https://theathletic.com/3403525/2022...shared_article
You may have to be a subscriber to read it. WBA obviously is his club but he comes across as a really good person. Comments are also interesting.
Hopefully we’ve got a gem
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https://theathletic.com/3403525/2022...shared_article
You may have to be a subscriber to read it. WBA obviously is his club but he comes across as a really good person. Comments are also interesting.
Hopefully we’ve got a gem
Can you copy the text in here? :hehe:
Used to be able to but last 2 occasions I’ve tried didn’t work. Sure a more patient and competent person can figure it outQuote:
Originally Posted by BlueArmy 86
Is The Athletic worth getting a subscription for?
It is almost two weeks into West Bromwich Albion’s pre-season and if his return had gone to plan, Romaine Sawyers would have been at the club’s Great Barr training ground preparing for a fresh start.
But after three seasons with his boyhood club, one of which he spent on loan at Stoke City, the 30-year-old has closed the book on the West Brom chapter in his career.
“I’m sad that the back end finished like that. I feel like my return to West Brom, overall, wasn’t great. In my heart of hearts, I thought I was going to retire there,” Sawyers tells The Athletic.
“When it was going well, I didn’t see beyond Slav (Slaven Bilic) and the style we were playing at the time. I thought the only thing that’d stop me from thriving was age. I wanted to be like Brunty (Chris Brunt) or Mozza (James Morrison), who spent over a decade there. I certainly didn’t see myself competing with West Brom for play-off places a couple of years later.”
Instead, Sawyers, who helped West Brom win promotion from the Championship in 2019-20, has joined Cardiff City after Albion opted not to trigger a one-year extension in his contract.
But while he admits he struggled to find his best form in the Premier League, the lasting legacy of Sawyers’ return to The Hawthorns will be associated with the racial abuse he suffered at the hands of two supporters, one of whom spent time in prison for the offence.
In his mind, this was not how it was supposed to unfold.
In a dimly lit bar in the centre of Birmingham, Sawyers inches his seat forward and vows to speak candidly on his time as a West Brom player. The trademark toothy grin is there. According to his wife, it took a while for that smile to return.
Before then, though, it had been almost a fairytale return for the local boy done good.
After leaving the club in 2013, spending three seasons with Walsall and then three with Brentford, Sawyers became aware of potential interest from Albion ahead of the 2018-19 campaign following their relegation from the Premier League.
“I’d always wanted to go back but West Brom were always steady Premier League. It was ‘OK, I have to prove I’m good enough with Brentford for them to want me’,” Sawyers says.
“The year they came down, it was perfect. I didn’t want them to come down but on a selfish level, it was perfect. Darren Moore, as the manager, was double perfect. We tried to do it that year but West Brom couldn’t justify Brentford’s asking price for a (former) academy product.”
Though Albion started that campaign quickly, injuries to key players and Harvey Barnes returning to parent club Leicester City in January meant they finished fourth. They met Aston Villa in the play-off semi-finals but lost on penalties. While many of his future team-mates were in despair, Sawyers was quietly hatching a plan to engineer a return to the club where he began his career.
“I’m watching the play-offs thinking, ‘I want the club to go up but at the same time, would I be heartbroken if it takes one extra year with me on the team? No’,” he laughs.
“They stayed down and I had a year left on my contract, making everything much easier, in my view. I went to Brentford and told them, ‘I’ve always been a West Brom fan and my daughter is growing up in the area. For me, going back was bigger than just football’. I felt there were too many other factors besides just playing football on the field for them to stand in my way.
“They responded with, ‘We’re a business. We understand West Brom pull on your heartstrings but we run the club as a business’. I did not understand it. I saw it as them trying to stop a childhood dream for me.
“I spent that summer waiting for something to happen. I’d done three years of service at Brentford and was going into my fourth pre-season. I loved it there. I had a great relationship with Dean (Smith) and then Thomas Frank after. I was in a good situation there but I always wanted to go back to play for West Brom’s first team. Eventually, the clubs agreed, and everyone was happy.”
