Lewis Cox in Austria: West Brom new man assessment and Mikey Johnston training camp latest

Express & Star

Jonny Drury catches up with Lewis Cox in Austria at West Brom's pre-season training camp.

Transcript

00:00baggies fans welcome to expressionstar.com my name is johnny dreary i'm over here in dreary

00:13england and i'm uh i'm dialed in with alvin correspondent lewis cockt who is in austria

00:18in dreary austria pre-season tour or pre-season trading camp uh lots to talk about we bring you

00:26a daily video and we're open to bring you a podcast um from across the across the airwaves uh lewis

00:34you've had a busy 24 hours traveled over to austria met albion's new signing met one of the january

00:39signings yeah seen one of the returning thought signings was going but is not has now returned

00:45and is in austria uh fill us in mate you've had a busy busy yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah i mean yesterday

00:53was was long i'm not complaining it was brilliant and it's great to be it but it was an early start

00:57as people will have uh read my tour diary on our website will know and uh yeah shout out to the

01:03bbc steve herman who of course is over here and handily gave me a uh a lift down to the baggy space

01:10an hour and a half or so south of vienna yesterday but it was straight into it you know we didn't even

01:14check into our it's fair to say johnny as i think anyone will work out we're not staying with the

01:19players where they are for numerous reasons really uh not least because because it's a bit of a plush

01:25place so we're uh somewhere more reasonable in the town but yeah we didn't even have time to check him

01:29and it was straight to the the sort of spa hotel where albin are based and straight into interviews

01:34tamar banni as you mentioned was the first player we interviewed the january sign and obviously didn't

01:39see much of him in the second half of last season it's the first time i had the opportunity to speak

01:42with him and he was a real pleasure i mean yes great english obviously he's danish um his english

01:49was perfect he told his story so well and he told us a lot of things i think we didn't know about him

01:54so i'm kind of in the process of writing you know i'll be writing a bit of a feature on tamar over

01:59the next day or two and it's really interesting stuff he's a a little sort of exclusive subtle hint to

02:05it he's sort of describes himself in his upbringing around football as a real street footballer you know

02:10one of these that it did the hard yards did it the unconventional way you know not in a a big academy

02:15in denmark he did it the proper way you know on the streets of his mates it's not quite sunday league

02:20but the rough and ready stuff so i i do think listening to him speak about that it might help

02:25him have a little edge you know to his game that will will finally sit at the hawthorns obviously when

02:30he when he gets fit and yeah then it was on to to owner owner hegeber um i think it's fair to say

02:36johnny we spent most of the time in the hotel yesterday with the team trying to work out how

02:41to pronounce his name and i don't know how well i've done there so uh don't hold me to that um

02:46more of an issue for the radio i guess you have to say his name out loud more than us in commentary but

02:50he made a big impression on me i have to say i think um i think having fans are going to enjoy him

02:55i do i think he's gonna he's gonna work hard and score goals and left-footed striker 23 years old

03:00because that's a profile i think baggies are going to enjoy very much yeah it was uh it was kind of

03:06fascinating to hear those first words and you know how he's basically said watch out championship

03:11defenders you're not going to get a minute kind of kind of pace uh lewis even prior to you arriving in

03:18austria you know a lot's been going on obviously that hegebo transfer was was on the cards uh as was

03:24michael johnson to flamengo which blew up on sunday and is not happening after a backlash from

03:29sports in brazil um believe he has arrived in austria now and you will be watching him train

03:35later today i believe well yeah he's so he's in the process of obviously a reported when was it

03:41lost track of thing um monday yeah monday um that that store broke down and obviously certain reasons

03:49behind it and that he would join up in austria as soon as possible so that's in the process of happening

03:53um you reference it there johnny we're having a great opportunity today while we went wednesday

03:59speaking today to watch ryan mason lead training today and twice as well both in morning and the

04:04afternoon so i'll have loads to bring certainly next time we do a video tomorrow um loads of

04:09updates from that i'll be obviously putting stuff out on the socials on the website pieces about you

