1970 - 71

1970-71 season Albion again entered the Anglo-Italian Tournament and did even worse than the year before, failing to win even one game of the four against inter-Milan and Cagliari, finishing bottom of all the English clubs. League form disappeared out of sight with Albion once again looking towards the domestic cup competitions for honours, after wins against Charlton Athletic and Preston North End in earlier rounds the league cup dream ended in a 5-0 defeat away against Tottenham Hotspur the clubs biggest defeat in this competition.

The season is best probably best remembered for the League performances at the expense of the big guns of the First Division. Having beaten Manchester United 4-3, and Tottenham Hotspur 3-1,also drawing with Liverpool 1-1 all at The Hawthorns earlier in the season they went to Elland Road with only four games left of the season where Leeds were expected to win the championship, but Albion caused a major upset by winning 2-1.

The victory itself was a complete surprise after having failed to win an away game for fourteen months, the team went there to await the usual thumping most teams had endured all season from "The mighty Leeds United", but something jelled that day and Albion came out looking like the title chasing team Albion were always in control, having made and missed chance after chance to add to Tony Brown's opener, but what happened in the second half changed the season for Leeds and saved Albion from the worst possible fate a drop into the second division.

Before that second goal Brown picked up the ball on the halfway line. In front of him, on the other side of the pitch was Colin Suggett, who was in an offside position, as the linesman was indicating; the home defenders all automatically halted and awaited the referee's whistle, referee Ray Tinkler judged Suggett was not interfering with play and waved play on, as Brown passed to Astle also thought to be offside by the home supporters who scored.

The commotion that followed led to Leeds having to play their first five home games of the following season away from Elland Road. Leeds fans invaded the pitch several arrests were made. Don Revie stormed on to the pitch trying to get the referee to overturn his decision. This decision not only ruined Leeds chance of becoming champions that season but with the closure of their ground ruined the following seasons chances so a double blow for the mighty Leeds United.

The BBC were also on hand with the match of the day cameras to witness the events and in a post match interview with Leeds boss Don Revie the argument still raged with the manager claiming that Tinker's wayward decision had ruined a year's work of his staff and, of course, Leeds were overtaken by Arsenal, that year's winners of the double.

At a sports writers dinner a few years latter Jack Charlton the Leeds United centre half that day saw Jeff Astle and shouted across the room "That bastard there cost us two league titles" Jeff just smiled and said "You know as well as me Jack you always play to the whistle"

As if to rub salt into Don Revie's wounds the Albion's next game was against Arsenal at the Hawthorns, who themselves were chasing the title game finished 2-2 with Asa Hartford scoring a goal for both sides. By dropping a point to Arsenal at this late stage in the season it virtually gifted the league to Arsenal.

The Arsenal game also saw the return to the Hawthorns of 50s favourite Don Howe, by this time the Arsenal coach he presented Brown with his Player of the Year Award before the kick-off.

By the end of the season all was not well with the board (nothing changes) with the team only just saving themselves from relegation it was thought that a new man at the helm was needed to steady the ship.

Alan Ashman's treatment was scandalous after a truly excellent four years' service, he had taken a mediocre unhappy team to two finals one win, a losing semi-final and the quarter-final stage of a European competition - in thirty-six Fa cup and league cup games only eight had ended in defeat for this he was sacked (oh for a manager like that today)

Worse was to come for Alan Ashman the underhand manner of his dismissal, announced whilst Ashman was holidaying in Greece, without formal notification, he only found out of his dismissal by reading about it in the English newspapers in Greece.

As well as Ashman's achievements on the field he did some fine work behind them aswell he introduced some exceptional players to the first team, including Suggett, Glover and John Wile and Hartford, Cantello, Wilson and Alistair Robertson whom he had introduced from the junior teams, all of whom were to play quite vital roles in the club's future.

West Brom v Arsenal

24th April 1971

2-2

Hartford, Brown

36,621

15-08-1970		West Brom	0-0	C Palace
18-08-1970		Nottm Forest	3-3	West Brom
22-08-1970		Blackpool	3-1	West Brom
26-08-1970		West Brom	5-2	Stoke
29-08-1970		West Brom	1-1	Liverpool
02-09-1970		West Brom	1-2	Newcastle
05-09-1970		Man City	4-1	West Brom
08-09-1970	League Cup 2^nd Rd	West Brom	3-1	Charlton
12-09-1970		West Brom	2-1	West Ham
19-09-1970		Arsenal	6-2	West Brom
26-09-1970		West Brom	2-1	Derby
03-10-1970		Ipswich	2-2	West Brom
06-10-1970	League Cup 3rd Rd	Preston	0-1	West Brom
10-10-1970		West Brom	2-2	Leeds
17-10-1970		C Palace	3-0	West Brom
24-10-1970		Man Utd	2-1	West Brom
28-10-1970	League Cup 4th Rd	Tottenham	5-0	West Brom
31-10-1970		West Brom	3-0	Everton
07-11-1970		Wolves	2-1	West Brom
14-11-1970		West Brom	1-0	Southampton
21-11-1970		Huddersfield	2-1	West Brom
28-11-1970		West Brom	2-2	Chelsea
05-12-1970		Burnley	1-1	West Brom
12-12-1970		West Brom	3-1	Tottenham
19-12-1970		West Brom	1-1	Blackpool
26-12-1970		Coventry	1-1	West Brom
02-01-1971	Fa Cup 3^rd Rd	West Brom	0-0	Scunthorpe
09-01-1971		West Brom	0-1	Nottm Forest
11-01-1971	Fa Cup 3^rd Rd Replay	Scunthorpe	1-3	West Brom
16-01-1971		Stoke	2-0	West Brom
23-01-1971	Fa Cup 4th Rd	West Brom	1-1	Ipswich
26-01-1971	Fa Cup 4th Rd Replay	Ipswich	3-0	West Brom
30-01-1971		Chelsea	4-1	West Brom
06-02-1971		West Brom	1-0	Burnley
17-02-1971		Tottenham	2-2	West Brom
20-02-1971		West Brom	2-1	Huddersfield
27-02-1971		Everton	3-3	West Brom
06-03-1971		West Brom	4-3	Man Utd
13-03-1971		Southampton	1-0	West Brom
20-03-1971		West Brom	2-4	Wolves
27-03-1971		West Brom	0-0	Man City
02-04-1971		Liverpool	1-1	West Brom
09-04-1971		West Ham	2-1	West Brom
10-04-1971		West Brom	0-0	Coventry
12-04-1971		West Brom	0-1	Ipswich
17-04-1971		Leeds	1-2	West Brom
24-04-1971		West Brom	2-2	Arsenal
28-04-1971		Newcastle	3-0	West Brom
01-05-1971		Derby	2-0	West Brom

	Division One 1970 - 71	P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Arsenal	42	29	7	6	71	29	2.45	65
2	Leeds United	42	27	10	5	72	30	2.4	64
3	Tottenham Hotspur	42	19	14	9	54	33	1.64	52
4	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	22	8	12	64	54	1.19	52
5	Liverpool	42	17	17	8	42	24	1.75	51
6	Chelsea	42	18	15	9	52	42	1.24	51
7	Southampton	42	17	12	13	56	44	1.27	46
8	Manchester United	42	16	11	15	65	66	0.99	43
9	Derby County	42	16	10	16	56	54	1.04	42
10	Coventry City	42	16	10	16	37	38	0.97	42
11	Manchester City	42	12	17	13	47	42	1.12	41
12	Newcastle United	42	14	13	15	44	46	0.96	41
13	Stoke City	42	12	13	17	44	48	0.92	37
14	Everton	42	12	13	17	54	60	0.9	37
15	Huddersfield Town	42	11	14	17	40	49	0.82	36
16	Nottingham Forest	42	14	8	20	42	61	0.69	36
17	West Bromwich Albion	42	10	15	17	58	75	0.77	35
18	Crystal Palace	42	12	11	19	39	57	0.68	35
19	Ipswich Town	42	12	10	20	42	48	0.88	34
20	West Ham United	42	10	14	18	47	60	0.78	34
21	Burnley	42	7	13	22	29	63	0.46	27
22	Blackpool	42	4	15	23	34	66	0.52	23

Manager Alan Ashman

1970-71
Osborne	Cantello
Hughes	Robinson
Wilson	Kaye
Merrick	Cumbes
Talbot	McVite
Johnson	Hartford
Reed	Minton
Brown T	Fraser
Astle	Lovett
Suggett	Wile
Hope	Glover

1971 - 72

Former Hawthorns favourite Don Howe was chosen as the manager to lead Albion back to the glory days. Having just aided Bertie Mee at Arsenal achieve the League and cup double Howe was itching to get in to management and where better to start his career than back at West Bromwich the town where he had made his name. His reign began in the Watney Cup, a relatively new competition which brought together the two top scoring sides of the four divisions who had not won any other titles or honours the previous season.

Manchester United, West Bromwich Albion First Division;

Carlisle United, Luton Town Second Division;

Halifax Town, Wrexham Third Division;

Colchester United, Crewe Alexandra Fourth Division

Howe's start was a good one, with wins at Wrexham and Halifax who had previously ousted Manchester United to reach the final, the final was played out at The Hawthorns against Fourth Division Colchester United. The offside rules for this competition had been changed only operating inside the penalty area. With both teams taking advantage of the competition's change of rules the game was a thrilling one, with the lead changing hands a few times then a minute from the end the game at 3-3, Colchester took a 4-3 lead with a penalty, which looked to be the winner, until Astle popped up with an injury-time equalizer to send the tie into a penalty decider. Albion Lost 4-3 in their first ever penalty shoot out Brown, Astle and Hope scoring, Cantello and Wilson missing. Colchester's one miss was by former Albion star penalty-taker Bobby Cram,

When the league programme started with an away win at West Ham United followed up with a 2-0 win over Everton and a 1-1 draw with Coventry leaving the club sitting in second place behind Sheffield United. The team started to look good, every player willing to cover the whole pitch to back up his colleagues, something that had been a large failing under Alan Ashman.

However the team quickly slumped back into old habits the forwards seemed unable to find the net nine goals were scored in the first nineteen games, six of them coming from Tony Brown, this run saw the team drop from second to twenty-second and bow out of the League Cup in their first ever home defeat in the competition by Tottenham Hotspur and their first in a domestic Cup-tie since 1965.

With seven defeats in eight games at the Hawthorns and Home form being at an all time low, relegation had become a grim certainty if the team was not sorted. A reprieve was not expected

For Christmas with leaders Liverpool, but a second minute goal from Tony Brown proved to be the turning point of the season, as the defence held out for the remaining nerve-wracking eighty-eight minutes to snatch a rare win.

