West Bromwich Albion F.C.

West Bromwich Albion Football Club, also known as West Brom, The Baggies, The Throstles, Albion or WBA, is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich in the West Midlands. The club was formed in 1878 and have played at their home ground since 1900.

Albion were one of the founding members of The Football League in 1888 and have spent the majority of their existence in the top tier of English football. They have been champions of England once, in 1919–20, but have had more success in the FA Cup, with five wins. The first came in 1888, the year the league was founded, and the most recent in 1968, their last major trophy. They also won the Football League Cup at the first attempt in 1966. The club's longest consecutive period in the top division was between 1949 and 1973, and from 1986 to 2002 they spent their longest ever period out of the top division. The 2011–12 season is their sixth season in the Premier League since 2002.
The team has played in blue and white stripes for most of the club's history. Albion have a number of long-standing rivalries with other Midlands clubs; their traditional rivals have always been Aston Villa, but more recently their major rivalry has been with Wolverhampton Wanderers, with whom they contest the Black Country derby.

History

Main article: History of West Bromwich Albion F.C.

For a statistical breakdown by season, see West Bromwich Albion F.C. seasons.

The club was founded as West Bromwich Strollers in 1878 by workers from George Salter's Spring Works in West Bromwich, then in Staffordshire but now part of the West Midlands administrative county. They were renamed West Bromwich Albion in 1880, becoming the first team to adopt the Albion suffix. Albion was a district of West Bromwich where some of the players lived or worked, close to what is today Greets Green. The club joined the Birmingham & District Football Association in 1881 and became eligible for their first competition, the Birmingham Cup. They reached the quarter-finals, beating several longer-established clubs on the way. In 1883, Albion won their first trophy, the Staffordshire Cup. Albion joined the Football Association in the same year; this enabled them to enter the FA Cup for the first time in the 1883–84 season. In 1885 the club turned professional, and in 1886 they reached the FA Cup final for the first time, losing 2–0 to Blackburn Rovers in a replay. They reached the final again in 1887, but lost 2–0 to Aston Villa. In 1888 the team won the trophy for the first time, beating strong favourites Preston North End 2–1 in the final.

The Albion team of 1888, FA Cup winners and Football League founder members

In March 1888, William McGregor wrote to what he considered to be the top five English teams, including Albion, informing them of his intention to form an association of clubs that would play each other home and away each season. Thus when the Football League started later that year, Albion became one of the twelve founder members. Albion's second FA Cup success came in 1892, beating Aston Villa 3–0. They met Villa again in the 1895 final, but lost 1–0. The team suffered relegation to Division Two in 1900–01, their first season at The Hawthorns. They were promoted as champions the following season but relegated again in 1903–04. The club won the Division Two championship once more in 1910–11, and the following season reached another FA Cup Final, where they were defeated by Second Division Barnsley in a replay.
Albion won the Football League title in 1919–20 for the only time in their history following the end of the First World War, their totals of 104 goals and 60 points both breaking the previous league records. The team finished as Division One runners-up in 1924–25, narrowly losing out to Huddersfield Town, but were relegated in 1926–27. In 1930–31 they won promotion as well as the FA Cup, beating Birmingham 2–1 in the final. The "Double" of winning the FA Cup and promotion has not been achieved before or since.  Albion reached the final again in 1935, losing to Sheffield Wednesday, but were relegated three years later. They gained promotion in 1948–49, and there followed the club's longest unbroken spell in the top flight of English football, a total of 24 years.
In 1953–54 Albion came close to being the first team in the 20th century to win the League and Cup double. They succeeded in winning the FA Cup, beating Preston 3–2, but a loss of form towards the end of the season meant that they finished as runners-up to fierce rivals Wolves in the league. Nonetheless, Albion became known for their brand of fluent, attacking football, with the 1953–54 side being hailed as "The Team of the Century". One national newspaper went so far as to suggest that the team be chosen en masse to represent England at the 1954 World Cup finals. They remained one of the top English sides for the remainder of the decade, reaching the semi-final of the 1957 FA Cup and achieving three consecutive top five finishes in Division One between 1957–58 and 1959–60.

