Sawyers Bags his dream of a job
EVEN the lure of playing for Steven Gerrard or arguably the biggest club in the Championship could not tear Romaine Sawyers from home.
Listening to the Birmingham-born 27-year-old, Rangers and Leeds didn’t stand a chance of signing the £3million playmaker from Brentford once West Brom came in.
“I signed for West Brom at the age of seven – and I always wanted to play every age group up to, and including, the first-team,” explained Sawyers (above).
“When I was here as a trainee, that didn’t happen, but when I had the chance again this summer, it made perfect sense.
“To be honest, I’d never thought about playing for any other team. When I was with my friends and I was playing in the lower leagues, I’d banter with them and say, ‘I’m on loan from the Championship’.
“Now I feel like we, West Brom, are on loan from the Premier League – that’s the way I’m looking at it.
“When I arrived at The Hawthorns, coming from Brentford, we always thought, ‘This is a Premier League club’. Pitch, lights, stadium... the men you are playing against.
“Gareth Barry’s career spoke for itself, Jake Livermore has played for England... Chris Brunt...
“It sounds ridiculous, but just playing alongside
Brunty still excites me. I’m in training and he’s still a class act. He wants to push you to new boundaries – as does the manager whose resume speaks for itself.”
Sawyers is a thinker. He speaks glowingly about the tuition he received as a youngster at The Hawthorns, while his hero is Lebron James – “you never hear a bad word spoken about the man”.
Sawyers was tested by former Walsall and
Brentford boss Dean Smith, now at rivals Aston Villa.
And his relationship with former Under-23s boss Michael Appleton, named as new manager of Lincoln yesterday, was another big influence, as well as ex-baggies’ academy chief Mark Harrison.
Sawyers said: “The biggest thing you can do is listen – and read. If you have knowledge, you can go a lot further.
“I like autobiographies... Sir Alex Ferguson, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Andres Iniesta, Steven Gerrard... my favourite players.”
One thing Sawyers has learnt is giving back. He has bought several sets of kit for Continental Star, a local boys club his mum, Diane, is involved with.
He said: “My mum taught me, ‘Never forget the hand that feeds you’ and she is attached personally to the club – so I’m attached to it.
“And I use Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish as an analogy. I can’t imagine what it meant to him last season. He was a Birmingham boy, playing for the club he loves, getting them promoted.
“I would retire a happy man if I helped West Brom back into the Premier League.”