West Brom fans ‘worst in Championship’ as ‘tinpot’ footage emerges v Portsmouth
West Brom beat Portsmouth 5-1 at on Saturday – but The Hawthorns looked half-empty at full-time despite Tony Mowbray making his return to the Black Country.
In his first match in charge at B71 since 2009, Mowbray secured Albion’s biggest win of the season to move his side up to fifth in the Championship table.
Grady Diangana scored twice while Alex Mowatt, Jed Wallace and John Swift were also on the scoresheet before Alex Palmer’s clean sheet was ruined late on by Portsmouth’s new signing Thomas Waddingham.
Despite it being such a momentous occasion at The Hawthorns, it seemed as though there was a fire drill well before full-time with hordes of fans attempting to beat the traffic or the queues for the metro.
Unfortunately, it’s not the first time it’s happened at The Hawthorns this season.
West Brom fans furious despite 5-1 win v Portsmouth
Albion fans have regularly bemoaned the flat atmosphere at the EFL’s highest stadium above sea level. In general, the team’s home form hasn’t been amazing this term and entertainment levels have been low. Before Saturday’s six-goal thriller, only 21 goals had been scored in league games in the Black Country and only 14 of them (lowest in the division) had been scored by the Baggies.
However, Mowbray’s return, a debut for new signing Isaac Price and five brilliant goals couldn’t stop an early exodus in B71.
A video clip by X user @BogsAlf shows Portsmouth fans cheering their team on despite being well out of the game, fans exiting the Smethwick End and hundreds – if not thousands – of empty seats in the Brummie Road and East Stand.
A lot of supporters took to social media to complain about it after the game, with one saying that it’s “completely tinpot” and another saying West Brom have the “worst support in this league”.
West Brom’s home games are regularly plagued by terrible traffic.
Due to the close proximity to the M5, the lane closure on Birmingham Road, the complete closure of Halfords Lane and the general busyness of the area, it’s always been a nightmare before and after games.
Unless the local authorities can improve public transport to the area, it’s likely that West Brom fans will continue to keep leaving early.
However, given the generally poor atmosphere at The Hawthorns in recent years, it’s likely that a lot of supporters might be leaving simply because they can’t be bothered to stay until the end and would rather see the full-time scores come in across the country in the pub.
In other West Brom news, Albion could have an “outrageously high” bid accepted for this striker.
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