Hope on the horizon at last for the Baggies
West Brom host their bitter rivals in the Cup today with a takeover set to end a miserable era that even threatened their existence... (but it’s time to knock out Wolves first!)
ASENSE of unease still stalks West Bromwich Albion as they look forward to renewing one of English football’s great rivalries against Wolves. For much of the last three years, supporters have feared for Albion’s existence. While this 146-year-old club are not out of danger, there is growing optimism that Albion will be sold in the coming weeks to close one of the most troubling chapters in their modern history. US businessman Shilen Patel is thought to be the front-runner to take control. Until the deal is done, though, some doubt and worry remain.
If West Brom, five-time winners of the FA Cup and one of the founder members of the Football League, were ever to go out of business, it would be a scandal to stain English football.
Because this is the club of Jeff Astle, Cyrille Regis and Ron Atkinson. Of Brendon Batson, Bryan Robson and Laurie Cunningham. A club former boss Slaven Bilic says ‘smells of football’, playing at the historic, evocative Hawthorns. At 551 feet above sea level, their stadium is the highest ground in the top four divisions, but recently they have glimpsed the precipice.
WHEN the draw was made, this tie merited barely a second mention from the ITV panel. With nearly 100 crew due to attend, the penny appears to have dropped. ‘It’s one of the most under-rated derbies,’ argues Albion supporter Alistair Jones.
‘For us it’s the equivalent of Sunderland v Newcastle or Southampton v Portsmouth. I was amazed to watch the fourth-round draw, nobody seemed to acknowledge the size of the game. Without a doubt, this is the biggest game for either club this season.’
All they needed to do was to spend a few hours in Smethwick every other Saturday. Take a stroll down Halfords Lane on matchdays, smell the hotdogs, listen to the onions sizzle and lose yourself in the Black Country accents.
Walk the corridors of the stadium and spot the portraits that line the walls. Robson, Regis, Cunningham, Batson, Astle. Allen, Brown, Wile, Barlow. Record goalscorer ‘Ginger’ Richardson, with 202 goals in 320 games from 1929-45. Left-back Jesse Pennington, who played 455 times but whose career was cut short by World War One.
Appreciate the part Albion played in the fight against racism. When black players Regis, Batson and Cunningham — known as ‘The Three Degrees’ — starred in the 1978-79 season, it was unprecedented in English football and placed the club in the vanguard of the social changes sweeping the UK.
‘Cyrille, Laurie and Brendon, the Albion and the Baggies fans changed this country for the better and never let that be forgotten,’ club historian Dave Bowler has said. Hear the fans belt out Psalm 23. Why would football fans sing ‘The Lord’s My Shepherd?’ Most say it was born in January 1974, when an FA Cup tie at Everton was switched to a Sunday during the miners’ strike.
GO TO January 1991 and you will find a cup wound that cut deep. In Chris Lepkowski’s book From Buzaglo to Balis, hat-trick hero Tim Buzaglo recounts how Albion, then in the old Second Division, were beaten 4-2 at home by sixth-tier Woking. ‘It was funny coming out of the dressing room before the game that day,’ said Buzaglo.
‘I asked a ball boy what the score would be. He said: “5-0 to the Albion.” I never saw him after. I couldn’t believe the reception. The fans were amazing. Those who came on to the pitch carried me off it, chanting: ‘Sign him up.’
The pitch invasion that followed West Brom’s win over Portsmouth on the final day of the 2004-05 season was happier.
After securing survival there was Robson as manager, suit soaked in champagne poured by Kevin Campbell. ‘I brought the champagne in early and hid it in the ice machine,’ Campbell has said. ‘I knew we were going to do it.’ Robson has called it his ‘greatest achievement’ — not bad for a man who captained Manchester United and England.
Albion is not just about the footballers though. When season-ticket holder Rob Spray died in Bulgaria in October 2018, after travelling to Sofia to watch England in a Euro 2020 qualifier, Albion worked with his family to arrange a tribute at the following home game. Without this sense of community, without the love and care of employees who know every inch of this institution, could Albion have survived?
They have suffered so much from the disastrous ownership of Lai Guochuan that this FA Cup fourth-round tie, their first meeting with Wolves before a crowd since February 2012, is a welcome distraction.
‘Many times,’ replies Jones, when asked whether he had feared the worst could happen. In October 2022, Jones founded the Action 4 Albion movement that has done outstanding work in raising awareness of the situation and working with the club to improve it.
‘This is the national game and it has to be looked after. You have regulators in almost every sector. Why not football? It is in the country’s interest that it is cared for properly.’
Lai bought the club from Jeremy Peace for £175million in 2016 and from day one, the Chinese businessman was clear he would not be putting in much money.
Last December, Albion took out a £20m four-year loan with MSD Holdings to cover the decline in revenue caused by relegation. Lai has also taken £10m in loans from the club which he has not paid back. There was a further loan from MSD late last year, believed to be between £6-8m.
When money has been mismanaged on this scale there are always tales to make the eyes pop and the wage bill is a good place to start.
Top earner Kyle Bartley is thought to collect about £38,000 per week and is one of several earning more than £1m per year. No wonder there has been little scope for boss Carlos Corberan to strengthen. West Brom’s wage ceiling for new players is now thought to be capped at about £10,000 per week.
Mail Sport revealed in November that Albion were edging towards a full takeover and this is expected to happen in the coming weeks, with Patel the front runner.
The dream would have been for the Lai era to end before Wolves arrived at The Hawthorns but even though it may take a little longer, the mood is brighter than it has been for some time.
They have a record to preserve, too. Wolves have not won at The Hawthorns since September 1996. Naturally, the game is a sell-out. Wolves quickly shifted their allocation of 4,011. Non-League Aldershot had 5,000, but why give the enemy advantage?
But as deep as this rivalry runs, no right-thinking Wolves fan would have wanted Albion to disappear.
And as we approach the 12th edition of this fixture in the FA Cup, we should be grateful that awful prospect seems to be fading.