[Albion] Pre Season Friendly vs West Brom @ Amex - Saturday 5th September, ***2pm***

[Mellotron]

Behind closed doors, game will be streamed on Albion TV as per.

Albion will complete his preparations for the new Premier League season with a behind-closed-doors friendly against Graham Potter's former club West Bromwich Albion at the American Express Community Stadium this Saturday.

The match kicks off at 3pm, and although supporters will not be allowed in for the game they will be able to watch a live stream of the game on MyAlbion TV.

Slaven Bilic will bring his newly promoted Baggies to the Amex as both teams play their final pre-season match ahead of the start of the new Premier League campaign the following weekend.

West Brom kick off at home to Leicester City on Sunday, 13th September, before Albion face Chelsea at the Amex the following night.

Albion played Portsmouth in a behind closed doors friendly on 22nd August at the American Express Elite Performance Centre before the match with Chelsea last weekend.

Potter will be without six of his first-team squad with Leandro Trossard (Belgium), Joel Veltman (Holland), Aaron Connolly, Shane Duffy, Jayson Molumby (Republic of Ireland) and Viktor Gyokeres (Sweden) all with their respective countries on international duty for this weekend's Nations League fixtures.

The live stream of the match is expected to start at around 2.45pm on MyAlbion TV, which fans can access via MyAlbion Digital.

How controversial to "gender" the club like that...

 

[portslade seagull]

Blimey even lighter up front for this one, Murray to get a run out ?

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Behind closed doors of course because it has not been designated a Government Covid crowd test event.

Also, all our internationals will be missing so it may be a partly U23 team ?

 

[A1X]

When Glenn Murray lines up with the U23s

 

[Mellotron]

Blimey even lighter up front for this one, Murray to get a run out ?

Hopefully Gonzalez starting up top...

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Blimey even lighter up front for this one, Murray to get a run out ?

Michael Owen is currently at the Grand, poised to SING for us

 

[Is it PotG?]

Albeeeeeyern, Albeeeeeeyerrrrn.

 

[Swansman]

Hope Gyökeres could score a few against Iceland and Italy U21, so that Championship teams get interested in a loan deal. He needs to play in England next season and I'm pretty sure he is good enough for the Championship.

 

[studio150]

So the feedback from the Chelsea game was positive, so we go back to behind closed doors rather than increasing the numbers able to attend to see how that goes.

At least there is a stream to watch

 

[Guinness Boy]

So the feedback from the Chelsea game was positive, so we go back to behind closed doors rather than increasing the numbers able to attend to see how that goes.

At least there is a stream to watch

Because we were running an official government test event. All other football is still BCD. It'll be the 23s anyway. M'eh.

 

[spoonie]

Because we were running an official government test event. All other football is still BCD. It'll be the 23s anyway. M'eh.

So what's the next step ? surely if Chelsea was a success they should be pushing on with another text event and increase the attendance. What is the point in waiting around ?

 

[Mellotron]

Because we were running an official government test event. All other football is still BCD. It'll be the 23s anyway. M'eh.

I'm hoping it'll be a little more than just the U23s given it's our final pre-season before the real thing starts. Feel horrendously under-prepared - the Chelsea game felt like a VERY early Pre-Season to me in terms of pace/intensity of the game etc - but I guess it's the same for every club.

 

[halbpro]

So what's the next step ? surely if Chelsea was a success they should be pushing on with another text event and increase the attendance. What is the point in waiting around ?

We've no idea if it was a success yet. It's a success if there's no (or very minimal spread) of the virus related to the event. That can't be assessed for at least a week or two because of the lag in symptoms developing and then the time to test (which is far too long in the UK right now, but that's a different issue). The event wasn't "Can fans go to football?", it was "Can fans go to football without increasing the spread of the pandemic?"

 

[Guinness Boy]

We've no idea if it was a success yet. It's a success if there's no (or very minimal spread) of the virus related to the event. That can't be assessed for at least a week or two because of the lag in symptoms developing and then the time to test (which is far too long in the UK right now, but that's a different issue). The event wasn't "Can fans go to football?", it was "Can fans go to football without increasing the spread of the pandemic?"

Exactly this.

The answer about increasing - and this is fact, not an invitation to take the thread in a political direction - is to ask the government.

 

[Mellotron]

We've no idea if it was a success yet. It's a success if there's no (or very minimal spread) of the virus related to the event. That can't be assessed for at least a week or two because of the lag in symptoms developing and then the time to test (which is far too long in the UK right now, but that's a different issue). The event wasn't "Can fans go to football?", it was "Can fans go to football without increasing the spread of the pandemic?"

I think actual "spread of virus" is only one of many, many factors they'd be looking at as to whether this event was a success or not.

 

[studio150]

Because we were running an official government test event. All other football is still BCD. It'll be the 23s anyway. M'eh.

And the Government are pushing for people to return to their office desks, and have a whole campaign on getting back to enjoying what you have missed, so you would have thought that they and the PL would have been eager to build on the success and go a step further to increasing attendance.

Obviously not to be.

 

[Mellotron]

And the Government are pushing for people to return to their office desks, and have a whole campaign on getting back to enjoying what you have missed, so you would have thought that they and the PL would have been eager to build on the success and go a step further to increasing attendance.

Obviously not to be.

That is absolutely the plan - just not within a week.

They are hoping the next step will be 30% - probably around mid-October, then 50% at some point (perhaps around Christmas?) and so on.

I was at the game on Saturday and it seemed to run very smoothly to me, yes the atmosphere was a little anaemic compared to the "real thing" but personally I'd far rather how it was than no crowds at football.

I don't forsee a massive problem in ramping up to 30-40% capacity, the only potential issue is transport to and from ground as far as I can see, but there are ways to mitigate and lower risk there too.

 

[LamieRobertson]

So what's the next step ? surely if Chelsea was a success they should be pushing on with another text event and increase the attendance. What is the point in waiting around ?

Steady as she goes I would have thought is the best policy

 

[Guinness Boy]

That is absolutely the plan - just not within a week.

They are hoping the next step will be 30% - probably around mid-October, then 50% at some point (perhaps around Christmas?) and so on.

I was at the game on Saturday and it seemed to run very smoothly to me, yes the atmosphere was a little anaemic compared to the "real thing" but personally I'd far rather how it was than no crowds at football.

I don't forsee a massive problem in ramping up to 30-40% capacity, the only potential issue is transport to and from ground as far as I can see, but there are ways to mitigate and lower risk there too.

Some good singing, considering. Well done NSK.

 

[halbpro]

I think actual "spread of virus" is only one of many, many factors they'd be looking at as to whether this event was a success or not.

You're right of course, but I think from the government's standpoint it's one of the key metrics (or you would certainly hope so). There's certainly plenty of others around practicality, behaviour, financial ramifications etc..., but my point was really that you can't get the full picture till any associated spread can be assessed. I imagine even the other metrics (from the club, the government and the league) are still being assessed anyway.