New look Baggies kick off against the Millers

Rotherham United v West Bromwich Albion; New York Stadium, Saturday 8th August 2026, 5.30pm

For the first time in fifty years, Albion’s first competitive fixture of the season is not in the league. On 7th August 1976, Johnny Giles’ team, who had just won promotion back to the top flight, kicked off the new campaign with a match against Bristol City at Ashton Gate in the Preliminary Round of the Anglo-Scottish Cup, a game that ended in a 1-0 defeat. There were two further games against the two clubs from Nottingham in the same competition before the league campaign started a fortnight later.

The EFL’s decision to kick off the season with the League Cup is an interesting one. The first round has, in recent years, been played in a midweek in the first week or two of the league season and, more often than not, featured second string teams and low attendances. By making it the season opener on a weekend (mostly), it will inevitably be better attended, and the odds are that managers will play a stronger team not wanting their key players to go two weeks without a match from the last friendly to the first league game. Furthermore, no one wants to start a campaign with defeat to lower league opposition – just ask Bristol City fans after they were beaten by Walsall on Thursday evening.

I would expect Baggies boss, James Morrison, to field a fairly strong side in South Yorkshire, perhaps not too far from the one he will aim to pick for the league season opener at Carrow Road next weekend. That will inevitably include a few players who will make their competitive debuts for Albion with seven new faces having been recruited so far this summer.

One new player who has definitely caught the eye in pre-season is forward Jimmy-Jay Morgan who joined from Chelsea and has scored five goals in friendlies linking up well with Aune Heggebø. The Norwegian himself has netted three times and looks in good form. Barney Stewart, a new signing from Falkirk, is another striker who has netted a couple of times in pre-season and could get a run out at Rotherham while we could also see Nolan Galves, a highly-rated French full back who made the move last week from French Ligue 2 side Rodez.

New goalkeeper, Matt Ingram, may well get a run out with Max O’Leary likely to be the number one for the league matches and there may also be minutes for the returning Conor Townsend who stepped up his preparation playing the second half of the 1-1 draw with Coventry City on Tuesday evening.

One new face that Albion fans will be eager to see is the latest new signing, Felix Horn Myhre. A former teammate of Heggebø at Brann, the midfielder has been described as one of the Bergen club’s best ever players and had been courted by clubs in top flight leagues in Europe. At 27, he is very much in his prime and Morrison will hope he can make an immediate impact in the Championship. Having been training since Tuesday, he may well be involved at the New York Stadium.

Academy product, Harry Whitwell, has done his chances of regular involvement with the first team no harm at all in pre-season, putting in excellent performances at both Shrewsbury and Peterborough having been praised by Forest Green boss, Robbie Savage, when on loan last season. I’d be surprised if he wasn’t involved on Saturday albeit he may still head out on loan again before the window closes depending on any further new signings. Matty Crowther and Alex Williams are other youngsters to have impressed in pre-season and could be in the matchday squad.

It may be a surprise to some that the Millers find themselves in the fourth tier this season having suffered back-to-back relegations. They last played in League Two in 2012/13 and have spent most of the intervening years yo-yoing between the second and third tiers. Alex Bruce, son for former Albion boss Steve, has taken the reins at the New York Stadium this summer and he’s been busy in the transfer window with veteran strikers Tom Bradshaw and Sean Mullin two names that may be familiar to Baggies fans from their times at Oxford and Wrexham respectively. Those additions go some way to make up for the loss of their record signing, Sam Nombe, who returned to his first club, Milton Keynes Dons, in late July.

Providing Mozza picks a relatively strong team, Albion should be able to comfortably progress to the next round. Pre-season results are rarely a good predictor of how a club will start the season, but having watched the games at Shrewsbury and Peterborough, I certainly feel that the team look well coached, have a clear idea of what they are trying to do and it appears that a good understanding is developing between the attacking players. Posh, in particular, posed a stern test pressing the Albion defence well and, I thought, they coped well on the whole with Phillips and Campbell looking like a solid partnership.

There are good signs and, hopefully, we will see more of them in South Yorkshire on Saturday evening. Having done an excellent job to keep Albion up at the end of last season, Morrison now has the chance to prove himself with a full pre-season with the squad. Personally, I think the retention of Matt Gill as his assistant could be the biggest signing of the summer as he was, reportedly, hugely influential in the final few weeks of the campaign.

All Albion fans will be keen to see Mozza do well – he is already a playing legend with the club and we would all love him to bring us success as a head coach. Early indications are promising – let’s hope he and the players can deliver over the long term.

History

Saturday evening will be the eighteenth competitive meeting between the sides with Albion having come out on top in eleven of the previous seventeen. Just two of those matches have come in the League Cup, both of which were at the Hawthorns resulting in Baggies victories.

The first of those two League Cup ties was famous for seeing the debut of an Albion legend. On 31st August 1977, a certain Cyrille Regis lined up in the the famous navy and white stripes for the first team for a League Cup Second Round match against Rotherham United. He made an immediate impact, scoring twice, one of which was from the spot, in a 4-0 victory. His performance earned him his first league start the following weekend when he scored again in a 2-1 win over Middlesbrough – a star was born.

The second League Cup meeting was more than three decades later in August 2009. The Baggies had just been relegated back to the Championship while the Millers were in League Two, and the game was much closer. As has been the general rule in the 21st century, the Albion team picked by Roberto di Matteo was much changed from the one that had beaten Ipswich Town in the league the previous weekend with only two players, full backs Marek Čech and Shaun Cummings, retaining their starting spots. It almost cost the Baggies a place in the third round as the visitors, managed by future Coventry City boss Mark Robins, put up a real fight.

Craig Beattie’s opener was cancelled out by Micky Cummins to make it 1-1 at the break. A goal from Graham Dorrans put the hosts back in front produced but an immediate response from Tom Pope who made it 2-2. It stayed that way until full time and, nine minutes into the additional thirty, Pope scored his second to put the Millers ahead. Thankfully for the Baggies, Beattie scored his own second a few minutes later and Simon Cox scored what proved to be the winner in the 116th minute.

Baggies fans may remember that Di Matteo didn’t learn from that close call when he picked a weakened side in the quarter final against Ipswich Town the following season, a match Albion lost thereby ending what had been a very encouraging cup run.

Albion have played at the Millers’ New York Stadium on three previous occasions – the first time was just before Christmas 2018 when a hat trick from Dwight Gayle helped the Baggies to a thumping 4-0 victory despite an excellent display from their defensive midfielder, Semi Ajayi, who found his way to the Hawthorns the following summer and made his name there as a centre back.

The most recent of Rotherham’s three victories over Albion came at the same venue on Good Friday 2023 – a desperate performance from Corberán’s Baggies saw the Millers run out 3-1 winners with former Baggie Jordan Hugill netting a brace. Corberán’s team returned later that year to record a 2-0 victory thanks to goals from Grady Diangana and Jed Wallace.

In all, Albion have won six of the last seven meetings with Rotherham.

Stat Attack

Current Form

All competitions; most recent game on the right

Last matches

Last meeting

10 Apr 2024 – League Championship
West Bromwich Albion 2 (Thomas-Asante, Swift (pen))
Rotherham United 0

Last meeting at Rotherham United

12 Dec 2023 – League Championship
Rotherham United 0
West Bromwich Albion 2 (Diangana, Wallace)

Albion’s Record against Rotherham United