A Slory Story: West Bromwich Albion and The Quest to the Premier League

[Eds]

Who would've expected that? Just 48 hours after Robert Di Matteo pledged his future to the Baggies, he's resigned from his role as manager. The reason is yet to be unearthed but the WBA Board have made a quick desicion in who to replace the Italian with.

Unknown to the managerial world, 33 year old and former England international, Ed Ames takes on his first role since retiring from his beloved Liverpool Football Club a year ago. Some have questioned the desicion, and with the Baggies needing to get back into the Premiership or possibly suffer financial liquefaction, he's got a huge job upon his hands.

With long-term injuries to key men Ismael Miller, Giles Barnes and James Morrison, Ames is certainly going to need to bring in some fresh new talent all over the park. He has already shown his intent at bringing in fresh blood with positive comments at his first interview as manager of West Bromwich Albion.

He mentioned attacking, attractive football, pass and go, 4-4-2 seems his ideal method. Ames has already answered that he will certainly be taking a huge role within the club and will look to be havily involved in all areas from boot cleaning to transfers. But it wasn't all joyful as Ames said he'd be "removing any deadwood" at the club and if anyone is under standard, they could be seeing the boot.

We'll be back with more reports soon, and next time, we'll see how Ames manages his side in pre-season. But that's all for now.

 

[SwineFluGotYou]

Looking good mate all the best.

 

[Eds]

Cheers mate.


Ames pleased with pre-season
Monday 3rd August 2010

New West Brom Manager Ed Ames has recorded his first six games with 4 wins, a draw and a loss. But he's said that the most pleasing thing has been the number of players getting themselves on the scoresheet with none less than 9 Baggies players hitting the net this pre-season.

First of all was a home matchup with Steinhousemeir, in which the travelling side were dispatched by the Baggies with a simple 3-0 win, with some excellent signs for new manager Ed Ames.

Then came Aidrie United, who proved a tougher challenge but still could not defeat Bromwich and Andwele Slory and Chris Wood guided Ed Ames' side to a 2-1 victory.

Then came Leeds United and Burton Albion. Leeds proved to be a tougher challenge with a 1-1 draw showing a fair reflection of the game but the Baggies got back to winning ways against Albion with a 2-0 victory.

Then came affiliates Benfica who, with some brilliant football from Aimar and Di Maria, dispatched of West Brom with 3 stunning goals, and only one in reply from WBA.

But Ed Ames seems pleased and Andwele Slory has taken up his position at the spearhead of the Baggies' attack, in what could easily destruct other Championship defenses.

Next time, join us for Transfer news and what Ed Ames can do with only 2.2m to spend.

---------- Post added at 03:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:42 PM ----------

If anyone has any ideas of what could make this better, just tell me and I'll definately implement it into my story.

---------- Post added at 12:23 AM ---------- Previous post was yesterday at 03:47 PM ----------

Richard Hughes is now a confirmed West Brom player after completing his medical. The fee is said to be in the region of £1million.

Ed Ames had this to say:​

"We've brought Richard in to be our rock in midfield. I'm really looking forward to seeing this guy in a West Brom shirt as he has real potential and as a ball winning midfielder, he'll be one of the best in the Championship."​

---------- Post added at 12:29 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:23 AM ----------

In what seems to be a brilliant piece of Transfer Market wheeling-and-dealing from Baggies Manager Ed Ames, Koki Mizuno, the unknown Japanese right winger has signed for a measly 130k but will certainly have first team aspirations.

Ed Ames had this to say:

"With the injury to Mr. Morrison, he gives us a brilliant short-term option and he'll continue to fight for a place throughout the season, I am sure. He's been brilliant for the Japanese team and Celtic and he's the sort of professional we want here at the Hawthornes."

 

[jswigan]

Good luck mate, Mizuno would be a good signing

 

[Eds]

August: An early exit

PART 1
August brought about 7 games for new West Brom Manager Ed Ames. The first one was a tricky Coca-Cola Championship matchup with fellow promotion rivals Newcastle. Andwele Slory was the man on form in this game, finishing with a brace, and showing his team to a 3-1 victory.

Team-mate Chris Brunt celebrates with the rampaging Slory after his second goal


After such a big win against such a good quality side, the morale in the side shot up and the match against Gillingham was only going one way, and when Chris Wood placed a shot into the bottom corner of the net, the fans knew they were through to the 2nd Round of the League Cup, with Wood scoring the only goal of the game.

The team celebrate Chris Wood's well-place goal

Then came Nottingham Forest, well organised and tough to beat. But with morale in the camp so high, the Baggies can get something out of this, surely? It wasn't to be. A 58th minute strike from Paul McKenna took the Baggies back to square one. Ed Ames wasn't too bothered though, he said he is still trying to find "the formula".

