Mowatt, Dike, Maja, Wallace and Bielik all had their qualities but the promise of Collyer, Morgan, Nzingoula, Pereira and Tunde shows a clear direction of travel towards younger, more athletic players who could conceivably propel Albion towards the top eight of the Championship - with the prospect of more to come. Another who left, Karlan Grant, bagged the winner at the weekend when The Addicks despatched PNE 1-0 and after a season when ‘the law of the ex’ has twice punished Albion (through Will Lankshear and Harvey Barnes) what’s the betting that either he or Nathaniel Chalobah will get on the scoresheet? James Morrison has admitted he wanted to keep Grant, but most Baggies fans would, I suspect, prefer our current option of Isaac Price attacking from the left.

Charlton have a 100% league record after three games and are reliably resilient under the management of Nathan Jones and have clearly upgraded from last season when they flirted with relegation, but it’s unlikely that they’ll be topping the table come May. Albion have lost consecutive games for the first time under James Morrison, but I don’t expect that sequence to become three in a row. I’m plumping for a hard-fought home win.

Prediction: WBA 3 Charlton 1

Now the Toby Collyer deal has been successfully concluded to beef up the centre of midfield, our key requirement is a striker to supplement JJ Morgan, Aune Heggebo and Barney Stewart. One in, and no more out would represent a pretty successful window, as the Baggies re-orient the squad towards younger, more athletic and ultimately sellable recruits.

Watch the latest Liquidator podcast here - or listen via Spotify or Apple.

Hosting a live phone-in via The Liquidator’s X stream after Albion’s 3-2 defeat on Wednesday night, I was struck by how happy many of my callers were, despite our departure from the Carabao Cup. The consensus was that Albion had ‘given them a game’, and compared to other Championship clubs who’d faced Premier League opposition (notably Blues and Charlton) we certainly made a fist of it. That underlying sense of positivity is a testament to James Morrison’s management, which has instilled Baggies fans and players with a surge of optimism.

That’s great to experience, but we also have to be realistic. The Baggies, sitting second in the table after just two league games, are almost certainly over-achieving at the moment. Ours is a thin squad and needs active recruitment before the transfer window snaps shut on Tuesday night. A back-up centre half to replace Cardiff-bound Krystian Bielik, a solid centre-mid (maybe Toby Collyer?) to cover Diakite and Molumby as well as another striker are minimum requirements. The arrival of highly rated Levante winger Karem Tunde is a positive sign. Along with Wednesday night’s debutant Raby Nzingoula, we’re perhaps seeing evidence of Dominic Price’s growing influence behind the scenes. Either way, where Albion can really improve now is in the loans market. Too often we’ve signed players tasting Championship football for the first time, only to see them flourish at their second or third club.

Will Lankshear, who’ll line up against The Baggies for Middlesbrough on Saturday is a classic example. He failed to find the net whilst at The Hawthorns the season before last, and looked like a potential League 1 player at best. Yet Oxford United harnessed his raw talent and were rewarded with 12 goals last season, despite their relegation. Lankshear has now bagged four in four for Boro this season after signing permanently from Spurs for £10 million (a fee which could eventually double, depending on performances). His progress should also serve as reminder to Albion fans who have been quick to dismiss Barney Stewart after his full debut against Newcastle. Stewart isn’t ready for regular Championship starts yet, but that doesn’t mean he never will be.

In the meantime, we can expect Aune Heggebo to resume alongside JJ Morgan up top, following his outrageous suspension for ‘successful deception’ when the ball struck his hand at Norwich. Beyond that, I expect a ‘steady Eddie’ selection from Mozza, back at his native club, as Albion seek to maintain their 100% start to the League season.

Predicted line-up

O’Leary: Galves, Phillips, Campbell, Styles; Whitwell, Diakite, Molumby, Price; Heggebo, Morgan.

