That Sinking Feeling
A dismal day out at The Hawthorns, where dreams of a promising coaching career turn into nightmares
Believe it or not, I travelled to The Hawthorns on Saturday feeling pretty optimistic.
West Bromwich Albion, without a league win since late December, faced Frank Lampard’s Coventry City, Championship leaders, fresh from a convincing victory over promotion rivals Middlesbrough the previous Monday. I knew damn well it would be a tough game against a good side, yet the previous two league games, goalless draws against the City’s of Stoke and Birmingham, had given me hope that Eric Ramsay was building something with the Baggies, making them steely and resilient, and ready to make life very hard for the Sky Blues in this game.
Yet upon arrival at the ground, I could tell that my upbeat outlook wasn’t exactly shared by most. As I approached the turnstiles to the Brummie Road End, the only noise of note was that of the Christian preacher near McDonalds, prattling on about relegation to hell should we not accept the lord into our hearts. We’ll take any saviour you’re offering right now pal, but it doesn’t feel like our prayers are being answered.
Shuffling through the grey, glum concourse, the fans are huddled as usual, drinking from their plastic cup of whichever greedily overpriced drink is to their taste. Before this season began, the club gave the outside of the stadium a fresh lick of paint - it would be nice if they freshened things up inside the ground too. Out of nowhere, a man from within one of the huddles loudly exclaims “assume the position!” - presumably alluding to his expectation that the Albion are in for an afternoon of, ahem, uncomfortable action. A prescient warning, it transpired.
Out into the stands, I’m up near the back of the Brummie, in line with the goal. A good seat. I stand watching on the big screens what appears to be a new pre-game video of action from Albion games this season, which includes several saves by Max O’Leary, a reminder that although he’s only been at the club for a few weeks, he’s been a busy man. I’m sure the video has a decent soundtrack too, but the same old dodgy speakers struggle to make that clear. Another rather obvious sign of decay in our historic home.
Out on the pitch, Boilerman wobbles about; as usual a mixture of absurdity and amusement. The players stride out of the tunnel, and ready themselves for action. No Liquidator to belt out before kick off though, which is a shame as the fans are now making some noise and seem primed to create an atmosphere. Despite the discontent about the relegation battle the club has waded into, the Albion faithful feel a sense of duty to get behind the lads.
The game kicks off and the Albion are immediately at it, moving the ball decisively, leading to a Jed Wallace cross that doesn’t amount to anything, but the desire seems to be there. Promising. And then, naturally, Coventry score with their first attack. The ball is lofted simply over the Albion defence, Ephron Mason-Clark runs in and loops it over O’Leary into the net. Fans around me remonstrate at the linesman that Mason-Clark was offside, but no flag is raised. Five minutes in, 1-0.
Albion respond with heart, but no quality. They press and harry, affording Coventry little time on the ball, but once they win it back there’s just nothing, no idea, no plan for how to attack cohesively and create chances. The ball is played sideways and backwards, again and again, until someone tries something just a little more risky and loses it. Isaac Price cheaply surrenders the ball in midfield, Jack Rudoni strides forward with the ball, and Alfie Gilchrist affords him the freedom of The Hawthorns to smash a sweet strike past O’Leary from distance, the kind of goal his manager used to score routinely. 2-0, and you know it’s already over. The Albion players look dismayed - Jayson Molumby appears to berate Gilchrist, a player looking dreadfully out of his depth. The acidic chants begin - “you’re not fit to wear the shirt!” and “Eric Ramsay, your football is shit.”
To me, the football is what it has been at Albion for ages now. Bland, low quality, cautious - insert any head coach’s name, it’s invariably shit, but it’s all these players seem able to serve up, going all the way back to Carlos Corberan’s final months at the club. The Baggies are supposedly playing in a 4-2-3-1 formation, but Jamal Jimoh-Aloba, apparently the left winger in said formation, seems disinterested in being anywhere near the left side and instead constantly roams in field, time and again leaving no forward passing option for left back Callum Styles. If this is a tactical plan of Ramsay’s then it appears nonsensical, limiting Albion’s attack via having so little width.
The fans around me bristle with discontent. The lads behind rant about Ramsay, the “PE teacher” (that old chestnut) who “doesn’t have a clue and has been even worse than Ryan Mason.” That’s true - game eight for Ramsay and he’s still to win. There’s been no new manager bounce whatsoever since his arrival, more like a new manager splat, one that’s made a right bloody mess but that the clubs’ decision makers seem disinterested in quickly cleaning up.
Not even two months into his tenure, it already seems Ramsay is done. It feels like when, not if - as I write this piece he remains Albion head coach, but we’re very much into constant refresh mode on the socials, expecting a corner flag club announcement any moment.
Do the players respect Ramsay, a man who never played football professionally? In the away dugout was Lampard, former England international and winner of Premier Leagues and a Champions league, a glittering career. At the very least, his players will respect his playing days achievements, and trust his messages on how to play and develop themselves as footballers. Stark contrast to Ramsay and his journey to date, one that certainly includes achievements too, but clearly not enough to inspire the Albion players. Perhaps Ramsay is a great coach, but time will tell if he can also be a great manager, and no one remains convinced he can prove that while at The Hawthorns.