The following Saturday, it looked as if the spectre of relegation would be raising its head again when away at Ipswich the team found themselves trailing by two goals but an inspired fight back produced a 3-2 victory. This was quickly followed by wins against Manchester United, Southampton and Nottingham Forest, Coventry, Leicester and Wolverhampton Wanderers which lifted the club to sixteenth, ten points above the relegated teams, a position which would have been thought of as impossible.

The club's First Division life was to be extended, owing to the fact that after eight defeats in the first ten home games, there was only one defeat in the next eleven.

There had been several changes in personnel as Don Howe struggled to fit together a winning combination Suggett, Hope and Kaye all lost their places , while reserves Alan Merrick and full-back Gordon Nesbit previously a goalkeeper and a centre-forward were drafted in. New players were bought, including George Smith, the goalkeeper who had served Colchester well against the Albion in the Watney Cup Final and Bobby Gould ex Wolves, Arsenal and Coventry and who later went on to play for Wolves for a second time, Bristol City, Bristol Rovers, West Ham and Hereford United. Alistair Brown was picked up from Leicester for £60,000, where he had twice been top scorer he started promisingly, with a goal in each of his first two games Having finally gathered together a settled team, it did begin to look as if the 1972-3 season might bring some relief to the supporters who had stood by the team during the previous depressing twelve months.

Wrexham v West Brom

Watney Cup 1st Round

July 1st 1971

Cumbes, Hughes, Wilson, Cantello (Merrick), Wile, Kaye, T.Brown, Astle, Hope, Suggett, Hatford,

Att 11,218

2 Goals for Tony Brown

Halifax v West Brom

Watney Cup Semi Final

August 4th 1971

Cumbes, Hughes, Wilson, Cantello, Wile, Kaye, McVitie, (Merrick)

T.Brown, Astle, Suggett, Hatford,

Att 12,069

2 goals for Colin Suggett and West Brom are on their way to another final.

Watney Cup Final August 7th 1971

Att 19,009 score 4 - 4 Colchester won 4 - 3 on penalties

Cumbes, Hughes, Wilson, Cantello, Wile, Kaye, Suggett, T.Brown, Astle, Hope, Hatford

Astle 2, Cantello, Suggett. (Astle Hope Hartford pens)

This was to date the last final Albion have appeared in

and the Start of Don Howe's reign which to some spelt

the end of the great Albion cup sides of the Sixties.

<br />

14-08-1971		West Ham	0-1	West Brom
18-08-1971		West Brom	2-0	Everton
21-08-1971		West Brom	1-1	Coventry
23-08-1971		Man Utd	3-1	West Brom
28-08-1971		Sheff Utd	0-0	West Brom
01-09-1971		Chelsea	1-0	West Brom
04-09-1971		West Brom	0-1	Arsenal
08-09-1971	League Cup 2^nd Rd	West Brom	0-1	Tottenham
11-09-1971		Huddersfield	1-0	West Brom
18-09-1971		West Brom	1-2	Ipswich
25-09-1971		Derby	0-0	West Brom
02-10-1971		West Brom	0-2	Man City
09-10-1971		C Palace	0-2	West Brom
16-10-1971		West Brom	0-0	West Ham
23-10-1971		West Brom	0-1	Leicester
30-10-1971		Southampton	1-1	West Brom
06-11-1971		West Brom	0-1	Stoke
13-11-1971		Nottm Forest	4-1	West Brom
20-11-1971		Tottenham	3-2	West Brom
27-11-1971		West Brom	2-3	Wolves
04-12-1971		Leeds	3-0	West Brom
11-12-1971		West Brom	0-3	Newcastle
18-12-1971		Arsenal	2-0	West Brom
27-12-1971		West Brom	1-0	Liverpool
01-01-1972		Ipswich	2-3	West Brom
08-01-1972		West Brom	2-2	Sheff Utd
15-01-1972	FA Cup 3^rd Rd	West Brom	1-2	Coventry
22-01-1972		Everton	2-1	West Brom
29-01-1972		West Brom	2-1	Man Utd
12-02-1972		Leicester	0-1	West Brom
19-02-1972		West Brom	3-2	Southampton
01-03-1972		Man City	2-1	West Brom
04-03-1972		West Brom	1-0	Nottm Forest
11-03-1972		West Brom	1-1	C Palace
17-03-1972		Coventry	0-2	West Brom
25-03-1972		West Brom	1-1	Huddersfield
01-04-1972		Liverpool	2-0	West Brom
05-04-1972		West Brom	0-0	Derby
08-04-1972		West Brom	1-1	Tottenham
15-04-1972		Wolves	0-1	West Brom
22-04-1972		West Brom	0-1	Leeds
27-04-1972		West Brom	4-0	Chelsea
03-05-1972		Newcastle	4-2	West Brom
05-05-1972		Stoke	1-1	West Brom

	Division One 1971 - 72	P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Derby County	42	24	10	8	69	33	2.091	58
2	Leeds United	42	24	9	9	73	31	2.355	57
3	Liverpool	42	24	9	9	64	30	2.133	57
4	Manchester City	42	23	11	8	77	45	1.711	57
5	Arsenal	42	22	8	12	58	40	1.450	52
6	Tottenham Hotspur	42	19	13	10	63	42	1.500	51
7	Chelsea	42	18	12	12	58	49	1.184	48
8	Manchester United	42	19	10	13	69	61	1.131	48
9	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	18	11	13	65	57	1.140	47
10	Sheffield United	42	17	12	13	61	60	1.017	46
11	Newcastle United	42	15	11	16	49	52	0.942	41
12	Leicester City	42	13	13	16	41	46	0.891	39
13	Ipswich Town	42	11	16	15	39	53	0.736	38
14	West Ham United	42	12	12	18	47	51	0.922	36
15	Everton	42	9	18	15	37	48	0.771	36
16	West Bromwich Albion	42	12	11	19	42	54	0.778	35
17	Stoke City	42	10	15	17	39	56	0.696	35
18	Coventry City	42	9	15	18	44	67	0.657	33
19	Southampton	42	12	7	23	52	80	0.650	31
20	Crystal Palace	42	8	13	21	39	65	0.600	29
21	Nottingham Forest	42	8	9	25	47	81	0.580	25
22	Huddersfield Town	42	6	13	23	27	59	0.458	25

1971-72
Cumbes	Hartford
Hughes	Minton
Wilson	Gould
Cantello	McVite
Wile	Osborne
Kaye	Robertson
Hope	Glover
Suggett	Smith
Astle	Nisbet
Brown T	Brown A
Merrick

1972 - 73

1972 - 73 the preseason tours had gone well, with three games in Sweden, a good win over Hibernian at Easter Road and a narrow defeat to Feyenoord in Holland. Once again, the team got off to a poor start, not winning until the eighth game of the season that was swiftly followed by two more victories which helped to improve their position. From then on, although the style of play was not pretty it was effective enough to keep the club in a relatively safe position, three or four places off the bottom of the table.

The League Cup saw a revenge Cup win against the up and coming QPR, followed by a 1-1 home draw with Liverpool, a result which saw Steve Highway salvage a draw in the .last few minutes. In the Anfield replay, Albion took the lead through Alistair Robertson but only lost through very late goals from Emlyn Hughes and Keegan.

The Texaco Cup, in which Sheffield United were beaten over two legs and extra-time before Newcastle knocked Albion out 4-3 on aggregate.

Over the season some of the team's deficiencies began to be exploited by more and more teams. It was Newcastle who provided the first harrowing experience, winning 3-2 at the Hawthorns after the Albion had settled into a deserved lead and looked to be coasting home the crucial equalizing goal was from a terrible mistake by young 'keeper Peter Latchford it was Latchfords inexperience that cost his team several points that season, at times when they least afford to lose them.

FA Cup-ties came around in early January; fixture congestion pile up became an added worry, brought about by the postponement of fixtures through poor weather conditions. The 3^rd round tie, took four games with Nottingham Forest, with one abandoned through fog at the City Ground before the tie was eventually settled at Filbert Street, Leicester, 3-1 to Albion. Swindon were beaten 2-0 at the Hawthorns in the fourth round, unfortunately the fifth round meant a trip to Elland Road where the eventual Cup finalists proved too strong, defeating Albion 2-0, both goals coming from one-time Albion supporter Allan Clarke.

The Cup had proven an excellent distraction from relegation worries, but the number of rearranged league games that the Cup-run had caused meant that Albion had dropped to the very foot of the division and when the chance came to rise from that depths, in the home game with fellow strugglers Crystal Palace, , Albion disintegrated to concede four quick goals to crash 0-4, after completely dominating the first hour of the game this was the first time that the home supporters really began to becoming a relegated team.

After several weeks at the bottom, the team staged a last gasp revival, with good home wins over Leicester City, Arsenal and Everton 4-1 as Astle returned to the team in the guise as its saviour, in the fans' eyes at least. The team moved up a place and were only in the dreaded bottom two on goal average, so that before the most important game of the year at home to bottom-placed Norwich City Albion were given a second, and final life-line to keep their place in the top-flight.

A win against Norwich would have effectively relegated the canaries, along with Crystal Palace, who were losing heavily at Leeds the same day, but once again, Albion's failure to beat fellow clubs in distress proved expensive Norwich won 1-0 with a goal four minutes from time from Dave Cross to drop Albion back at the bottom of the table ended any hopes of escape. Relegation was made a mathematical certainty when Manchester City won at the Hawthorns

There had been some desperate signings made as in there were in the previous year the best thing that Don Howe did in the whole time he was manager was to sign Willie Johnston, a left-winger from Glasgow Rangers who was brought for a club record £135,000. Johnston was very much a risk, for at the time of his move he was in the middle of an eight-week suspension because of his shocking disciplinary record, which he continued after he moved south., he was a brilliant showman, a winger in the classic style, fast and direct with marvellous ball-control, able to beat two and three defenders over the space of a few yards. The other signing David Shaw, from Oldham, but was never really a class player. He was soon dropped by Howe's successor who realized that there were several more skilful and more effective players at the club.

