West Bromwich Albion FC, The Baggies

Aw the guy in the 2nd pic is cute & theres scott carson
He used to play for Liverpool

The History Of The Hawthorns

ALBION have been playing at The Hawthorns for more than 100 years.

The Black Country venue was the first Football League ground to be built in the 20th Century and was opened on September 3, 1900 after construction work lasted just four months.

The club's move to The Hawthorns came when the lease expired on the old Stoney Lane ground. It was sited on the old Hawthorns Estate, and hawthorn bushes had been grown there in the past, so the name was especially appropriate.

The ground opened with a fixture against Derby County which ended in a 1-1 draw, with Chippy Simmons equalising after the first goal on the ground was scored by Derby's great centre-forward, Steve Bloomer.

The initial capacity was 35,500 because Albion only had a 14-year lease on the ground. It wasn't until 1913 the club bought the freehold for £5,350. With that secured, development work really got into gear.

And, just after the great war, in the club's only First Division Championship year of 1920, concrete terracing was installed for the first time.

Such was the pace of change, by 1924, the capacity was up to a massive 65,000, though the terracing all round the ground wasn't finished until 1931, when seating was also put into the wing stands.

Further innovations continued, and The Hawthorns was the first ground in Britain to have an electronic turnstile aggregator fitted in 1949.

However, it wasn't until 1957 the club erected floodlights, which cost £18,000. The first game played under lights was against Chelsea on September 18, which ended in a 1-1 draw.

The ground as we've known it in recent years began to take shape in 1964, with the building of the East Stand on the site of the old Handsworth Stand.

The East Stand quickly became known as the 'Rainbow' because of the 4,000 brightly painted seats which replaced the old terracing at a cost of £40,000.

But in a pioneering bit of environmentally friendly recycling, the club transferred the old stand to the Brummie Road End to cover the terracing.

The Rainbow side of the ground was home to the next major development too, when the terracing in front of it was replaced with Albion's first executive boxes, 14 in total, plus 750 paddock seats in 1976/77, at the same time as the terracing at both ends of the ground was improved.

With the old Halfords Lane side falling into disrepair, Albion rebuilt the stand, a two-phase project which stretched from 1979 to 1982, adding another 26 executive boxes.

The next big change came about with the Hillsborough disaster, which meant the club needed to move towards the creation of an all-seater stadium.

The terracing at the Birmingham Road and Smethwick Ends was replaced by two new stands, completed in 1995 at a cost of £4.15 million, though roughly half of that figure was funded by the Football Trust.

The all-seater venue was officially opened with a game against Bristol City on Boxing Day, 1995, which Albion won 1-0.

The latest chapter in the continual improvement of The Hawthorns came early in 2001. The Rainbow Stand saw its final match on January 1, when Albion overcame Barnsley 1-0, before the demolition crews came in and tore it down.

The £7.5 million East Stand was completed for the first home game of the 2001/02 game - a 1-0 defeat by Grimsby - to make the famous old ground fully enclosed.

The new stand was well received, giving the club's commercial activity a major shot in the arm and boosting the ground's capacity to 27,877.

As well as improving the whole feel of the venue as a theatre for football, the East Stand allowed the club to base all its essential functions in one state-of-the-art facility.

The administration department, ticket office and club shop all moved into the East Stand at the beginning of January 2002.

The ground's 16-year wait to stage top flight football finally ended in the 2001/02 campaign when Albion clawed back an 11-point gap on arch-rivals Wolves to steal the second automatic promotion berth.

The club introduced a revolutionary Stilecard access system in the summer of 2002, with the old Halfords Lane turnstiles also being replaced.

The Hawthorns added another feather in it's cap by becoming the first ground to boast big screens in widescreen format at the beginning of the 2002/03 campaign - Albion's first-ever season in the Premiership.

The famous Woodman pub, at the outside corner of The Hawthorns' East Stand and Birmingham Road End, was knocked down in June 2004 to make way for car parking.

Albion opened the newly-refurbished West Stand to supporters for their first home game of the 2008/09 Premier League season against Everton on Saturday, August 23.

The formerly-named Halfords Lane Stand underwent a £3million-plus makeover during the summer to vastly improve facilities for the supporters, playing staff and media.

It included new dressing rooms, dugout areas and tunnel, new executive boxes and a gantry, that spans the length of the stand, for broadcasters.

The transformation also meant a small reduction in The Hawthorns' capacity to 26,500.