Ramsay did an impressive job in the USA at Minnesota United, he developed a team laced with counter attacking and set piece threat playing a five man defence formation, but has been unable to replicate that with the Baggies and instead has had to revert to, basically, playing the same way Mason did, yet without the ability to gain the same mediocre (yet probably enough at least to survive) results that Mason was achieving. It’s actually starting to look like poor Ryan, despite some fairly obvious managerial weaknesses, may have been doing a decent enough job with a squad nowhere near as good on the pitch as it can seem on paper.
You fear that if Ramsay is still in charge for the Charlton game on Tuesday, and things don’t start well, it’s going to be an exceptionally toxic night. That game is massive, and the one after it at Oxford just as big. Without at least four points from those two games, you have to wonder how on earth Albion can survive the drop to League 1.
The worry for me however is that if Albion do remove Ramsay, it likely doesn’t change much. It may draw a little poison from The Hawthorns atmosphere, but whoever takes charge next works with the same players, who look utterly shorn of confidence and belief. Some feel we should give the job to James Morrison for the rest of the season, which makes sense in some respects - he’s still respected as a former key player from much better days, who has stayed with the club as a coach since retiring. Yet he’s also been around this whole time as part of a coaching team producing awful football and results, and would be yet another young, virtually untried and untested head coach. How much difference could he actually make? Is he not just part of the overall Albion decline?
Back to the game - 40 minutes in, Gilchrist gets hooked early for George Campbell. Sarcastic cheers abound as the wretched Gilchrist runs off and heads straight down the tunnel. Many Albion fans have already done likewise, preferring to head for the bar than watch any more of this crap.
Maybe one day we’ll see why the clubs recruitment team thought Gilchrist was worth a £2m punt last summer. He’s a young player more natural at centre half than right back, but right now he looks a right waste of money. The transfer business overseen by Andrew Nestor, Ian Pearce et al this season has played a major part in the clubs’ malaise. Some of the sales may have been necessary for financial reasons, but the replacements have seriously underwhelmed. The lack of pace and ingenuity in the side makes watching Albion try to attack a depressing experience. Nestor is gone, Pearce remains but his continued employment is surely up for discussion too.
Half time arrives. Boooooo. The elderly man next to me says “I saw my first game here when I was 8 years old. I’m now 77. This is the worst Albion team I’ve ever known.” Yikes.
In the second half Albion huff and puff but, as per, they barely threaten. The likes of Josh Maja, Daryl Dike, and Mikey Johnston enter the fray but cannot lay much of a glove on Coventry, who see the game out professionally. Their fans sing about playing Arsenal away next season, Albion’s sing of playing Walsall away in response. Gallows humour; it’s all we’ve got left. This is presumably not what Kyle Bartley was encouraging in the days before the game when he urged the fans to get behind the team. Maybe “shit beard” Bartley should take the reigns as Albion head coach when Ramsay goes? The irony of a squad downing tools on him would be quite something.
Full time. More boooooo’s. A late Stoke equaliser against Leicester City has kept the Foxes a point beneath the Throstles in the table however, so Albion remain just outside of the relegation zone for now. You feel like if the Baggies are to survive, it will in part be thanks to Leicester and Oxford somehow being even worse.
The players sheepishly walk around the pitch, clapping the fans. Some politely clap back, others choose alternative hand gestures that are less than polite.
As we disgruntled fans traipse out of the ground, there’s a vehicle surrounded by police on the Birmingham Road, clearly smashed up in a collision, and oh so fittingly congruous with Albion’s car crash of a season.
Thankfully I completed my own drive home in one piece, but the optimism I’d felt on the journey to The Hawthorns had fizzled away considerably. There’s such a feeling of decline at the Albion, a rot that began under previous owners but that the current club custodians have so far shown little nous to put right. Twice this season they have gambled on rookie head coaches, and twice it has failed.
The drop to English football’s third tier feels horribly inevitable, each listless performance and dismal result a further nail in the coffin. It’s strange to feel this way, given we’re a point above the drop zone, not ten from safety, yet the vibes around the club are so low right now, and no one really knows how to restore positivity. It’s hard to escape that sinking feeling.
A win on Tuesday would help. Can the Baggies achieve that? Will Ramsay even be there to witness it? You wouldn’t put your money on either.
Spot on again. I genuinely can’t see how we pull out of this, whether Ramsey keeps his job or not. The Stoke and Blues games were good defensive performances, but the side is devoid of creativity and, crucially, confidence. I can’t see anyone turning this round.
It will be interesting to see how the atmosphere in the ground develops. Will people get more angry or will they, like most of my mates, just become fatalistic?
Couldn't have summed it up better. Nicely depressing read. Helps with the therapy. Terrible appointment and surely he needs to be put out of his misery soon.