Sawyers signed for West Brom when he was seven and was initially contracted until he was 21. His mother grew up just over a mile from The Hawthorns and his grandparents worked at the factory opposite the stadium. He came up through the academy with Saido Berahino, Kemar Roofe, Ryan “Rocky” Allsop and George Thorne.
Returning in July 2019 was a dream come true.
“I remember meeting Slav after my first game (a 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest), expecting a handshake and getting a big hug. I knew from that moment that he’d be my type of character,” says Sawyers.
“I’d played at The Hawthorns before in reserve matches but never with a crowd, but playing on the pitch as a West Brom player while competing for three points was a different feeling to anything else I had ever experienced.
“It took three or four months to feel like it was real. It was a pinch-myself moment every day. I’m not very emotional but I can’t even explain it without sounding like I’m exaggerating. It was an amazing, amazing feeling.”
Under Bilic in the 2019-20 season, quick, incisive attacking football eventually confirmed West Brom as the second tier’s sexiest outfit. They endured some challenging periods but with nine games remaining, they were six points ahead of Fulham in third and 10 ahead of Brentford in fourth.
Sawyers and his midfield partner Jake Livermore were consistently excellent and on pace to be in the Championship team of the year. Then came the outbreak of COVID-19 and an indefinite pause on football.
“Like everything else in the world, we got affected by COVID,” Sawyers says.
“Coming into training with groups of three and just running; we were exhausted. It had been a season and a half within one season.
“Mentally, I’m worrying whether my nan will be OK. I’m having to do her grocery shopping while dealing with the extra responsibility of home-schooling my daughter. It was mentally tiring.”
Brentford went on a seven-match winning run from the beginning of Project Restart until the season’s penultimate match, and trailed second-placed Albion by one point. Sawyers and his team-mates had failed to reach their pre-lockdown best, winning three of their seven games. Seemingly needing to win, Albion travelled to 19th-placed Huddersfield Town, with Brentford at home to Stoke City in 16th.
I wasn’t anxious until the Huddersfield match,” says Sawyers.
Arsenal loanee Emile Smith Rowe’s late goal condemned West Brom to a 2-1 defeat. Afterwards, Bilic said publicly and within the dressing room that his team had to prepare for the play-offs. Still, there proved to be another twist in the tale as Brentford handed Albion a lifeline that Sawyers could scarcely believe.
“After that game, I went home and turned my phone off. Nobody in the world could contact me. Not my mum, not my nan. My missus was in the house but I didn’t want to speak to anyone or check any results,” he says.
“Then my missus comes to me and says, ‘Brentford lost’. I can’t lie; part of me thought she was trolling. I looked at the result and wanted to flip my house upside down. I couldn’t believe it.
“We went into training the next day ahead of the season’s final match against Queens Park Rangers. We didn’t know how we were back in that position.”
Though West Brom could only manage a 2-2 home draw with QPR, Brentford slipped up again, losing 2-1 to Barnsley, who escaped the drop on the final day.
Sawyers achieved his dream of reaching the Premier League with West Brom but the club went into the top flight with their hands tied.
An upfront transfer budget of £20 million — though £46 million was made available in potential fees — meant Bilic could not strengthen a squad heavily reliant on loan players. Bilic and former technical director Luke Dowling disagreed on transfer strategy and players returned for pre-season without enough rest.
“People don’t realise that those technical players will perform better behind closed doors. They play for the best teams because they have that ability,” Sawyers says.
“The smaller teams rely on the crowd being the 12th man to even the scores in the Premier League. Our XI could not compete.”
The 2020-21 season was difficult to play in and difficult for fans to watch. Sawyers understands criticism is part and parcel of football, and is happy to take it on the chin if deserved, but in the wake of a 5-0 defeat to Manchester City on January 26, 2020, Simon Silwood, then aged 50, posted a racist message onto a Facebook group.
