My Team & I: WBA

By Ethan Dean-Richards

Twitter: @SurrealFootball

Website: http://www.surrealfootball.com/

Why West Brom?

I wasn’t interested in watching football until I was 10, but seeing that it was the done thing to support a team, I followed Manchester United half-heartedly. After three years of doing that, I decided that I was too much of an intellectual to support a team so I started watching football as a complete neutral.

For a bit, watching as a neutral was fine, but I realised after a couple of years that sport is more compelling if you want one team to win more than the other, so I decided to choose another team to support. Frank Skinner – a West Brom fan himself – describes how you should choose your football team using a map and a ruler to find the football ground closest to your house. Had I done exactly that, I’d currently be supporting Oldbury United; instead, I went for the nearest reasonably big team: West Brom.

For a couple of years, I supported West Brom half-heartedly – going to games occasionally and watching them on TV occasionally. Then, having decided I’d better start writing about sport if I wanted to be a sports-writer, I saw the chance to write a blog about West Brom for a website, so I lied about my love of them and got the job (I don’t believe there were any other candidates.) Being forced to watch West Brom more regularly, over time, I have become more and more affectionate towards the club, and I now almost call myself a fan.

I would describe my fandom as everything that most real fans would hate: artificial, born of convenience and often half-hearted.

Favourite Player?

Undoubtedly the best player that I have seen playing for West Brom is Peter Odemwingie – he is far too good for a struggling Premier League side.

My favourite West Brom player, though, is probably Jonathan Greening. In the Premier League and, maybe more impressively, in the Championship, he was always calm on the ball and his willingness to wait for the right pass set the tone for the rest of the team. His hair added another level of entertainment.

Favourite Game?

West Brom 2-0 Portsmouth. Final day of the season: all or nothing: relegation battle wide open: even a half-hearted fan couldn’t helped but be gripped. Geoff Horsfield came on and scored with his first touch and Kieran Richardson was fantastic. Hearing that Charlton had equalised against Crystal Palace was one of the best feelings football has given me.

The scenes at the end of the game were great – I particularly enjoyed seeing Bryan Robson, so often linked with alcoholism, covered in champagne.

Favourite Strip?

Never really been a fan of West Brom’s kits. There’s not much you can do with blue and white stripes…except maybe put a giant red house over the top of them, but why would you do that?

Actually, my favourite West Brom kit is this beauty:

(Type in ‘West Brom kit’ on Google images and this comes up third, I think. One of my most significant achievements)

Worst Thing About Being A West Brom Fan?

The association with Adrian Chiles. Closely followed by the constant mention of ‘yo-yos’. The relegation stuff is what makes it exciting, not bad.

Funniest Moment?

Thousands of fans turning up to the final day of the 08/09 season at Blackburn wearing Tony Mowbray masks. Others would suggest my blogs on West Brom, but I’m too modest for that.

Favourite Moment?

If not hearing that Charlton had equalised against Crystal Palace, then the final whistle that signaled the win over Arsenal this season – I’d already accepted it as inevitable that Arsenal complete their comeback.

At times like those, even the hardened logic of cynicism gives way to a (brief) grin.

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