Predicted scoreline: 1-1

That said, it feels almost inevitable that Matt Ingram will be given a West Brom debut in goal, given the low status attached to the early rounds of this competition; and there may be a case for giving the entire back line a refresh. Alex Williams hasn’t played a competitive first team game since recovering from a serious injury; nor have we seen Conor Townsend (beyond a brief cameo as sub) since he came back from Ipswich. Personally, I’d keep Phillips and Campbell in the centre, but Mozza may want to give minutes to Bielik and Mepham. In midfield Raby Nzingoula, the recent signing from Strasbourg may be given a start, while up top, Barney Stewart could be offered the chance to impress. Mikey Johnston, unavailable with injury on Saturday, presumably wouldn’t be risked, even if fit.

No one realistically expects Mozza to name the same line up that dispatched Burnley 3-1 on Saturday, but let’s hope that the balance is sufficient to give The Geordies a fright. Newcastle, who looked impressive during Saturday’s 2-2 draw against Liverpool - their first game under new boss Matthias Jaissle - will also be expected to rotate. Summer signing Bazoumana Toure - a £42m buy from Hoffenheim - is in line for a debut. Striker Nick Woltemade, who netted 8 times last season, is also likely to start after failing to make the line-up at the weekend. Former Baggies loanee Jacob Murphy - now vastly improved from his Hawthorns spell - should also feature.

The noises emanating from the North East suggest that the home team could make 11 changes compared to Sunday, opening a route for Albion to complete a third successive League Cup win at St James’s, after victories there in 1989 (1-0) and 2003 (2-1).

Prediction: Newcastle 2 WBA 3

It’s a sign of Albion’s progress under James Morrison that supporters only had the PA system and turnstile queues to grumble about after Saturday’s defeat of Burnley. The PA, formerly too quiet, is now, apparently TOO LOUD! (Except at half time, when fans in the Brummie couldn’t heard Brian Jensen’s pitchside interview). The queues were caused by the club’s decision to ask stewards to scan ticket barcodes outside the stadium, presumably to prevent abuse of concessionary tickets. Hopefully, these were just ‘new season’ teething problems that will be ironed out over the coming weeks…but what will we have to complain about then?

Baggies fans will find something, I’m sure - we always do - though hopefully it won’t be Mozza’s team, who overcame the disappointment of conceding an early own goal to ultimately overwhelm their visitors 3-1. The newly-relegated Clarets had looked dangerous in the first half, even in the absence of top striker Zian Flemming, but they had become a ragged bunch by the final whistle.. Yes, they hit the post in the second half, but a fine strike by Isaac Price, who also converted a penalty when Harry Whitwell was felled in the box secured what ultimately a comfortable win. Whitwell had also rifled home the equaliser in the first 45 and is in the kind of form that makes it imperative we tie him down to a new contract sooner rather than later. Ousmane Diakite, though, was player of the match - after a slow start, he grew into the game with some crunching tackles and growing confidence going forward.

That Baggies have now lost only once since the end of February and, as I mentioned on a previous post, they are playing the kind of ‘front foot football’ Ryan Mason promised but never delivered. Assuming it continues, Albion fans will surely have no complaints about that.

Watch the latest Liquidator podcast with me and Chris Lepkowski below, or listen here

Quevin was not destined to make it as a top pro, but was evidently a youngster who embraced life to the full. His fatal collapse during a friendly for his new Portuguese employers, Real Sport Clube is as sad as it is shocking. Albion will mark his demise with a minute’s applause and by wearing black armbands.

We are reminded in these moments that football is, well, only football; but that won’t prevent a full-throated Hawthorns crowd roaring on The Baggies against a newly-relegated Burnley side who are rapidly acquiring the yo-yo tag we once ‘enjoyed’. They were outstanding in securing promotion from the Championship under Vincent Kompany in 2022-23 and pretty impressive under Scott Parker two years later - getting 101 and 100 points respectively - but then fared dismally in the Prem, finishing 19th on both occasions. Now former Genk boss Nicky Hayen has the job of restoring their top flight place without key defender Maxim Esteve (sold to RB Leipzig) winger Loum Tchaouna (offloaded to Cov) and last season’s keeper Martin Dubravka (now at Spurs).

Despite a summer when they made more than £40m net profit in the transfer market, they’ll still expect to be competitive in this division, their main threat coming from Dutch midfielder Zian Flemming, who has bagged 25 goals in 65 games since signing from Millwall. Flemming scored twice in their 2-2 Championship opener against West Ham last week, a game in which they trailed 2-0 until the 83rd minute.