04:14know what we've spotted in training who's playing well and stuff you know who's maybe more involved

04:19than others obviously people doing their own sort of fitness stuff aren't they like josh madger

04:23um who who isn't sort of full training with his colleagues but that'll give a great opportunity

04:28you mentioned mike johnson johnny very much one of the stories of the moment isn't he um yeah so

04:34look he'll be he'll be here with his teammates and not even read you he's not reintroducing

04:40himself back into the group is he he's you know he's part of albion squad you know he nearly moved

04:45out as we reported and he was on the verge of doing so but that's what more times for us do it broke down

04:50for unusual reasons obviously we all know um the scale of things over there in rio and how that

04:56sort of blew up really in terms of the fan response but look he's still an albion player and he's got a

05:02long contract at the Hawthorne's and look at the moment it'd be speculation and guesswork about

05:06mikey johnson's future really um because he was on the verge of leaving but say for argument's sake he

05:11doesn't i i he had a tough season last season didn't he a difficult season and one below par by his

05:17standards and if he doesn't leave the challenge is to to improve on it really and it you know

05:23there's a relative low bar for him reasons out of his control to a point tough start to season with

05:28fitness but um lucky we know he's a good player so but but we also know ryan mason and bill are

05:35working to improve the squad aren't we the two signers we know so far i think you know the loss of

05:40john swift the loss of grady d in ghana i've been looking to boost that area so look maybe mikey john

05:47and if he stays in the club isn't a guaranteed start maybe he plays well enough finds that loan

05:52form and he is but um it'll be interesting to see when we get a chance to see training over the coming

05:57days obviously we have the friendly on friday against dean of view um if he's involved you know

06:02how how much of a part he plays obviously at some point we're getting a chance to speak to ryan mason

06:06as well i'm pretty sure he'll be uh questioned about that so yeah lots to look forward to here johnny and

06:12um it's not raining at the moment which is good because as fans will have seen by the pictures and

06:17videos it was sodden yesterday it was a bit of frustration in the old media car as we left you

06:23know england's heatwave behind i got steps off a plane in vienna and it was just immediately cold

06:30like it always is in england you know you're like rediscovering what chill was like because it's not

06:34really had that bit of cold in england for a number of weeks so it was cold it was wet um and the players

06:41have had it in the rain haven't they so i've been when they've been training outside a lot of boxing

06:44going on hasn't that we've seen from the socials boxing is a particularly popular um session at the

06:50moment but look forward to kind of finding out more of what they're doing it's it's it's a cool

06:55facility i have to say there are a number of swimming pools obviously i've not really been

06:59privy to those and i had the chance to use those and i don't think i will but let's say it's a

07:03spa it is open to the public as well the spa but there are there aren't many around it really the

07:09kind of atrium area that we were in and it's a big atrium area you know seating area kind of bar

07:14area um all sorts going on bit of a balcony veranda type thing looking over to the the land

07:20i suppose and the hills that i took a picture of you could see the hammocks there's a little

07:25like table football table tennis table wasn't there say the hills in the background you could

07:30see the players balconies to our left their rooms i saw up to my left so on that phillips chilling

07:36on his on his balcony um albin's obviously first sign in the summer so there's a big complex and it's

07:42it looks empty to me relatively because it seems like it's just albion there there are one or two

07:46members of the public dotted around but uh and yeah and and it's in keeping with this town actually

07:51bad tax man's door um very eclectic town it's a it's an unusual town it's sort of one of many dotted

08:00in between these hills in a very rural area bergenland and um i didn't describe to me

08:06yesterday as it's an area for farmers you know so i think when you hear that you kind of get and

08:11you know it's pretty sparse and um and yeah put it put it like this steve herman of radio wm and i

08:18are hoping to find a shop today that the we've got our fingers crossed for a supermarket that's the

08:23level of smart i'm talking about because have some uh some things you definitely need to pick up put

08:28it like that um so yeah that's kind of where we're at um i'm about to get off and and head to the base

08:34for uh to watch some training

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