Martin Perry shows Andrea Orlandi and Jake Forster-Caskey the training ground plans
LAST WEEK*Martin Perry took Andrea Orlandi, Jake Forster-Caskey and BT Sport on a tour of the club's new training ground and academy.*The video tour is well worth a watch*and it's safe to say the two Albion midfielders were blown away by the new £31m facility which opens this summer.*
ALBION'S UNSUNG HEROES club secretary Derek Allan, assistant secretary Rachel Ely and player liaison manager Steve Gibbon had their work cutout after Monday night's cup draw. After it became clear Albion had little choice in the scheduling of the FA Cup replay, the trio got to work securing Albion's players and staff a special charter flight to Hull and back. A 50-seater plane will fly the team to Humberside from Gatwick and then whisk the team back south after the match.
WITH A COUPLE of spare seats aboard the private plane, chief executive Paul Barber asked ticket staff to select an Albion fan at random to join the squad, along with a guest, on the trip. They will be aboard the flight and stay overnight at the team hotel, watch the match at the KC Stadium, before joining the team on the flight home.
INJURED PAIR WILL*Hoskins and Craig Mackail-Smith are nearing a return to action. Hoskins is expected to play for around 30 minutes in Monday afternoon's under-21 fixture at Lancing - which we hope to stream live on seagulls.co.uk. Meanwhile CMS, who featured on Sky Sports FL72 show this week, is targeting a return to action with the development squad in the next fortnight and hopes to return for the first-team fold in three to four weeks' time.*
Hoskins is close to a return to action
BT SPORT MADE their first visit to the Amex this week, with Adam Virgo, Jimmy Bullard and David James their expert panel. It was fun seeing Virgs interviewing Paul Barber pre match. Off camera former England keeper James - who knows Albion's chief executive from their time together with the national team - wasted no time telling Paul he was starting to look old. Must be those FFP targets turning the hair grey!
THE ARGUS JOINED us at the Amex on Friday for a live Q&A with Paul, and FFP was just one of the topics on the agenda. There were plenty of good questions on finances, new kit, shirt numbers, catering, travel and other topics. The 45-minute web chat is available on demand via the club's YouTube channel and the Argus website.
ALBION'S MEDIA TEAM were invited to Google and YouTube's UK London headquarters this week - alongside some of the other key sporting organisations and sporting institutions in the UK including the FA, ECB, RFU and host of top clubs. The aim of the Sports Lab was to network, knowledge share and encourage collaborations between various channels. To subscribe to Albion's YouTube channel click here.
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