Robert Exley
In the years since dropping the ‘N-Bomb’ on live TV in 2004, it’s easy to forget the pioneering role which Big Ron played in the development of black players within the English game. Though both former Electrician and Hayes Semi-pro Cyrille Regis and Holloway-born former Arsenal apprentice Laurie Cunningham were already brought to the Hawthorns by Johnny Giles and Ronnie Allen, Atkinson also brought in his former captain at Cambridge - Brendan Batson – who a few years prior had been the first black player to play for Arsenal. The trio were christened the ‘Three Degrees’ after the popular singing group of the mid to late 1970s (who as seen by the pic below called in at the Hawthorns circa 1978 to see what all the fuss was about). Also on Atkinson’s watch Remi Moses came through the ranks at the Hawthorns meaning that West Brom had four black players at a time when most sides didn’t have any. In fact, in around two decades of managing at the top level, a large percentage of Britain’s highest profile black players of the period had played under Atkinson at some time or other.
Atkinson also inherited youth side graduates Bryan Robson and Derek Statham and within a few months of his appointment Albion had put together an FA Cup run, defeating his future side Man. Utd. in the fourth round. Albion drew 1-1 with United at Old Trafford, while winning the replay back at the Hawthorns 3-2 with Cyrille Regis scoring the winner. After progressing past Derby with a 3-2 win at the Baseball Ground, Albion took on that year’s eventual League Champions and League Cup winners and preventing a domestic treble by Forest with a 2-0 win at the Hawthorns in the FA Cup Quarter Final, with goals from Mick Martin and Cyrille Regis. In the Semi Final at Highbury however, West Brom went on to lose 1-3 to an Ipswich side that would go on to face – and defeat - Arsenal in the 1978 final.
During the summer of 1978, the England team were forced to pull out of a tour of China, with FA bigwig Bert Millichip’s involvement at West Brom meaning that the Baggies stepped in to honour the commitment. The tour was the subject of a BBC2 documentary called ‘Albion in the Orient’. It’s fair to say a lot of the Albion squad didn’t fully appreciate their time in China, with Atkinson describing that many of the players complained about the lack of availability of alcohol, John Trewick’s famous: ‘when you’ve seen one wall, you’ve seen them all’ quote on seeing the Great Wall of China and an early warning as to Ron Atkinson’s lack of cultural sensitivities claiming that he couldn’t see how China had a population explosion as they had the best form of contraception in the world – ‘ugly women!’.
West Brom’s annus mirabilis came in 1978/79, topping the table after a 2-2 draw with Norwich in early September, followed by a 3-1 win at Stamford Bridge over a Chelsea side in even more disarray than they are today a few weeks later, as well as defeating once mighty Leeds United at Elland Road by the same score line. On Boxing Day Arsenal were defeated by Albion 1-2 at Highbury with goals for Bryan Robson and Ally Brown for Albion and Brady on target for Arsenal, followed four days later by the high point of Albion’s season with a memorable 5-3 victory over Man Utd. at Old Trafford with goals from Len Cantello, Cunningham, Regis and two for Tony Brown. The racial abuse of the Old Trafford crowd that day was so audible that Granada commentator Tony Gubba openly remarks on it @10.19 as Laurie Cunningham plays a part in Tony Brown’s first goal (Also covered on the same highlights footage is Arsenal v Birmingham played on the same day).
Albion also put together a decent run in Europe with highlights such as defeating Galatasary 6-1 on aggregate in the first round and eliminating Valencia 3-1 in the third round. Albion’s run however ended with a 1-2 aggregate defeat to Red Star Belgrade the following March. West Brom finished the season in third position, which had been their best finish for a quarter of a century, however lost Laurie Cunningham to Real Madrid for £1 Million during the summer of 1979. In 1979/80 West Brom came a disappointing tenth position in the top tier, however scored a 3-1 away win over Man. City in February with former City players Gary Owen and Peter Barnes lining up for Albion against their old club.
The 1980/81 season kicked off with Arsenal playing away at the Hawthorns in August, beating West Brom 1-0 with a goal from Frank Stapleton. Later on that Season in November, Arsenal and West Brom played out a 2-2 draw at Highbury captured on Match of the Day with a rare commentating outing for Des Lynam. Peter Barnes opened the scoring for Albion, though Alan Sunderland equalised to make it 1-1. Brendan Batson gave his old club the lead by putting the ball into his own net, though Gary Owen equalised for Albion from the penalty spot. The Baggies achieved the much improved position of fourth in the top tier, one point below Arsenal in third. Highlights from the season included the fourth home win in a row over Manchester United the day after Boxing Day in a 3-1 win for Albion, with goals for Gary Owen, Peter Barnes and Cyrille Regis. Also, Albion recorded a 2-0 win over Liverpool at the Hawthorns in February, with a cheeky back-heeled goal from Bryan Robson as well as a 2-1 win over European Champions Nottingham Forest.