Silwood, from Kingswinford in the West Midlands, was found guilty in September 2021 of sending Sawyers a malicious communication using the phrase “Baboon d’Or”, and was later sentenced to eight weeks in prison. Following Silwood’s conviction, Albion banned him for life from The Hawthorns.
“I didn’t have to go onto the pitch with it but I trained daily with it,” says Sawyers. “It didn’t demotivate me but it definitely affected my subconscious. My missus used to say she felt it through me. It was not until I went to Stoke that she felt I was again back to my normal self.
“I’d love to have stayed and retired at West Brom but after that, I’m not sure I could have. How could a fan of my team racially abuse me? Cyrille Regis, Brendon Batson, Laurie Cunningham? He was a grown man and knew about those pioneers in our club’s history.
“There’s never any tolerance but look at the club’s history and the diversity in West Brom and Birmingham. We’re a multicultural club in a multicultural town. How can he walk down the road with those views?”
Silwood became the UK’s first football fan to serve prison time for racially abusing a player online. In November 2021, Jonathon Best, then 52 years old, was sentenced to 10 weeks in prison at Willesden Magistrates’ Court for a racist rant about Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka after the trio missed penalties in the final of Euro 2020.
In March of this year, Robert Whippe pleaded guilty to two counts of sending a grossly offensive message about Rio Ferdinand’s commentary during the European Championship final. Whippe was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months.
For Sawyers, setting a precedent that racial abuse from supporters to footballers can result in imprisonment is an essential part of his legacy in football.
“You can call me shit. You can say I’ve had a bad game. You can criticise me. I get it. But what has that got to do with my race? My race is my race,” says the Cardiff midfielder. “The situation was bigger than me and I had to highlight it — I felt I needed to protect the next generation.
“Now that I’ve done it, maybe young players like Grady Diangana or Kyle Edwards would come out and say it if they were abused. The next person may think differently because they may go to prison. Is it OK that they’ve had the thought anyway? Of course not but I’d prefer not to have to deal with that.”
With half of the 2020-21 season spent on the bench, Sawyers went into pre-season in the summer of 2021 eager to make an impression under new manager Valerien Ismael.
“I had the realisation that it didn’t go well in the Premier League but I know the Championship, and it’s a level where I’ve done it before,” he says. “It’s not like I’ve done it and finished 17th, but I’ve been a key player in a promotion-winning team.
“As much as the racism affected my connection with West Brom, it became about giving back to Mark Harrison (former academy manager), Dan Ashworth (former sporting director), Mark Naylor (goalkeeping coach) and the rest of the academy coaches who gave me the opportunity.
“So we’re in pre-season under Val and we’ve started playing games. I’m feeling good and playing well in training, but I’m getting two minutes here, four minutes there, six minutes here. In my head, I’m thinking, ‘Something’s not feeling right’.
“We played Birmingham City in the last pre-season match and won 4-0. It was amazing for everyone else but not for me. I’m going into a Championship season where I’ve targeted being in the team of the year and winning promotion with 14 minutes of pre-season under my belt.
“The fitness coach told us to do running after the game and this isn’t my character, but I told them I didn’t want to do it. I said, ‘Pre-season is finished now and I have barely played. The manager obviously doesn’t see me in his plans and I’m not going to get match-fit from running’.
“That happened and I was training on my own for a week. I think Val thought it’d break me but I was in work mode. It was a consequence of my actions but I had to set a precedent that 14 minutes was unacceptable.
I spoke to the gaffer again and we shook hands. I then started training with the main group again but soon realised I was not part of the playing group in the drills. Up to this point, he had not said anything to suggest I was not in his plans.
“I went to speak to him and said, ‘Gaffer, will form get me in the team or will it be injuries and suspensions? If it’s injuries or suspensions, I need to go out on loan or permanently. At this stage in my career, I don’t think I should be questioned in the Championship’.