Aww yeah the 2nd picture is Luke Daniels our goalkeeper but he's on loan at Shrewsbury at the moment Scotty is amazing; transferred from one of my clubs to the other Lmao xx

Ooooh Im a Coventry City Fan!
Were Local Rival's Hehehehe!
xxxx

haha Dean Kiely , he used to play for pompey a few seaons ago. x

Aww yeah we're rivals to Coventry; but mainly Wolves Deano is amazing Lauren; he was ever so good for Pompey as well I think xx

Hehe!
Were Rivals to Leicester Moree..
& I Suppose Villa & Brummies =]
xxx

Mowbray: We stuck at it

Tony Mowbray insisted he could not question his side's unstinting effort in today's 1-1 draw with Bolton - and felt they did enough to get a much-needed win.

Following a fairly even first half, the Baggies fell behind to Matt Taylor's 67th-minute wonder strike but showed great character to come storming back.

Robert Koren notched a deserved equaliser - his fourth goal of the season - 15 minutes later and the players, who were out on their feet at the final whistle, threw everything but the proverbial kitchen sink at the Trotters in search of a winner.

"While it's disappointing today, I couldn't question the application of the players," said Mowbray.

"The supporters stuck with the team right to the death and we had a real go.

"Ultimately, I felt we did enough to win it, but we didn't quite have the quality to get a second goal.

"We had to pick ourselves up off the floor after conceding the type of goal we'd worked on all week to try and prevent.

"We did a fair amount of work on dealing with second balls and the directness of the way Bolton put the ball in your box.

"Their goal was the direct result of that - a long ball they put into the box that got headed out and put back into our net.

"But I couldn't criticise in any way the way the players applied themselves to the task.

"They competed against a very physical side that can overpower football teams.

"We were always in the game and unfortunate at the death not to win it.

"It was a strange game, really.

"On the balance of play, they probably had the more threatening moments and got them from the way they play.

"But I felt for long spells we controlled the game.

"We played against a defensively, well-organised, structured team that doesn't allow you too often to play through or around them.

"I thought in the first 20 minutes we managed to do that well and pushed them back.

"Then they got a foothold in the game and had a 20-minute spell themselves when they had a few chances and asked questions of our defence.

"Yet great credit to our players for having a go.

"That last quarter-of-an-hour to 20 minutes saw us applying ourselves to what we asked them to do to try and get back in the game.

"We did get back into it and very, very nearly won it.

"We could also have lost it as well because that's the nature of the way we played in the last half-an-hour.

"Scott Carson made a great save.

"I would rather gamble to lose a football match trying to win it."

The Hawthorns stalemate leaves the Baggies seven points adrift of safety, with eight games remaining, after today's results.

But Mowbray senses the players still believe they can beat the drop after two encouraging displays - against West Ham and the Trotters - in the space of five days that yielded less points than they deserved.

"It makes life more difficult for us," Mowbray added.

"We have got to go and win some games on the road and try and win our four remaining home games.

"I've never questioned if the players have given up the ghost.

"I said in the dressing room afterwards they need to keep applying themselves.

"I only ask them to do things the way we set the team up and how we play.

"They just need to keep going."

Koren: We Must Beat Pressure

Robert Koren has called on his team-mates to beat the pressure and kick-start a late survival surge with their first victory over Stoke in six years on Saturday week (ko 3pm).

Back-to-back draws against West Ham and Bolton have left the bottom-placed Baggies seven points adrift of safety on 24, with eight games remaining.

And the Slovenia international believes Albion need to win a further four or five games to have a chance of beating the drop.

"We have shown many times this season that we can cope with this level and now we need to show it in the next few games," said Koren.

"Of course there is a lot of pressure on us and we need to cope with that.

"That shouldn't be an excuse or a problem for us.

"The next game is Stoke and we need to be focussed on that because we need to win four or five of the remaining games.

"There are eight games to go and we need to win as many as possible and hope in the end that is enough to stay in the league.

"We need to be positive and stick together until the end of the season.

"We still need to believe and show the desire defensively that we have shown in the last two games.

"Then offensively we need to show some more concentration for 90 minutes and score some goals.

"The next game against Stoke is very important.

"If we can get three points I think the fight will be open again.

"We know it's not just about us but it's really important that we're only focussed on ourselves and that we get three points in the next game.

"If we get three points we can look forward and hopefully the other results will go our way."