A sign of the times however was that despite the great football being played at the Hawthorns, West Brom’s average attendance had dropped from 27,211 in 1978/79 to just 21,236 in 1980/81, which was most probably a side effect of unemployment doubling across the UK during that short period, with the West Midlands particularly affected. While Ron Atkinson’s old protégé Laurie Cunningham lined up to play for Real Madrid in the 1981 European Cup Final against Liverpool, the limitations at West Brom probably began to dawn on Atkinson. That summer Big Ron left the Hawthorns to take up the vacant managerial hot seat at Old Trafford and, as young Chairman Martin Edwards on taking over on his father’s death a year earlier gave Big Ron licence to spend big bucks, Atkinson took Remi Moses and Bryan Robson with him to Manchester.
Ronnie Allen returned to West Brom to take over from Atkinson and despite reaching the FA Cup Semi Final against QPR at Highbury, losing 0-1, it was the beginning of a long decline for Albion who finished seventeenth that season and in the bottom half of the table for the next five seasons. It may also come as a bit of a shock to anyone under forty that lining up for Albion around this period had been future Tottenham boss Martin Jol, who signed from FC Twente along with fellow countryman Romeo Zondervan in 1982. As the 1980s economic downturn hit the West Midlands, West Brom were forced to sell their best players, such as Cyrille Regis to Coventry in 1984.
Albion’s annus horribulus was to come in 1985/86, finishing rock bottom with just four wins all season. Despite this, so pitiful were Arsenal also that the Gunners failed to score a win against the Baggies that season. Arsenal were held to a 0-0 draw at the Hawthorns in November in what was Martin Keown’s Arsenal debut. By the time Arsenal met Albion at Highbury on the penultimate Saturday of the season in late April West Brom were already relegated, however Don Howe had resigned as Arsenal boss with Chief Scout Steve Burtinshaw in charge as caretaker boss. Arsenal had won just one of their previous seven matches and the match attendance of just 14,843 had been one of Arsenal’s lowest of the Post-war era - incredibly five thousand more people turned out witnessed Arsenal’s FA Youth Cup Quarter Final defeat of Tottenham in 2009! Arsenal took a two goal lead in the first half through an Ian Allinson penalty and a goal for Stewart Robson, however Albion had pulled two back by the finish to pull off a 2-2 draw.
The following week West Brom played what turned out to be their final game in the top flight before the millennium against title chasing West Ham. Despite the fact that the League Championship could have been decided at the Hawthorns that afternoon and that no-one knew when the next time Albion would be in the top flight, empty spaces at the Hawthorns were clearly visible with an attendance of just 17,651. Similar to a week earlier, Albion found themselves two goals down with goals from Frank McAvennie and Tony Cottee, though pulled it back to 2-2 with goals from Madden and Reilly. West Ham however took all three points through a Ray Stewart penalty; however Liverpool bagged the first leg of their double at Stamford Bridge with a 1-0 win over Chelsea with West Ham had to make do with third position.
There would be no quick return to the top flight for West Brom, finishing in the bottom half of the table for two seasons in a row. By 1988/89 Ron Atkinson had returned and Albion briefly led the second tier before Big Ron left for a brief spell at Atletico Madrid with former Arsenal midfielder Brian Talbot taking over as Player Manager. The Baggies were in the process of building a reasonable side with another former Arsenal player in Chris Whyte, future Sheffield Wednesday and England midfielder Carlton Palmer and future Liverpool full back David Borrows. That season Albion scored a 5-3 win over Crystal Palace at the Hawthorns, however finished outside of the play off positions in ninth and by 1990/91 were relegated to the third tier with Brian Talbot sacked after a 2-4 loss to non-league Woking in the FA Cup.
West Brom spent a total of sixteen seasons outside of the top flight, before returning in 2002 with a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace. Their first fixture back in the top flight would be away at League Champions Arsenal, which ironically was the sight of their last top tier away fixture sixteen years earlier. On this occasion however Arsenal triumphed 5-2 with goals from Ashley Cole, Lauren, Jeremie Aliadiere and two for Sylvan Wiltord. West Brom’s goals were scored by Scott Dobie and the nephew of Cyrille Regis, Jason Roberts. The return fixture came on Boxing Day, with Arsenal winning 2-1. Albion went straight down after one season finishing nineteenth, however played Arsenal the following season in the League Cup with a 2-0 win for the Gunners with goals from Nwankwo Kanu and Jeremie Aliadiere.
