Still time to avoid unwanted West Brom record
Darren Moore admitted after the Swansea draw that he hadn’t even looked at how many points Albion would need to stay up.
Understandable, because the Baggies are doomed, and relegation is set to be confirmed over the next two weekends.
Nobody expected Moore to keep the club up, and demanding he did would be unfair.
He only had a few days to prepare his players for the Swansea game, so his focus was rightly on that match and little else.
But there are a few targets that he, and the rest of the squad, should be striving for in these last five games.
Because at the moment, this is destined to go down as Albion’s worst ever season of league football.
The club’s lowest ever points tally in the Premier League is 26, amassed under Gary Megson in Albion’s first season in the promised land back in 2002/03.
This year’s vintage are currently on 21 points, and need two wins from their remaining fixtures to avoid breaking that particular record.
But first on the agenda will be overcoming the 24 points amassed in the disastrous 1985/86 campaign under Johnny Giles, Nobby Stiles, and Ron Saunders.
That was Albion’s worst ever season of league football to date, but even that team managed to win four games that season, albeit from 42 games rather than 38.
The Baggies have finished with lower points than 24 on a couple of occasions in the 1890s, when it was two points for a win and just 12 teams in the league, but they won more games in those early years.
In fact, since the Football League was founded in 1888, no Baggies team has ever won fewer than four league games in a season and 24 points is currently lowest post-war total.
As it stands, this season’s crop are in danger of breaking both those records.
Relegation may be inevitable, but there is still plenty to play for.