Memorabilia from the 1954  FA Cup Final

Although their league form was less impressive during the 1960s, the second half of the decade saw West Bromwich Albion establish a reputation as a successful cup side. In 1966, under manager Jimmy Hagan, they beat West Ham in their first League Cup appearance, winning 5–3 on aggregate in the last two-legged final. The following year they reached the final again, the first at Wembley, but lost 3–2 to Third Division QPR after being 2–0 up at half-time.  Albion's cup form continued under Hagan's successor Alan Ashman. He guided the club to their last major trophy to date, the 1968 FA Cup, when they beat Everton in extra time thanks to a single goal from Jeff Astle.  Albion reached the FA Cup semi-final and European Cup Winners Cup quarter-final in 1969, and were defeated 2–1 by Manchester City in the 1970 League Cup Final.
The club were less successful during the reign of Don Howe, and were relegated to Division Two at the end of 1972–1973, but gained promotion three years later under the guidance of player-manager Johnny Giles.  Under Ron Atkinson, Albion reached the 1978 FA Cup semi-final but lost to Ipswich Town. They were then the first Western football team to tour China, playing several exhibition games over 3 weeks^. In 1978–79, the team finished third in Division One, their highest placing for over 20 years, and also reached the UEFA Cup quarter-final, where they were defeated by Red Star Belgrade. In his second spell as manager, Ronnie Allen guided the team to both domestic cup semi-finals in 1981–82.  The mid-1980s saw the start of Albion's longest and deepest decline. They were relegated in 1985–86 with the worst record in the club's history,  beginning a period of sixteen years outside the top flight. Five years later the club were relegated to the Third Division for the first time.

Crowd scenes following The Great Escape, 15 May 2005

Albion had spent the majority of their history in the top-flight of English football, but when the FA Premier League was founded in 1992 the club found themselves in the third tier, which had been renamed Division Two. In 1992–93 Albion finished fourth and entered the playoffs for the first time, having just missed out the previous year. Albion's first appearance at Wembley for over twenty years—and their last ever at the original stadium—saw them beat Port Vale 3–0 to return to the second level – now renamed the First Division. Manager Ossie Ardiles then joined Tottenham Hotspur however, and a succession of managers over the next few seasons saw Albion consolidate their Division One status without ever mounting a serious promotion challenge.
The appointment of Gary Megson in March 2000 heralded an upturn in the club’s fortunes. Megson guided Albion to Division One safety in 1999–2000, and to the play-offs a year later. He went on to lead the club to promotion to the Premier League in 2001–02.  After being relegated in their first Premier League season, they made an immediate return to the top flight in 2003–04.  In 2004–05 Megson's successor, former Albion midfielder Bryan Robson, led the team to a last-day “Great Escape”, when Albion became the first Premier League club to avoid relegation having been bottom of the table at Christmas. However they failed to avoid the drop the following season, and Robson was replaced by Tony Mowbray in October 2006. The club competed in the Championship promotion playoff final at Wembley Stadium on 28 May 2007, but lost 1–0 to Derby County. The following season Mowbray led the Baggies to Wembley again, this time in the semi-finals of the FA Cup, where they lost 1–0 to Portsmouth. One month later, Albion were promoted to the Premier League as winners of the Championship, but were relegated at the end of the 2008–09 campaign. In June 2009, Mowbray left the club to manage Celtic and was replaced by Roberto Di Matteo in the role of head coach. Di Matteo led the club back to the Premier League at the first attempt, but was dismissed in February 2011 and replaced by Roy Hodgson.

  Colours

Albion's strip from 1882–83 was one of many variations worn by the club during the 1880s. Note that the actual kit had long sleeves.

Albion's most common away colours during the late 20th and early 21st century

West Bromwich Albion have played in navy blue and white striped shirts for the majority of their existence, usually with white shorts and white socks. The team is occasionally referred to as The Stripes by supporters^. A number of different colours were trialled during the club's formative years however, including cardinal red and blue quarters in 1880–81, yellow and white quarters in 1881–82, chocolate and blue halves in 1881–82 and 1882–83, red and white hoops in 1882–83, chocolate and white in 1883–84 and cardinal red and blue halves in 1884–85. The blue and white stripes made their first appearance in the 1885–86 season, although at that time they were of a lighter shade of blue; the navy blue stripes did not appear until after the First World War. For the regional leagues played during the Second World War, Albion were forced to switch to all-blue shirts, as rationing meant that striped material was considered a luxury.
Like all football clubs, Albion sport a secondary or "change" strip when playing away from home against a team whose colours clash with their own. As long ago as the 1890s, and throughout much of the club's early history, a change strip of white jerseys with black shorts was worn^. The away shirt additionally featured a large 'V' during the First World War.^. In the 1935 FA Cup Final however, when both of Albion and Sheffield Wednesday's kits clashed, a switch was made to plain navy blue shirts. An all-red strip was adopted at the end of the 1950s, but was dropped following defeat in the 1967 League Cup Final, to be replaced by the all-white design that was worn during the club's FA Cup run of 1967–68. Since then the away strip has changed regularly, with yellow and green stripes the most common of a number of different designs used. In the 1990s and 2000s a third kit has occasionally been introduced.
Albion players—along with those of other Football League teams—first wore numbers on the back of their shirts in the abandoned season of 1939–40, and names on the back of their shirts from 1999–2000. Red numbers were added to the side of Albion players' shorts in 1969. BSR Housewares became the club's first shirt sponsor during the 1981–82 season. The club's shirts have been sponsored for the majority of the time since then, although there was no shirt sponsor at the end of the 1993–94 season, after local solicitors Coucher & Shaw were closed down by the Law Society. Unusually for a Premier League club, Albion were again without a shirt sponsor for the start of the 2008–09 campaign, as negotiations with a new sponsor were still ongoing when the season began. The longest-running shirt sponsorship deal agreed by the club ran for seven seasons between 1997 and 2004 with the West Bromwich Building Society. Since 2006 Albion's kit has been manufactured by Umbro, who also produced the club's clothing during the late 1970s and early 1980s. As from May 2011 West Brom's kits manufacturer will be Adidas. In June 2011 Bodog Europe's CEO, Patrik Selin, agreed a shirt sponsorship deal with West Bromwich Albion. The club's chief executive Mark Jenkins said the club was “delighted to have Bodog on board...”