Albion, still reeling from the suspension of Aune Heggebo for ‘successful deception’ while handling the ball into the net against Norwich City last time out, will be looking to maintain their unbeaten start. Expect Barney Stewart to get his full debut upfront alongside the already impressive Jimmy Jay Morgan , with Molumby given the shirt above Whitwell in central midfield.

I’m looking forward to a fiery encounter with The Baggies just edging it.

Prediction WBA 3 Burnley 2

This Sunday’s game against Burnley (the Dingles of East Lancashire!) brought to mind a feat that can never be matched, when in 1885 Burnley became the first visiting team to win a game at Stoney Lane. It is not clear how Burnley were even invited to Stoney Lane back then, as they had yet to achieve success in any of the local KO competitions and had only played in the FA Cup for the first time the previous month. They had none of the credentials of the prominent Lancashire clubs of the time (Blackburn, Bolton, Darwen & Preston) but had been one of supporters of the switch to professionalism back in the summer, so were clearly a club with ambition. The Burnley game was unusually played on a Monday, 23rd November 1885, so in an era long before floodlights became a familiar feature of football.

It is possible that this was a Wake Monday fixture - a localised bank holiday, favoured in the industrial towns of the Victorian era, though in West Bromwich this was normally staged on the first Monday in November. With most people not at work that day, it was ideal for staging a daytime football match, at a time of year when the shortage of evening daylight hours prevented many midweek fixtures.

There are no contemporary accounts of Burnley’s journey to West Bromwich, but it would have taken all day to travel there and back in a day, with the small matter of a football fixture to fulfil, in an era before motorway networks and luxury coach travel. Located on the edge of the Pennines, the journey way back in 1885 would have involved crossing from the eastern edge of Lancashire via the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway to Preston, before taking the London & North Western Railway and heading southwards. There would probably have been a change of train at Stafford and/or Wolverhampton, before catching the local service to Spon Lane - no easy matter when you not only had players and officials to consider, but also probably a large trunk containing the players’ kit and whatever else they were bringing with them. Finally, from Spon Lane a brake would have been provided to transport the travel-weary players to Stoney Lane. Even today, such a journey by public transport would take over 3 hours, and back in the days of steam it would have taken considerably longer. Not that any of this seemingly had any ill effects on Burnley, as they romped to a 3-0 victory.

Albion weren’t quite at full strength for this game, making several changes from the side which had defeated Wednesbury Old Athletic in the FA Cup two days earlier, with Will Lines coming into the side at left half, George Timmins moving forward to replace the prolific Arthur Loach, and Denny Smith taking the place of Jem Bayliss. However, despite playing up the slope in the first half, Burnley overran Albion at times, only the heroics of Bob Roberts preventing them from leading by more than 3-0 at half time. Albion were much improved after the break, but unable to make any inroads into the deficit, thus losing 3-0, and leaving Burnley as the first visiting team to win a game at Stoney Lane.

To put this result into some sort of perspective, Albion were virtually invincible at Stoney Lane during their first three seasons there, losing just 2 out of 29 home games in this first season, and just 4 out of 83 during that period of three seasons (1885-88). Furthermore, following the Burnley match Albion went on an unbeaten run of 20 games, and their next defeat came almost five months later when they were overcome in the replay of the FA Cup Final by Blackburn Rovers. I would happily settle for a repeat of that on Sunday!

Phew! That’s a relief. In light of Aune Heggebo’s two match ban for “successful deception” against Norwich, we can be confident that no game played under FA auspices will ever again be marred by cheating, simulation, time-wasting or general foul play. How could it be? Now the precedent has been set, any player deemed to have “gotten away with it” now knows they’ll face the wrath of the Independent Regulatory Commission, which evidently has the power to re-referee games and put right any perceived wrongs.

Why stop there? Why not retrospectively change the result of matches where a winning goalscorer was later judged on TV evidence to have been offside, or where an ankle tap was later spotted in the build-up?

