Express & Star

Comment: Entertainment and goals are the upside of West Brom going down

Albion have already scored 44 league goals, which is more than the total managed in each of their last five seasons.

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Albion have celebrated 44 league goals already this season. (AMA)

Not since the 2012/13 campaign, when the Baggies finished eighth in the Premier League under Steve Clarke, has the team scored this many in a season.

Even when they finished in the top half under Tony Pulis two seasons ago, they only found the net 43 times.

And the crazy thing is, we’re not even halfway through the Championship campaign yet, there are still 25 games to go.

At this rate, the Baggies will score 96 goals this season, the most they’ve registered since 1930.

It’s a stunning statistic that shows just how quickly Darren Moore has shifted the emphasis.

Yes, it’s in the division below, and yes, the opponents are weaker and the quality of football is lower.

But after the crisis of confidence the Baggies have gone through during the past few years in the top tier, this entertainment has been welcome tonic.

Why do people go to football matches? Primarily, it’s to be entertained and to experience moments of elation. Football should be, at its core, enjoyable.

This season supporters are singing The Lord’s My Shepherd more often, they’re boinging more often, they’re experiencing that moment of joy goals give you far more often.

Is there a difference between the seventh goal against QPR and the winner in a 1-0 victory over Manchester United? Does that one at Old Trafford feel sweeter?

Perhaps to some. But are supporters having more fun this season than those years chasing 40 points in the top tier? Arguably yes.

No team in the top four divisions has been involved in more goals than the Baggies, who have had a staggering 74 in their 21 games.

They have been English football’s great entertainers this season. It’s a far cry from what’s gone before.

There is also a new-found purpose, something to chase, instead of something to run from.

Albion are looking ahead at what might be possible, rather than behind at what might swallow them up. The psychology has shifted, refreshingly so.

It’s also delivering incredible value for money down The Hawthorns. Season ticket holders at each end are currently paying £3.50 per goal this season. It’s just £5.43 for an Albion goal.

Football clubs should always strive to be the best they can possibly be, but in the Premier League, the best you can possibly be without the backing of a Gulf state or a Russian oligarch is seventh, sixth at a push.

In the Championship, there is something to win. Of course, the desperate scramble for promotion will wear thin over time just as the race to 40 points did.

Newcastle fans enjoyed their sojourns to the Championship because they were precisely that – brief.

But when Albion were relegated, supporters hoped the silver lining to a disastrous season would be that at least they’d see their team win more games and score more goals. So far, they have done.