  Badge

West Bromwich Albion's previous club badge, retired in 2006

The municipal coat of arms of West Bromwich has featured intermittently on Albion team shirts

Albion's main club badge dates back to the late 1880s, when the club's secretary Tom Smith suggested that a throstle sitting on a crossbar be adopted for the badge. Since then, the club badge has always featured a throstle, usually on a blue and white striped shield, although the crossbar was replaced with a hawthorn branch at some point after the club's move to The Hawthorns. The throstle was chosen because the public house in which the team used to change kept a pet thrush in a cage. It also gave rise to Albion's early nickname, The Throstles. As late as the 1930s, a caged throstle was placed beside the touchline during matches and it was said that it only used to sing if Albion were winning.  In 1979 an effigy of a throstle was erected above the half-time scoreboard of the Woodman corner at The Hawthorns, and was returned to the same area of the ground following redevelopment in the early 2000s.
The badge has been subject to various revisions through the years, meaning that the club were unable to register it as a trademark. As a result of this, the badge was re-designed in 2006, incorporating the name of the club for the first time. The new badge gave Albion the legal protection they sought.
The main club badge should be distinguished from the badge displayed on the first team strip, as the two have rarely coincided. No badge appeared on the kit for most of the club's history, although the Stafford knot featured on the team jerseys for part of the 1880s. The West Bromwich town arms were worn on the players' shirts for the 1931, 1935 and 1954 FA Cup finals. The town's Latin motto, "Labor omnia vincit", translates as "labour conquers all things" or "work conquers all". The town arms were revived as the shirt badge from 1994 until 2000, with the throstle moved to the collar of the shirts.
Albion's first regular shirt badge appeared in the late 1960s and early 1970s where it was blue. Although it featured the throstle, it did not include the blue and white striped shield of the club badge. A similar design was also used during the late 1980s and early 1990s. In the mid 1970s, a more abstract version of the throstle was used on the club's shirts, while in the late 1970s through to the mid-1980s, an embroidered WBA logo was displayed, a common abbreviation of the club's name in print. Not until the early 21st century did the full club badge appear on the team's shirts.

  Grounds

Main articles: The Hawthorns and West Bromwich Albion F.C. former grounds

The Hawthorns, home of West Bromwich Albion F.C.

The speed with which the club became established following its foundation is illustrated by the fact that it outgrew four successive grounds in its first seven years. The first was Cooper's Hill, where they played from 1878 to 1879. From 1879 to 1881 they appear to have alternated between Cooper's Hill and Dartmouth Park. During the 1881–82 season they played at Bunn's Field, also known as The Birches. This had a capacity of between 1,500 and 2,000, and was Albion's first enclosed ground, allowing the club to charge an entrance fee for the first time. From 1882 to 1885, as the popularity of football increased, Albion rented the Four Acres ground from the well-established West Bromwich Dartmouth Cricket Club. But they quickly outgrew this new home and soon needed to move again. From 1885 to 1900 Albion played at Stoney Lane; their tenure of this ground was arguably the most successful period in the club's history, as they won the FA Cup twice and were runners-up three times.
By 1900, when the lease on Stoney Lane expired, the club needed a bigger ground yet again and so made its last move to date. All of Albion's previous grounds had been close to the centre of West Bromwich, but on this occasion they took up a site on the town's border with Handsworth. The new ground was named The Hawthorns, after the hawthorn bushes that covered the area and were cleared to make way for it.^..Albion drew 1–1 with Derby County in the first match at the stadium, on 3 September 1900. The record attendance at The Hawthorns was on 6 March 1937, when 64,815 spectators saw Albion beat Arsenal 3–1 in the FA Cup quarter-final. The Hawthorns became an all-seater stadium in the 1990s, in order to comply with the recommendations of the Taylor Report.  Its capacity today is 26,500, the four stands being known respectively as the Birmingham Road End, Smethwick End, East Stand and West Stand.  At an altitude of 551 feet (168 m) above sea level, The Hawthorns is the highest of all the 92 Premier League and Football League grounds.