As Baggies fans, we know we got the rub of the green against Norwich last week, when the ‘hand of Heg’ nudged the ball into the net. Was it a foul? Certainly. Was it deliberate? Only Heggebo can know that, but generally, a striker racing onto a fiercely struck cross is only concerned about meeting the ball and getting their body in the way. This certainly wasn’t in the same category of cheating as Thierry Henry’s waft which denied Ireland a place at the 2010 World Cup or Maradona’s Hand Of God.

Sky TV, always keen to big up the role of the broadcasters, is already debating whether VAR should be introduced in the Championship, so let’s be clear - there is absolutely no clamour for this amongst supporters. VAR deadens the pace of the game for those in the stadium, and rather than quelling controversy, its application in the Premier League has ignited rows and fuelled conspiracy theories.

Still, it’s comforting to know that Norwich striker Jovon Makama will also be facing a two-match ban for his handball which won the game for The Canaries against Southampton last December. Not! It’s this kind of inconsistency which baffles and angers fans, who will now be calling on the FA to apply the same rules to all players in every game governed by their rules.

The ribbon has been cut, and I now declare this can of worms open…

Paying Liquidator Substack subscribers now have until 5pm on Friday 21, August to claim their freebie.

Morning….

As you’ll probably know by now, I’ve just re-released Ray King’s classic calypso ‘West Bromwich Albion’ as a limited edition CD on my label Jenny’s Fea…

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Albion’s 5-0 Hawthorns humiliation by Norwich City in January may have been the highlight of The Canaries revival under Phillipe Clement, but it was no freak result. In the back half of the season the East Anglian team picked up an average of two points per game, placing them second in the form table behind Southampton. Over the summer, they’ve opted for quality over quantity, making just four acquisitions - including £8 million winger Andre Brooks from Sheffield United, alongside former Baggie Sam Field, Cameroon international defender Darlin Yongwa and on loan Brazilian Bruno Alves.

This all points to a tough afternoon ahead for James Morrison’s team as they head down the A14, but there are plenty of positive signs to suggest the visitors can garner at least a point. Albion were impressive in last week’s season opener, winning 4-1 against an admittedly pisspoor Rotherham United of League 2. We now have sharper teeth up front since the arrival of Jimmy Jay Morgan, who bagged two goals on his debut at The New York Stadium. Another newcomer, Norwegian midfielder Felix Horn Myhre also scored, reflecting The Baggies new found appetite for ‘front foot football’ - as promised (but rarely delivered) by one of Mozza’s predecessors, Ryan Mason.

There’s some intrigue around Albion’s other goalscorer in South Yorkshire, Harry Whitwell, who is apparently the subject of transfer interest from Norwich, despite making only a handful of appearances in navy blue and white. The 20-year old is an England under-18 international and played half a season at National League Forest Green Rovers last season, but is out of contract at WBA at the end of this campaign. James Morrison has indicated that he does feature in his plans, and it would be intensely disappointing to see Whitwell depart after such a lively first-half showing last week, before he was subbed. As fans we want to see our Academy kids progress, not keep getting sold to keep the beancounters happy. The imminent sale of Alex Mowatt to Derby County might free up a few quid to offer the kid a new deal - even following the arrival of former French youth international Raby Nzingoula from Strasbourg this week.

Forecast: 1-1

Pub watch: Most Baggies fans usually head towards the Queen of Iceni, a vast riverside Spoons only 10 minutes walk from Carrow Road, but I’d recommend The Murderers, a characterful pub serving real ale and food on Timberhill.

Somehow the message about a ‘new, improved’ Carabao Cup hadn’t reached Rotherham who - astonishingly - turned out fewer fans than The Baggies in a crowd of 4,850. Their team didn’t look ready for the new season either, fielding seven debutants, as The Baggies skipped to a 4-1 win. This was the first time in four seasons that we’ve reached Round 2.

Two of our first-timers caught the eye; the lively Jimmy Jay Morgan who bagged a brace; and Norwegian Felix Horn Myhre, who also netted shortly after coming on as a second half sub, prompting an outburst of Viking rowing among the away contingent. Expect to see more of this in the Brummie and the Smethwick in coming weeks. Harry Whitwell looked sharp on the right sight of a narrow midfield, but Albion’s player of the match was Ousmane Diakite, the heartbeat of the team who consistently made himself available to ‘give and go’ in the tightest of areas. Weirdly, he still lacks a decent song in his honour, so come on Baggies choir - do your thing.

