The
Hawthorns - West Bromwich Albion
Saturday 8th August
2009
V Newcastle United, Championship League,
5.30pm
By Josh
Turner
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1. 1. Why you were looking forward to going to the ground (or not as the case may be): I was looking forward to going to
the game as this was Newcastle's first non top flight league game in
16 years. And with WBA having not beaten us in the last 15 league
meetings, I was hoping that my run of 7 consecutive defeats would end! It
was also our first competitive game since the sad passing of Sir Bobby
Robson.
2. How easy was your
journey/finding the ground/car
parking?
I caught the train from
Birmingham Snow Hill to the Hawthorns (second stop), a return ticket of
about £1.15 (with a railcard) which was very reasonable. Finding the
ground was easy, as we were frog marched by the police, not allowed to go
to any pubs, food outlets or basically anywhere 10 yards away from Old
Bill. With a full scale right wing protest going on in Birmingham city
centre you thought they would be more bothered with that!
3. What you did before the game
pub/chippy.... home fans friendly?
We talked to a few home fans
walking down the hill towards the ground, they recommended 'The Royal
Oak' but as I said the police were not going to allow us that privilege.
There was a McDonalds opposite the ground if you fancy a burger. The
home fans were fine, some of the best I've seen. We exchanged
songs and the usual Mickey taking of each others
accents.
4. What you thought on
seeing the ground, first impressions of away end then other sides of the
ground?
The stadium is a traditional
ground with lots of character, the roof is pretty low so it helps
with the atmosphere. The legroom was cramped. If you are over six
foot the seats in front will cut into your knees. Fortunately we only sat
at half time, despite the warning of 'Persistent standing is not allowed'
written on our tickets. The turnstiles are also a bit on the small side,
with one girl on the large side, struggling to get through. We were also
searched before entering, one steward even searched a little girl who must
have been under 10 years old, which I thought was a bit unnecessary. It
wasn't very thorough so I have no idea why they do it. They just felt your
sides of your top half, so I could of hid an arsenal of weapons in my
trousers.
5. Comment on the game itself,
atmosphere, stewards, pies, toilets etc..
The game opened with a
minutes applause in memory of the great Sir Bobby Robson, as far as I
could see every single person was on their feet applauding. Both sets of
fans joining in, in chants of 'One Bobby Robson'.
The game itself is what you expect
when Newcastle play West Brom. Lots of attacking football, lots of wing
play and lots of chances. We dominated possession but West Brom had the
much better chances. Our second half sub goalkeeper Tim Krul saved us 4
times with some top saves. West Brom opened the scoring in typical
Newcastle fashion. Bad defending from a corner, 5 minutes before half
time. Coloccini completely lost his man and their scorer, tapped in from 2
yards after the ball ricocheted a couple of time.
Half time came, and Newcastle fans
were expectedly downbeat. We have no manager, the club is up for
sale, every decent player we had has left and things are so desperate
Shola Ameobi is our premier striker.
The toilets were average, what
you'd expect of a football match.The pies were slightly overdone, some
would say burnt.
The second half kicked off and
Newcastle picked up the tempo and were rewarded in the 55th minute when
Damien Duff nestled a right foot drive into the bottom corner, after a
clever passing move by our forward players. We had them on the rack
for the next few minutes and should of scored again, but Gutierrez's
inability to cross to a team mate in acres of space, let us down
several times. Token gestures were exchanged for the next 35 minutes
until West Brom thought they had got the winner in the 94th minute, but
Olsson was judged offside, with replays later confirming it was the
correct decision. The game finished 1-1 which was a fair result and a
great result for us against the bookies favourites for the
title.
The atmosphere throughout the game
was excellent, we never stopped singing, chants alternated between our
usuals and 'Shearer, Shearer, Shearer' ,'There's only one Bobby
Robson' and anti Mike Ashley chants. West Brom fans were good for the
first 45 minutes and then became quiet in the second
half.
6. Comment on getting away from
the ground after the game:
If you're getting the train back
to Snow Hill or Moor Street, be very fast on your feet or you will be
waiting over an hour for a train back. It's first come, first served and
if you're towards the back of the queue expect to be twiddling your thumbs
for a long time.
The platforms were PACKED and if
one or two more people had entered on to it, the space would have
been made by someone falling on to the tracks. As one train vanished we
were given the sight of West Brom fans on the other side. Various songs
were exchanged and then the 'show off' appeared. He exposed various parts
of his anatomy, followed by Newcastle chants of 'it's not even cold out'.
He attempted banter for 30 minutes, most ending in the mocking of the
Geordie accent. His train finally arrived and we were relieved of the
idiot. Not before him and his chav friends gave us the finger and fist
waving gestures though.
As we STILL waited for a train, a
lone ranger appeared on the other platform sporting a hair style
remarkably similar to a certain Kevin Keegan. Chants of 'Keegan' were
unanswered, he was either deaf or didn't have a clue who or what we were.
Our train came and you could see the passengers were delighted with the
presence of hundreds of Newcastle fans invading their quiet, pleasant
journey home. We arrived back in the city centre, and attempted our way
back to New Street Station, protests were still ongoing and riot police
blocked our path and the entrance to the station. Some tried to
sneak past and were promptly shoved in the face forcefully with
shields. A friendly welcome back to the second city wouldn't you
say?
7. Summary of overall thoughts of
the day out:
Overall it was one of the best
trips I've been to. Home fans were great, away fans were superb. Lots of
friendly banter, a good football match, a good result, a sun tan
day, and got back just in time to watch the BBC's new 'Football League
show' which is basically Sky's 'Big League weekend but on terrestrial and
with that prat Steve Claridge, who was sporting a fetching new comb-over.
I was later informed by a friend that I was seen on BBC1 jumping
up and down like a mental case after our goal. I think I can now
claim F list celebrity. Would I recommend The Hawthorns? Most
definitely. |
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