Koren is claiming the leveller in Saturday's 1-1 draw with the Trotters despite seeing his strike deflect in off Danny Shittu.

And he is hoping he can to hang onto it after having one his efforts in January's 3-0 win over Middlesbrough handed to Marc-Antoine Fortuné.

"I'm not really focussed on that kind of thing," he added.

"I will leave the decision to other people.

"But I know if Lampard or Gerrard scored the same kind of goal then nobody would complain about it - they would be given the goal.

"But it's more important how the team is doing and I would be happier if we won the game.

"The goal that was given to Marc was my shot and he tried to get out of the way, but some people gave him the goal.

"Some people will say Saturday's was an own-goal."

Overall Koren was disappointed the Baggies could not snatch a winner on home turf and insists they must be more clinical in the run-in.

"In the end we got a point but we were really disappointed because before the game we said we had to go for three points," he said.

"We were at home and we knew we could beat them if we coped defensively with the way they were playing.

"They put the ball forward and asked a lot of questions of us but in the whole game we controlled everything and we didn't have too many problems defensively.

"Offensively we could have done a bit more with the final pass and made more chances to score, but we still showed we can cope with this level and I think we deserved three points - but that's football."

Olsson: It's Far From Over

Jonas Olsson has issued a rallying call as he looks to turn the heat up on Albion's relegation rivals and prove the critics wrong.

The giant Swede's commitment to the cause was there for all to see in Saturday's 1-1 draw with Bolton as he battled on with a badly cut mouth that later required six stitches.

The precious point leaves the Baggies seven adrift of safety with eight games remaining.

But Olsson believes it will be game on again if they can take at least four points from their next two clashes against Stoke on Saturday week and Portsmouth seven days later (both ko 3pm).

"I still genuinely believe we have a really good chance," he said.

"I think we are playing well and looking for that win to really get in contact with the teams above.

"If we take four or six points from the next two games then we are really in contention again and everyone else starts to feel us coming.

"It would add some pressure to their game.

"I still believe we can stay up.

"You can't close your eyes from reality or the facts.

"We are bottom of the table and if you ask someone 'who is going to go down?' they are going to say us, of course.

"That is just the reality.

"I can see why people say we can't stay up.

"But within the club and in the changing room, I genuinely believe we can do it."

Olsson suffered his mouth injury in an accidental collision with the Trotters' Kevin Davies during the weekend's Hawthorns encounter.

But the former NEC Nijmegen defender is unfazed by the blow and insists it is just part of the game.

"I have been eating ice cream for three days!" he added.

"I have had six stitches and it has made eating and talking interesting.

"I got an elbow from Davies, I think unintentionally.

"I gave one away in the West Ham game and now I have had one back!

"It is uncomfortable but it is healing.

"I have broken my nose twice and I don't want to imagine what I will look like at the end of my career!

"But it is a contact sport and you take the knocks.

"It is all part of the game.

"You give a few away and you get a few back.

"It is how it should be."

Greening: Let's Do It For The Gaffer

Jonathan Greening is desperate to keep the Baggies in the Barclays Premier League to repay Tony Mowbray for his hard work since taking over in the Hawthorns hotseat.

Bottom-placed Albion are seven points from safety, with eight games remaining to preserve their top-flight status.

But skipper Greening insists the club has come on 'leaps and bounds' in the two-and-a-half years Mowbray has been in charge.

And, if they can beat the drop, he believes the ex-Hibernian boss' style of football will give them an ideal platform to make a real impact amongst England's elite.

"All the players and the staff love the gaffer," said the former Manchester United and Middlesbrough midfielder.

"Everyone thinks he's a top guy and a great coach.

"We all believe in the way he likes to play and personally I think it is definitely the right way to play in the Premier League.

"Everyone says there is no right or wrong to play - and there isn't.

"Stoke play a direct game.

"Wimbledon used to do it for years and they survived in the Premier League for a long time.

"I think to be a top, top team in the Premier League you have got to play the way he likes to play, like Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool.

"If we could stay up for the gaffer it would be a great achievement because people have been saying all season we'll get relegated playing this way.

"He got us here in the first place in his first full season at the club.

"Since he's been here the club has come on leaps and bounds and the way we play gets a lot of plaudits from everyone who is a football fan.

"Everyone stops me in Sutton and tells me what good football we play and it's quite a nice feeling.

"It would be great if we can stop up for the gaffer because he's a great guy."

