who ?2

Hello again, just thought I''d pop in again seeing as we''re playing you. How''s life in the Premiership, is it what you expected, worse, or better? I''m surprised that Helveg''s started so badly, but I''d heard from somewhere before that his club form was a bit dodgy for Milan. I think we''ll either win or draw this one, we''ve played well at home so far, and are still unbeaten. a 1-0 1-1 or 2-1 to us, will be the outcome IMO. Anyway, good luck (apart from tomorrow of course).

Well the season has now almost begun, and I think it''s time for me to say goodbye to the sunny Pink''un message boards, and head back to Albion sites to concentrate on my own teams season. Whilst I''ve been reading these boards (for about 3/4 of the pre-season) I''ve enjoyed the banter, and although at first I was shocked to read your views about WBA on small things such as similar transfer targets to other things such as our manager and style of play, your views were always interesting to read, and I enjoyed posting on here and chatting about the upcoming season. But enough sucking-up ;) I plan to give you a different view of your chances, hopes, and aspirations for this season, rather than the lazy approach of many pundit''s views you''ve read. Having followed your pre-season very closely, I hope that, although you may agree or disagree with what I have to say, you will find it useful. Please note, I will not be posting on these boards in future, unless it''s completely necessary, so I will not be able to reply, although I''ll probably come on here from time to time to see how you''re getting on. So where do I start...? I suppose one of the most important things this season will be your signings so, let me give you a quick run down, with my opinions of how each player could affect your season. Bentley - It was said that 4-5 clubs were after, the young Arsenal starlet, with us being rumoured to be one of them. As far as I know we made an enquiry as to his availability, and never followed it up seriously, although most of our fans wanted to sign him. Having seen him at the Hawthorns in the carling cup, he didn''t really stand out then, apart from his hair of course! However having watched him twice against Middlesborough in the semi-finals he did look a cut above the rest of the youngsters, the only Arsneal players which looked better than him were Fabregas and a centre-back who''s name escapes me. I think he could well be one of your best players this season, he will add a lot of pace to your attack and he is definately Premiership quality. Gallacher - With Green in goal this chap will hardly get a look in, although he may well be a good goalkeeper, he will not match up to Green''s standards, and therefore will have very little affect on your season. Time will tell whether he is biding his time to take the no. 1 jersey if Green leaves. Safri - The worst signing you''ve made. Sorry, but to put it bluntly he will not cut it at Premiership level, both times WBA played Coventry, he made no impact at all on games, and was made to look silly by AJ on various occasions, considering that at best AJ is a very poor Premiership player, Safri will have been a waste of £500,000. However it''s all very well saying this, but he could go and prove me wrong, again this is just from what I''ve seen and know. Charlton - The only player you''ve signed with Premiership experience. He is a very good player, but often gets beaten in the air, his commitment is 2n to none, and although he may not have a lot of quality, his experience and passion will serve you very well this season. Alongside a good Premiership player he will help you out vastly. A shrewd signing if i may say so. Helveg - Arguably one of the buys of the summer. Although not all Bosmans turn out to be worthwhile (ask WBA fans about Wallwork ;)), Helveg will no doubt add a great deal of quality and International experience to your team. The only thing I will say is that although when he plays for Denmark, he is one of the best international players on the planet, his club form has often been a let down, he arrives with high levels of expectation, but does not constantly perform. Although this coul be because of the quality of players he has played with, making him look of a lower standard, whilst really, his team-mates are just that good, he just cannot match up to their standards. Ward - I actually rate Ward, as

Hang on a second, Hughes deserves everthing he gets and I think that with the possibility of him leaving after 3 years, the sentance does not seem long enough. However WBA did nothing wrong, Hughes was innocent until yesterday, and we did have the right to use him as a player. If he''s ever allowed to play when he leaves prison, that will be a disgrace, because people will know that he''s guilty. As for the WBA fans sticking up for Hughes, I can only apologise on their behalf. The general consensus amongst 99.9% of Albion fans is that as soon as the verdict was reached Hughes should have gone straight to jail. 1st Wiz, I think you may have been refering to the way in which, some people claimed a lorry driver killed 12 and only got a £1000 fine, and community service, because he killed via reckless driving and not dangerous. Again I think the point they were trying to make (or at least what I think is) was that the lorry driver should have received a prison sentance too, not that Hughes should be given any leaway. I certainly wouldn''t have given any less time if I were a judge.

This is fantastic news, will there be the up to date WBA side on the game? I''ve had al the pro-evolution games, they are by far better than Fifa, no doubt about that. If this is true, it''s really made my day!

Agyemang was absolutely dyer at the Hawthorns, and at Priestfield (I think that''s the right stadium?). Every time he went up for aheader agianst Moore, he would jump too high land on his feet then fall on the floor holding his back, in fact he did it on aprox. 10 occasions! You''d need a much better striker than that to survive, strikers who couldn''t even get past Moore and Gaardsoe (brilliant as he is), don''t stand a chance in the PL.

