Championship column March 14 2008
So this is it. The start of the endgame, the beginning of affairs at the business end. And rarely has the Championship been this close.
The table is squeezed so sardine-tight it's no exaggeration to say that a sprint finish could yet propel several clubs from the bottom-half into the play off equation.
As for the automatic promotion places, the list of contenders to the two golden tickets is longer than Colleen's Xmas list.
The division is so well matched because it has never been this mediocre, say the critics.
No outstanding team has emerged to set a runaway standard for the division.
And at WEST BROMWICH ALBION they are asking themselves just why.
At the turn of the year, Tony Mowbray's team topped the table and appeared set fair for the Premier League. The Baggies were scoring goals, and winning games with a swagger that suggested they would be too good for the rest come the Spring.
They possessed an experienced core of players with Premier League experience, allied to a hungry young cast of new additions. And spearheading it all was Kevin 'Peter Pan' Phillips, rolling back the years and sauntering to the top of the goal charts as West Brom outscored every club in the country.
This swaggering confidence was harnessed to their manager's passionate belief in the beautiful game.
West Brom, he believed, would be the rose to the Championship thorns, the exception to the winning ugly rule. West Brom were the champions in waiting
Two months on and, once more, a place in the play-offs might be as good as it gets.
For the second season running Mowbray's artists have been dragged back into the pack of artisans, and if they fail to win promotion this time around, West Brom supporters will have every right to seek an explanation.
Life's about learning from mistakes and 12 months on, Mowbray and his squad appear to be making a groundhog day hash of things.
In February 2007, West Brom topped the Championship, only to win twice in the next nine league games, collecting 9 points from 27.
Sunderland and Birmingham seized the chance to break clear and Mowbray's side were doomed to go the distance, falling , heartbreakingly, at the Play-off final hurdle,
Reflecting on last season the manager has referred to the 'distraction' of a run to the FA cup fifth round.
And now they're on their way to Wembley for the semi-final!
It's great news for the romantics, for West Brom's brilliant support but most of all for the other clubs chasing promotion.
Top of the table in January, they had dropped to fourth by last weekend.
They have games in hand but how much will the FA Cup experience, the preparation and the expectation take out of Mowbray's squad over the next couple of months?
It's only human to dare to dream of the final in May, of a place in Europe.
Every West Brom fan will want a ticket for Wembley. Every player will want to be involved on the big day. Suddenly promotion isn't the all-consuming priority.
Chairman Jeremy Peace has stabilised the finances to such an extent that West Brom are one of the few clubs in the English game not burdened by debt.
To pay next season's wage bill they don't need to go up, but Peace expects them to.
In the Championship, Mowbray's team need to rediscover the fluency in their attacking play and, most importantly, demonstrate the nerve that all winners need to close the deal, to win when the pressure rises.
Maybe this is where the semi-final, with all its adrenalin sapping trimmings can work in West Brom's favour as they seek to find the bottle to close the promotion deal.
The best teams are underpinned with an ability to do battle. The foundation for Arsenal's historic win at the San Siro was the workaholic harrying of their midfield. Mathieu Flamini 'out-Gattusoed' Milan's enforcer, Fabregas and Hleb followed suit and the Gunners' beautiful game was able to do the rest.
Ultimately Mowbray knows it's not the style of your team but the substance of your record that adds up to real achievement.
He says winning the next 11 league games, and NOT the next couple in the FA cup, are his priority, that a promotion season would be the greater achievement.
Convincing his players and much of the West Brom support to feel the same way may be Mowbray's biggest challenge between now and the end of the season.
Gabriel Clarke