It is the 2023-24 Season Review where I would be reviewing the Baggies overall season month by month and my opinion on what was my best game, player of the season, most improved player of the season, goal of the season and best away day of the season. This is where I cover a lot of things throughout the 2023-24 season.
2023-24 Season in General
It all started in August at Blackburn where we were 2-0 down in the first 20 minutes but finished 2-1 knowing this could be a long season. After the opening game we had home wins over Swansea City and Middlesbrough and a point away at Leeds to end August with 7 points in our first 4 games.
September 2023 was a slow start where we lost to Huddersfield at The Hawthorns late on in added time that finished 2-1 to Huddersfield, then after the international break we picked up 2 draws on the road at Bristol City and Watford we also drew 0-0 against Millwall before our 4-0 triumph away at Preston in late September.
October we started off with a decent result to Sheffield Wednesday on a Tuesday night where we won 1-0, then it went all bad for us when losing 3-1 at Birmingham City on a Friday night who actually sacked their manager after the game and replaced him with Wayne Rooney before going on getting relegated on the final day. After the International break we got a 0-0 home draw to Plymouth before securing two consecutive 2-0 wins against QPR and Coventry in late October that took us to 5th after our first 14 games.
November came along with a home game against Hull City where we were on top and won 3-1 to start the month on a high, a week later we lost to Southampton away to 2-1 but came back to winning ways in games against high-flying Ipswich 2-0 on a Saturday evening and a Jeremy Sarimento strike to finish Cardiff City off with a 1-0 win to end November with us reaching 3rd.
The last month of the year December started off not quite well after losing to Leicester in added time by a Harry Winks late goal followed by another 2-1 loss to Sunderland a week later. We then got a 2-0 win over Rotherham followed by a 1-1 draw to Stoke City and in the Christmas period the Baggies fell to a 1-0 defeat away to Middlesbrough followed by back to back 1-0 home wins to Norwich on Boxing Day and Leeds a few days later to end 2023 sitting in 5th place.
2024 started with an away trip to Swansea on New Years Day with another away defeat where Liam Cullen scored the only goal for the Swans. The Baggies then beat Aldershot 4-1 in the 3rd Round of The FA Cup before another 4-1 home win to Blackburn with a Thomas-Asante hat-trick, our away form still continued to be poor with a 2-0 loss at Norwich. A week later was the 4th Round of The FA Cup as we welcomed our rivals Wolves to The Hawthorns and was knocked out by them with a 2-0 defeat.
February started brightly a week after the FA Cup game to Wolves we faced another local rival Birmingham City with a 1-0 win with Weimann scoring the only goal in the 85th minute. Ipswich away was a game where we should of gone home with all 3 points that was prevented by a late Ipswich goal in the 93rd minute and a game where Daryl Dike got injured again. 3 days later the Baggies went on to beat Cardiff 2-0 on a Tuesday night with Mikey Johnston scoring in the first 20 seconds and Weimann adding another goal to his loan spell. The Baggies did not replicate this after losing 2-0 to Southampton at home a few nights later but came back to winning ways with a 3-0 away win over Plymouth and a 1-1 draw to Hull City to end February with decent results and picking up 11 points in 6 games in this month.
March was our unbeaten month with the first where we welcomed Coventry City on a Friday night live on Sky Sports where we beat them 2-1 with goals from Mikey Johnston in the first 5 minutes and Grady Diangana before half time and Coventry scored the only goal from the penalty spot. The following week the Baggies went on to draw 2-2 at QPR before our famous away win over Huddersfield by coming back from being 1-0 down in the second half and winning the game 4-1 at full time. Then we came back to The Hawthorns with a 2-0 win against Bristol City with goals from Tom Fellows and Jed Wallace. An International break came before we went to Millwall on Good Friday and came away with a 1-1 draw with John Swift scoring from the spot then ended March unbeaten.
Started April on April Fools Day and it was Easter Monday at home to Watford, it looked over and out with 20 minutes to go with us being 2-0 down and somehow coming back to earn a 2-2 draw with a late Darnell Furlong goal. A few days later away to Stoke the opposite happened with us being 2-0 up with 20 minutes to go Stoke then went on to score twice in 10 minutes to deny us an away day win at Stoke. The Baggies then welcomed Rotherham at home who took 200 fans on a Wednesday night and claimed a 2-0 victory that relegated Rotherham to League One that evening and after the game we faced Sunderland at home 3 days later and lost 1-0. Then the Baggies had away days to Leicester where we should of got something out of the game and lost 2-1 before an awful day out at Sheffield Wednesday to lose 3-0 to keep the play-off race to the final day.
