West Bromwich Albion have been something of a yo-yo club in the twenty-first century, pogoing between the Premier League and Championship. It was far worse in the 1990s, when in 1991 they dropped to the third tier of English football for the first time in their history, but this is a club with plenty of history and many good players.
If you were to pick the best ever era to be a Baggies fan, you’d probably be born around about 1920. That way you’d be old enough to appreciate winning the FA Cup in 1931, as well as the time they did it again in 1954 and 1968.
When picking the best players in the club’s history, many come from these eras – when the club had great success. It’s sure to cause debate among fans of the club, so here are the 10 greatest West Brom players in football history.
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10 Bob Taylor
1992 to 1998 and 2000 to 2003
Bob Taylor
Striker Bob Taylor scored 131 goals for the Baggies in 377 games. Bristol City sold him to West Brom in 1992, with the club at its lowest ebb, in the third tier of English football. Taylor soon put smiles back on the fans’ faces. Super Bob scored on his debut and never looked back.
The club beat Port Vale in the play-off final at Wembley. Taylor was top scorer, with 37 in all competitions. Getting West Brom out of the doldrums was largely down to Taylor’s goal-scoring exploits. He remains something of a cult hero among West Brom fans to this day.
9 Bryan Robson
1975 to 1981
Bryan Robson
Bryan Robson is thought of as a Manchester United icon, as well as Diego Maradona’s favourite English player. But before he moved to Old Trafford, he was at West Brom. As at United, at West Brom, Robson played under the watchful eye of club manager Ron Atkinson.
In the 1978/79 season, the Baggies finished in third place in the old English first division. Robson played in West Brom’s iconic 5-3 win at Old Trafford that season, where the Baggies overcame a 3-2 deficit to record a famous victory. It was a great period in West Brom’s history and Robson was a big part of that in the engine room of the midfield.
8 Graham Williams
1955 to 1972
Welsh full-back Graham Williams spent his entire professional career at West Brom. He had a great time too, skippering the club to the 1966 League Cup and the 1968 FA Cup. In the mid-sixties, the League Cup final was still a two-legged affair.
West Brom went into the second leg 2-1 down to West Ham. But at the Hawthorns, they pulled off a 4-1 victory to take the cup. 0-0 at half time, West Brom took the game to extra-time, with Williams scoring a cracker. Two years later, he lifted the FA Cup for the club. A dependable figure during a great period for West Brom.
7 William Richardson
1929 to 1945
William ‘Ginger’ Richardson scored both West Brom goals as they beat Birmingham City 2-1 in the 1931 FA Cup Final. More than ninety-thousand fans were at Wembley to witness this West Midlands derby. Richardson also got a vital goal in the quarter-final replay win over Wolves, which is one of the biggest derbies in British football.
While Richardson played in an era when player records were not kept as fastidiously as today, he scored an awful lot of goals. In the 1935/36 season, he banged in 39. In total, he is reported to have scored 228 goals for the club.
6 Laurie Cunningham
1977 to 1979
Laurie Cunningham
Laurie Cunningham did what no West Brom has done before or since, when he joined Real Madrid. West Brom were unusual in the late 1970s in English football, whereby they had three black players in their starting eleven. Cunningham, along with Brendon Batson and Cyrille Regis, was a vital part of that exciting team. His former West Brom manager Ron Atkinson rated him highly:
"He was a wonderful athlete – he could run on snow and he wouldn’t leave an imprint.”
Cunningham appeared to be a shy man. This was sometimes misconstrued as arrogance. A wonderful player who could light up a game.
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5 Jeff Astle
1964 to 1974
Jeff Astle
Jeff Astle scored a cracking goal in the 1968 FA Cup final, which saw West Brom beat Everton at Wembley. The goal came three minutes into extra-time and meant the striker had scored in every round of the cup that season.
The former England striker scored 174 goals for the club, but none as famous as that one, which gave Baggies fans a famous day to celebrate. Famously, there was graffiti on a bridge in the West Brom area, which read: Astle is King. Famed for his majestic heading ability, Astle, even in death, carries great popularity among Baggies fans.
4 Ray Barlow
1944 to 1960
Ray Barlow was a player very much at the heart of West Brom’s great side of the 1950s. Baggies fans at the time could not fathom why he only got a single England cap.
Bobby Robson was a player who narrowly missed out on the list. The former England and Barcelona manager had glowing praise for Barlow:
“One of the best players I ever played with. A purveyor of the long pass, he could hit them fifty, sixty yards. His short game was superb. What a cultured player.”
Playing on the left, he was an influential part of the side that beat Preston North End 3-2 in the 1954 FA Cup Final.
3 Ronnie Allen
1950 to 1961
Ronnie Allen bagged two goals for West Brom in the 1954 FA Cup Final. It saw the club come back from 2-1 down to win the cup 3-2. One of those goals was a penalty, which he made no mistake about. With a whopping 234 goals scored for the club, he is West Brom’s second-highest scorer in their history.
In 1954, he helped inspire the team to a second-place finish in the first division. It would be their arch rivals, Wolves who topped the table that year. He scored a further two goals in a thrilling Charity Shield, which saw the Baggies draw 4-4 with Wolves.
2 Cyrille Regis
1977 to 1984
Everton and West Bromwich Albion players during a minute's applause in memory of Cyrille Regis before the match
Cyrille Regis made his name at West Brom. Equipped with a great deal of strength and a great eye for goal, Regis was hugely popular with West Brom fans. His goal of the season from the 1981/82 season is an often-shown clip. Yet Regis was almost always a threat to the opposition’s goal.
In total, the striker scored 112 goals for the club. Although he would go on to win the FA Cup with Coventry City, it is West Brom he is most associated with. Playing during an era where racism was a real problem in the game, Regis played with dignity and pride and remained a great man until his untimely passing in 2018.
1 Tony Brown
1963 to 1981
Tony 'Bomber' Brown is West Brom’s greatest ever player. It is testament to his eye for goal that, from midfield, Brown scored 279 goals for the club. This makes him West Brom’s all-time top goalscorer. Fellow West Brom great Cyrille Regis was very complimentary of Brown.
“He was an exceptional professional. When I think Tony Brown has only one England cap I am staggered, looking at his goalscoring record and what did in the game. And what a great person as well.”
Brown played in the club’s victories in the 1966 League Cup and FA Cup finals, but he also played through the 1970s too. Although the club did suffer relegation in 1973, his goal saw them clinch promotion back to the first division in 1976. He remained a key figure under Ron Atkinson, as the Baggies finished third and played in Europe.
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