Morrison was justifiably annoyed at the concession of a late goal, but overall, this was a display that raised hopes of better times ahead in the Championship.

You can see what me and made of it on the latest Liquidator podcast. Watch here.

Baggies fans know by now how it goes in cup tournaments - the manager vows to “respect the competition”, but then in the next breath names a starting XI that’s tantamount to giving the middle finger to supporters and sponsors. The grimmest example of this in recent years was Valerian Ismael’s selection against Arsenal for a second round League Cup game in August 2021. The Gunners fielded a side boasting 348 international caps, including Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Martin Odergard and Granit Xhaka. Some kid called Saka played too. Val, meanwhile, handed Baggies debuts to five players, as he made 11 changes from the previous match against Blackburn. Aubamyeang notched a hat-trick in a 0-6 Hawthorns embarrassment. Albion were, as they say, lucky to get nil.

There are several reasons why James Morrison shouldn’t go down this route against The Millers today. Firstly, this is the opening game of the season, so it’s a chance to get some rhythm ahead of the Championship launch next week against Norwich; especially with new signings Felix Horn Myhre and Nolan Galves still getting up to speed with English football. Secondly, there should be no knocks or injuries to contend with. This is a squad fresh from pre-season training - they ought to be chomping at the bit. Finally, and most importantly, Albion will be roared on by more than 2,500 fans at the New York Stadium; that level of commitment deserves more than a glorified training exercise.

Mozza, like his predecessors, is talking a good game, telling the media that he wants a decent cup run; let’s see what his selection brings. His team will face a Rotherham side coached by ex Baggie Alex Bruce and still smarting from relegation to League 2. They remain short on squad numbers, although striker Sam Nombe - sold to MK Dons for £600,000 - has been replaced by former Wrexham frontman Paul Mullin, one the most prolific lower division goalscorers of recent years. Otherwise The Millers are more like Millers Lite and shouldn’t unduly trouble the Albion. I’m expecting us to cruise to Round 2 for the first time in four seasons.

Prediction: Rotherham 0 Albion 3

The record was first released in 1979 through Grandstand Records, an offshoot of Big Bear, the label run by West Midlands music impresario Jim Simpson, a lifelong WBA supporter. He said, “it so exciting those days supporting the Albion, and it was unique. It wasn’t just the just the ‘Three Degrees’ The rest of the team were pretty darn good as well.”

This limited edition CD has been planned for months, but gained added poignancy following the recent death of vocalist Ray King - real name Vibert Cornwall - who was a big name on the local soul and reggae circuit at the time, and later influenced the emergent Two Tone scene in his home town of Coventry.

As Jim recalls, “Ray was a terrific performer. He always turned up on time. He always performed well. He was always a pleasure to be with.” Other luminaries from the West Midlands music scene can be heard on the session as well, including drummer Bob Lamb, who later produced albums by UB40 and Duran Duran.

The record sadly didn’t trouble the charts, and as Jim recalls, “It was very difficult to get the shops to stock it, except for the very very local shops. I sold most of the copies outside the ground myself, pre-match.”

Mint copies in the original blue vinyl are now being sold for upwards of £40 on E Bay.

The track is available now for a tenner as a highly collectible and strictly limited edition via Jenny’s Feather Factory, where it’s twinned with the original ‘B’ side, ‘Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh’, which namechecks a stack of Baggies greats from the time, including Bomber, Derek Statham, Ally Rob and Len Cantello. Heck, even David Stewart gets a mention.

The record is also available FREE to all paying subscribers of this substack who notify me that they want a a copy by no later than noon on Monday 10 August, 2026.

Here’s Jim Simpson, telling me about the origin of the record.

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I’m predicting a top 10 finish - with the possibility of a play-off position. What do you think, Baggies fans? Let us know. In the meantime you can now watch as well as listen to the pod.

Watch here:

Listen here on Spotify (also available on Apple Podcasts)

I remember vividly a conversation with Steve Hopcroft sometime during 2019.

