The word ‘Albion’ is the oldest known name for the Island of Great Britain and over the years has been terminology used by artists as diverse as William Blake to Pete Docherty to refer to these islands in their work. It’s also since become a popular suffix for numerous British football clubs, with West Bromwich becoming the very first to do so (albeit due to the fact that Albion is a district within the very unpoetic West Bromwich area where many of the players lived or worked). The club were founded in 1878 by a group of workers at Salters Spring works, who primarily produced weighing scales. The club turned professional in 1885 and subsequently reached three FA Cup Finals in a row between 1886 and 1888, the third side to do so after Blackburn Rovers, Old Etonians and the Wanderers as well as the last side to do so before Arsenal achieved this feat ninety two years later at the end of the 1970s. Albion lost the first two against Blackburn Rovers in 1886 and Aston Villa in 1887, though finally won in 1888 beating Preston North End 2-1.

The following season West Brom were founder members of the Football League, the Baggies also won their second FA Cup final 3-0 against Aston Villa in 1892 at Kennington Oval. They played fellow Midlanders Villa again in 1895 for the third time in nine seasons, though on this occasion were to lose 0-1 as Villa became on the second side to win the League and FA Cup double. The first fixture between Woolwich Arsenal and West Bromwich Albion took place at Plumstead in February 1901 in an FA Cup Second Round tie which Arsenal would lose 0-1. West Brom however would suffer relegation to the second tier for the first time in their history at the end of that season, which led to the first league fixture between Woolwich Arsenal and West Brom which Arsenal won 2-1 at the end of March 1902. That year, a nineteen year old called Fred Everiss was appointed Albion Secretary Manager and incredibly remained in the role for the next forty six years, becoming the longest serving manager of all-time (and highly unlikely to ever be surpassed).

It was on Everiss’s watch that West Brom won their first ever League title, the first season after the First World War in 1919/20, as well as being runners up in 1924/25. The earliest available newsreel footage for a West Brom game comes from the 1912 FA Cup Final, which West Brom lost 0-1 to Barnsley after a replay. There also exists footage of a 0-2 league defeat away to Aston Villa from 1926/27. West Brom would win the FA Cup again in 1931 with a 2-1 win over Birmingham at Wembley. The Baggies would reach the final again in 1934/35, though would lose the final 2-4 to Sheffield Wednesday at Wembley. Two seasons later the Baggies would eliminate Arsenal from the FA Cup in March 1937, in a 1-3 defeat for Arsenal, however would be relegated to the second tier at the end of 1937/38.

The Baggies would return to the top flight in 1949/50 and in November 1951 Arsenal would beat West Brom 6-3 at Highbury with a hat-trick for Doug Lishman, two goals for Cliff Holton and one for Jimmy Logie. In 1953 Vic Buckingham took over as West Brom manager and in 1953/54 came close to becoming the first side of the twentieth century to carry off the League and FA Cup double. Local rivals Wolves had pipped them to the League title by four points, the Baggies however won the FA Cup with a 3-2 win over a Preston North End side which included Tom Finney and Tommy Docherty, with Ronnie Allen bagging two goals for West Brom. Like their Black Country neighbours, West Brom would also take on the Honved side of Ferenc Puskas, though would lose 3-5 to the Hungarian side in Brussels.

In 1957 the Albion would eliminate Arsenal in an FA Cup Quarter Final replay at Highbury in a 1-2 defeat for the Gunners. West Brom however would lose the Semi Final to that season’s Cup winners Aston Villa. Later that same calendar year however West Brom became the first English side to tour the other side of the iron curtain, with future England manager Bobby Robson scoring here for the Albion against CSKA Moscow. In 1959 however Vic Buckingham would leave West Brom to join Ajax, bring through Johann Cruyff and help lay the foundations for the total football philosophy later employed under Rinus Michaels. Buckingham would also manage Barcelona between 1970 and 1972.

In 1962, a West Brom training session would feature for a Ford Motor Company funded ‘Look at Britain’ feature called ‘The Saturday Men’. Later that season a visit to Highbury by the Baggies in April was caught by the newsreel cameras, in which Arsenal triumphed 3-2 with goals from Alan Skirton and two for Geoff Strong. Throughout this period Albion were enjoying their longest unbroken period within the top flight and added the League Cup to their list of honours in 1965/66, becoming the last side to triumph over a two legged final, against West Ham. The Baggies had lost the first leg at Upton Park 1-2, however defeated the Hammers back at the Hawthorns in the second leg 4-1 (5-3 on aggregate). A couple of weeks on from their League Cup Final triumph, Arsenal would meet West Brom at the Hawthorns and play out a 4-4 draw with goals from George Armstrong, John Radford and two for Tommy Baldwin.

West Brom were also to reach the first one-legged League Cup Final twelve months on at Wembley against third tier QPR. The Baggies raced into a two goal lead with Clive Clark bagging two goals, however QPR staged a great second half comeback with goals from Roger Morgan, Rodney Marsh and Mark Lazarus giving the Hoops a 3-2 victory. West Brom however would make it three finals in three years by beating local rivals Birmingham City 2-1 at Villa Park. In the final, West Brom met Everton and triumphed 1-0 with a goal from Jeff Astle three minutes into extra time which meant that Astle had managed the feat of scoring a goal in every round of the Cup. This game was the first FA Cup Final to be televised in colour and as only BBC2 featured in colour it would mean that this game would feature live on all three TV channels which existed in 1968.

