Hi Alan, I am indeed a fan of West Bromwich Albion fan.

I have not been so for long; I have only been going to games for around three years, aged 13. I usually only attend around 3-6 games per season, mainly because I live 135 miles away from the Hawthorns. I stream all of the team's matches via the Internet. I am often asked why I am a West Bromwich Albion fan. While it would be correct to suggest that this may not be the case if my Dad were not a West Brom fan, I think that this is very justifiable. Would I be able to get frequent tickets to attend other teams? Of course not. Would I have someone that I could see in person, who would share my thoughts; the highs, the lows and the enchanted experience of being a fan? I somehow doubt that the gloryhunting football fans at my school would share these same criterion. Moreover, West Bromwich Albion are a club whom I would genuinely like and admire, even if I were not a fan. The fans and the atmosphere are fantastic at games, they are run very well, they have a lot of very good, hard-working players and are set to establish themselves as a Barclays Premier League outfit. I like West Brom's summer transfer work, although I think that they will be in need of more. I think the current rumours regarding Anelka's playing status are rather worrying. Our lack of genuine wingers still worries me, although the loan signing of Scott Sinclair eases these fears a little. I am also concerned by our lack of depth at central midfield, and our perceived loan pursuit of Morgan Amalfitano does not make sense as you are only allowed two foreign players on loan; we have already have Goran Popov and Matej Vydra to fill these spaces. Via PM with Allan Jiang: "I believe that Nicolas Anelka can be a quality footballer. His technical ability, balance and finishing has always been of the highest drawer. He is also a very willing runner off the ball. I certainly still believe that he has qualities to offer us. The other positive is that he has connections around the club, such as Youssouf Mulumbu, and in particular, Steve Clarke. This factor possibly lowered his wage demands, convinced him to join us and increased the chances of him being happier. It could also convince Mulumbu to sign a new contract. This does not however, exclude him of any risk of stirring incidents. You cant possibly be sure that it won't happen with someone of his history of fallouts or breakdowns. He undoubtedly has plenty of emotional problems and if you look at the vast amount of times that these have been portrayed over more than a decade, it would not be unreasonable to suggest that they are beyond repairing. My other issue is that he is not Lukakus replacement. He does not possess the ability nor the attributes of the former. We need to sign another striker.

This signing still makes a lot of sense, as his salary is based on performance-related fees, and he has a lot to offer us. Two strikers were always needed this summer because we are planning to sell Peter Odemwingie and Markus Rosenberg." Now, of course, we have purchased Matej Vydra, so the my aforementioned request from the fourth paragraph has been answered. Obviously, he is not realistically going to be at the prime of his career, but I don't judge players primarily on their age. There are plenty of players that are older than him that are fantastic. He has always had a lot of quality, and I think he is a hardworking and clever enough athlete to stay in the game. Unfortunately, I too have not yet seen the West Brom v Southampton game. I was on holiday in Ireland at the time, I did not get access to the game at the time, and I have not found a full match replay or download since. My Dad, however, was at the game. He lamented our sides display, suggesting that we looked nervous all over the pitch and never looked like scoring. Of Anelka's performance, he touted that while he did not get enough adequate support from his teammates, he looked disinterested and immobile going for every ball; he was, in effect, useless. The whole team were poor, statistically and practically, and while Anelka did not epitomise this, he was no exception to this. No need to take this too broadly; it is just a minor blip. I will want to see more of him before making any more verdicts. Regarding his confrontation with the Shanghai Shenhua fan, that's not the story that I heard. I heard that the supporters frustration was purely due to Anelka's failure to bow in front of the fans; the reasons of which are unknown. To me, it seems that the fault lies with Anelka. There is also a large amount of evidence to suggest that he because completely disenchanted with life at Shanghai Shenhua. If your case is true, then it is a complete disgrace. But it is not surprising considering the intimidating nature of fans and football culture in general. They do look to pounce upon any weakness in a footballer, and they can take this over the limits. If you have read The Secret Footballer, you may remember him touting that the culture of football fans and football have not really evolved as football has. I, to an extent, agree with this. You have a very written-written bio on your background as a Liverpool fan. Kind regards, Ben