02-01-2015, 00:04
So here we are. Another year, another boss down in the technical area. And though he has yet to officially take charge of an Albion match, our new gaffer arrives having won more matches at the Hawthorns than Alan Irvine and Pepe Mel combined. Now he just has to master the trick of doing it for us rather than against us.
Welcome to your favourite hunting ground, Tony.
![[Image: tony_pulis_012.jpg]](http://s14.postimg.org/pl24zf1i9/tony_pulis_012.jpg)
It's a new year and a new start, and the timing couldn't be better. With just over a week to prepare for his first Premier League match in charge of the Baggies, having absorbed what he's seen down at West Ham, Tony Pulis could scarcely hope for a better chance to experiment than in an FA Cup tie against non-league opposition. That's not to say that Gateshead should be underestimated or dismissed - in their first third round fixture since 1955, they'll no doubt pull a good crowd down from the North East, and they remain a strong Conference side with quick, confident players - but hopefully, the beginning of a new Albion era should encourage a decent attendance and plenty of optimism among our own fans too. I'd be very surprised if Pulis opts for a fringe side in this game, as it's the perfect opportunity to see exactly what his best players are made of. Every member of the squad should start with a clean slate, and be out to impress and nail down their starting place for next weekend.
It's been a long time since Albion have faced non-league opposition in the cup - you have to go way back to the four consecutive years when we did so in the early Nineties; a real mixture of joys and horrors - and it's worth remembering that for every Marlow or Aylesbury, there's a Halifax or a Woking. Twenty years on, with a brand new boss and a point to prove, you'd hope we're made of sterner stuff. Fingers crossed.
Welcome to your favourite hunting ground, Tony.
After watching Victor and Bobby train for ten minutes, Tony prays the sixteen-million-pound strikeforce he's been told about is stuck in traffic somewhere.
It's a new year and a new start, and the timing couldn't be better. With just over a week to prepare for his first Premier League match in charge of the Baggies, having absorbed what he's seen down at West Ham, Tony Pulis could scarcely hope for a better chance to experiment than in an FA Cup tie against non-league opposition. That's not to say that Gateshead should be underestimated or dismissed - in their first third round fixture since 1955, they'll no doubt pull a good crowd down from the North East, and they remain a strong Conference side with quick, confident players - but hopefully, the beginning of a new Albion era should encourage a decent attendance and plenty of optimism among our own fans too. I'd be very surprised if Pulis opts for a fringe side in this game, as it's the perfect opportunity to see exactly what his best players are made of. Every member of the squad should start with a clean slate, and be out to impress and nail down their starting place for next weekend.
It's been a long time since Albion have faced non-league opposition in the cup - you have to go way back to the four consecutive years when we did so in the early Nineties; a real mixture of joys and horrors - and it's worth remembering that for every Marlow or Aylesbury, there's a Halifax or a Woking. Twenty years on, with a brand new boss and a point to prove, you'd hope we're made of sterner stuff. Fingers crossed.
Classic Matches
FA Cup, non-league opposition
A timely reminder of how things can go right, and how they can go very wrong...
"I would rather spend a holiday in Tuscany than in the Black Country, but if I were compelled to choose between living in West Bromwich or Florence, I should make straight for West Bromwich." - J.B. Priestley
but to me it should be the best 11 or close to it. If this was a mid-week game with a league game a few days later, I would wholeheartedly agree with us playing the other members of the squad because the league is more important than the cup (at least in our current position) and rotation is a good thing to do when playing 3 games in a week. 
![[Image: 1348664730___West_Brom_-_Banner.png]](http://www.footballaid.com/uploads/teams/1348664730___West_Brom_-_Banner.png)
