West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

club based in

West Bromwich West Bromwich ( ) is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is north-west of Birmingham. West Bromwich is part of the area ...

, West Midlands, England. They compete in the

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has played at its home ground, The Hawthorns, since 1900. Albion was a founder member of

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

1888 In Germany, 1888 is known as the Year of the Three Emperors. Currently, it is the year that, when written in Roman numerals, has the most digits (13). The next year that also has 13 digits is the year 2388. The record will be surpassed as late ...

, the first professional football league in the world. The club has spent the majority of its existence in the top tier of English football, where it has played for 82 seasons. The club has been champions of England once, in 1919–20, and has been runners-up twice. Albion have reached ten

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

finals and won the Cup on five occasions. The first win came in

, the year the league was founded, followed by wins in

1892 Events January–March * January 1 – Ellis Island begins accommodating immigrants to the United States. * February 1 - The historic Enterprise Bar and Grill was established in Rico, Colorado. * February 27 – Rudolf Diesel applies fo ...

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

and most recently in

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * J ...

, the club's last major trophy. Albion also won the

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by t ...

at the first attempt in

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo ...

, and have reached a further two finals. The club's longest continuous period in the top division spanned 24 years between 1949 and 1973, and from 1986 to 2002 it spent its longest ever spell out of the top division. The team has played in navy blue and white stripes for most of the club's history, and the club badge features a throstle perched on a

hawthorn Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

branch. Albion has long-standing rivalries with other West Midlands clubs, with its traditional rivals being

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park, ...

and

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club' ...

. Albion contests the

Black Country derby The Black Country derby is the local derby between English football teams West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers, apart in the Black Country of the West Midlands. The most successful side in the Black Country derby is West Bromwich A ...

with the latter.

History

Early years (1878–1950)

The club was founded as West Bromwich Strollers in 1878 by workers from George Salter's Spring Works in West Bromwich, in the

Black Country The Black Country is an area of the West Midlands county, England covering most of the Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall. Dudley and Tipton are generally considered to be the centre. It became industrialised during its ...

.McOwan pp. 7–10. They were renamed West Bromwich Albion in 1880, becoming the first team to adopt the ''

Albion Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than 'Britain' today. The name for Scot ...

'' suffix; Albion was a district of West Bromwich where some of the players lived or worked, close to what is today

Greets Green Greets Green (usually pronounced 'Grits Green') is a residential area of West Bromwich in the West Midlands of England. The appropriate Sandwell ward is called Greets Green and Lyng. The population taken at the 2011 census was 11,769. It was most ...

. The club joined the Birmingham & District Football Association in 1881 and became eligible for their first competition, the Birmingham Cup. They reached the quarter-finals, beating several longer-established clubs on the way. In 1883, Albion won their first trophy, the Staffordshire Cup. Albion joined

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

in the same year; this enabled them to enter the FA Cup for the first time in the 1883–84 season. In 1885 the club turned professional, and in

1886 Events January–March * January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. * January 5– 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson's novella ''Strange ...

they reached the FA Cup final for the first time, losing 2–0 to

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

in a replay. They reached the final again in 1887, but lost 2–0 to

. In

the team won the trophy for the first time, beating strong favourites

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

2–1 in the final. As FA Cup winners, they qualified to play in a

Football World Championship The Football World Championship, also known as the United Kingdom Championship or the International Club Championship, was a exhibition association football match played between the English and Scottish club champions on a regular, but not annual ...

game against

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Renton, which ended in a 4–1 defeat. West Bromwich Albion team 1888

In March 1888, William McGregor wrote to what he considered to be the top five English teams, including Albion, informing them of his intention to form an association of clubs that would play each other home and away each season. Thus when the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

started later that year, Albion became one of the twelve founder members. Albion's second FA Cup success came in

, beating Aston Villa 3–0. They met Villa again in the

1895 Events January–March * January 5 – Dreyfus affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank, and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. * January 12 – The National Trust for Places of Histor ...

final, but lost 1–0. The team suffered relegation to Division Two in 1900–01, their first season at The Hawthorns. They were promoted as champions the following season but relegated again in 1903–04. The club won the Division Two championship once more in 1910–11, and the following season reached another

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official atten ...