  Supporters

“	The Lord's my Shepherd, I'll not want: He makes me down to lie In pastures green; he leadeth me The quiet waters by.	”
—Lyrics to first verse of "The Lord's my Shepherd", from CCEL

The West Bromwich Albion Supporters Club has branches throughout the United Kingdom, as well as in Ireland, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Malta and Thailand. Albion's "club anthem" is The Lord's my Shepherd, a setting of Psalm 23. Supporters of the team celebrate goals by bouncing up and down and chanting "Boing Boing". This dates back to the 1992–93 season, when the team was promoted from the new Second Division. In recent years fans of the team have celebrated the end of each season by adopting a fancy dress theme for the final away match, including dressing as vikings in 2004 in honour of Player of the Season Thomas Gaardsøe. In 2002–03 Albion's fans were voted the best in the Premier League by their peers, while in the BBC's 2002 "national intelligence test" Test the Nation, they were found to be "more likely to be smarter than any other football supporters, registering an average score of 138".

  Publications

The club has published an official matchday programme for supporters since 1905. The publication was entitled Albion News for many years, but was renamed Albion from the 2002–03 season onwards. It won Premier League Programme of the Year in 2002–03 and Third Division Programme of the Year in 1991–92.  In 2007–08 it was awarded Championship Programme of the Year by both Programme Monthly and the Football Programme Directory.  The programme has a circulation in excess of 8,000 copies.  The first West Bromwich Albion fanzine, Fingerpost, was published from 1983 until 1992, and was followed by several others, most notably Grorty Dick (1989–2005) and Last Train To Rolfe Street (1992–1995). Since Grorty Dick ceased publication in 2005, the club now only has one fanzine dedicated to it; 'Baggie Shorts' which is produced by the West Bromwich Albion Supporters Club London Branch.

"Baggies" nickname

Baggie Bird is one of two West Bromwich Albion mascots.

Although known in their early days as "The Throstles", the club's more popular nickname among supporters came to be The Baggies, a term which the club itself looked down upon for many years but later embraced. The phrase was first heard at The Hawthorns in the 1900s, but its exact origins are uncertain.  One suggestion is that the name was bestowed on Albion supporters by their rivals at Aston Villa, because of the large baggy trousers that many Albion fans wore at work to protect themselves from molten iron in the factories and foundries of the Black Country.  Club historian Tony Matthews however suggests that it derives from the "bagmen", who carried the club's matchday takings in big leather bags from the turnstiles to the cash office on the halfway line.  Other theories relate to the baggy shorts worn by various players during the club's early years.  The official club mascots are named Baggie Bird and Albi; both are based on the throstle depicted on the club crest. 

  Rivalries

Historically, Albion's greatest rivals have always been Aston Villa from nearby Birmingham. The two clubs contested three FA Cup Finals between 1887 and 1895 (Villa winning two and Albion one). More recently however, most Albion fans have begun to see Wolverhampton Wanderers as their main rivals – particularly between 1989 and 2002 when Albion and Villa were never in the same division but Albion were in the same division as Wolves for 11 out of 14 seasons.
Albion and Wolves have contested the Black Country derby more than 150 times; their first major clash was an FA Cup tie in 1886. The rivalry came to prominence when the two clubs contested the league title in 1953–54, and during the 1990s it intensified to new heights among supporters, with both clubs languishing in Division One for much of the decade and only local pride at stake.  Moreover, in 2002 Albion came from being 11 points adrift to overhaul Wolves to gain promotion. The rivalry was further hightened after the sides met in the play-offs in 2007. A 2004 survey by Planetfootball.com confirmed that the majority of both Albion and Wolves supporters consider the other to be their main rival. A less-heated rivalry also exists with Birmingham City, with whom Albion contested the 1931 FA Cup final, as well as a semi-final in 1968. Walsall are seen as lesser rivals, having played in a lower division than Albion for most of their history. In more recent times a lesser rivalry has also developed with Stoke City, following many years in the same divisions and the fact that Stoke have become Albion's bogey team. The largest hooligan firm who associate themselves with Albion are known as Section Five.