[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Cyrille fires past future Baggie Paul Barron to secure three points at Selhurst Park, 4th October 1980

With less than forty-eight hours to go till the start of another Premier League season, it's all change and yet no change at the Hawthorns.  The replacement of Jeremy Peace as Albion chairman with new owner Guochuan Lai and chief executive John Williams is the biggest upheaval in the club's affairs since the summer of our first PL promotion, and yet the feeling surrounding every other aspect of business is deja vu on a huge scale.  Not for the first time, our transfer activity has been close to non-existent, and that which we have conducted has seemed, from the outside, a touch amateurish to say the least.  There are shades of 2013 when a good set of opening fixtures turned into a nightmare losing streak which dumped Albion in a relegation battle from the off, purely for want of new signings.  Frustration is in the air, because it seems that the mistakes of the past just haven't been learned from.

The situation might be more tolerable if we'd at least finished last season well, but the fact of the matter is that we haven't won a competitive game of football since the sixth of March.  For a head coach whose only real redeeming feature is the ability to grind out results under pressure, that's beyond poor.  There is also, I fear, some truth to the idea that creative players are reluctant to sign for a Pulis side knowing that they're going to be kept on a tight leash and probably fall out with the bloke too.  It remains to be seen how the rest of our business will play out, but the warning signs are all there.

It's into the middle of this situation that Guochuan Lai has walked.  It's not his fault that the club he's bought has been little better than mediocre for three and a half years, but unfortunately, he's going to have to deal with the fact that the patience of a lot of fans has worn justifiably thin, and that there's now an expectation of things getting better.  The goodwill is there right now, but it won't last forever.

The club really can't afford another season like the last one.  Aside from the ever-present danger of relegation, the sense that what we're seeing on the pitch isn't improving - and may actually be getting worse - is overwhelming.  Over time, death by a thousand long balls is going to drive away more and more people who already struggle to justify the money they spend on supporting their club; all the more so given the imminent spectre of another recession next year.  It's not just that the hope and the magic have gone, because really, we never had them in abundance in the first place; it's that even the promise of hope and magic has gone, and when that happens, there's really not much more than habit and stubbornness to keep folks attached to their club.  Fair enough, those of us who've been doing this for decades are nothing if not bloody-minded, but what about local kids getting their first ever taste of football?  What is there to keep them on board and make them want to spend every other Saturday of their lives down B71?  What's the point of them joining this shared experience we call the Albion if that experience is almost entirely a sour one?

Welcome to West Bromwich Albion, Mr Lai.  We're glad you know about our history; it's very much appreciated.  But the present is looking pretty troubled right now, and when you're done buying us all drinks and scarves (which, again, is appreciated), there are some bigger things to worry about.  I hope you don't end up seeing what I mean against Crystal Palace on Saturday.  But there's a fair chance you might.

Brunty and Mozza open the scoring at Selhurst Park, 18th April 2015