May was the final month of the season with 1 game left of the regular league season knowing a win or a draw against Preston will get us qualified for the play-offs and the Baggies did go on and win the game 3-0 with goals from Alex Mowatt from the penalty spot, Kyle Bartley and Darnell Furlong to ensure we finish the season in 5th place. Next up was the Championship play offs starting at home to Southampton in the first leg where both sides created some opportunities but nothing delivered from both sides taking the scoreline at 0-0 to the South Coast onto the following Friday night. Away in the second leg ended in heartbreak where we lost 3-1 to Southampton that ensured the Baggies will play their 4th successive season in the Championship.
That is what happened throughout the last 9 months on the pitch and now it is time where I go through what the best game was, worst game, player of the season, improved player of the season, goal of the season, signing of the season and my best away day of the season was.
Best Game of Season- Preston 0-4 West Brom
The best game of the season for me is going to be Preston away in late September when we went on to win 4-0. Preston started the season well and was unbeaten in the Championship coming into this game but they was no longer unbeaten after the Baggies destroyed Preston in the Deepdale with goals from Darnell Furlong, Alex Mowatt, Matt Phillips and Kyle Bartley.
The journey back on the coaches was funny when our fans came onto the coach singing “4-0 and we still can’t drink” on the way back home and the stewards tried to stop the fans but the fans even sang Yellow steward give us a wave and he did but the fans continued chanting Yellow steward his one of us where this was definitely one the highlights of the season.
Worst Game of Season- Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 West Brom
Worst game was going to be either the Huddersfield home game where we lost 2-1 or Norwich away back in January. The last away game of the season I was trying to get tickets for where I got them the day before went on to become a total nightmare for me as we played a team from the bottom end of the table and completely done us over to win the game 3-0.
However the Sheffield Wednesday win did make sure Birmingham got relegated even if we won that game Birmingham would still be in the Championship but for me this has to go down as the worst game of the season to lose 3-0 to a team that could of been in League One for next season.
Player of the Season- Cedric Kipre
Baggies Talk’s Player of the season is going to be Cedric Kipre, the central defender who came back from a loan spell at Cardiff the season before did prove me and a lot of fans wrong during this season and has enjoyed a great campaign and produced outstanding displays at the heart of the Baggies defence. He even has a chant that has been going on since Leicester Away with “Cedric Kipre Ole Ole”.
Improved Player of the Season- Alex Mowatt
Baggies Talk Improved Player of the season it was going to be Cedric Kipre again but this time I am going to go for Alex Mowatt as he came back from loan from Middlesbrough I would say he is one of our best players this season with his excellent passing accuracy and creating a number of chances for our attacking players.
Young Player of the Season- Tom Fellows
Tom Fellows is Baggies Talk’s Young Player of the season having enjoyed a impressive first full season at West Brom having spent time on loan at Crawley last season.
Tom Fellows featured in 35 games this season scoring five goals with four in the Championship and one in the FA Cup against Aldershot.
The academy graduate provided three assists in the Championship with all five goals coming in the second half of the season.
Goal of the Season- Okay Yokuslu
Goal of the season has to be Okay Yokuslu’s 25 yard goal at Huddersfield that made it 3-1 to the Baggies after being down 1-0 at half time.
Signing of the Season- Mikey Johnston
Signing of the season is going to be Mikey Johnston after joining us on loan from Celtic in late January he went on to get 7 goals in his 18 league appearances. His best displays was when he scored in the first 20 seconds against Cardiff and then went on to score in games against Plymouth, Coventry, QPR, Huddersfield and Stoke City. For me, I think we should go and try and sign him permanently again for next season.
Best Home Game- West Brom 4-1 Blackburn Rovers
The Best Home Game was going to be West Brom 4-1 Blackburn Rovers in January, there was many other games I could of choose but this was the best game and the best display we played over the season. We was up 3-0 in 30 minutes with goals from Tom Fellows starting us off and a hat-trick from Brandon Thomas-Asante. Throughout the game we played very well and earnt a excellent 3 points in what was one of the best games at The Hawthorns this season.