Albion have always had character's in the team one of the best Willie Johnston

12-08-1972		West Brom	0-0	West Ham
16-08-1972		West Brom	0-1	Tottenham
19-08-1972		Leeds	2-0	West Brom
23-08-1972		Newcastle	1-1	West Brom
26-08-1972		West Brom	0-2	Sheff Utd
30-08-1972		West Brom	2-2	Birmingham
02-09-1972		Everton	1-0	West Brom
06-09-1972	League Cup 2^nd Rd	West Brom	2-1	QPR
09-09-1972		West Brom	2-1	Derby
16-09-1972		C Palace	0-2	West Brom
23-09-1972		West Brom	1-0	Coventry
30-09-1972		Man City	2-1	West Brom
03-10-1972	League Cup 3^rd Rd	West Brom	1-1	Liverpool
07-10-1972		West Brom	2-2	Man Utd
10-10-1972	League Cup 3^rd Rd Replay	Liverpool	2-1	West Brom
14-10-1972		Chelsea	3-1	West Brom
21-10-1972		West Brom	1-0	Wolves
28-10-1972		Southampton	2-1	West Brom
04-11-1972		West Brom	2-3	Newcastle
11-11-1972		Tottenham	1-1	West Brom
18-11-1972		Norwich	2-0	West Brom
25-11-1972		West Brom	2-1	Stoke
02-12-1972		Leicester	3-1	West Brom
09-12-1972		West Brom	1-1	Liverpool
16-12-1972		Arsenal	2-1	West Brom
23-12-1972		West Brom	2-0	Ipswich
26-12-1972		Coventry	0-0	West Brom
06-01-1973		Sheff Utd	3-0	West Brom
13-01-1973	FA Cup 3^rd Rd	West Brom	1-1	Nottm Forest
22-01-1973	FA Cup 3^rd Rd Replay	Nottm Forest	0-0	West Brom
27-01-1973		Derby	2-0	West Brom
29-01-1973	FA Cup 3^rd Rd 2nd Replay	West Brom	3-1	Nottm Forest
03-02-1973	FA Cup 4^th Rd	West Brom	2-0	Swindon
10-02-1973		West Brom	0-4	C Palace
17-02-1973		West Ham	2-1	West Brom
24-02-1973	FA Cup 5^th Rd	Leeds	2-0	West Brom
28-02-1973		West Brom	1-0	Arsenal
03-03-1973		Man Utd	2-1	West Brom
10-03-1973		West Brom	1-1	Chelsea
17-03-1973		Ipswich	2-0	West Brom
20-03-1973		Wolves	2-0	West Brom
24-03-1973		West Brom	1-1	Southampton
28-03-1973		West Brom	1-1	Leeds
31-03-1973		Stoke	2-0	West Brom
07-04-1973		West Brom	1-0	Leicester
11-04-1973		West Brom	4-1	Everton
14-04-1973		Liverpool	1-0	West Brom
21-04-1973		West Brom	0-1	Norwich
25-04-1973		West Brom	1-2	Man City
28-04-1973		Birmingham	3-2	West Brom

	Division One 1972 - 73	P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts

1	Liverpool	42	25	10	7	72	42	1.714	60
2	Arsenal	42	23	11	8	57	43	1.326	57
3	Leeds United	42	21	11	10	71	45	1.578	53
4	Ipswich Town	42	17	14	11	55	45	1.222	48
5	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	18	11	13	66	54	1.222	47
6	West Ham United	42	17	12	13	67	53	1.264	46
7	Derby County	42	19	8	15	56	54	1.037	46
8	Tottenham Hotspur	42	16	13	13	58	48	1.208	45
9	Newcastle United	42	16	13	13	60	51	1.176	45
10	Birmingham City	42	15	12	15	53	54	0.981	42
11	Manchester City	42	15	11	16	57	60	0.950	41
12	Chelsea	42	13	14	15	49	51	0.961	40
13	Southampton	42	11	18	13	47	52	0.904	40
14	Sheffield United	42	15	10	17	51	59	0.864	40
15	Stoke City	42	14	10	18	61	56	1.089	38
16	Leicester City	42	10	17	15	40	46	0.870	37
17	Everton	42	13	11	18	41	49	0.837	37
18	Manchester United	42	12	13	17	44	60	0.733	37
19	Coventry City	42	13	9	20	40	55	0.727	35
20	Norwich City	42	11	10	21	36	63	0.571	32
21	Crystal Palace	42	9	12	21	41	58	0.707	30
22	West Bromwich Albion	42	9	10	23	38	62	0.613	28

1972-73
Smith	Latchford
Nisbet	McLean
Wilson	Merrick
Cantello	Hughes
Wile	Woolgar
Robertson	Johnston
Brown T	Glover
Brown A	Astle
Gould	Shaw
Suggett	Osborne
Hartford	Minton

1973 - 74

1973 - 74 Back in the Second Division after twenty-four great years at the top, hopes of a quick return were given a boost by the new league ruling that the top three clubs would now be promoted from the Second Division a move which the Albion had fought against on the previous occasions that it had been suggested, but now voted for. The opening of the season began well with two wins, at Blackpool and a home victory to Crystal Palace, but then the team faltered. The same old problem of not being able to capitalise on beating the weaker teams around them began to plague them, defeats came at Swindon, Sheffield Wednesday and Preston North End, three teams who were to finish in the bottom four. Against the better teams, such as Middlesbrough, Luton and Carlisle, Albion fared better, with two wins and three draws in the six games, but they could not break into the top three, losing against mediocre sides. At the one point where it looked as if a promotion push would be maintained, until a

4-0 home defeat by an unstoppable Middlesbrough side rocked the team's confidence, in the next two home games they lost to Hull and drew with Cardiff after leading 2-0 in both games and followed that up with, defeats at Nott's County, Millwall and Oxford meant a placing of eighth. The Cardiff City game was the last ever league appearence in an Albion shirt for Jeff Astle. Astle had never seen eye to eye with Don Howe and missed a lot of the season to injury.

In the two Cups Albion's salvation over the last few seasons, Albion knocked Sheffield United out of the League Cup but was beaten 3-1 at home by Fourth Division Exeter City. The FA Cup was better, with Everton beaten after a replay the first game was Albion's first ever game on a Sunday, during the energy crisis, and Nott's County slammed 4-0. Tony Brown scored a hat-trick, which he followed seven days scoring all four Albion goals at Nottingham Forest.

Albion went out to the losing finalists, Newcastle United's Malcolm MacDonald and over 30,000 visiting Geordies conspiring to win 3-0 at the Hawthorns emphasizing the difference in class between the two teams.

25-08-1973		Blackpool	2-3	West Brom
01-09-1973		West Brom	1-0	C Palace
08-09-1973		Swindon	1-0	West Brom
12-09-1973		Sheff Wed	3-1	West Brom
15-09-1973		West Brom	3-3	Nottm Forest
18-09-1973		West Brom	0-2	Preston
22-09-1973		Hull	0-0	West Brom
29-09-1973		West Brom	1-1	Sunderland
01-10-1973		Preston	3-1	West Brom
06-10-1973		Bristol C	1-1	West Brom
08-10-1973	League Cup	West Brom	2-1	Sheff Utd
13-10-1973		West Brom	1-1	Carlisle
20-10-1973		Middlesbro	0-0	West Brom
24-10-1973		West Brom	2-0	Sheff Wed
27-10-1973		West Brom	0-0	Bolton
31-10-1973	League Cup 3^rd Rd	West Brom	1-3	Exeter
03-11-1973		Cardiff	0-1	West Brom
10-11-1973		West Brom	2-1	Notts Co
17-11-1973		Leyton Orient	2-0	West Brom
24-11-1973		West Brom	2-0	Fulham
01-12-1973		Luton	0-2	West Brom
08-12-1973		West Brom	1-0	Oxford
15-12-1973		West Brom	1-2	Portsmouth
22-12-1973		Sunderland	1-1	West Brom
26-12-1973		West Brom	2-0	Aston Villa
29-12-1973		West Brom	2-0	Swindon
01-01-1974		C Palace	1-0	West Brom
05-01-1974	FA Cup 3^rdRd	West Brom	4-0	Notts Co
12-01-1974		Nottm Forest	1-4	West Brom
19-01-1974		West Brom	1-1	Blackpool
27-01-1974	FA Cup 4^th Rd	Everton	0-0	West Brom
30-01-1974	FA Cup 4^th Rd Replay	West Brom	1-0	Everton
03-02-1974		Portsmouth	1-1	West Brom
16-02-1974	FA Cup 5^th Rd	West Brom	0-3	Newcastle
23-02-1974		West Brom	2-2	Bristol C
25-02-1974		Carlisle	0-1	West Brom
02-03-1974		Aston Villa	1-3	West Brom
09-03-1974		Bolton	1-1	West Brom
16-03-1974		West Brom	0-4	Middlesbro
19-03-1974		West Brom	2-3	Hull
23-03-1974		Notts Co	1-0	West Brom
30-03-1974		West Brom	2-2	Cardiff
06-04-1974		Fulham	0-0	West Brom
12-04-1974		Millwall	1-0	West Brom
13-04-1974		West Brom	1-0	Leyton Orient
17-04-1974		West Brom	1-1	Millwall
20-04-1974		Oxford	1-0	West Brom
27-04-1974		West Brom	1-1	Luton

	Division Two 1973 - 74	P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Middlesbrough	42	27	11	4	77	30	2.567	65
2	Luton Town	42	19	12	11	64	51	1.255	50
3	Carlisle United	42	20	9	13	61	48	1.271	49
4	Orient	42	15	18	9	55	42	1.310	48
5	Blackpool	42	17	13	12	57	40	1.425	47
6	Sunderland	42	19	9	14	58	44	1.318	47
7	Nottingham Forest	42	15	15	12	57	43	1.326	45
8	West Bromwich Albion	42	14	16	12	48	45	1.067	44
9	Hull City	42	13	17	12	46	47	0.979	43
10	Notts County	42	15	13	14	55	60	0.917	43
11	Bolton Wanderers	42	15	12	15	44	40	1.100	42
12	Millwall	42	14	14	14	51	51	1.000	42
13	Fulham	42	16	10	16	39	43	0.907	42
14	Aston Villa	42	13	15	14	48	45	1.067	41
15	Portsmouth	42	14	12	16	45	62	0.726	40
16	Bristol City	42	14	10	18	47	54	0.870	38
17	Cardiff City	42	10	16	16	49	62	0.790	36
18	Oxford United	42	10	16	16	35	46	0.761	36
19	Sheffield Wednesday	42	12	11	19	51	63	0.810	35
20	Crystal Palace	42	11	12	19	43	56	0.768	34
21	Preston North End	42	9	14	19	40	62	0.645	31*
22	Swindon Town	42	7	11	24	36	72	0.500	25

FA Cup 5th Rd Feb 16th 1974

West Bromwich Albion 0 v Newcastle United 3

Latchford, Nisbet, Wilson, Cantello ( Merrick ),Wile, Robertson, Johnston, Brown, Shaw,Hartford, Glover,

Att 42,747

1973-74
Latchford	Johnston
Minton	Hartford
Merrick	Brown A
Hughes	Donaghy
Wile	Nisbet
Robertson	Mayo
Cantello	Wilson
Shaw	Thompson
Glover	Astle
Brown T

1974 - 75

The 1974-5 season was very similar in that once again, a consistent level of performance was to keep the club in the top half of the table but at no time was it good enough run to move them into the top three. After an unbeaten spell of nine games, they lost at home to Nottingham Forest and then at Bristol Rovers to quickly drop out of the running. Later in the year when they were just about to move into the top three, a 3-0 home defeat by Southampton quickly followed by a loss at Norwich City this meant an end to any serious thought of a move back to the top flight mathematically, promotion was still possible, but only until the Easter period, when defeats, Aston Villa and Blackpool guaranteed yet another Second Division campaign. That was not the only effect that the defeats had, before the home match with Bolton Wanderers, it was announced that the Albion board had decided not to renew Howe's contract which only had a few weeks to run. Howe departed straight away, leaving assistant manager George Wright in charge of the last three games. a big name had to be sought, crowds were dwindling away at an alarming rate, over the past four years one and a half million paying fans had been diverted away from the Hawthorns, resulting in a loss of revenue to the club of a quarter of a million pounds and putting severe financial pressure on the directors to produce results with a minimum of delay.

