Skipper hopes to stay in favour

Greening revealed how four-year-old Troy had 'swapped his father' for England stars Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, after Greening Senior was called 'a loser' by his son's school friends.

But the Hawthorns captain, who is after a new contract, has been reassured that he remains his first-born's hero.

Yet it did not stop Troy, the oldest of Greening's three children, swapping football cards featuring his dad for some of the Premier League's more illustrious stars, following a season of struggle that has brought the consequences of failure a little too close to home.

The midfielder said: "When you've got your little boy coming home from school saying his friends are calling you a loser, it gets quite tough.

"I remember six weeks ago my little boy came home and said 'Daddy, why do all my friends call you a loser?'

"I just started laughing and said 'do you think I'm a loser?'. He said 'I don't think you are a loser', so that was a good enough answer for me. But it puts football into perspective.

"My lad has never got upset about what people say. He is a 'loop'. He is crazy.

"But he had all the little football cards at school and was swapping them. I think he had eight of me at one stage.

"I asked him where they had all gone and he said he had swapped them for better players like Gerrard and Lampard. There are none left of me."

The Premier League table suggests Greening Junior will get a hard time for a while to come, with the Baggies seemingly destined for relegation.

But, as Tony Mowbray's men head for Portsmouth eight points behind the safety line with seven games remaining, Greening is refusing to run up the white flag.

While most fans and pundits have written off their survival chances, the 'Great Escape' survivor insists the players must keep fighting.

He said: "I know everyone is saying we are definitely down. But they were saying that all through the year of the Great Escape and it would be nice to prove people wrong again.

"Football is a funny thing. We could go on and win all seven games. Whilst there are points to be played for, we are going to give it 120 per cent.

"It is important to draw on the Great Escape. It was a good time. Staying up the last game of the season was a brilliant feeling and it would be brilliant if we could do it again this year.

"We have got a lot of inexperienced players here. So you have to try to build the young lads up, keep them going, make sure they are upbeat in training and keep the jokes going.

"There is no point in being down. You have got to bounce back the day after and put another shift in in training."

Regardless of the outcome of the next seven matches, Greening is adamant that manager Tony Mowbray is the right man to move the Baggies forward.

The captain reveals Mowbray has remained upbeat, with his trademark renditions of Frank Sinatra classics still ringing around the corridors of the Great Barr training ground.

Greening urges the boss to continue doing things 'his way'.

He said: "Personally I really enjoy playing for him and believe in how he plays. Training is always good. The fans really like him as well and I think he is trying to build a good team for the future and he thinks the right way of doing it is by playing this way.

"If you look at some of the best teams, we like to try to play as they do. I am not saying we are as good as them, but they have world class players.

"The gaffer has been fine, always bright and bubbly around the training ground, singing his Frank Sinatra songs. He has been great.

"He is always upbeat and just wants us to do well. I am sure the chairman knows how good he is and will back him all the way."