WOLVES (AWAY)
Ordinarily trips to Wolverhampton feature a spot of shopping in M&S Euston Station, and a dash for the train once the platform number has been announced. But not this weekend.
Instead, thanks to some ill-timed engineering works, we get to ride The Chiltern Line, part commercial train operator and part heritage railway experience.
From Marylebone, the quaintest of London’s mainline stations, to Moor Street, Birmingham’s backwater terminus, with the post-industrial greyness of Milton Keynes and Coventry replaced by the rolling green hills and parochialism of High Wycombe, Princes Risborough, Bicester and Banbury. And then onto Wolverhampton via another small-train local service. But not before spending some time in the pubs of Birmingham.
The away fan options in Wolverhampton constitute an abusive doorman refusing you entry (to anywhere) or the opportunity to drink in one of the shittest hotel bars in the country. That’s not just hotel bars serving football fans, I’m talking hotel bars of any type, in any location: the Premier Inn, Wolverhampton City Centre Hotel, Wolverhampton.
Unless of course your idea of a nice place to drink is a brightly lit cafeteria-lounge, warm pints of Budweiser served by disinterested teenagers in poorly fitting waistcoats, and a £5 entry charge. Think I’ll stick to Birmingham.
I plan to drink in a pub that features a website from the 1990s and the musky aroma of the 1890s. There’s not a food item in sight, let alone the word ‘craft’. It’s glorious. I would share the name of this fine venue but that would ruin some of the musty old-times magic.
Alternatively there’s The Railway, by New Street, which is great for people who enjoy the bar prices and underfoot softness of a Wetherspoons (and who doesn’t love a carpet in a pub), but object to giving their money to piss-stained Brexit harlequin Tim Martin.
One of the many things I love about football, especially so on away trips, is the chance to connect, tangibly, with our heritage and folklore.
The game might be glossier than ever but fundamentally it remains unchanged, decade over decade. To know that we are walking with history, taking the same steps with the same hopes in our hearts as Albion fans have done on many occasions before, when Saturdays come, well, it never fails to fill me with pride and happiness as I begin my journey on a matchday morning.
Quixotic railway terminals, dank pubs, hulking cantilever stands and wrought-iron floodlight pylons, an expectant away end, eleven football players in blue and white stripes. Following the Albion. Just as it ever was, and ever will be.
And Molineux has been a fabulous hunting ground for us down the years (let’s ignore last season’s result as it was played behind closed doors).
Growing up I was told that trips to Wolves don’t usually end in defeats, and recent results have only added weight to the folktale. The promotion season victory - simply box office - gritty draws under both Hughton and Potter that inched us closer to survival. Even Sami Hyypiä managed to avoid defeat at Molineux.
The recent away victories at Arsenal and Spurs were absolutely superb, with both games featuring peak level Bissouma performances at the base of the midfield.
Following up these highpoints by pissing away a two-goal lead at home to Southampton (more specifically, gifting a freekick opportunity to James Ward-Prowse deep into first half injury time) could be considered peak-Brighton. But then so too would a victory on the road six days later.
I love following this Albion team, Graham Potter’s Albion team, away from home in the Premier League. His managerial USP coming to glorious fruition: we can take on anybody, anyplace, anytime. I love the attitude and the belief, but above all I love the results (the home form can test the faith, mind).
And I see no reason why this pattern cannot continue, especially now that Bissouma is back in the fold, on Saturday. Wolves are a somewhat cynical outfit who ordinarily like to play deep and counter. But then so were Spurs.
I’m also enjoying Potter’s new dark blue suit, debuted on the touchline last Sunday, which I hope to see again this weekend. Sometimes you don’t need to tinker, just go with it and stick with it, Graham.
Sanchez, Bissouma, Mwepu, Caicedo, Dunk, Webster and Veltman, Cucurella, Lamptey, Trossard and Mac Allister.
Its been a strange season. Immense away, woeful at home, but I believe we now need just a single point to better last season’s record topflight haul. That point is highly unlikely to come from the remaining two home games (let’s just face up to that, it should make both occasions a little easier to deal with).
But wouldn’t it just be peak-Brighton - not just from season 2021/2022, but throughout our history, a sort of plateau-Brighton, a reliably attainable highpoint that we can access no matter the circumstance or timeframe - to add further depth and colour to our folklore by claiming those points from a trip to Molineux.
