Modern football is not given to understatement.
It is a maelstrom of hyper-inflated egos, salaries and expectation. A mess of death-and-resurrection narratives and invidious speculation.
To say West Bromwich Albion’s preseason preparations have been ‘turbulent’ would be understatement indeed. It is easy enough to identify the narrative of chaos.
At boardroom level, uncertainty is rife.
The club is up for sale and entered exclusive talks with an interested party in early July. These talks have subsequently broken down, as the bidder was unable to fulfil the terms of Jeremy Peace’s proposed agreement. Negotiations are ongoing with other interested parties.
Whether this has disrupted transfer activity is impossible to say.
Either way, the Baggies have found it difficult to seal the deal in the transfer market this summer. They are rightly looking to add pace, but had a £4 million offer for Michail Antonio firmly rebutted by Nottingham Forest. Their bid for QPR’s Matt Phillips was rejected as well.
They need a striker to offset Saido Berahino. Yet, purported target Demba Ba slipped through their fingers, and reported talks with Rickie Lambert have not amounted to anything tangible as of yet.
It is possible that the departures of technical director Terry Burton and head of recruitment Mervyn Day have left yawning gaps in the club’s transfer strategy, as an ‘ongoing review at all levels’ seems to rattle on well into preseason.
Indeed, it is not easy to identify many good, permanent signings the club has made since the loss of Dan Ashworth to the Football Association in 2012.
It has not exactly been plain sailing in Albion’s training camp, either.
James McClean, in his wisdom, decided to turn away from the playing of ‘God Save the Queen’ ahead of the club’s preseason friendly against Charleston Battery for political reasons.
Without wishing to be drawn into the fractured, centuries-old politics of the matter, this drew unnecessarily negative attention onto the team and Tony Pulis’ response, a “reprimand”, was heavily scrutinised. It appears proportionate.
As if this was not enough, belligerent former Wales coach Raymond Verheijen duly criticised Pulis over his ‘prehistoric’ training methods, alleging that the Welshman made the squad run the distance of a marathon every three days.
Although this is hardly inconceivable, pejorative comments from outside the camp will not help matters or ease cohesion.
Despite a well-worn inpropensity to discount results, and even performances, in preseason friendly matches, they provide a crumb of comfort for Albion fans gripping at hope.
After a couple of early losses, including a 3-1 defeat to Ricardo Kaka’s Orlando City, wins have followed against Charleston, Richmond Kickers and Swindon Town, by convincing margins.
Victor Anichebe and Berahino, exceptional throughout, have played in tandem repeatedly, seemingly looking to develop the kernel of a promising partnership that emerged last term. Even record signing Brown Ideye is among the goals.
Auxiliary full-backs, a Pulis vagary, are still favoured. Craig Gardner impressed at Swindon at right-back, while Chris Brunt and McClean have got minutes on the left.
Further positives are not far away.
The dressing room has rallied behind McClean. Captain Darren Fletcher, a highly influential figure, spoke eloquently of the Irishman’s standing in the dressing room remaining unaffected by the incident. Pulis turned it into a positive call to action, inciting the player to throw off the shackles of his burgeoning reputation as an activist.
New deals have been handed to Claudio Yacob, who remains a vital cog, and Boaz Myhill, who excelled at the end of last season.
Even so, with under two weeks to go until the Premier League whirrs back into action in earnest, West Brom need to get moving quickly.
Richard Garlick was sat in the stands on the phone for hours after the Swindon game. Albion are desperate for additions all over the pitch.
Craig Dawson is nursing a hamstring injury, and fellow defender Gareth McAuley has been sidelined with a calf problem.
The Baggies look to have missed out on Abou Diaby, as sources strongly suggest the Frenchman is set to snub the Hawthorns for sunny Marseille. It is hard to blame him.
With an opening game against Manchester City looming large, West Bromwich Albion have to get their act together.
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