When the new name was announced, it came as a great shock, Johnny Giles, a brilliant mid-field player for the previous ten years at Leeds during that club's domination of English football, a transfer fee of £40,000 was paid to Leeds United to become the Albion's first ever player-manager. Giles had an impressive pedigree as a player, with two league-winner's medals, three Cup-winner's medals in a record six appearances in domestic Cup-finals as well as two winner's medals in Europe. He was also player-manager of the Irish National side, where he had gained his managerial experience; He was also in line for the vacant manager's job at Leeds before the Elland Road board opted for the more experienced Brian Clough. At the age of 35, Giles was a major force in the game, showing super vision and passing ability,

Giles'. Firstly, introduced to the team his own style of play, that which had proved itself at Leeds but adapted to suit the needs of the players available to him at the club., Giles would only spend small sums for players he knew could serve specific roles in his overall plan, such as Mick Martin or Paddy Mulligan but basically he was aiming for a squad of thirteen or fourteen players., once he had stamped his authority on the playing style, he gave his team confidence in their ability Albion and its players were First Division quality and did not belong in the Second Division and Giles constantly emphasized the point to give his men the touch of arrogance needed to succeed in football.

17-08-1974		West Brom	0-1	Fulham
24-08-1974		Hull	1-0	West Brom
31-08-1974		West Brom	1-0	Sunderland
07-09-1974		Portsmouth	1-3	West Brom
10-09-1974	League Cup 2^nd Rd	West Brom	1-0	Millwall
14-09-1974		West Brom	1-1	Man Utd
18-09-1974		West Brom	2-2	Hull
21-09-1974		Notts Co	0-0	West Brom
25-09-1974		Sheff Wed	0-0	West Brom
28-09-1974		West Brom	3-0	Oxford
05-10-1974		West Brom	2-0	York
09-10-1974	League Cup 3^rd Rd	West Brom	1-1	Norwich
12-10-1974		Cardiff	0-2	West Brom
16-10-1974	League Cup 3^rd Rd Replay	Norwich	2-0	West Brom
19-10-1974		West Brom	0-1	Nottm Forest
22-10-1974		Bristol R	2-1	West Brom
26-10-1974		Millwall	2-2	West Brom
02-11-1974		West Brom	1-1	Norwich
06-11-1974		West Brom	2-2	Bristol R
09-11-1974		Southampton	1-0	West Brom
16-11-1974		West Brom	1-0	Bristol C
23-11-1974		Leyton Orient	0-2	West Brom
30-11-1974		West Brom	1-0	Oldham
07-12-1974		Bolton	0-1	West Brom
14-12-1974		Fulham	1-0	West Brom
21-12-1974		West Brom	2-0	Aston Villa
26-12-1974		Man Utd	2-1	West Brom
28-12-1974		West Brom	2-0	Blackpool
04-01-1975	FA Cup 3^rd Rd	Bolton	0-0	West Brom
08-01-1975	FA Cup 3^rd Rd Replay	West Brom	4-0	Bolton
18-01-1975		Oldham	0-0	West Brom
25-01-1975	FA Cup 4^th Rd	Carlisle	3-2	West Brom
01-02-1975		West Brom	0-3	Southampton
08-02-1975		Norwich	3-2	West Brom
15-02-1975		West Brom	1-0	Leyton Orient
22-02-1975		Bristol C	2-1	West Brom
01-03-1975		Sunderland	3-0	West Brom
08-03-1975		West Brom	4-0	Sheff Wed
15-03-1975		Oxford	1-1	West Brom
22-03-1975		West Brom	2-1	Portsmouth
29-03-1975		Aston Villa	3-1	West Brom
31-03-1975		Blackpool	2-0	West Brom
02-04-1975		West Brom	4-1	Notts Co
05-04-1975		West Brom	2-1	Millwall
08-04-1975		West Brom	0-1	Bolton
12-04-1975		York	1-3	West Brom
19-04-1975		West Brom	2-0	Cardiff
26-04-1975		Nottm Forest	2-1	West Brom

	Division Two 1974 - 75	P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Manchester United	42	26	9	7	66	30	2.200	61
2	Aston Villa	42	25	8	9	79	32	2.469	58
3	Norwich City	42	20	13	9	58	37	1.568	53
4	Sunderland	42	19	13	10	65	35	1.857	51
5	Bristol City	42	21	8	13	47	33	1.424	50
6	West Bromwich Albion	42	18	9	15	54	42	1.286	45
7	Blackpool	42	14	17	11	38	33	1.152	45
8	Hull City	42	15	14	13	40	53	0.755	44
9	Fulham	42	13	16	13	44	39	1.128	42
10	Bolton Wanderers	42	15	12	15	45	41	1.098	42
11	Oxford United	42	15	12	15	41	51	0.804	42
12	Orient	42	11	20	11	28	39	0.718	42
13	Southampton	42	15	11	16	53	54	0.981	41
14	Notts County	42	12	16	14	49	59	0.831	40
15	York City	42	14	10	18	51	55	0.927	38
16	Nottingham Forest	42	12	14	16	43	55	0.782	38
17	Portsmouth	42	12	13	17	44	54	0.815	37
18	Oldham Athletic	42	10	15	17	40	48	0.833	35
19	Bristol Rovers	42	12	11	19	42	64	0.656	35
20	Millwall	42	10	12	20	44	56	0.786	32
21	Cardiff City	42	9	14	19	36	62	0.581	32
22	Sheffield Wednesday	42	5	11	26	29	64	0.453	21

1974-75
Latchford	Wile
Nisbet	Mayo
Wilson	Donaghy
Cantello	Osborne
Robertson	Rushbury
Merrick	Trewick
Glover	Thompson
Brown T	Ward
Shaw	Edwards
Hughes	Minton
Johnston	Brown A
	Robson B

1975 - 76

JOHNNY GILES

The 1975-6 season opened with a tour in Ireland, with friendly games at Shamrock Rovers and Finn Harps which showed Albion's glaring weakness a desperate lack of goal-power, with the only goal against two mediocre teams coming from an own goal., in the Anglo-Scottish Cup a home draw with Mansfield Town and a defeat at Leicester meant only runners-up spot in the qualifying group, with only Mansfield progressing to the competition proper, results hardly inspired confidence in the new manager. Things got even worse after the early league games, Giles first game as player-manager in the League was at Southampton, one which he was forced to miss due to injury and his team crashed 0-3 to their bogey team, and later could only draw at home to recently relegated Chelsea,

Giles had brought together a weird and wonderful team that he felt would work best. He had brought in England's World cup hero Geoff Hurst and then replaced him with Walsall's Joe Mayo. Sold Peter Latchford to Celtic and brought John Osborne back from retirement.Loaned Mick Martin from Manchester United and sneaked Paddy Mulligan from Crystal Palace on a free transfer,

The first league win of the season was against Luton, a game in which Albion showed only fleeting glimpses of their true class, the next match was again another defeat at Fulham, who also knocked Albion out of the League Cup shortly afterwards. The first away point of the season was gained at Carlisle on 27th September; the club had slipped to twentieth with the national newspapers predicting a drop into the Third Division. Things needed to be changed

Following the draw at Brunton Park an unbeaten run of ten games started, including six away, to lift the club twelve places. A 2-0 victory at Bristol City, the divisional leaders and eventual runners-up.

The run was broken by a defeat at Plymouth, but the team immediately got back on track with a win against Bolton Wanderers and the win pushed Albion into sixth place. Albion then beat Portsmouth but lost at Luton, swiftly followed by another defeat against Southampton

The Christmas games were marginally better with a 2-0 Boxing Day win at Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest, although they dropped home points to Orient and Sunderland.

In the third round of the FA Cup Carlisle went down 3-1 and in the fourth, Lincoln City the Fourth Division leaders were beaten 3-2. But the cup run ended when Albion's 70s bogey team Southampton came to the Hawthorns and drew then in the replay destroyed the Albion 4-0 with the help of a Mick Channon hat-trick at the Dell.

Back to the League Hull City were surprise 2-1 winners at Boothferry Park. After this slip, two wins at Oxford United and Nott's County pulled them back on course for promotion but In the home game with Blackburn Rovers they found themselves 2-0 in the first ten minutes but they managed to pull back with goals from Mayo and Wile to save the game with a 2-2 draw.

Four days later, at The Hawthorns the top of the table clash with Bristol City, a goal just before half-time by full-back Gerry Sweeny made sure Bristol went back to Ashton Gate with both points. This game was followed with another top table clash just three days later against second placed Bolton Wanderers, but Mayo and Wile were on hand again to seal the points. The team moved into third place after Carlisle had been beaten 3-0. Bristol City and Sunderland by now had almost made certain of promotion with the third place to be decided between Bolton and Albion:

Bolton became everybody's favourites to finish third after Albion had thrown the points away on the Friday night match at Charlton. As well as having a game in hand, Bolton had a vastly superior goal average, but Bolton was cracking, ever since their Cup ties with Newcastle United. Losing at home to Oxford United, York City and Blackburn Rovers, dropping further home points to Plymouth and Forest

A day after York's win at Bolton, Albion beat Fulham to go back into third place meanwhile a Bolton resurgence seemed be on the way with them thrashing Oldham, Albion kept one point ahead with a win over Nottingham Forest. Bolton's Easter Monday defeat at Sunderland made the path to Division One clear with two games remaining, at Orient and Oldham; Albion had to take three points to be certain of promotion.

The task was certainly no easy one; the target could be achieved by scoring a one goal and keeping two clean sheets. At Orient part one of the operations was complete a 0-0 draw.

The goal-less draw set up the final day of the season with a win needed at Oldham.

That day at Oldham will be long remembered by the travelling fans over fifteen thousand of them who made the trip from the Hawthorns. The attendance of 22,536 was three times Oldham's average for the season, the first half was a tense affair and it got worse when news came through that Bolton were winning 4-0 at Charlton. Albion knew the only result acceptable would be a win. Then, in the fifty-fifth minute, Mulligan passed to Martin down the right wing and his cross was nodded down by Ally Brown, to Tony Brown, who juggled the ball 'from his left to his right foot before volleying into the top left-hand corner, to send the army of Albion fans wild behind the goal. Osborne played the game of his life darting and diving between the posts like a twenty year old not a keeper with a plastic knuckle.