West Brom started the 2003/04 season with a 1-4 defeat away at Walsall with a hat-trick for former Arsenal star Paul Merson. West Brom came straight back up however in 2003/04 finishing as runners up in the second tier, with one noteworthy game being away at Upton Park where Albion pulled back a three goal deficit to win 4-3. On returning to the top flight, Albion left Highbury with a point after a 1-1 draw with Rob Earnshaw cancelling out an earlier Robert Pires strike. The following May however Arsenal would take all three points with a 2-0 win at the Hawthorns with Robin Van Persie and Edu among the goals. In 2005/06 West Brom would score their first win over Arsenal since December 1983, inflicting a 1-2 defeat with goals from former Arsenal striker Nwankwo Kanu and Darren Carter, with Phillipe Senderos on target for Arsenal. West Brom’s last visit to Highbury however ended in a 3-1 win for Arsenal with goals from Aleksandr Hleb, Robert Pires and Dennis Bergkamp, while Nigel Quashie was on target for the Baggies.
West Brom finished 2005/06 again relegated back to the Second tier after finishing nineteenth, however were to meet Arsenal in the League Cup 3rd Round in 2006/07, which Arsenal won 2-0 with two goals from Jeremie Aliadiere. In 2007/08 Albion were defeated 0-1 by Portsmouth in the FA Cup Semi Final through a goal by former Arsenal and West Brom forward Nwankwo Kanu. West Brom however returned to the top flight as Second tier Champions, secured with a 1-1 draw with Southampton. Albion’s first game back in the top flight came away at Arsenal in August 2008, however the Gunners triumphed 1-0 with a debut goal for Samir Nasri after three minutes. The return fixture at the Hawthorns saw Arsenal run out 3-1 winners with goals from Kolo Toure and two for Nicklas Bendtner. Albion were relegated again at the end of 2008/09, finishing bottom of the table.
In 2009/10 Arsenal again met West Brom in the League Cup third round at home, running out 2-0 winners with goals from Sanchez Watt and Carlos Vela. Now at the helm at the Hawthorns would be former Chelsea star Roberto Di Matteo, who would secure promotion as runners up with a 3-2 win at Doncaster. In September 2010, West Brom secured their first away win at Arsenal in twenty seven years after inflicting a 2-3 defeat on Arsenal. West Brom took a three goal lead over Arsenal with goals from Peter Odemwingie, Gonzalo Jara and former Gunner Jerome Thomas. Arsenal pulled two goals back in the last fifteen minutes with two goals from Samir Nasri. By the time of Arsenal’s visit to the Hawthorns the following March Roberto Di Matteo had been replaced by Roy Hodgson as West Brom manager and the Baggies raced into a two goal lead with goals from Steven Reid and Peter Odemwingie, however Arsenal pulled it back with goals Andrei Arshavin and Robin Van Persie, resulting in a 2-2 draw.
On Guy Fawkes Night 2011, a West Brom visited Arsenal which resulted in a 3-0 win for the Gunners with goals from Robin Van Persie, Thomas Vermaelen and Mikel Arteta. The season ended for Arsenal with a visit to the Hawthorns, where after being ten points behind Spurs in February Arsenal secured fourth place by one point after a 3-2 win over West Brom in what was Roy Hodgson’s last game in charge of Albion before taking on the England job, while Robin Van Persie played his last competitive game for Arsenal before defecting to Old Trafford. The following December West Brom visited Arsenal, resulting in a 2-0 win for the Gunners from two Mikel Arteta penalties. In the return fixture Arsenal took three points from the Hawthorns with a 2-1 win over West Brom with Tomas Rosicky bagging both goals.
The season ended at the Hawthorns with Sir Alex Ferguson’s last game in charge at Man. Utd, which ended in an exciting 5-5 draw. Four months on, Arsenal faced West Brom at the Hawthorns in the third round of the League Cup which ended 1-1 after extra time, Arsenal winning the tie on a penalty shoot-out. Less than two weeks later and Arsenal returned to the Hawthorns again with another 1-1 score line with Claudio Yacob scoring for Albion and Jack Wilshire, who in the week prior had been criticised for being caught smoking in public scored a great equaliser against a club who in the mid-1980s before their long disappearance from top tier football carried a ‘No Smoking’ sign emblazoned on the middle of their shirts.
Arsenal had high hopes for a title run that season, however by the time Arsenal next met West Brom in May those hopes had already gone, however Arsenal still carried off a 1-0 win over Albion with a goal from Olivier Giroud. The following November Arsenal’s visit to the Hawthorns ended in a 1-0 win with a goal from Danny Welbeck. Arsenal were to meet West Brom again for the final fixture of the season ahead of their second FA Cup Final appearance in as many years. On the back of a hat-trick in this fixture, Theo Walcott won a starting position in the following week’s Cup Final. There was also a goal from Jack Wilshire which was voted as Match of the Day’s goal of the season as Arsenal finished the League season with a 4-1 thumping of Albion.
And so on to Saturday. West Brom are currently laying around mid-table in thirteenth position. With just four defeats against Arsenal in thirty seven years, West Brom’s visit to Arsenal should be a pretty straight forward affair for Arsene Wenger’s men.
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