson the previous season. Although he managed to turn around the club's poor away form, an indifferent run of results at home towards the end of the season meant that Albion finished fourth in The Championship table behind Sunderland, Birmingham City and Derby County, and faced the lottery of the Play-Offs. Despite two famous victories over old rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers in the semi finals, Albion lost 1–0 to Derby County in the Wembley final.

As a result, during the close season, Mowbray set about restructuring his squad, moving out several of Robson's players for multi-million pound fees, after press reports of dressing room division. High profile players such as Jason Koumas, Diomansy Kamara and Curtis Davies were sold to Premier League clubs for large fees, in addition to the departures of Paul McShane, Nathan Ellington, Darren Carter and Steve Watson. Mowbray replaced them by signing a total of 14 permanent and loan players in the summer transfer window, making an overall profit in the process. His most expensive signings were Chris Brunt from Sheffield Wednesday for £3 million, Leon Barnett from Luton Town for £2.5 million, and James Morrison from Middlesbrough for £1.5 million.

Mowbray guided West Brom to the Football League Championship title, meaning promotion to the Premier League and reached the semi-final of the FA Cup. The semi-final, the first to be played at the new Wembley Stadium, pitted West Brom against Portsmouth, the only remaining Premier League team left in the FA Cup. Portsmouth won the match 1-0.

After a trying 2008-09 season, West Brom were relegated from the Premier League, finishing 20th. So far this season, the Scotsman has guided the Baggies to a steady 4th place, thirteen points behind the automatic places and one point into the play-off positions.

Burnley manager Owen Coyle is already a favourite to take over from Mowbray whilst Paul Tisdale, Steve Coppell and Sean O'Driscoll are all front runners.

This post has been edited by No Air: 16 June 2009 - 03:27 PM

[No Air]

O'Driscoll gets job

Sun 4th Jan

Sean O'Driscoll has been confirmed as the new manager of West Brom after Tony Mowbray left for Celtic just yesterday. It is quite a sudden appointment and one that Albion chairman Jeremy Pearce has confirmed was already agreed upon before Mowbray's departure.

West Brom will pay fellow Championship side Doncaster Rovers one million-pounds in compensation for the former Republic of Ireland international.

The 51 year-old was delighted to be appointed as manager: "I feel priveledged to be the manager of this club and honoured to have been chosen by the chairman.

"West Brom are a fantastic club and everything about the place is fantastic. The stadium, the training facilities, the fans, everything.

O'Driscoll is well known to be a fan of attacking, attractive football much like now Celtic-boss Mowbray.

"I want my teams to play what I see as good passing football, and to hopefully entertain the fans who pay good money to watch.

"I really enjoyed my three years at Doncaster and I would like to thank everyone there and wish them all the best in the future.

"My job now is to try and get West Brom back into the Premier League which will involve a lot of hard work from now until the end of the season. "

O'Driscoll took over at Doncaster in 2006. In his first full season in charge, 2007–08, he steered Doncaster to promotion into the Championship after a 1–0 victory over Leeds United in the League One play-off final at Wembley Stadium. The following season, 2008–09, saw his side initially struggle to adapt to the demands of the Championship, but they ended up 14th, comfortably clear of relegation. He has left them sitting in a relatively comfortable 13th position.[/font]

[No Air]

10.01.09

Sean O'Driscoll got off to a winning start as West Brom manager beating his former side Doncaster Rovers 2-1 at The Hawthorns.

Albion made the brighter start and they almost took the lead through James Morrison when the Scot got on the end of a Luke Moore cross only to see his header bounce over off the crossbar.

It took until the 56th minute for the deadlock to be broken when Paul Robinson placed the ball past Neil Sullivan after being set up by Robert Koren.

The home side then doubled their advantage three minutes later when Roman Bednar fired home from the penalty spot after he was taken down inside the area by Matt Mills.

Doncaster were offered a lifeline with ten minutes to go when Leon Barnett was harshly adjudged to of handled the ball in the area, Dean Shiels converted.

This post has been edited by No Air: 17 June 2009 - 02:40 PM

[Fola]

No Air, on Jun 16 2009, 04:48 PM, said:

10.01.09

Sean O'Driscoll got off to a winning start as West Brom manager beating his former side Doncaster Rovers 2-1 at The Hawthorns.

Albion made the brighter start and they almost took the lead through James Morrison when the Scot got on the end of a Luke Moore cross only to see his header bounce over off the crossbar.

It took until the 56th minute for the deadlock to be broken when Paul Robinson placed the ball past Neil Sullivan after being set up by Robert Koren.

The home side then doubled their advantage three minutes later when Roman Bednar fired home from the penalty spot after he was taken down inside the area by Matt Mills.

Doncaster were offered a lifeline with ten minutes to go when Leon Barnett was harshly adjudged to of handled the ball in the area, Dean Shiels converted.

It says 2-2 ;]

Good start though

[No Air]

Fola, on Jun 16 2009, 07:08 PM, said:

It says 2-2 ;]

Good start though

Oh cripes so it does, thankyou.

[No Air]

Exclusive interview with gaffer

Sun 11th Jan

Following his appointment as manager of Albion last week, we can now bring you Sean O'Driscoll's first full interview when he chatted to Abion World.

So Sean, how has your first week as manager of West Brom been?
It has been great so far, I have enjoyed every minute. The lads here are brilliant and they have made me feel very welcome. Also the reception I got from the fans yesterday was fantastic, they are certainly a very vocal bunch.

Your first win against your old club Doncaster yesterday, how did you feel it went?
I thought it went ok. We passed the ball well enough without creating many clear cut chances but we scored two so I can't complain. Every manager has different ideas and it will probably take a few weeks for the lads to get used to them, and we will be working hard every day in training to ensure we can do that.

