Terry Wills talks about what’s happening at the Albion.

Deadline day when who’s coming or going dominates the football headlines and such has been the speculation, rumours and innuendo surrounding Peter Odemwingie that it was impossible to say right up until the last minute whether he would be on his way to join ‘Arry’s QPR recruitment drive.

I thought he would be leaving the Hawthorns and he’s perfectly entitled to request a transfer, but it’s the manner in which he attempted to force the move riled both the club and Baggies fans. A straight “I’ve been offered more money” would have been sufficient but using Twitter to in effect criticise for some of their reputed dealings with him did him no favours. The drive down to Loftus road in a last-ditch attempt to force the move through was probably the last straw. As long as he’s wearing a West Bromwich Albion shirt he’ll have my support but I realise that many supporters have a simple request to Jeremy Peace and the board. A unhappy player can only be a disruptive influence – show him the door.

While these shenanigans were going on it was easy to forget that Albion had a trip to Goodison Park in the offing. A game that was difficult in itself without the added distractions. As it turned out, and coming as no great surprise, Everton reversed their early season defeat with what at the end turned out to be a relatively comfortable 2-1 win. 2-0 down at half- time and second best in most departments I feared the worst but thanks to a goal from Shane Long after coming on as a substitute, we were at least back in with a chance of snatching a point and improving on what has been a series of results more in keeping with a side struggling to avoid the threat of relegation than what earlier in the season had led some supporters believing they could be competing in European football next season.

Steve Clarke in a post-match interview said “We’ll have to get back to work and look at what went wrong, and that includes myself.” Brave words Steve, but you won’t find many fans or the local media querying just why you persist in Marcus Rosenberg as he gives the distinct impression that he simply isn’t good enough to make any sort of meaningful impact. But you’re the Head Coach, so who are we query your obvious knowledge and conviction when it comes to selecting his teams?

Next up there’s a televised Greed League Sunday Hawthorns game against a team chasing a top four spot, Tottenham Hotspur. If we ARE to stem this current run of dismal performances it will need a major improvement. Apparently they’re struggling to score goals but even so, with the likes of Gareth Bale and Jermaine Defoe in their line-up it will take a massive improvement from our current defensive frailties to give Baggies fans a realistic hope of seeing a change of fortunes.

All we can do is to wait and see, just as we can the implications of Peter Odemwingie’s behaviour but whatever. here’s the usual clarion cry

“Come on you Baggies.”

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