It was an exchange expressing surprise that West Bromwich Albion had sold Morgan Rogers to Manchester City for an initial fee of around £4m or thereabouts. ‘Hoppy’ wasn’t so much shocked that Rogers had gone, but more so that he had done so for such a small fee.

“He will be worth more than £60m one day.” (or words to that effect: I just remember the value more than the syntax). As it happens, Steve was half-right, but only because he had undercooked the value of a player who is now being talked about in the £130m bracket.

That Rogers should find himself as one of the elite footballers in the country - featuring in England’s World Cup campaign - is down in no short measure to the impact of Steve Hopcroft. Right now, there will be a fairly significant roll call of West Midland-sourced footballers sharing a similar debt of gratitude.

*****

Steve passed away at the weekend following a battle with cancer. He was one of the pre-eminent ‘behind-the-scenes’ football people in the West Midlands. His job was, essentially, to pick-out the best youngsters and feed them into the academy pathway of whichever club he worked for. But, there was so much more to him.

The outpouring for him within the community has been one of profound sadness, from those who were privileged to work with him, to reflections from the many players who feel they owe so much to him. He has been taken way too soon.

Hopcroft had an eye for finding the best young footballers. As a talent-spotter he was peerless – everyone in the Midlands’ football seemingly knew him – ensuring the players he sourced were looked after, and, crucially, that their families were included in that process. That was one of those aspects of the job that wasn’t always appreciated to the outside world; he made people feel welcome. He made the community aspect as important as any player’s professional development.

Steve, during his long spell as Albion’s head of academy recruitment, was a key component of the process that helped create one of the stand-out football academies.

The staff who worked with him trusted and valued his judgement. He helped to instigate successful local, national and international partnerships, including St Kevin’s Football Club in Ireland, Gloucester Elite Performance Centre and many more, including centres within inner city areas and underrepresented communities.

I first came across Steve when I interviewed him for the Birmingham Mail following his move to Albion from Birmingham City in 2004. From 2014 we became colleagues and friends. My recollections are of a man who not only delivered his day job with flair, but was also a great guy, loaded with a brilliant sense of humour. It would be no exaggeration that Steve’s expertise for football headhunting, along with the conscientious work of Albion’s academy staff further up the chain, made the club a lot of money in player sales, transfer bolt-ons and solidarity payments in subsequent years.

Such was Steve’s stock that by 2016 there was serious talk of him going to Manchester United to regenerate their youth network. He rejected that role. Hoppy finally left Albion in 2020, becoming Aston Villa’s head of player talent ID, just at the time they began investing heavily into their own youth programme. Albion’s academy, by then, was taking a different direction - he was not be the only one to make that move across the West Midlands.

Steve and I stayed in touch. He would occasionally pop up in my messages or WhatsApp, just to exchange pleasantries and gossip.

There was one particularly amusing story involving Hoppy that I will forever remember from our mutual time at Albion. But, in the interests of doing it justice, and because some stories are better told, I shall save it for the next The Liquidator podcast…

Hoppy’s legacy will continue for many years. Today it might be Morgan Rogers; next year it will be somebody else. More products of Steve Hopcroft’s work will emerge during the coming years, I’m sure.

In the meantime, my thoughts are with Steve, his family and those who knew him best.

RIP Hoppy.

Supporters Trusts, designed to give fans a formal voice in the running of their club, first emerged in the early 90s, just as rampant commercialism was beginning to getting a grip on the game. The first IST, at Northampton Town, actually saved The Cobblers by taking shares and working with the administrator when the club went into administration in 1992. Trusts were then seized upon by David Mellor’s government-appointed Football Task Force, which recommended the creation of Supporters Direct, which proactively helped fans groups to organise, until was absorbed into the FSA in 2018.

So why haven’t Albion had something like before? The existing Supporters Club is great at organising travel and fan-related events but has often acted more as a cheerleader than a critical friend of the club - hence the need for Ali Jones’ protest group Action 4 Albion during the Guochuan Lai era.

