Inside the new player signing sessions

In a somewhat controversial decision The Albion have announced they won’t now allow players and staff to sign autographs outside the Amex or the training ground, citing safety concerns, and because some people were requesting autographs solely to boost auction prices on EBay. Presumably mostly for Mitoma monikered merch.

I can’t really pass an opinion on what they were trying to stop happening, as I haven’t witnessed it first-hand. Was this initiative sparked by a single event where a fan got too overly zealous?

Instead, they will select a small group of young Albion fans (who need to be season ticket holders or Albion+ members) who will get the opportunity to grab some autographs with the players before each home game, in a more controlled intimate setting.

My son’s name was drawn out of the hat for the West Ham game.

To be honest, I’m not really one for the cult of the player, and seeing the attempts by Saudi Arabia to secure the biggest names in the game to build a ‘competition’ from almost nothing is something that makes my stomach churn. All morals and human rights concerns are hidden under a huge pile of cash.

For me, you can’t create a league out of players, it is created out of teams. Rotherham over Ronaldo, Newport over Neymar.

But I do remember as a kid thinking just how great Peter Ward was. To the extent, as an 8-year-old, I managed to convince my mum to embroider me an ‘8’ (Ward’s number) and sew it on the back of my British Caledonian shirt.

But times change, and the opportunity to hang out and meet the players before the West Ham game - and maybe get some autographs - was an opportunity that I knew my son would love, and one that was too good to pass up.

So how did it go?

Firstly, hats off to the club. My other son (not an Albion+ member and so not drawn out of the hat) got to attend the session as well, when we asked.

We all arrived at the pre-arranged time, more than two and a half hours before kick-off, and were ushered into the base of the East Stand. And then as the players came down from their lunch and crossed the pitch, each of them stopped and signed the two items we were permitted to bring along (per child).

All of the players were great, and we even met the main man himself, RDZ. I spoke to all of them and kicked myself for not congratulating Joel Veltman for his handling of Z*** last season.

Having not had the pleasure of meeting any Albion players since a brief encounter with a group of them in Rutherford’s on Worthing Pier in the 90s I guess I felt a little star struck.

Mitoma signed my Dogma print (which is not going on Ebay, Samurai Blue fans).

And my son’s shirt is now covered in autographs. ‘We’ll get it framed for you’ I told him, followed by him pointed out that he wouldn’t then be able to play football in it. ‘Time to go to the shop and get you a new one.’ Everybody’s a winner.

In short, it was good. An intimate thing we’ll never forget.

However a handful of kids per home game will not offer a great deal of access to the players, considering the size of the supporter base, and the number of people who would like the opportunity.

So hopefully in addition to these new pre-match sessions, a few more signing events or ‘meeting the players’ experiences will take place, so that a bond can be made. After all, it’s not just about us knowing them, it’s about them also knowing us.

Just don’t rely on me to tell Joel Veltman something important if I ever meet him again.

Mess