[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

The long-awaited redevelopment of the Halfords Lane continues apace

Popular myth once had it that if everyone in China jumped off a chair at once, the planet would be shifted from its solar orbit.  That may not be the case, but right now it's beginning to seem as if everyone in China who collects five crisp packets can gain a stake in West Bromwich Albion.  With Guochuan Lai a mere figurehead representing the interests of individuals running into the thousands - some of whom may, in turn, be acting on behalf of the Chinese state, those tireless architects of some of Xinjiang's finest concentration camps - it's hard not to feel like the Hawthorns has become the setting for some grimy and unusually banal John Le Carré thriller.  The Constant Craig Gardner, perhaps?  The Bob Taylor of Panama?  Even (with due apologies to Philip K. Dick) The Man In The High Astle?  So, while some torch-wielding Bond or Smiley gets tasked with rifling through the club's files in the dead of night and puzzling over what my four-decade-old letters asking for Gary Robson's autograph could possibly be fiendish Chinese code for, we're off to Ewood Park on Saturday, where the natives had the temerity to moan about being owned by Indian chicken farmers.

We do so without summer departures Jake Livermore, Dara O'Shea and Karlan Grant, but with recent reinforcements Jeremy Sarmiento and Josh Maja making up the alarmingly slender numbers.  The 2-1 defeat we suffered at Blackburn this time last year was the beginning of a slow and undignified end for Steve Bruce, but it was also the only victory Rovers have had over us in the last six encounters (all of which have tended, by the by, towards three or four goal scorelines with both teams finding the net).  The difference this time round will be Carlos Corberan, and we can only hope he didn't use up his allowance of miracles last winter...