CYRILLE WOULD
DARREN MOORE is convinced his big buddy Cyrille Regis is looking down on him with a beaming smile.
New West Brom boss Moore opened up yesterday on the man who hit him for six the very first time he clapped eyes on him.
He’s only sorry former England striker and Baggies legend Regis isn’t around to see him clinch the top job at The Hawthorns.
The two were massive mates and spoke on the phone just hours before Regis (inset below) died of a heart attack in January aged just 59.
Moore, speaking for the first time since landing the job on a permanent basis, said Regis would have been a part of his plans.
He said: “I’m really proud to get this job and I’m sure he’s looking down on us now and saying he’s very happy.
“I know if Cyrille was here I’d be sharing the day-to-day running of things with him. I can honestly say that to you.
“I was speaking to him right up until the night before he died, up until 8pm. The next morning I learned of his passing.
“We had a conversation and Cyrille said, ‘Let’s speak in the morning...’”
Moore recalls the moment he fell in love with football when his dad called him in from a knockabout under a railway tunnel in Handsworth, Birmingham, where he grew up.
“When I look back at the first game I saw growing up, I was playing cricket outside and my dad called me in, I was about nine or 10,” said Moore.
“He said, ‘I want to show you something here, son.’ I said ‘What is it?’.
“There was a game on the TV and it was West Bromwich Albion, and they had three black players at the time.”
They were the legendary Three Degrees – Regis, Laurie Cunningham and Brendan Batson – who were blazing a trail with their swashbuckling style of football.
“I just put the bat down and that was it,” said Moore.
“My dad wanted to show me that match because we were in the West Indian community and he was really proud.
“I thought the pitch was a stage and there were 22 players on it