Greening has urged his team-mates to build on back-to-back draws against West Ham and Bolton in their next clash at home to Stoke tomorrow week (ko 3pm).

But he knows success between now and the end of the season depends on Albion improving in both boxes.

"The worst thing is that we haven't been consistently good enough at both ends and in the next eight games we need to be more consistent at the back and in front of goal," he added.

"Our all-round general play has been pleasing on the eye and pretty good but mistakes have cost us at the back and not scoring enough goals has cost us up front.

"We've got eight games to try to rectify it and let's hope we can do that.

"I think everyone is still positive.

"We're back on track with two draws, performances have been better and we now have a massive game coming up against Stoke.

"We have to hope we get all the lads back from international duty fit - and the main aim is to give Stoke a good game."

Martis Hoping To Prove Worth To Mentor

Shelton Martis hopes he can put the lessons he has learned from mentor Tony Mowbray to good use in Albion's survival fight.

The duo spent two months together at Hiberninan and it was the 26-year-old defender's desire to renew his relationship with the Albion chief that persuaded him to join the Baggies in July 2007.

He has had to bide his time for a first-team chance at this level since moving south of the border.

But he has been something of a surprise package in his first two Barclays Premier League encounters this month - draws against West Ham and Bolton.

"When I first went to Hibs I didn't realise he was a defender but he tried to give me tips about defending," said the former Feyenoord youngster.

"In Holland I never had those type of tips.

"It was more about instinct and, because I was quick, if the ball went over my head I would just run back and catch up.

"But I wasn't actually being told what to do.

"The gaffer would tell me about certain positions and I learned a lot from him.

"He changed the way I defend.

"I did wonder whether it would be a good thing to join Albion because I wondered if I was going to play.

"But I had had two months with the manager and even in two months I grew a lot as a defender, more than I could have under a different manager.

"As a defender I thought I could carry on growing, more under him than another manager, so that made it an easier choice.

"I probably expected to play more and I wanted more minutes last year.

"I came back injured this season so I knew I'd be further back in the pecking order.

"But I just worked hard and made sure I did the right things."


Taking It To The Wire Suits Jonno

Jonathan Greening admits he would jump at the chance to go to Blackburn on the last day of the season needing a win to beat the drop - but is aiming to secure Barclays Premier League survival sooner rather than later.

The Hawthorns skipper has fond memories of the Baggies' 2005 'Great Escape' when they beat Portsmouth 2-0 on the final day to stay up.

And, with bottom-of-the-table Albion seven points adrift of safety and eight games remaining, he feels a similar scenario is not to be sniffed at.

Victory over 16th-placed Stoke on Saturday (ko 3pm), however, would move the Baggies within five points of the Potters and extend their unbeaten run to three games to give their survival push some real momentum.

"I would take needing to win at Blackburn to stay up without a shadow of a doubt," said Greening.

"It would be another great game on the final day of the season.

"But Saturday is a massive, massive game.

"I know everyone says the next game is big but if we can put a good performance in and get the three points it will totally put the pressure on other teams, even Stoke again, who have had a good few results recently.

"It will show the rest of the teams we're not giving up without a fight and we'll go to the end.

"If we didn't beat Stoke it wouldn't mathematically put us down but would probably take Stoke out of the equation.

"We'd probably then have to win the games against Sunderland, Portsmouth and Blackburn - and it would be difficult.

"Even if we lose to Stoke we'll still give 110 per cent to stay in the league because anything can happen.

"Last season Fulham were on fewer points than us at this stage and they finished stopping up on the last day of the season.

"It's definitely possible."

The former Manchester United and Middlesbrough midfielder has described the game against Tony Pulis' side as one of the biggest he has faced.

"Saturday will be one of the biggest games I've played in," he added.

"We work hard on the training pitch to do the right things.

"We'll be doing that all next week to get into a good position to face Stoke.

"We cross the white line and if we don't perform it's our fault.

"The attention to detail on the set-plays from Stoke is something we'll be working on 110 per cent.

"Hopefully on the day we can put a good performance in and get three points.

"If we can do that the confidence of two draws and then a win against Stoke would set us up nicely for the run-in.

"If we can win five out of the last eight games it will give us a good chance.

"Obviously there are difficult games in this league against Manchester United and Chelsea.

"But there are games where we probably should have won, where we've battered teams and didn't get our just rewards.

"We know we're capable of beating anyone on our day and we just need to play well and hopefully be the better team."

