The former Manchester United keeper is enjoying himself at B71
BEN Foster insists he could not be happier at Albion after making his move to The Hawthorns permanent in June.
The 29-year-old kept ten clean sheets for the Baggies last season before putting pen to paper on a three-year contract, plus a further two-year option in the club's favour, this summer.
The Leamington-born stopper is at home in the Midlands and does not regret leaving Old Trafford to further his career two and a half years ago.
“I definitely don't regret anything in my career,” said Foster.
“I'm a Midlands person, I'm back at home and I’ve never been happier.
“I never once regret what I've done in the past - everything happens for a reason.
“You learn from it and it makes you a stronger person on a football pitch.
“I learned that at a club like United it's very cut throat, succeed-at-all costs, you come away from it as a stronger person.
“I'm too laid back - I don't take this football thing as a 24/7 pursuit.
“I love playing it, I love Saturdays but it's not the be-all and end-all.
“I don't go home on Saturday and think 'right, I've got to prepare for next Saturday'.
“I take my mind off it, relax and start worrying about the next game a few days later.
“My two kids are three and four-years-old now - they are full on.
“They are on me all the time and I'm either with them at home, picking them up from school and nursery or doing other stuff with them.
“My parents still live in Leamington, I have two brothers and a sister who live there - I live in Shirley.
“I don't really take football too seriously in so much that it's not the be all and end all.
“I'm very professional about football, my training and my preparation but there is more to life for me.
“The thing with United is you know they'll always be in the Champions League and they'll have three matches in a week sometimes.
“It was so constant all the time - you very rarely got a day off, you were away from your family and you have to live and breathe football.
“I'm not that kind of character - I love football and I love playing on a Saturday afternoon but I also love my down-time, my family time.
“That was the difference for me between being at United and then being at a club like Birmingham or Albion - you know you'll get your one game in the week and that'll be it.
“Playing is the bit I love about football.”
And Foster, who won Albion's Supporters' Player of the Year and Players' Player of the Year last term, believes the Baggies must pass 40 points before outlining their aims for the campaign.
“The target is 40 points.
“Once we get to 40 points only then we can start to reassess things and start looking at things differently.
“Let's get safe first and then if we do that and we still have five, six or seven games left then we'll look to move onwards and upwards.
“But there are probably about 14 teams in this league who want to just get safe.
“The top six will have other battles on their minds, for the rest of us we are in a scrap.
“But saying that if you put the Premier League into tiers, in terms of resources etc, then the likes of Everton and Newcastle are probably above us but we're not too far away.
“The gap between the 14 and the rest is getting smaller, which is why the likes of Manchester City and United are finding it tougher this season.”