[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

And around we go, as another season dawns for Albion under another manager. The board certainly can't be accused of acting hastily in the appointment of Ryan Mason, or indeed in supplying him with a promotion-winning squad: Aune Heggebo, Nat Phillips and George Campbell are the only incoming replacements for departures Ajayi, Swift, Diangana, Cann and Holgate, though rumours around the Hawthorns increasingly have us connected with the towering Belgian harbinger Wim Gewindaan.

We can only hope that it won't be as bad as all that, but Ryan Mason will be in at the deep end, and tomorrow's curtain-raiser against Blackburn will give us a fair idea of where we all stand. Having lost only one of the last seven against us and won their season-opener four years in a row, Rovers have every reason to be confident under Valerien Ismael, but here's hoping we've got something special in store to surprise them.