Greening is expecting a few more twists and turns in the final weeks of the campaign.

And he believes back-to-back victories against Stoke and Portsmouth will turn the heat up on the teams just above Albion in the table.

"If we get a result against Stoke then some of the bigger clubs who are down there may start panicking," he said.

"We were expected to be down there but look at Newcastle who are down there.

"It's not nice being down there - yet Leeds went down with the players they had.

"We've got the likes of Sunderland and Blackburn to play so we've got to be positive.

"Middlesbrough wouldn't have thought they would be down there.

"Blackburn have been finishing in the top eight so it's a big thing for them to be down there.

"If we can get a few good results together we can put the pressure on them, which they're not used to."


Meite's Horror On Injury Comeback

Abdoulaye Meite got 86 minutes under his belt on his comeback from injury in the Ivory Coast's 5-0 World Cup qualifying win over Malawi in Abidjan yesterday.

Unfortunately the game was marred by a stampede at the Houphouet-Boignyarena arena that saw a wall collapse, with at least 22 people killed and more than 130 injured.

Arsenal's Emmanuel Eboue and Kolo Toure, and Chelsea's Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou were also involved in the match.

Meite has missed the last two Albion games due to a hamstring problem and illness but will now be in contention for Saturday's Barclays Premier League clash with Stoke (ko 3pm).

"I've not had a chance to speak to him yet but it's always horrific when people are killed like this," said Tony Mowbray.

"Injury-wise Abou's been touch and go for a while.

"The main reason he didn't play in the last game was more due to illness than his injury.

"He got to that delicate stage where he was probably fit enough to play but was ill.

"We allowed him to go and he was involved for a fair amount of the game."

Tony Mowbray has had no word on any injury problems with the rest of his international players over the weekend.

Chris Brunt played 90 minutes of Northern Ireland's 3-2 World Cup qualifying Group Three win over Poland.

But a booking in the second-half means the Baggies winger is now banned for Wednesday's home date with Slovenia.

James Morrison came on as an 85th-minute substitute for Gary Teale in Scotland's 3-0 World Cup qualifying Group Nine defeat by Holland.

Robert Koren played all of Slovenia's World Cup qualifying Group Three goalless draw with the Czech Republic in Maribor.

Dean Kiely was an unused substitute for the Republic of Ireland in their World Cup qualifying Group Eight 1-1 draw with Bulgaria at Croke Park.

Marek Cech played the first half for Slovakia in their 4-0 friendly defeat by England at Wembley.

Pele's Cape Verde beat Angola 1-0 in a friendly in Portugal.

Gianni Zuiverloon did not play a part in Holland Under-21s' 4-0 win over Germany on Friday.

The Dutch will now host Italy in another friendly, in Kerkrade tomorrow.

Kayleden Brown played 50 minutes for Wales Under-17s in their UEFA Championships qualifying 3-0 defeat by Finland, which followed his appearance as a 72nd-minute substitute in a 2-2 draw with Turkey on Thursday. The Dragons face Romania tomorrow.

George Thorne has been called up to Kenny Swain's England Under-16s squad for the Montaigu Tournament in France between Wednesday, April 8 and Monday 13.

England's Montaigu campaign gets underway on April 8 when they take on Russia.

Twenty-four hours later they face United Arab Emirates before concluding their group stage matches against Ivory Coast.

All four teams will be vying for a place in the final on April 13 against France, Australia, Germany or Mali.

Baggies Hoping To Keep Arsenal Striker

West Bromwich Albion manager Tony Mowbray says he wants to extend Jay Simpson's loan deal from Arsenal into next season.

The versatile forward, who can also play on the right-wing, has impressed since joining the Baggies in January, scoring twice in 12 appearances.

"It's something we've tipped-toed into with Arsenal," Mowbray told The Birmingham Mail.

"At this moment we'll keep those conversations in-house. But it is something we've explored with Arsenal and we'll see what's decided in the longer term.

"He came on the scene and played with an innocence to his game. He gave everyone a lift and a spark, and looked very, very bright.

"He picked up an injury at Burnley mainly because of the game time he was getting. He'd never been asked to play Premier League football for 10 or so games on the bounce.

"Unsurprisingly he picked up an injury and he hasn't quite hit the levels he had since coming back from the injury.

"His talent is undoubtedly there and it is up to us rediscover that and give him the opportunity to rediscover that."