West Brom to start 22/23 season away from home due to Commonwealth Games
West Brom will begin their 2022/23 Championship campaign away from home due to Birmingham hosting the Commonwealth Games, according to the Express and Star.
The new season is due to start on the weekend of 30 July which is coincidentally also the weekend which will see the 2022 Commonwealth Games start in England’s second city.
The EFL have already agreed to schedule Steve Bruce’s Baggies to begin their 46-game onslaught on the road to try and avoid any potential problems and clashes with the Games.
It could be a particular problem for Albion with the aquatic sports taking place at the new Sandwell Aquatics Centre which is just one mile away from The Hawthorns.
They could even be forced to play their second game away from home as well as the Games continue onto the next weekend when West Brom would otherwise be at home.
Fire up the coach
Whoever drives the West Brom team bus for away games might have a very busy start to the 2022-23 season should this come to fruition.
We already know that we’ll have to travel for our first game of what we hope to be a promotion-winning campaign but there is a possibility that we have to do so for maybe three matches back-to-back.
The EFL like to have a consistent home then away schedule for the first few games of the season and if we can’t host a match for either of the beginning two weekends then we could throw their plans into disrepute.
Thankfully, it would just be a simple case of drawing the games as normal but then changing our home game for the subsequent away one against the same opposition.
The only issue then would be if the team we are due to play also can’t host a game that weekend which is where the big-wigs of the EFL will really earn their paycheque.
In other West Brom news, Nigel Quashie has been waxing lyrical about the latest arrival at The Hawthorns as Bruce managed to address a key problem area in his squad.
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