You have arrived whilst the January transfer window is open. Do you have any targets in mind?
There are a few players I have in mind but I will by no means be paying over the odds for any player. I will sit down with the chairman in the upcoming weeks to discuss these matters. Of course, every club has a budget and I will look to stick to that.

Do you think you will be able to keep hold of key players? Robert Koren and Paul Robinson have both been linked with moves back to the Premier League?
The squad here is very talented so of course there is going to be speculation linking them with moves away from West Brom. If a substantial bid comes in for a player then it will be hard to turn down, but I will always do what I believe is the best for the players themselves.

You are ten points behind second-place Middlesbrough, can you catch them?
I don't see why not. There are sixty points available from now until the end of the season and we will be fighting hard for every single one of them. There is still a very long way to go.

Crystal Palace v West Brom is the next fixture, any thoughts ahead of this game?
Palace are a good, organised team and it will be a tough test. But we will be looking to go there and take away all three points.

Good luck Sean.
Thankyou.

This post has been edited by No Air: 17 June 2009 - 03:22 PM

[No Air]

17.01.09

Crystal Palace and West Brom drew a stalemate at Selhurst Park although it should of been the away side taking away the three points.

A nippy Luke Moore got on the end of a Chris Brunt cross but he was denied by a fine save from Palace 'keeper Julian Speroni.

Albion missed several other opportunities throughout the match with substitute Craig Beattie spurning a golden chance right at the depth.

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27.01.09

A brace from Roman Bednar helped West Brom to an easy 3-1 victory over bottom of the league Nottingham Forest.

It took just six minutes for the deadlock to be broken when Chris Brunt scored from the penalty spot after Robert Koren was fouled in the area.

However, Forest drew level with their first shot on goal thanks to Joe Garner's 20-yard snapshot.

But Bednar put the home side back in the lead five minutes before the interval when he headed home a Brunt cross.

The Czech Republic international doubled his tally and made it 3-1 in stoppage time when he cleverly sent a right-footed volley into the roof of the net.

This post has been edited by No Air: 17 June 2009 - 04:38 PM

[No Air]

31.1.09

Goals from Ross McCormack and Michael Chopra were enough to see off a wasteful West Brom.

Despite Albions dominance, the home side took the lead when Scottish striker McCormack weaved his way through West Brom's defence to slot past Scott Carson.

Former Sunderland striker Chopra doubled Cardiff's lead when he got on the end of a Paul Parry cut-back.

Albions day got worse when Chris Brunt was taken off on a stretcher with what is believed to be a broken ankle, he could be out for the rest of the season.

[No Air]

Baggies sign up £2m duo

Feb 1st 2009

West Brom have made the double swoop of Daniel Parejo and Simon Cox for a combined fee of around £2m on transfer deadline day.

Parejo, 19 has signed from European giants Real Madrid for a reported fee of around £650, 000 and has signed a four-year contract.

The highly-rated Spaniard is mainly a central midfielder but can also play just behind the forward or as a forward. He expressed his delight about joining West Brom:

"I can't wait to get started. West Brom are a fantastic club and they play football I like and am used to. They are pushing for promotion back to the Premiership and I am glad to be part of it.

Sean O'Driscolls second signing of the day-Cox, 21, has joined from League One side Swindon for around £1.3m signing also signing a four-year deal.

The clinical striker has been in good goalscoring form so far this season, scoring 18 goals in 27 games. The former Reading striker wants to continue that form with the Baggies:

"I am here to score goals. I know I am capable of scoring goals, but the Championship is a much tougher league so I will need to push myself every match.

"There were a few other clubs interested in signing me but as soon as I knew West Brom had made a bid, I had made my decision already."

[Ad.]

Good stuff, mate. Just wondering, why are they dated at January/February?

[No Air]

Ad., on Jun 17 2009, 07:17 PM, said:

Good stuff, mate. Just wondering, why are they dated at January/February?

Cheers Ad. And thats when I have started the story instead of the normal July/August.

[No Air]

3.02.09

A debut goal from Simon Cox helped West Brom to a comfortable victory over lowly Plymouth.

It took 62 minutes for the first goal to arrive when Robert Koren slotted home after some neat interchange play between him and Cox.

The former Swindon man Cox then found the net himself when he headed home a Gianni Zuiverloon cross. Plymouth's best chance of the match fell to Diego Leon but his close range shot flew over the cross bar.

Scottish winger Graeme Dorrans made it 3-0 in stoppage time when he cooly slotted the ball into the bottom corner after being played through by Koren.

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7.02.09

West Brom made it two wins out of two as they recorded an easy win at home to Bristol City.

The away sides only shot of the game came in the 5th minute but David Noble's long range effort never troubled Scott Carson in the Albion nets.

It took 63 minutes for the deadlock to be broken. James Morrison cleverly teed up Roman Bednar and the Baggies leading scorer placed the ball into the back of the net.

Simon Cox doubled the lead six minutes later. Jonathan Greening played a neat through ball to the striker who showed great composure, dinking the ball over Adriano Basso.

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18.02.09

Second-placed Middlesbrough moved further away from third-placed West Brom this evening with perhaps an undeserved 3-1 victory.

Turkish international Tuncay Sanli opened the scoring in the 19th minute when he wonderfully volleyed in from 25-yards.

Former Chelsea defender Robert Huth made it 2-0 three minutes later when he beat Jonas Olsson to the ball to power in a Stewart Downing corner.

The away side grabbed a goal back when Abdoulaye Meite bundled the ball in after a defensive mix-up from a James Morrison corner.

Albion pushed for the equaliser-Simon Cox and Borja Valero both going close-but it was Middlesbrough who scored again from a rapid counter attack, with Julio Arca slamming the ball past Scott Carson when put through one-on-one.