The remaining thirty-five minutes were tense, with David Shaw coming close to equalising in the dying minutes when the referee added on a sizeable amount of injury time. Johnny Giles later gave the reason for the extra time as a bit of retribution towards him from the referee, a certain Mr Tinkler who had been at the centre of the controversy in 1971 in the Leeds Game, but as the whistle finally blew, the pitch was invaded by the hordes of Albion fans who refused to leave the until Giles and co answered their chants.

Giles had transformed the Albion from a team of second raters into one of the most capable sides in the League; even now the name of Johnny Giles is still spoken with respect by The Hawthorns faithful who witnessed that season. The second team were close runners-up to Liverpool in the Central League, a few days after the promotion celebrations at Oldham, the Youth team went on to beat Wolves in both legs of the FA Youth Cup Final to bring the trophy to West Bromwich for the first time to cap a great season for the Albion, at all levels.

Oldham Athletic 0 V West Bromwich Albion1

Osborne, Mulligan, Cantello, T.Brown, Wile, Robertson, Martin, A.Brown, Mayo,Giles, Johnston

24th April 1976

Att 22

16-08-1975		Southampton	3-0	West Brom
20-08-1975		West Brom	0-0	Chelsea
23-08-1975		West Brom	1-0	Luton
30-08-1975		Fulham	4-0	West Brom
06-09-1975		West Brom	2-2	York
09-09-1975	League Cup 2^nd Rd	West Brom	1-1	Fulham
13-09-1975		Sunderland	2-0	West Brom
20-09-1975		West Brom	1-1	Charlton
24-09-1975	League Cup 2^nd Rd Replay	Fulham	1-0	West Brom
27-09-1975		Carlisle	1-1	West Brom
04-10-1975		West Brom	1-1	Oldham
11-10-1975		Blackburn	0-0	West Brom
18-10-1975		West Brom	1-0	Plymouth
25-10-1975		Bristol C	0-2	West Brom
01-11-1975		West Brom	0-0	Notts Co
04-11-1975		Bristol R	1-1	West Brom
08-11-1975		Blackpool	0-1	West Brom
12-11-1975		Oxford	0-1	West Brom
15-11-1975		West Brom	2-0	Hull
22-11-1975		Plymouth	2-1	West Brom
29-11-1975		Bolton	1-2	West Brom
06-12-1975		West Brom	3-1	Portsmouth
13-12-1975		Luton	2-1	West Brom
19-12-1975		West Brom	0-2	Southampton
26-12-1975		Nottm Forest	0-2	West Brom
27-12-1975		West Brom	1-1	Leyton Orient
03-01-1976	FA Cup 3^rd Rd	West Brom	3-1	Carlisle
10-01-1976		West Brom	0-0	Sunderland
17-01-1976		York	0-1	West Brom
24-01-1976	FA Cup 4^th Rd	West Brom	3-2	Lincoln
31-01-1976		Chelsea	1-2	West Brom
07-02-1976		West Brom	3-0	Bristol R
14-02-1976	FA Cup 5^th Rd	West Brom	1-1	Southampton
17-02-1976	FA Cup 5^th Rd Replay	Southampton	4-0	West Brom
21-02-1976		Hull	2-1	West Brom
25-02-1976		West Brom	2-0	Oxford
06-03-1976		Notts Co	0-2	West Brom
13-03-1976		West Brom	2-2	Blackburn
17-03-1976		West Brom	0-1	Bristol C
20-03-1976		West Brom	2-0	Bolton
27-03-1976		Portsmouth	0-1	West Brom
31-03-1976		West Brom	0-0	Blackpool
03-04-1976		West Brom	3-0	Carlisle
09-04-1976		Charlton	2-1	West Brom
14-04-1976		West Brom	3-1	Fulham
17-04-1976		West Brom	2-0	Nottm Forest
20-04-1976		Leyton Orient	0-0	West Brom
24-04-1976		Oldham	0-1	West Brom

	Division Two 1975 - 76	P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Sunderland	42	24	8	10	67	36	1.861	56
2	Bristol City	42	19	15	8	59	35	1.686	53
3	West Bromwich Albion	42	20	13	9	50	33	1.515	53
4	Bolton Wanderers	42	20	12	10	64	38	1.684	52
5	Notts County	42	19	11	12	60	41	1.463	49
6	Southampton	42	21	7	14	66	50	1.320	49
7	Luton Town	42	19	10	13	61	51	1.196	48
8	Nottingham Forest	42	17	12	13	55	40	1.375	46
9	Charlton Athletic	42	15	12	15	61	72	0.847	42
10	Blackpool	42	14	14	14	40	49	0.816	42
11	Chelsea	42	12	16	14	53	54	0.981	40
12	Fulham	42	13	14	15	45	47	0.957	40
13	Orient	42	13	14	15	37	39	0.949	40
14	Hull City	42	14	11	17	45	49	0.918	39
15	Blackburn Rovers	42	12	14	16	45	50	0.900	38
16	Plymouth Argyle	42	13	12	17	48	54	0.889	38
17	Oldham Athletic	42	13	12	17	57	68	0.838	38
18	Bristol Rovers	42	11	16	15	38	50	0.760	38
19	Carlisle United	42	12	13	17	45	59	0.763	37
20	Oxford United	42	11	11	20	39	59	0.661	33
21	York City	42	10	8	24	39	71	0.549	28
22	Portsmouth	42	9	7	26	32	61	0.525	25

1975-76
Osborne	Johnston
Nisbet	Brown T
Wilson	Hurst
Cantello	Giles
Wile	Robson B
Robertson	Thompson
Trewick	Rushbury
Brown A	Glover
Mayo	Martin
Merrick	Mulligan
	Edwards

1976 - 77

Instead of searching for new players to strengthen the squad Johnny Giles tendered his resignation before the new season back in the First Division but eventually was persuaded to complete the rest of his two year contract.

The fixtures computer threw out an opening day away tie only Johnny Giles would have wanted at Giles' old club, Leeds, Tony Brown scoring the first goal of the season in the First Division with Ally Brown putting Albion 2 up, but the defence cracked twice in the last five minutes, still a respectable 2-2 draw on the opening day.

The first home game of the season was against Liverpool this was the first of three meetings in 12 days once in the league twice in the league cup and although the team made it difficult for Liverpool the Reds went away with both points.

In the League cup however revenge was gained in the replay at the Hawthorns following a 1-1 draw at Anfield when Mick Martin scored the only goal of the game putting the Albion through to round 3 to meet Third Division Brighton and Hove Albion, the first time the two clubs had ever met.

Albion did not turn up that night and yet again were dumped out of the League cup by Third Division opposition. Shortly after this result Albion over turned a 2-0 half time deficit against Tottenham at The Hawthorns to win 4-2.

In the next home game and another 4 this time against Manchester United. While the home form was very good the away form was very bad losing 2-0 at Newcastle 1-0 at Middlesbrough and a 7-0 pasting at Ipswich Town.

The second away win of the season was at Stoke City when a young Derrick Statham scored after a forty yard run down the wing on his debut in a 2-0 victory.

Ray Treacy rejoined the club he left in 1967 on a free, playing well enough to regain his place in the Eire team, so that there members of Albion's team in the Irish Squad

The transfer of David Cross from £100,000 from Coventry came hot on the heels after an attempt to sign Paul Mariner from Plymouth had been piped at the post by Ipswich Town. Albion now had an experienced centre forward, in the FA Cup Manchester City won the Hawthorns replay by a single goal.

At the start of the season the pundits had predicted a swift return to the second division for the newly promoted sides and Albion were tipped as the most likely of the three to struggle, but Albion were beginning to demonstrate their potential as a team to stay in the top flight following a nine game unbeaten run into fifth place, challenging hard for a place in Europe, with wins at Tottenham in which both Laurie Cunningham and Tony Godden made their debuts another at Arsenal and a four-goal revenge victory over Ipswich saw them finish seventh in the table their highest position in that division since 1965-66 season.

Cunningham joined from Orient in a transfer deal which saw both Allan Glover and Joe Mayo go to Orient. Sorry Orient!

His smooth footwork and speed made him an instant favourite with the fans who soon nicknamed him 'The Black Flash', rivalling Willie Johnston. He was also the first black player to play for Albion. This was at a time when Black players were in a minority and racist chants were common place on the terraces.

Another youngster breaking into the team and also fracturing his leg three times that season was Bryan Robson, who had in fact made his debut in 1975 at York City.

At the end of the season in May another black player joined from non league Hayes for the princely sum of £5,000 Cyrille Regis. Ronnie Allen chief scout at the time spotted Regis playing in the lower league, built more like a boxer than a top class footballer Allen saw something which he knew was raw talent waiting to be unleashed. Ronnie Allen pleaded in vain with the Albion board to buy Regis for £5,000, but Albion's board did not fancy splashing the cash on an untried player so Ronnie Allen whipped out his cheque book out and brought Regis with his own money on the understanding that if Regis made it the club would refund him.