“He said, ‘We’re out of possession first, out of possession second, in possession third. In possession is your strength, out of possession is your weakness’. OK. Accepted. I disagree and I don’t get it, but that was his reason. We had the meeting and he said I could go, and then it was over to my agent.”
Sawyers moved to Stoke on loan, where he featured heavily until a long-term injury in early December kept him out of action until March. While recovering, Ismael was sacked and replaced by Steve Bruce. Out of contract at the end of the season but with an option to extend in the club’s favour, Sawyers was keen to get back to form quickly and impress the new Albion boss.
“I’ve never crossed paths with Bruce but he did an interview where a reporter asked him about me, and it seemed like he was in admiration of my ability,” says the midfielder. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to return at that time. Still, my job’s my job, and I’m going to have to perform, and if the West Brom situation didn’t work out, I needed Stoke to want me.
“It went on until the end of the season and they (West Brom) decided they didn’t want to take the option. It was strange because of what he said publicly but I’ve done the yards to know I’ll be OK.”
Sawyers has found a new home in Cardiff, where he has signed a two-year deal. His aspiration is to get the club fighting for promotion while the dream of playing consistent Premier League football is still achievable. Though playing in the top flight comes with great personal pride, Sawyers savours the added satisfaction of flying the St Kitts and Nevis flag.
“Like with the racism case, representing my mum in playing for St Kitts is part of my legacy,” Sawyers smiles. “There are only 50,000 in the country but it gives them hope.
“My mum is there at the moment. Sometimes she’ll be walking down the road and people will shout ‘Sawyers’ mum!’. That feeling is something else. My career is my mum. What she’s done for me; she’s a Premier League mum. All I’ve done in my career reflects her and how she’s brought me up.”
Blimey. Contender for longest post of the year I think.Quote:
Originally Posted by rudy gestede
Well done for quoting the whole article :hehe:
A little tip for you (well it works for me).Quote:
Originally Posted by StraightOuttaCanton
Use Chrome and install Reader Mode extention - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/d...dlmlhblm?hl=en
Then when you click on an Athletic article and you hit the paywall just click the Reader Mode icon and the full article is displayed.
If you enjoy much more detailed journalism on sport then it’s very good. Sure you can get feee trials, but I’ve had it for 3 years now. I find something good to read every day. It’s a mix of largely Football for Europe and all the US sports. Their NFL coverage is oustandingQuote:
Originally Posted by Carl Dale's Mole
Thanks. That’s interesting. Assuming it works for all paywalls (The Times, Wall Street Journal etc). I’m ok subscribing to The Athletic… Happy to pay for something I use every dayQuote:
Originally Posted by Michael Morris
Thanks for posting. Enjoyed reading that. Comes across as a top fella. Looking forward to seeing him in a City shirt.Quote:
Originally Posted by rudy gestede
Vote Romaine:thumbup:
Thanks for posting the article!
Does he know we have some racist fans too though?!
Thanks for posting that link and thanks to Rudy for putting the article on here. A very good read - I reckon City have been “out of possession first, out of possession second, in possession third” for the last few years and the fact we’ve signed the player that remark was addressed to is a big indication that there is going to be an attempt to change that this season.
I thought exactly the same. Also his preferred position is 8. Be interesting to see how we operate if him and Ralls both start.Quote:
Originally Posted by the other bob wilson
holy shit Mike, absolute gamechanger! I subscribe to the Athletic and will continue to do so but this is great for when I want to read a one off on some other websites, thanks!Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Morris
Just watched his interview on CCTV.
He comes across as a real classy guy.
Good luck Romaine!
It was a lovely interview, that .Quote:
Originally Posted by Wash DC Blue
Cheers Mike. Works a treat on a PC but can't see the Reader Mode icon on my phones version of Chrome.Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Morris
:thumbup:Quote:
Originally Posted by TWGL1