In defence of their FA Cup the following year West Brom would meet Arsenal at the Hawthorns in the fifth round, in which Albion would inflict a 0-1 defeat on the Gunners with a goal from Tony Brown. That year the Baggies would go as far as the Semi Finals, where they would lose 0-1 to Leicester City. West Brom however would reach their fourth final in five years, meeting Manchester City at Wembley in the final of the 1970 League Cup, despite taking the lead through a Jeff Astle strike Albion would go on to lose 1-2. Sixth months on, the Baggies would visit Highbury twenty four hours after the death of Jimi Hendrix in London’s Notting Hill. Arsenal would run out 6-2 winners, achieving their highest scoring win during what was to become their double year with goals from George Armstrong, two for Ray Kennedy, two for George Graham and an own goal.

As it happens, West Brom on successive weeks would end up having a say in the destination of the 1970/71 League title. The Baggies went to Elland Road to take on League leaders Leeds Utd. Albion would go one up through a goal from Tony Brown after nineteen minutes. Leeds would also have a Mick Jones goal disallowed for offside. The main flashpoint however came in the Second Half when Colin Suggett intercepted a pass by Norman Hunter inside of the West Brom half. Though Tony Brown was standing in an offside position and though the linesman had flagged and the Leeds defence stopped accordingly, referee Ray Tinkler however had deemed Brown not to be interfering with play and waved him on, playing Astle in on goal who duly converted.

BBC’s Match of the Day commentator Barry Davies however loudly proclaimed that: ‘Leeds will go mad….and they have every right to go mad’ and within seconds a pitch invasion from angry Leeds mob ended up with the linesman who flagged for an infringement being struck with an object. Tinkler however would happily explain himself in a piece for the Guardian Newspaper back in 2009 maintaining his decision was the right one. Once order was re-established Alan Clarke had pulled one back for Leeds, but the game finished in a 2-1 win for the Baggies. One week later, Arsenal would visit the Hawthorns to take on West Brom. The Baggies would take the lead with a goal from Scottish international Asa Hartford. Arsenal pulled a goal back through Frank McLintock and later take the lead with Asa Hartford scoring in his own net (and as commentator Hugh Johns would state was: ‘sick, sick, sick, sick, sick’). In the end Tony Brown equalised to make the final score a 2-2 draw, though just how sick Asa Hartford actually was wouldn’t come to light for another six months.

Hartford was lined up to join Leeds and completed a medical, however during the course of which the Leeds medical staff discovered that Hartford had been born with a hole in the heart and as a result called off the transfer, though despite his condition Hartford did go on to have a long and fruitful footballing career.

Arsenal of course went on to win both the League and FA Cup that season; however West Brom finished as low as seventeenth in the old First Division. The Baggies boss Alan Ashman, who had guided them to FA Cup victory in 1968 received his marching orders, though only found out the news from a waiter while holidaying in Greece. His replacement would be former Baggies old boy Don Howe who despite masterminding the double at Arsenal had tired of playing second fiddle to Bertie Mee and also had raided the Highbury backroom for youth coach Brian Woodhouse, who had won the FA Youth Cup that season, as well as Physio George Wright. Howe’s first challenge as West Brom manager would be the pre-season Watney Cup, which had been English Football’s first sponsored tournament.

The Watney Cup was contested by the teams that had scored the most goals in each of the four divisions of the Football League the previous season who had not been promoted or admitted to one of the European competitions. The Baggies defeated third tier Halifax Town 2-0, however would lose the final to fourth tier Colchester who started that calendar year by causing an upset through knocking Leeds Utd. out of the FA Cup. The 1971 Watney Cup Final ended in a 4-4 draw after normal time, with West Brom becoming the first side to lose an English Cup Final by a penalty shootout. The first meeting between West Brom and Arsenal after Howe’s defection took place in September at the Hawthorns, with Arsenal winning 1-0 with a great volley by John Roberts.

Howe’s time in the Albion hot seat however was far from a success, having finished only one position higher in 1971/72 and relegated to the second tier at the end of 1972/73 through finishing bottom, ending a period of twenty four seasons in the top flight. His replacement would be Leeds United hard man and Eire Player-Manager Johnny Giles, who won West Brom promotion back to the top tier at the end of his first full season. Their first season back included a 4-0 win over Man Utd at the Hawthorns with Giles opening the scoring with a great twenty five yard shot against one of his former sides, as well as United missing a penalty conceded by a deliberate handball from West Brom defender Ally Robertson which back then merited only a booking. Giles had returned West Brom to top tier safety, but quit his role to concentrate fully on managing Eire in 1977. His replacement had been former player Ronnie Allen (on whose watch Albion managed an eventful 3-3 draw at West Ham), who lasted for just five months before leaving to manage in Saudi Arabia, upon which a brash 39 year old manager then at Cambridge United took over the role and, as will be elaborated on tomorrow, would oversee one of the most free-flowing attacking football sides of the post-war era.

Part Two follows tomorrow

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