West Bromwich Albion clash appeals to Huddersfield Town skipper Clarke

Dec 5 2009 by Dougie Thomson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

“He’s gone to West Brom and carried on the excellent work at MK Dons, and while Tony Mowbray’s departure might have unsettled things there, Roberto has kept things on an even keel, and West Brom are looking good.

“Both sides like to play attacking football and score goals and they will bring a good following, so it has the makings of a great occasion.

“We will respect them, but we are on our home patch, and we’ll be going all out for a win.”

West Brom wasted no time in checking Town out, sending Stuart White to Tuesday’s 3-3 Galpharm draw with Tranmere Rovers.

White is the club’s head of UK recruitment, working alongside Di Matteo, his assistant Eddie Newton (the pair worked together at MK), coach Michael Appleton, the former Manchester United, Preston and West Brom player, and former Great Britain international athlete Ade Mafe, who is head of sports science.

The management team has certainly impressed midfielder Graham Dorrans, who said: “The new manager came in and quickly stamped his authority on the team.

“Everyone is happy and enjoying coming in to training every day, and that goes hand in hand with the success we’ve been having.

“We’ve been on a good run of form, but we need to be consistent, push ourselves on and keep winning games.”

There’s a multinational feel to an Albion squad which includes defenders Jonas Olsson (Swedish), Marek Cech (Slovakian) and Gianni Zuiverloon (Dutch), midfielders Youssuf Mulumbu (French), Filipe Teixeira (Portuguese) and Robert Koren (Slovenian) and striker Roman Bednar (Czech).

But six-goal top scorer Chris Brunt is a Northern Ireland international (previously with Sheffield Wednesday), while frontman Luke Moore, signed from Aston Villa, is a Brummie through and through.

Also on show at the Galpharm next month could be former Leeds and Liverpool goalkeeper Scott Carson and defender Joe Mattock, who played against Town while with Leicester City last season, ex-Portsmouth midfielder Jerome Thomas and striker Simon Cox, who scored Swindon Town’s goal in last season’s 2-1 defeat at the Galpharm.