Sorry Scott, your post was very good, but when we went up, we had no debts whatsoever! In fact West Brom were the only club to make a profit that season, because of the collapse of ITV digital. When we got into the Premiership, there were around 35 clubs in the country with higher wage bills then ours (£5m, if you''re interested) we spent £8m on players; £2.5m Koumas £2.5m Hughes £1.5m Gregan £750k Marshall £750k Murphy Free Wallwork There were other expenses (board room payouts, promotion bonuses etc. which totalled about £2m) Which left us with about £5m of the original money left, then we received our parachute payment of £5-6m last season, but our wage bill went back down to £3m, plus we only spent £2.5m on transfers so we still had all of the original Premiership money, plus whatever revenue we created during the season. If you look at how much we''ve spent this season; £2.75m Albrectsen £1.5m Gera £1.25m Greening £750k Purse £150k Scimeca Free Kanu (I''d expect a signing on fee of around £250k) Free Kuszczac (fee to be decided at a tribunal) It''s currently less than what we spent in our first Prem season, however, we also plan to buy 3-4 more players with Anderlecht''s Dindane (First ever African to win Belgian Player of the year, and who scored 21 goals last season) for £4-5m and other targets like Konchesky on loan and Inamoto for a nominal fee. We''ll probably top the £10m mark on fees, but to be honest we need to. At the moment our squad looks in good shape, our defence is quality, as is our goalkeeper, with a holding midfielder our midfield will be sorted and if we sign Dindane our strikeforce will be fit enough to grace the Premiership.

West Brom have a fantastic team spirit! In fact (Koumas and Hoult aside) It was the only thing we had when we first played in the Prem! Unfortunately, a great work ethic (in 2002/03 ours was by far the hardest working team in the division) gest you no-where, you won''t disgrace yourselves and be thrashed week in-week out like a certain orange and black team, but you won''t survive. I''d definitely say Norwich have more quality then the WBA side that won promotion a few seasons back, and there''s no doubt you share the same amount of team spirit as we did, but without quality and experience teams will not stay up. This summer SGM said he wanted to bring in players with the above mentioned qualities, but who also worked hard for the team. The only player (that I''ve heard of) who can be questioned about their commitment is Kanu, but still, his skill eclipses that of any player of the three promoted teams (even you, as Norwich fans must admit that). Kanu is the sort of player who not only increases the teams skill on his own, and can also turn matches in one move, but he will also be similar to what Dugarry was for the Blouse in attracting other players to us, look at the signings they''ve made since dugarry came to their club; Upson, Gronkjaer, Heskey, Dunn and quite a few others. This season will be no different, Megson encurages a good team spirit, and without it, combined with a better quality of player a team might as well raise the white flag at the start of the season.

Oh sorry I should have said on his old deal, I know nothing about any contracts signed this pre-season, other than Koumas earning about £16k/week

I know that AJ earns about £6k in the Premiership, but only £2.5k in the 1st Div. It''s an estimation, but I know Megson has said he won''t sign players who don''t care about the future of the club. I''d expect Kanu''s wage to drop to £12k probably, Greenings to £8k and the same with Koumas, who''s also signed a new deal. Last season in the Premiership Hughes was our top earner with £15k but in the 1st Div he earned £8k. I know a few players wages for fact, but with our new signings I''m purely speculating. I may be very wide from the truth, but I know we had a wage bill of £5m last season and if we were to go down again this year I''d expect that to be about £7/8m which would pretty much take up all of the parachute payment. Saying that though if we go down, I fully expect Kanu, Koumas, Hoult, Gaardsoe and others to leave the club, which would take away at least two of our highest earners.

I''m not implying that Gera is any better than Helveg, but still 3 signings in 48 is, to say the least, very exciting, you must admit.

Every Albion player we have contracted at the club has a relegation wage decrease clause in their contract, the reason Kanu and Greening were so hesistant to sign was because of this clause, and they waited to see if anyone else offered them more money. I think someone mentioned on another thread that Kanu was on less wages than Helveg, I''m not to sure about this, He will earn about £20k/week, making him the highest paid player in the clubs history, if we go down it will decrease by half as will every other players, and in some cases (AJ) even more! I''d think Helveg would earn about the same as Kanu, possibly more, either way he''ll be an inspirational signing for you. I forget who said that we''d spent over £5m on transfers and yourselves only £750,000, and that you were more pleased with your signings than you would be with ours. That''s yours and probably most other Norwich fan''s opinions, which is fine, football is a game based on opinions, and if everyone shared the same view it would be rather dull. Personally I''m very excited by our signings, I know what Kanu, Greening and Purse can do; reports in Denmark from the club websites seem to imply that Scimeca and Albrectsen have been very good, with Scimca the star man in our first match, the new goalkeeper sounds as if he will provide some good competition for Houlty and Murphy. As for Zoltan Gera, I have no idea what he''ll be like, I only know that quite a few repuatble clubs across Europe were chasing his signature, including beskitas who offered him a better deal than us, but couldn''t afford the transfer fee because of the money they spent on Carew. And in my opinion I''d take our signings over yours, but May 2005 will prove whether the money has been well spent or not. Who are you rumoured to be interested in now that Primus is staying at pompey? Not officially mind, but who are the press you linking you with?

We''ve just signed the Hungarian captain too! Not a bad day for us baggies!

I''m in the process of joining too, I hope you don''t mind having an Albion fan in your league! If you do I''ll s*d off, I won''t be offended ;).

Can you tell me how we''re poorly managed please? I''ve looked at every aspect of the club and I can''t see any problems. If it''s because you don''t like SGM, then it doesn''t necessarily mean we are badly managed. Please enlighten me.

I was winner of the Schools Fantasy League last year for my school and finished 35 in the West Midlands, (where my school were reigonal champions) and 417 nationally. I still haven''t gone back to school to collect the prize, but in the same year, I won the school year winners medal at another School, and had that delivered.