Ben Foster: A Statistical Comparison

Featuring on EPLIndex.com, once the site goes live.

‘Goodnight, sweet prince’, I sobbed, as I read the news that Scott Carson was moving to Bursaspor for an ‘undisclosed fee’, suspected to be around £1.5m…

West Brom vs Wolves: A rivalry

(Originally appearing on the ESPN Soccernet West Brom blog, as a favour for Ethan Dean-Richards.)

 

The Black Country Derby, a derby that according to the efficiently named ‘Football Rivalries Report 2008’, is the most hotly contested in all of the land. ‘Big Derby’ in multiple ways. Could severely dent Wolves’ chances of staying up, whilst Sunderland/Blackburn are realistically winnable fixtures, not sure Mick’s ticker could take the strain. This season’s 1-1 draw at the Hawthorns marking their first encounter in the Barclays Premier League, although we all know football wasn’t invented in 1992 it’s a good yardstick for modern football.

 

More often than not, one of the greater concerns surrounding the fixture tends to be that of a policing nature but at this pivotal point in the season, absolutely everybody with anything to do with either club has their focus fixed firmly on today. Wolves are teetering dangerously close to the precipice and a loss today would inevitably pile an unenviable amount of pressure on Mick McCarthy and whilst both Sunderland and Blackburn are realistically winnable games, a defeat at the hands of the Baggies at this stage of the season may not be forgiven all too quickly. Yesterday, on the other hand, West Brom were made mathematically safe from relegation, with three games to go, an achievement very few would’ve foreseen at the start of the season; the Woyvelution has well and truly achieved its aim but even now it’s not necessarily mission complete. Money might not be the key to happiness but it certainly is key to Premier League survival and establishment, as well as the obvious other factors.

In the 08/09 season, West Brom’s 20th place finish earned them £761,000 in merit payments, this season the amount for the same position has risen slightly to £800,424. In terms of transfer fee, this equates to about half a Peter Odemwingie, four Youssuff Mulumbu’s and Curtis Davies’ left hand. This amount is awarded per ‘placement’ in the league and as it stands, West Brom would receive £6,403,392 for finishing 13th, unlucky for some but certainly not for the Baggies. A win today could potentially be worth £3,201,696, not to mention the unusually televised nature of the match itself is worth £499,734 to both sides. To put these speculative figures in perspective, they are substantial figures given that the club’s total turnover for the 2008/09 season was £47m with a total operating profit £7.6 million. At this stage of the season and given the closeness of the competition, points literally equate to millions.

 

I’m not, however, saying that these points are necessarily going to present bold new signings for the club, that’d be dangerously deterministic, but the club as a whole can only benefit from such eventualities. Simon Cox told the Birmingham Mail:

“We might get a player we might not have ordinarily got, especially a foreign player who might not know a lot about West Brom, our football style, etc…. If we, say, finish 17th then they might think ‘no, I’m not sure about them, they might go down next season… But if we finish 10th or 11th then they might think ‘okay they might have a chance’…This could be vital for us to maybe bring in better players so it will be an interesting last few games for the club.”

The man certainly has a point, whilst possibly taking a seemingly simplistic view of transfers in general, at the end of the day if a player is approached by, say, Birmingham, Blackburn and West Brom, the standing of the club at that point is going to influence their decision to no end.

It certainly is an important derby today but not than of an even outcome, Wolves in abject desperation and West Brom with thoughts firmly on establishment in the league.

 

The game ended 3-1 to Wolves and West Brom finished the league in 11th place, their best since the 1982/83 season.

 

 

The Not So Surprising Case of Pablo Ibáñez (Pronounced Pow-low Ee-ban-yez)

(Originally appearing on the ESPN Soccernet West Brom blog on 21st May 2011.)

So after an eventful, memorable and easily their best season since the formation of the Premier League -not that football was invented then- and best league finish since the 1984/85 season. Sure, there have been the obvious heroes in Peter Odemwingie and Youssuf Mulumbu, as well as the unexpected, if not unrequited departure of Roberto Di Matteo. This article isn’t going to be about any of that. It’s going to be about someone else entirely, someone side-lined for the majority of the season even though expectations were quite high whilst also perceived as being a ‘fresh start’ for him.

The Pains of Being Scott Carson

(Originally appearing on http://www.footballfarrago.com on 20th April 2011; never write for Jude Ellery.)

If you were to say the words ‘Scott Carson’ to any football fan in England, chances are it’ll evoke memories of that goal. His competitive England debut came at the tender age of 21, in a must-win game against Croatia. Slaven Bilic’s side beat England 3-2 with the help of a goalkeeping blunder, and thus eliminated the Three Lions from Euro 2008 before it had even begun. This gave Carson a permanent place in England ‘keeper infamy, a phenomenon which looks to repeat itself ad infinitum. This, however, it not an article decrying Carson for all his shortcomings, wishing he’d leave us and never come back; quite the opposite.