21-08-1976

Leeds

2-2

West Brom

25-08-1976

West Brom

0-1

Liverpool

28-08-1976

West Brom

2-0

Norwich

31-08-1976

League Cup 2^nd Rd

Liverpool

1-1

West Brom

04-09-1976

QPR

1-0

West Brom

09-09-1976

League Cup 2^nd Rd Replay

West Brom

1-0

Liverpool

11-09-1976

Birmingham

0-1

West Brom

17-09-1976

West Brom

1-1

Coventry

22-09-1976

League Cup 3^rd Rd

West Brom

0-2

Brighton

25-09-1976

Derby

2-2

West Brom

02-10-1976

West Brom

4-2

Tottenham

06-10-1976

Newcastle

2-0

West Brom

16-10-1976

West Brom

4-0

Man Utd

23-10-1976

Middlesbro

1-0

West Brom

30-10-1976

West Brom

3-0

West Ham

06-11-1976

Ipswich

7-0

West Brom

10-11-1976

West Brom

1-1

Aston Villa

20-11-1976

Man City

1-0

West Brom

27-11-1976

West Brom

3-0

Everton

11-12-1976

West Brom

2-2

Leicester

18-12-1976

Stoke

0-2

West Brom

27-12-1976

West Brom

1-1

Bristol C

03-01-1977

West Ham

0-0

West Brom

08-01-1977

FA Cup 3^rd Rd

Man City

1-1

West Brom

11-01-1977

FA Cup 3^rd Rd

West Brom

0-1

Man City

15-01-1977

Liverpool

1-1

West Brom

22-01-1977

West Brom

1-2

Leeds

05-02-1977

Norwich

1-0

West Brom

12-02-1977

West Brom

1-1

QPR

22-02-1977

Sunderland

6-1

West Brom

28-02-1977

West Brom

2-1

Birmingham

05-03-1977

West Brom

1-0

Derby

08-03-1977

Arsenal

1-2

West Brom

12-03-1977

Tottenham

0-2

West Brom

16-03-1977

West Brom

4-0

Ipswich

19-03-1977

West Brom

1-1

Newcastle

23-03-1977

Man Utd

2-2

West Brom

02-04-1977

West Brom

2-1

Middlesbro

05-04-1977

Bristol C

1-2

West Brom

09-04-1977

West Brom

0-2

Arsenal

16-04-1977

West Brom

0-2

Man City

19-04-1977

Coventry

1-1

West Brom

30-04-1977

West Brom

2-3

Sunderland

07-05-1977

Leicester

0-5

West Brom

14-05-1977

West Brom

3-1

Stoke

16-05-1977

Everton

1-1

West Brom

23-05-1977

Aston Villa

4-0

West Brom

	Division One 1976 - 77	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Liverpool	42	23	11	8	62	33	+29	57
2	Manchester City	42	21	14	7	60	34	+26	56
3	Ipswich Town	42	22	8	12	66	39	+27	52
4	Aston Villa	42	22	7	13	76	50	+26	51
5	Newcastle United	42	18	13	11	64	49	+15	49
6	Manchester United	42	18	11	13	71	62	+9	47
7	West Bromwich Albion	42	16	13	13	62	56	+6	45
8	Arsenal	42	16	11	15	64	59	+5	43
9	Everton	42	14	14	14	62	64	-2	42
10	Leeds United	42	15	12	15	48	51	-3	42
11	Leicester City	42	12	18	12	47	60	-13	42
12	Middlesbrough	42	14	13	15	40	45	-5	41
13	Birmingham City	42	13	12	17	63	61	+2	38
14	Queens Park Rangers	42	13	12	17	47	52	-5	38
15	Derby County	42	9	19	14	50	55	-5	37
16	Norwich City	42	14	9	19	47	64	-17	37
17	West Ham United	42	11	14	17	46	65	-19	36
18	Bristol City	42	11	13	18	38	48	-10	35
19	Coventry City	42	10	15	17	48	59	-11	35
20	Sunderland	42	11	12	19	46	54	-8	34
21	Stoke City	42	10	14	18	28	51	-23	34
22	Tottenham Hotspur	42	12	9	21	48	72	-24	33

1976-77
Osborne	Robson B
Mulligan	Edwards
Cantello	Tracey
Brown T	Trewick
Wile	Ward
Robertson	Cross
Martin	Statham
Brown A	Godden
Mayo	Cunningham
Giles	Hughes
Johnston

1977 - 78

Albion began the season with a determination not to miss out again. having missed out on entry to Europe by finishing seventh Johnny Giles had left to take over Shamrock Rovers taking a couple of youth team players with him Steve Lynex and Kelvin Crompton, he was replaced by former player 50s legend Ronnie Allen. A great motivator and talent spotter Allen soon tasted success, when Glasgow Rangers were defeated in the final of the pre-season Tennant-Caledonian Cup at Ibrox Park. In the League, Albion started off at a sprint swiftly moving into third place and reaching the fourth round of the League Cup when yet again the Third Division jinx struck losing at Bury.

The 2^nd round of the League Cup tie with Rotherham had seen the debut of Cyrille Regis, from Hayes. Regis scored two goals on his debut, and followed that up by notching an incredible goal on his league debut against Middlesbrough when he outpaced four defenders on a fifty yard run; the impact of Regis made on the team allowed Dave Cross to move to West Ham for £250,000, Regis was missed greatly when he was absent with tonsillitis, Albion without their main striker saw them drop out of the championship race just before Christmas.

Unfortunately, Ronnie Allen had not been offered a contract at the Hawthorns, He had spoken to the directors about signing a contract but, the directors would not offer a contract they wanted to see how the remaining half of the season played out, with Albion sitting near to the top of the division he could do no more than this he was lured away to Saudi Arabia by a lucrative £200,000 three-year contract, an offer too good to refuse.John Wile was given the role as caretaker-manager but his brief spell in charge saw home defeats by Arsenal and Liverpool which meant a further drop.

The new manager, the fifth in seven years was Ron Atkinson, from Cambridge United, who was appointed in time for the FA cup tie against Blackpool resulting in a 4-1 victory, in the fourth round the team had to travel to Manchester United., United gained a draw with a last-minute equalizer, but in a rousing replay at the Hawthorns, they were beaten 3-2 after extra-time with Regis scoring twice. Regis hit the net twice more in the 3-2 win at Derby, by now regaining his early season form, proving a decisive factor in the Cup run. He scored again in the c quarter-final home tie with Nottingham Forest, making Albion one of only four teams to beat Clough's side that year and earning a semi-final meeting with Ipswich Town at Highbury.

The semi-final against former Albion 50s favourite Bobby Robson's Ipswich was a disappointment after an excellent season, As Albion were hit by two early goals before they had settled, from Talbot and Mills in the first quarter of an hour. Then, after they had pulled back a goal from a Tony Brown penalty Albion conceded a late goal to end their chances. Mick Martin was sent off shortly after Brown's goal then a further blow as John Wile covered in blood, had to be substituted after he had battled on bravely for most of the match with a nasty head injury he had suffered in trying to prevent the first goal in a clash with Brian Talbot., the argument still rages on whether he should have come of sooner and as to whether his presence led to Albion losing in the manner they did.

That defeat was one of only four in Atkinson's first twenty-two games as manager, ending the season in sixth place and earning a place in the EUFA Cup,

20-08-1977		West Brom	3-0	Chelsea
24-08-1977		Leeds	2-2	West Brom
27-08-1977		Liverpool	3-0	West Brom
31-08-1977	League Cup 2^nd Rd	West Brom	4-0	Rotherham
03-09-1977		West Brom	2-1	Middlesbro
10-09-1977		Newcastle	0-3	West Brom
17-09-1977		West Brom	2-2	Wolves
24-09-1977		West Brom	3-1	Birmingham
01-10-1977		Coventry	1-2	West Brom
04-10-1977		Everton	3-1	West Brom
08-10-1977		West Brom	1-0	Ipswich
15-10-1977		Derby	1-1	West Brom
22-10-1977		West Brom	4-0	Man Utd
25-10-1977	League Cup 3^rd Rd	West Brom	1-0	Watford
29-10-1977		QPR	2-1	West Brom
05-11-1977		West Brom	2-0	Leicester
12-11-1977		West Ham	3-3	West Brom
19-11-1977		West Brom	0-0	Man City
26-11-1977		Nottm Forest	0-0	West Brom
29-11-1977	League Cup 4^th Rd	Bury	1-0	West Brom
03-12-1977		West Brom	0-0	Norwich
10-12-1977		Aston Villa	3-0	West Brom
17-12-1977		West Brom	1-0	West Ham
26-12-1977		Bristol C	3-1	West Brom
27-12-1977		West Brom	1-3	Arsenal
31-12-1977		West Brom	1-0	Leeds
02-01-1978		Chelsea	2-2	West Brom
07-01-1978	FA Cup 3^rd Rd	West Brom	4-1	Blackpool
14-01-1978		West Brom	0-1	Liverpool
21-01-1978		Middlesbro	1-0	West Brom
28-01-1978	FA Cup 4^th Rd	Man Utd	1-1	West Brom
01-02-1978	FA Cup 4^th Rd Replay	West Brom	3-2	Man Utd
22-02-1978	FA Cup 5^th Rd	Derby	2-3	West Brom
25-02-1978		West Brom	3-3	Coventry
28-02-1978		Birmingham	1-2	West Brom
04-03-1978		Ipswich	2-2	West Brom
11-03-1978	FA Cup 6^th Rd	West Brom	2-0	Nottm Forest
14-03-1978		Wolves	1-1	West Brom
18-03-1978		Man Utd	1-1	West Brom
22-03-1978		West Brom	2-0	QPR
25-03-1978		Arsenal	4-0	West Brom
27-03-1978		West Brom	2-1	Bristol C
01-04-1978		Leicester	0-1	West Brom
08-04-1978	FA Cup Semi Final	Ipswich	3-1	West Brom
12-04-1978		West Brom	2-0	Newcastle
15-04-1978		Man City	1-3	West Brom
18-04-1978		West Brom	1-0	Derby
22-04-1978		West Brom	0-3	Aston Villa
25-04-1978		West Brom	3-1	Everton
29-04-1978		Norwich	1-1	West Brom
02-05-1978		West Brom	2-2	Nottm Forest

	Division One 1977 - 78	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Nottingham Forest	42	25	14	3	69	24	+45	64
2	Liverpool	42	24	9	9	65	34	+31	57
3	Everton	42	22	11	9	76	45	+31	55
4	Manchester City	42	20	12	10	74	51	+23	52
5	Arsenal	42	21	10	11	60	37	+23	52
6	West Bromwich Albion	42	18	14	10	62	53	+9	50
7	Coventry City	42	18	12	12	75	62	+13	48
8	Aston Villa	42	18	10	14	57	42	+15	46
9	Leeds United	42	18	10	14	63	53	+10	46
10	Manchester United	42	16	10	16	67	63	+4	42
11	Birmingham City	42	16	9	17	55	60	-5	41
12	Derby County	42	14	13	15	54	59	-5	41
13	Norwich City	42	11	18	13	52	66	-14	40
14	Middlesbrough	42	12	15	15	42	54	-12	39
15	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	12	12	18	51	64	-13	36
16	Chelsea	42	11	14	17	46	69	-23	36
17	Bristol City	42	11	13	18	49	53	-4	35
18	Ipswich Town	42	11	13	18	47	61	-14	35
19	Queens Park Rangers	42	9	15	18	47	64	-17	33
20	West Ham United	42	12	8	22	52	69	-17	32
21	Newcastle United	42	6	10	26	42	78	-36	22
22	Leicester City	42	5	12	25	26	70	-44	22

12th November 1977 West Ham United 3-3 West Brom

1977-78
Godden	Robson B
Mulligan	Johnston
Statham	Trewick
Brown T	Regis
Wile	Martin
Robertson	Hughes
Cantello	Brown A
Cunningham	Batson
Cross

1978 - 79

West Bromwich Albion's Centenary season, by far their best for twenty-five years, without winning anything. Nothing, Nil, Nowt, Nada, Zilch and yet this will always be remembered as one of West Bromwich Albion's best seasons. How close they came without winning a trophy still remains a mystery. This was the season that the treble could have been achieved League, FA Cup and EUFA Cup; the Centenary season must go down as the best in the club's history.

In May the club was, selected to be the representatives of the Football Association, to spread English football to new boundaries with a prestige tour of China.

Actually the England international squad had been pencilled in to play the ambassadors role but for diplomatic reasons the tour was to be cancelled, but Sir Bert Millerchip the president of the FA and president of West Bromwich Albion seized the opportunity knowing that all the travel and accommodation had been paid for, so why waste a decent all expenses' paid trip to the Orient and pushed Albion's name forward.

