Heads up! Albion’s squad for the new century
WE turn back to the eve of the new millennium with this stash of a photographs from the Bugle collection. They were taken on Monday, August 2, 1999, when Alan Williams, photographer for the Birmingham Post and Mail, went to the Hawthorns to snap the Albion squad for the upcoming season.
1999-2000 would prove to be a hard slog for the faithful Albion fans, as poor results on the field reflected turmoil behind the scenes.
At that summer’s AGM there had been a failed attempt to oust chairman Tony Hale. Then, in July ’99, the club’s manager Denis Smith was sacked and replaced with Brian Little,
Albion paying £50,000 in compensation to his previous club, Stoke City.
The start of the season was not too bad, with Albion undefeated in their first nine league games, albeit with only two wins. They progressed in the League Cup too, beating Halifax Town 5–1 over the two legs of the first round and Wycombe Wanderers 5-4 on aggregate in the second.
Albion’s first defeat came at the hands of neighbours Walsall in the First Division. The
Baggies were dumped out of the League Cup in round 3 by Fulham and lost to Blackburn Rovers, after a replay, in the third round of the FA Cup.
In the League, Albion went on a dismal run from the end of November to mid February, with just one win in 16 games. There were some poor performances, the worst being a 6–0 hiding from Sheffield United.
Little brought in Larus Sigurdsson and Andy Townsend but was forced to sell Kevin Kilbane to Sunderland. On Christmas Eve Hales was replaced as chairman by Paul Thompson.
The board’s patience with Little ran out in
early March and he was sacked, after picking up just nine points from a possible 48, leaving the club deep in the relegation mire. Cyrille Regis and Allan Evans were caretaker managers for the game against Tranmere Rovers on March 7, 2000, and a welcome 2–0 win for the Baggies.
Gary Megson, who had replaced Brian Little at Stoke, was appointed as the new Baggies boss on March 9 and his tenure began with a 1–0 win away at Stockport County.
Performances on the pitch improved but as Tony Matthews wrote in West Bromwich Albion: The Complete Record, “Late goals, however, cost Albion dearly in vital games, and although they weren’t playing badly, they simply couldn’t win and games were running out fast.”
In their last three matches, Albion beat Grimsby Town 2–1 at home, drew 0–0 away to Queens Park Rangers, and beat Charlton Athletic 2–0 at home. It was just enough to stay up.
The Baggies finished one place above, and three points clear, of the drop zone – Walsall (who had done double over Albion), Port Vale and Swindon Town were relegated.
Albion’s record for the season was played 46, won 10, drew 19, lost 17, goals for 43, goals against 60, with 49 points.
Players that departed over the season included Phil Whitehead to Reading, Alan Miller to Blackburn, Enzo Maresca to Juventus (for a club record £4.3m), Paul Holmes to Torquay United and Brian Quailey to Scunthorpe United. Incoming were Neil Clement, Des Lyttle, Brian Jensen, George Santos, Tony Butler and Bob Taylor returned, scoring five vital goals.