The Baggies players are distraught after their narrow loss to promotion rivals

---------- Post added at 11:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:13 AM ----------

Anyone got any ideas for getting more people seeing this? Everyone else seems to get loads more replies, so I don't know if it is worth doing.

 

[True_Blue_Dunk]

Yea i dont know mate cus i never did on mine either but good layout and story so far

 

[Eds]

If anyone has anything to add, that'd be brilliant. As my first story, it'd be really good if I could have some feedback.

 

[cfc12345]

good story so far

 

[Eds]

Saturday's Gossip Column

BREAKING GOSSIP
Stoke officials are meeting with Sir Alex Ferguson today over the possibility of a £12million move for Ryan Shawcross to Old Trafford with Fabio moving the other way, on loan. (SkySports)

TRANSFER GOSSIP
Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano is disillusioned with life at the club and wants a move abroad. (Daily Mail)

West Brom Manager Ed Ames is reportdely on the verge of closing a £1.4m deal for Inter Milan's Kerlon. (Daily Star)

Another of the Baggies' top transfer targets is Tottenham's Alan Hutton. (Daily Star)

Preston and Queens Park Rangers are both chasing Doncaster's former Sunderland midfielder Martin Woods. (Daily Telegraph)

Mohamadou Diarra is in Munich today, to discuss a big-monry contract with German champions Bayern. (Daily Mirror)

Arsene Wenger is set to abandon his wonderkids plan and recruit golden oldie David Beckham for a fee of just over £2million. (The Sun)

OTHER GOSSIP
West Brom are ready to hire Liverpool's Mauricio Pellegrino as First Team Coach. The Merseysiders will be due around £800,000 in compensation if the deal is completed. (Daily Mirror)

Premier League referee Howard Webb will not be officiating in the Premier League this season after his wife, Kay, suddenly fell ill. (The Sun)

AND FINALLY
West Bromwich Albion Manager Ed Ames has brought his dog to training to encourage quick passing from his players. (Daily Star)

 

[burkeyoa]

Good start mate I have a WBA save aswel. Try an get Djalo he's a machine at that level. Also if you could maybe write the score of your games before you talk about them. Keep up the good work.

 

[Eds]

August: An early exit

PART TWO
After that horrifying loss to Nottingham Forest, came Peterbrough. "The lads are all fired up and want to be back to winning ways." remarked gaffer Ed Ames.

Peterbrough 1 - 4 West Bromwich Albion

Gabriel Tamas. Andwele Slory. Roman Bednar. Robert Koren.

A brilliant day's work from the Baggies, as they dispatched "The Brough" with ease. Robert Koren's magnificent 30-yard strike in the 92nd minute will certainly be a contender for goal of the season.

West Bromwich Albion 3 - 0 Ipswich Town

Another good day at the Hawthorns for West Brom as they dispatched of struggling Ipswich. Robert Koren, Chris Wood and Andwele Slory all hit the net and Scott Carson prevented the Town from getting any in return. A horrific David Healy injury did marr the game somewhat as he'll be out for around 7 months with cruciate ligament damage.

West Bromwich Albion 2 - 3 Doncaster Rovers (League Cup)

Who would've expected that? Especially after the Baggies went 2-0 up within 19 minutes thanks to a well placed shot from Chris Wood and a wonderful strike from Chris Brunt. But the board and fans alike will both be distraught at not getting through to the next round of the Carling Cup.

Sheffield United 4 - 1 West Bromwich Albion

After the dismal disply last week against Donny Rovers, the morale in the WBA camp was low, and that's never the right attitude to go into a big game. The Blades played the ball around well and Henri Camara was prolific for United, finishing with a brace.

---------- Post added at 05:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:31 PM ----------

Good start mate I have a WBA save aswel. Try an get Djalo he's a machine at that level. Also if you could maybe write the score of your games before you talk about them. Keep up the good work.

I'll have a go next time the Transfer Window is open.

 

[Brummy123]

great layout and brill detail nice story mate

 

[ben1250]

Hope this story produces promotion success with players like Koki Mizuno you have a decent chance, nice name aswel pretty catchy. Good luck

Slory is a very good player

 

[Eds]

Nice to know some people are interested. I imagine I'll have the next update up tomorrow.

---------- Post added at 09:38 PM ---------- Previous post was yesterday at 10:56 PM ----------

Sorry to anyone who was following but I've decided to end this story. It was really a test to see what I needed to do to make a succesful story. Make sure you check out my Arsenal story, which will be going on for as long as possible.