The tour turned out to be a culture shock for a lot of the players, the nearest most of the players had been to China was for a curry from Jade Garden on Carters Green, while on a visit to The Great Wall Of China John Trewick remarked he had bent a ball around bigger walls. This was met with the Chinese delegates smiling through gritted teeth and nodding.

The tour, eventually, turned out to be a great success. Albion won all five games in style, From the Albion's point of view the travelling involved invaluable preparation for their forthcoming venture into Europe, and they also later added another pre-season tour, of Syria.

Willie Johnston the Scottish International was sent home in disgrace from the World Cup squad in Argentina for taking stimulants before the qualifying game with Peru. This meant that not only was he banned for life from international football and from Albion's EUFA Cup campaign, the disruption that this caused made his decision to move to Vancouver Whitecaps, Albion travelled northwards to defend their Tennant-Caledonian Cup at Ibrox Park, but two incompetent displays against Southampton and Hearts meant a fourth place position, hardly the best of starts.

The start of the league season, opened with an Ally Brown goal within twenty seconds of the kick-off, with a 2-1 win at home to Ipswich.

The first point dropped, in fact was at the ground of champions Nottingham Forest, in a 0-0 draw

In the League Cup, three games were needed against Leeds, before Paul Hart scrambled the only goal of the tie at neutral Maine Road. The long Cup tie had its effect in the League, with two defeats at Derby and at home to Tottenham Albion bounced back solidly with a revenge 3-1 win at Elland Road this set them on the road to a new club record run of nineteen games without defeat.

The team during that period was devastating as they picked up 23 points out of a possible 26, with a 7-1 massacre of Coventry and compelling away wins at Arsenal and the famous 5-3 win over Manchester United.

The team were tipped most likely to halt Liverpool's relentless push to their eleventh championship. on 6th January when a 1-1 draw at Carrow Road Norwich took Albion to the top of the First Division for the first time in thirteen years.

Then came the Big Freeze this was one opponent that would not be pushed aside. Snow blanketed the league grounds for thirteen weeks. In an effort to keep the players match-fit, enterprising manager Ron Atkinson arranged several friendlies, including a testimonial match with Nottingham Forest at Southern League Witney Town ground capacity 3,500 in deepest Oxfordshire and a hastily agreed friendly with Birmingham City for the Arctic Cup' in ice-free Guernsey.

Despite the manager's efforts, not playing competitive league games took its toll the first game back after the enforced break was the crucial one at, Albion never found their true form and lost 1-2 to be toppled from their perch at the top.

The following week, Leeds United came to the Hawthorns and won 2-1 a second nail in the coffin of Albion's title dream.

There was still the FA Cup, again the competition suffered heavily from the weather, with countless postponements delaying the Fourth Round almost to the intended date of the Sixth Round.

In the Third Round, Coventry were easily beaten 4-0 after a 2-2 draw at Highfield Road to earn an away tie with Leeds, however this was played at The Hawthorns because of the FA ban on Cup games at Elland Road. Yet again a replay was necessary as Leeds pulled back two goals in the final ten minutes to earn a 3-3 draw. In the replay, again at the Hawthorns, only another two very late goals, in the dying minutes of extra-time prevented another game with Leeds.

Hopes of another semi-final appearance were shattered by 70s bogey team Southampton who took Albion to a replay at the Dell and won 2-1 in extra-time

With no chance left of domestic honours, Albion began to concentrate on Europe, where by the quarter finals they were one of the favourites to win the EUFA Cup, on the strength of their earlier performances against. Galatasary Turkey and Sporting Braga Portugal and the third round opponents Valencia with their World Cup stars Mario Kempes and Rainher Bonhof. Albion produced a brilliant draw in the Luis Casanova Stadium and were given a standing ovation by the normally highly partisan Spaniards. This game also brought Laurie Cunningham to the attention of the scouts of Real Madrid

In the second leg, Albion cruised home with two Tony Brown goals. Again destroyed by the pace of Cunningham

The quarter-final draw saw Albion meet the famous Red Star Belgrade ended Albion's unbeaten record in the competition with a very late free-kick special from Savic. In the previous round Red Star had beaten Arsenal by the same score before snatching the tie with a late goal to draw at Highbury,

The aggregate score was levelled in the second leg at the Hawthorns with a first half Cyrille Regis goal. In the second half the Red Star players gradually began to emerge from their shell to threaten the Albion. they went close Several times until two minutes from time, when it looked as if Red Star had settled for extra-time and penalties, they broke down the centre of the pitch, evading unimpressive challenges from the Albion midfield for Sestic to press on past Robertson to plant the ball high into the net past Tony Godden to stun the Hawthorns crowd. For the Albion 31,500 supporters, to be undeservedly eliminated by a vastly inferior team. Was the low point of the season.

With the Euro dream over the team moved back to the League race for a desperate last chance to overtake the Merseyside's, winning five successive games. The decisive period was at Easter. Liverpool suffered a rare defeat at Aston Villa which served to open up the tussle for the title if Albion could accumulate a maximum six points over the holiday.

The Easter fixtures were a complete disaster. On Good Friday it needed a last minute Regis goal to salvage a point at Southampton whilst only a second-half equalizer saved a point against Arsenal the. Worst of all, the team failed in the Tuesday game at Ashton Gate against Bristol City, losing a horrible game 1 -0 to concede any chance of winning the title.

The only targets to aim for were the overtaking of several club records and aim to finish as runners-up behind Liverpool. A brief return to form saw two away wins at Everton and Aston Villa but another uninspiring effort at Tottenham left the runners-up spot in the balance until the last game at home to third placed Nottingham Forest.

Albion were on 59 points to Forest's 58 so that a draw would equal Albion's record points total of 1920 and give them second place, while Clough's Forest needed a win.

As so often during the year, Albion dominated but wasted chances, the defence eventually cracked to allow Forest a chance of an eighty-first-minute goal from the £1 million Trevor Francis which settled the league placings.

At the end of the season Ron Atkinson. Strengthened the squad, signing Brendan Batson from his former club Cambridge United to replace Paddy Mulligan at right-back and David Mills for £520,000 from Middlesbrough.


19-08-1978		West Brom	2-1	Ipswich
22-08-1978		QPR	0-1	West Brom
26-08-1978		West Brom	4-0	Bolton
29-08-1978	League Cup 2^nd Rd	West Brom	0-0	Leeds
02-09-1978		Nottm Forest	0-0	West Brom
06-09-1978		Leeds	0-0	West Brom
09-09-1978		West Brom	2-2	Norwich
13-09-1978	UEFA Cup 2nd Rd 1^st Leg	Galatasaray	1-3	West Brom
16-09-1978		Derby	3-2	West Brom
23-09-1978		West Brom	1-1	Liverpool
27-09-1978	UEFA Cup 2^nd Rd 2^nd Leg	West Brom	3-1	Galatasaray
30-09-1978		Chelsea	1-3	West Brom
02-10-1978		Leeds	1-0	West Brom
07-10-1978		West Brom	0-1	Tottenham
14-10-1978		Leeds	1-3	West Brom
18-10-1978	UEFA Cup 3^rd Rd 1^st Leg	Braga	0-2	West Brom
21-10-1978		West Brom	7-1	Coventry
28-10-1978		Man City	2-2	West Brom
01-11-1978	UEFA Cup 3^rd Rd 2^nd Leg	West Brom	1-0	Braga
04-11-1978		West Brom	1-0	Birmingham
11-11-1978		Ipswich	0-1	West Brom
18-11-1978		Bolton	0-1	West Brom
22-11-1978	UEFA Cup 4th Rd 1^st Leg	Valencia	1-1	West Brom
25-11-1978		West Brom	1-1	Aston Villa
06-12-1978	UEFA Cup 4th Rd 2^nd Leg	West Brom	2-0	Valencia
09-12-1978		West Brom	2-0	Middlesbro
16-12-1978		Wolves	0-3	West Brom
26-12-1978		Arsenal	1-2	West Brom
30-12-1978		Man Utd	3-5	West Brom
01-01-1979		West Brom	3-1	Bristol C
09-01-1979	FA Cup 3^rd RD	Coventry	2-2	West Brom
13-01-1979		Norwich	1-1	West Brom
15-01-1979	FA Cup 3^rd Rd Replay	West Brom	4-0	Coventry
03-02-1979		Liverpool	2-1	West Brom
24-02-1979		West Brom	1-2	Leeds
26-02-1979	FA Cup 4^th Rd	Leeds	3-3	West Brom
01-03-1979	FA Cup 4^th Rd Replay	West Brom	2-0	Leeds
03-03-1979		Coventry	1-3	West Brom
07-03-1979	UEFA Cup 5^th Rd 1^st Leg	Red Star Belgrade	1-0	West Brom
10-03-1979	FA Cup 5^th Rd	West Brom	1-1	Southampton
12-03-1979	FA Cup 5^th Rd Replay	Southampton	2-1	West Brom
14-03-1979		West Brom	1-0	Chelsea
21-03-1979	UEFA Cup 5^th Rd 2^nd Leg	West Brom	1-1	Red Star Belgrade
24-03-1979		West Brom	2-1	QPR
26-03-1979		West Brom	2-1	Derby
04-04-1979		West Brom	4-0	Man City
07-04-1979		West Brom	1-0	Everton
13-04-1979		Southampton	1-1	West Brom
14-04-1979		West Brom	1-1	Arsenal
17-04-1979		Bristol C	1-0	West Brom
21-04-1979		West Brom	1-1	Wolves
24-04-1979		Birmingham	1-1	West Brom
28-04-1979		Middlesbro	1-1	West Brom
01-05-1979		Everton	0-2	West Brom
05-05-1979		West Brom	1-0	Man Utd
08-05-1979		West Brom	1-0	Southampton
11-05-1979		Aston Villa	0-1	West Brom
14-05-1979		Tottenham	1-0	West Brom
18-05-1979		West Brom	0-1	Nottm Forest

	Division One 1978 - 79	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Liverpool	42	30	8	4	85	16	+69	68
2	Nottingham Forest	42	21	18	3	61	26	+35	60
3	West Bromwich Albion	42	24	11	7	72	35	+37	59
4	Everton	42	17	17	8	52	40	+12	51
5	Leeds United	42	18	14	10	70	52	+18	50
6	Ipswich Town	42	20	9	13	63	49	+14	49
7	Arsenal	42	17	14	11	61	48	+13	48
8	Aston Villa	42	15	16	11	59	49	+10	46
9	Manchester United	42	15	15	12	60	63	-3	45
10	Coventry City	42	14	16	12	58	68	-10	44
11	Tottenham Hotspur	42	13	15	14	48	61	-13	41
12	Middlesbrough	42	15	10	17	57	50	+7	40
13	Bristol City	42	15	10	17	47	51	-4	40
14	Southampton	42	12	16	14	47	53	-6	40
15	Manchester City	42	13	13	16	58	56	+2	39
16	Norwich City	42	7	23	12	51	57	-6	37
17	Bolton Wanderers	42	12	11	19	54	75	-21	35
18	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	13	8	21	44	68	-24	34
19	Derby County	42	10	11	21	44	71	-27	31
20	Queens Park Rangers	42	6	13	23	45	73	-28	25
21	Birmingham City	42	6	10	26	37	64	-27	22
22	Chelsea	42	5	10	27	44	92	-48	20

UEFA Cup 2nd Round 2nd leg September 27th 1978

West Bromwich Albion 3 ( Cunningham pen Robson Trewick) Galatasary 1

Att 22,380

Godden (Grew) ,Batson, Statham, Cunningham, Wile, Robertson, Robson, A.Brown, Regis, Cantello,Trewick,(T.Brown)

Leeds United V West Brom 14/10/1978

25,931

UEFA Cup 3rd Round 2nd leg November 1st 1978

West Bromwich Albion 1 ( A.Brown ) Sporting Braga 0

Att 26,036

Godden ,Batson, Statham, Cunningham, Wile, Robertson, Robson (Martin), A.Brown, Regis, Cantello,(Trewick,)T.Brown

UEFA Cup 4th Round 2nd leg December 6th 1978

West Bromwich Albion 2 ( Brown 2 (1pen) Valencia 0

Att 35,118

Godden ,Batson, Statham, Trewick, Wile, Robertson, Robson, T.Brown, Regis, Cantello,Cunningham,

Wolves V West Brom 16/12/1979 29,117

3 -0 SCORERS A.Brown 2 T.Brown ENJOY!!!!!!!

