Finally West Brom  Awaited Ambition Accomplished

West Brom goalkeeper Alex Palmer will this weekend return to the venue where he made his league debut for Albion – in the time since he has made himself a key player of the squad

The time is 2015-05-24. Tony Pulis’ arrival in the winter gave West Bromwich Albion a roaring finish to the Premier League season, but on the last day of the season, they are on the beach at the Emirates Stadium and get swept aside by Arsenal, who are playing the game like schoolchildren in the playground. Despite being a rather unremarkable afternoon overall in Albion’s illustrious past, Alex Palmer is unlikely to forget the day he was selected for the first time as a member of the first-team squad.

Years and years of loan spells, development football and an overall requirement to be patient would follow. There were openings here and there when Palmer would be required to make the step up and make up the numbers, if Foster or Myhill had picked up injuries. Palmer learned his trade at nearby Kidderminster, the place of his birth, in the non-league and then had brief outings at Oldham and Notts County as a keeper in his early 20s.

Back at Albion, with Foster having left and with Myhill having hung up his boots to take up a role on the club’s coaching staff, Palmer wasn’t yet deemed ready to be exposed to first-team football at that level. Albion, with those blissful parachute payments which feel a distant memory these days, splashed out on Sam Johnstone on a four-year deal and the number one spot was again filled for the foreseeable future.

As Palmer entered his mid-20s, EFL possibilities started to appear. It’s fair to say that he took advantage of those opportunities with both hands. The first team to visit The Hawthorns following the upcoming international break is Plymouth Argyle, where Palmer contributed to their ascent that took them all the way to the Championship. Under Ryan Lowe, whom Palmer will run against this weekend at Deepdale, they were promoted.

“Alex is a terrific goalkeeper. He has got ambitions of playing at the highest level,” Lowe said during Palmer’s loan spell. “He has come here to help us but he has also come here ultimately to get into West Brom’s team.” That he did, Ryan. That he did, but not before another loan. League Two? Completed it, mate. The natural next challenge was the next rung on the ladder, and that was presented by former coach Michael Appleton at Lincoln.

“I look at Alex and it’s only my opinion, but for what it’s worth I think he’s one of the best – if not the best – of the keepers in League One,” Appleton told BirminghamLive midway through his loan. “I think very highly of Alex, I think he knows that. We worked really hard to get him in. We watched him 3 or 4 times last season at Plymouth so we knew what he was about.

“I knew Alex previously anyway, although I’d never worked with him because he’d always been in different age groups to the ones I was working in. It was an absolute no brainer for us when we had the opportunity. He’s been great. He’s not had an awful lot to do, but when he’s had to make big saves at big moments he’s done so.”

In 2021, and with Albion back in the Championship, Palmer was finally getting closer to what he’d sampled back at Arsenal six years earlier. Arsenal, fittingly, were the side who Palmer made his long-awaited debut against, although the night itself – through none of the young lads’ fault against high quality opposition – proved to be a pretty punishing ordeal.

Palmer’s first taste of Championship football, ironically, didn’t come in an Albion shirt. He was borrowed in emergency circumstances by Luton and played a couple of times. The first, at Middlesbrough, he didn’t cover himself in glory in but Palmer atoned days later when he kept a clean sheet at Coventry City – and even collected a rare assist for winning goalscorer Elijah Adebayo.

Back to Albion, then, and Palmer – still awaiting his league debut at the age of 25 – agreed a new four-year contract. Steve Bruce challenged him and David Button, in the absence of the departed Johnstone, to battle for the number one jersey. Button was given the nod having kept at the back end of the season before, but it proved to be an error of judgement and Palmer immediately made a positive impression at Preston, even in defeat. A first clean sheet followed against former loan club Luton a week later, but then Bruce was gone.

Carlos Corberan, a goalkeeper previously himself, oversaw a rapid rise and Palmer did more than his bit, pulling off some stunning saves in the months that followed before that untimely injury in training which thrust Corberan’s plans and hopes of promotion up in the air while Palmer sat out weeks’ worth of games.

The time for sliding doors has come this summer. Once more contacting Palmer about a permanent return, this time as a Premier League team, was Luton. In a position rarely seen in contemporary football, the goalkeeper stated that he wanted to stay at Albion in order to capitalize on the fact that he was finally the starter and, hopefully, enjoy playing in the top division while wearing an Albion shirt.

There were mistakes. Palmer’s game still has room for improvement, but at the age of 27, if his form and fitness permit, he might play goal for many years to come. Corberan is happy as well.