To be fair, The Baggies hierarchy below board level has also remained relatively open and accessible, during both the Lai and Peace years. They set up the Albion Assembly in 2015, for example, which has become a useful forum for airing grievances and exchanging ideas. None of this, though, is quite the same as having a platform entirely outwith the club’s control, to challenge or question the official narrative. That doesn’t mean the IST has to be bolshy - we are all Albion after all - but a truly independent, democratically elected voice has been sorely lacking among our support. Once it’sup and running, the organisation will take a place on the Fan Advisory Board, which every club in the Premier League - where we’re aiming to be in, of course - has to have.

As for the July 8 meeting, the IST said, “an interim working group will be up for election to the IST board, ahead of the AGM to be held later in the year. The EGM will also provide an opportunity to discuss any motions put forward by the Trust’s members and to learn more about what has happened during the interim period.

“The EGM is an important step in formalising the IST so it can effectively carry out its duties to its members and the Albion family, working towards tackling the issues that impact fans and holding the club to account where necessary. The IST is still welcoming new members, and is excited to gather once more ahead of the new - and hopefully positive - season under James Morrison.”

They can be contacted via X and Facebook.

The release of a ‘summer special’ episode of The Liquidator podcast sees our launch on YouTube. We’ll be aiming to offer every show from now on in visual form, alongside the audio only release which you can still listen to via Spotify, Apple etc.

On the new episode Chris Lepkowski and me discuss Albion’s summer transfer business so far and Shilen Patel’s apology to the fans.

There’s also discussion of the new season’s fixtures which, as we warned, were subject to Sky Sports’ demands. Five matches have now been moved for TV including our trip to Molineux, which slips a day to Sunday 20 September, with a midday kick off.

Our Carabao Cup trip to Rotherham switches to 5.30pm on August 8, while our opening home fixture, against Burnley is a noon kick off on Sunday August 23. The Boro game the following Saturday will KO at 12.30 following Saturday and will screen on ITV as well as Sky. Finally, for now, QPR at home on September 12 will start at 12.30.

That’s the end of the changes until October 3, but Sky will announce a second tranche at the end of the month, which will take us up to the FA Cup 3rd Round In January.

We’ll also be migrating the Liquidator LIVE post match phone-in to YouTube early in the new season, so be sure to hit the subscribe button.

The Black Country derby is back, with Dingles away is on Saturday 19th - at least until Sky and West Midlands Police dip their oar in; with a home game (provisionally, as with all these matches) on 20 Feb.

Blues at home is on Saturday 10 October, with a trip to St Andrews on Feb 27. Other highlights? A trip to the London Stadium to gloat over West Ham’s decline on October 31, with The Hammers coming to the Black Country on Jan 23.

Boxing Day brings the joy of our first league visit to newly-promoted Lincoln City since 1948 - though we have played The Imps since then in the FA Cup and Autoglass Trophy - followed by the joy of a Staffordshire rumble against Stoke at The Hawthorns on New Year’s Day.

The season is bookended by a long trip to Norwich on August 15, and a home game against Bolton on May 1st 2027. The opening home game on August 22 is a tasty tie against Burnley. Note, also, the extended international break, which leaves us with a couple of blank Saturdays in the autumn.

Albion fans will be looking ahead with the usual mix of optimism and gallows humour, but the summer signings of Barney Stewart, JJ Morgan, Carter Pinnington and Matt Ingram suggest a level forward planning we haven’t seen at the club for a while; likewise the new deal for Ousmane Diakite.

Now that James Morrison has recruited his own backroom team - with Gavin Strachan and Tony McMahon arriving to partner Matt Gill - it feels like there’s scope for genuine hope at The Hawthorns; at least until the football starts.

I have an abiding memory of an older woman, sitting on the steps outside the away end, tears streaming down her face, after being confronted by an aggressive home supporter. Every sizeable fan base has a percentage of knuckledraggers looking for an excuse to punch down - ours included - but Saints’ reaction was off the scale, especially given that for them, this was a happy occasion.

Until then, I mostly regarded Southampton as just one of those teams who made up the numbers - although I loosely followed their fortunes through the eyes of a mate and his son from the West Midlands, who became loyal fans after Dad was enchanted by Lawrie McMenemy’s thrilling team of the early 8os, especially its star striker, the then England captain Kevin Keegan.

For that reason, I was vaguely fond of them - but not after that night; not when Saints became sinners. As someone once said, karma is a bitch.