Godden, Batson, Statham, T.Brown, Wile, Robertson, Robson, A.Brown, Regis, Cantello, Cunningham.

Manchester United 3 West Bromwich Albion 5

December 30th 1978

Godden, Batson, Statham, T.Brown, Wile, Robertson, Robson, A.Brown, Regis, Cantello, Cunningham.

On 30th December 1978 Ron Atkinson took his Albion team to Old Trafford to face Manchester United. Albion went there on the back of a 10 game unbeaten run and although United were out of sorts winning only three of there last six games they were still a force at home. The last game of 1978 and United desperately needed to finish on a high note in front of their fans. When McIlroy sent over a corner for Greenhoff to put the home team in front from 20 yards they must have thought they could win. There was a bus strike in Manchester that weekend so the crowd was down on what would normally be expected, but the 45,091 crowd who managed to get there never expected what was to unfold. Cunningham put Tony Brown through who hit the back of the net. Again Cunningham picked up the went past Copell and McCreary to play a ball between two players to find Regis on the edge of the area he in turn back healed it to Cantello who thumped it past Bailey in the United goal. United suddenly finding themselves 2 - 1 down stepped up a gear to equalise through McQueen. As half time neared a mix up in the Albion defence lost possession to McIlroy who scored for the home team to regain the lead. Almost on the stroke of half time Tony Brown struck again to equalise 3 - 3 at half time. The second half started the way the first half had finished with Cunningham continuing to use his pace and skill to out run the United defence. Robertson had an header saved on the line. Cunningham again set of on a run eventually being stopped on the edge of the area only for the ball to fall to Regis who hit a shot from around 25 yds for Bailey to stop again, Godden who was also doing his bit in the Albion goal played the ball up field for Regis to knock on to Cunnigham who out paced his marker to score Albion's fourth, Regis must have thought his own personnel luck was out that afternoon having made goals and being prevented from scoring by Bailey did however manage to get on the score sheet , again Cunningham picked the ball near to his own area ran into the United half played into Ali Brown who in turn played in Regis who scored to make it 5 - 3 a fitting end to Albion's best away performance for a long time.

West Brom 3 Bristol City 0 Albion proved you can play on snow

Liverpool 2 West Brom 1

03/02/1979

UEFA Cup 5th Round 1st leg March 7th 1979

Red Star Belgrade 1 West Bromwich Albion 0

Att 95,300

Godden ,Batson, Statham, T.Brown, Wile, Robertson, Robson, A.Brown, Regis, Trewick, Cunningham,

UEFA Cup 5th Round 2nd leg March 21st 1979

West Bromwich Albion 1 (Regis) Red Star Belgrade 1

Att 31,58718

Godden ,Batson, Statham, T.Brown, Wile, Robertson, Robson, A.Brown, Regis, Cantello,Cunningham,

1978-79
Godden	Cantello
Batson	Cunningham
Statham	Johnston
Brown T	Trewick
Wile	Martin
Robertson	Mills
Robson B	Summerfield
Brown A	Bennett
Regis

1979 - 80

This season never met the anticipated heights of the previous season. The impact they had made on Europe reaching the quarter finals of the Uefa was soon forgotten when they were dumped out in the Second Round of this seasons competition by the East German side Carl Zeiss Jena losing both legs 2-0 in Germany and 2-1 at home after receiving a bye in the First Rd. By 15^th September they had only picked up 2 points from a possible 10 points. Gary Owen and Peter Barnes had been brought from Manchester City to replace Laurie Cunningham who had been sold to Real Madrid and an ageing Len Cantello who went to Bolton. John Deehan was also brought from Aston Villa and Gary Pendry arrived from Birmingham City. Both Barnes and Owen took time to settle in but when the two faced their old team in September at the Hawthorns they began showing why Ron Atkinson had brought them, by master minding a 4-0 win over Manchester City many fans could not understand why Barnes was in the side at all,.

That victory kick started the season and a mini revival started only losing four games until Christmas.

In the league cup progress to the Fourth Round was made but this was finally halted by Norwich City 3-0 in a replay at Carrow Road.

The FA cup Third Round in January was no better with a 1-1 draw at The Hawthorns with West Ham United followed by a 2-1 defeat at The Boleyn Ground. Following the exit from the FA Cup Albion only won Five times in the second half of the season drawing eleven and losing three. A poor season by Albion's new found standards.

18-08-1979		West Brom	0-0	Derby
22-08-1979		Man Utd	2-0	West Brom
25-08-1979		Liverpool	3-1	West Brom
29-08-1979	League Cup 2^nd Rd	West Brom	1-1	Fulham
01-09-1979		West Brom	1-5	Nottm Forest
05-09-1979	League Cup 2^nd Rd Replay	West Brom	1-0	Fulham
08-09-1979		Bolton	0-0	West Brom
15-09-1979		West Brom	4-0	Man City
19-09-1979	UEFA Cup	C Zeiss Jena	2-0	West Brom
22-09-1979		Tottenham	1-1	West Brom
26-09-1979	League Cup 3^rd Rd	West Brom	2-1	Coventry
29-09-1979		West Brom	2-2	Brighton
03-10-1979	UEFA Cup 1^st Rd	West Brom	1-2	C Zeiss Jena
06-10-1979		Middlesbro	2-1	West Brom
10-10-1979		West Brom	2-0	Man Utd
13-10-1979		Aston Villa	0-0	West Brom
20-10-1979		West Brom	4-0	Southampton
27-10-1979		West Brom	4-1	Coventry
31-10-1979	League Cup 4^th Rd	West Brom	0-0	Norwich
03-11-1979		Derby	2-1	West Brom
07-11-1979	League Cup 4^th rd Replay	Norwich	3-0	West Brom
10-11-1979		West Brom	2-1	Norwich
17-11-1979		Leeds	1-0	West Brom
24-11-1979		Wolves	0-0	West Brom
01-12-1979		West Brom	1-1	Everton
08-12-1979		Stoke	3-2	West Brom
15-12-1979		West Brom	2-2	Arsenal
26-12-1979		West Brom	3-0	Bristol C
29-12-1979		West Brom	0-2	Liverpool
01-01-1980		Ipswich	4-0	West Brom
05-01-1980	FA Cup 3^rd Rd	West Brom	1-1	West Ham
08-01-1980	FA Cup 3^rd Rd Replay	West Ham	2-1	West Brom
12-01-1980		Nottm Forest	3-1	West Brom
26-01-1980		C Palace	2-2	West Brom
02-02-1980		Man City	1-3	West Brom
09-02-1980		West Brom	2-1	Tottenham
16-02-1980		Brighton	0-0	West Brom
23-02-1980		West Brom	1-2	Aston Villa
01-03-1980		Southampton	1-1	West Brom
08-03-1980		Coventry	0-2	West Brom
14-03-1980		West Brom	0-0	Middlesbro
18-03-1980		West Brom	4-4	Bolton
22-03-1980		Norwich	1-1	West Brom
29-03-1980		West Brom	2-1	Leeds
01-04-1980		West Brom	3-0	C Palace
05-04-1980		Bristol C	0-0	West Brom
07-04-1980		West Brom	0-0	Ipswich
19-04-1980		West Brom	0-0	Wolves
26-04-1980		Arsenal	1-1	West Brom
28-04-1980		Everton	0-0	West Brom
03-05-1980		West Brom	0-1	Stoke

	DIVISION ONE 1979 - 80	P	W	D	L	GF	GA
1	Liverpool	42	25	10	7	81	30	+51	60
2	Manchester United	42	24	10	8	65	35	+30	58
3	Ipswich Town	42	22	9	11	68	39	+29	53
4	Arsenal	42	18	16	8	52	36	+16	52
5	Nottingham Forest	42	20	8	14	63	43	+20	48
6	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	19	9	14	58	47	+11	47
7	Aston Villa	42	16	14	12	51	50	+1	46
8	Southampton	42	18	9	15	65	53	+12	45
9	Middlesbrough	42	16	12	14	50	44	+6	44
10	West Bromwich Albion	42	11	19	12	54	50	+4	41
11	Leeds United	42	13	14	15	46	50	-4	40
12	Norwich City	42	13	14	15	58	66	-8	40
13	Crystal Palace	42	12	16	14	41	50	-9	40
14	Tottenham Hotspur	42	15	10	17	52	62	-10	40
15	Coventry City	42	16	7	19	56	66	-10	39
16	Brighton & Hove Albion	42	11	15	16	47	57	-10	37
17	Manchester City	42	12	13	17	43	66	-23	37
18	Stoke City	42	13	10	19	44	58	-14	36
19	Everton	42	9	17	16	43	51	-8	35
20	Bristol City	42	9	13	20	37	66	-29	31
21	Derby County	42	11	8	23	47	67	-20	30
22	Bolton Wanderers	42	5	15	22	38	73	-35	25

West Brom 4 Manchester City 0 Barnes and Owen face their old team 15/09/1979 22,267

1979-80
Godden	Barnes
Batson	Mills
Statham	Summerfield
Trewick	Dehan
Wile	Pendry
Robertson	Regis
Robson B	Bennett
Brown A	Moses
Brown T	Monaghan
Owen	Cowdrill

Hodgson

First Team Strip 1970 - 1979

Copyright Historical Football Kits and reproduced by kind permission.