, where they were defeated by

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough ha ...

in a replay. Albion won the Football League title in 1919–20 for the only time in their history following the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, their totals of 104 goals and 60 points both breaking the previous league records. The team finished as Division One runners-up in 1924–25, narrowly losing out to

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

, but were relegated in 1926–27. In 1930–31, they won promotion as well as the

, beating

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

2–1 in the final. The "double" of winning the FA Cup and promotion has not been achieved before or since. Albion reached the final again in

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart ...

, losing to

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

, but were relegated three years later. They gained promotion in 1948–49, and there followed the club's longest unbroken spell in the top flight of English football, a total of 24 years.

Success and decline (1950–1992)

In 1953–54, Albion came close to being the first team in the 20th century to win the League and Cup double. They succeeded in winning the

, beating Preston North End 3–2, but injuries and a loss of form towards the end of the season meant that they finished as runners-up to fierce rivals

in the league. Nonetheless, Albion became known for their brand of fluent, attacking football, with the 1953–54 side being hailed as the "Team of the Century". One national newspaper went so far as to suggest that the team be chosen ''en masse'' to represent

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

at the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzer ...

finals. They remained one of the top English sides for the remainder of the decade, reaching the semi-final of the 1957 FA Cup and achieving three consecutive top five finishes in Division One between 1957–58 and 1959–60. Although their league form was less impressive during the 1960s, the second half of the decade saw West Brom establish a reputation as a successful cup side. Albion entered the Football League Cup for the first time in 1965–66 and, under manager Jimmy Hagan, won

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

by defeating

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

5–3 on aggregate. That was the last two-legged final and, the following year, Albion reached the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

again, the first played at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

. They lost 3–2 to Third Division

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

after being 2–0 up at half-time. Albion's cup form continued under Hagan's successor

Alan Ashman George Alan Ashman (30 May 1928 – 30 November 2002) was an English association footballer, best remembered for some notable managerial successes. Playing career Born in Rotherham, West Riding of Yorkshire, Ashman had an undistinguished amat ...

. He guided the club to their last major trophy to date, the 1968 FA Cup, when they beat Everton in

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only ...

thanks to a single goal from

Jeff Astle Jeffrey Astle (13 May 1942 – 19 January 2002) was an English professional footballer who played the majority of his career as a centre-forward for West Bromwich Albion. Nicknamed "the King" by the club's fans, he played 361 games for them and ...

. Albion reached the FA Cup semi-final and

European Cup Winners Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourn ...

quarter-final in

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

, and were defeated 2–1 by

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

in the 1970 League Cup Final. The club were less successful during the reign of

Don Howe Donald Howe (12 October 1935 – 23 December 2015) was an English football player, coach, manager and pundit. As a right back Howe featured for clubs West Bromwich Albion and Arsenal together with the England national football team in his pla ...

, and were relegated to Division Two at the end of 1972–73, but gained promotion three years later under the guidance of player-manager Johnny Giles. Under

Ron Atkinson Ronald Frederick Atkinson (born 18 March 1939), commonly known as "Big Ron" or "Mr. Bojangles", is an English former football player and manager. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he was regarded as one of Britain's best-known football pundits. Nic ...

, Albion reached the 1978 FA Cup semi-final but lost to

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn professio ...

. In May of that year, Albion became the first English professional team to play in China, going unbeaten on their five-game trip. In 1978–79, the team finished third in Division One, their highest placing for over 20 years, and also reached the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

quarter-final, where they were defeated by

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Be ...

. The team around this time was notable for simultaneously fielding three black players:

Cyrille Regis Cyrille Regis, MBE (9 February 1958 – 14 January 2018) was a professional footballer who played as a forward. His professional playing career spanned 19 years, where he made 614 league appearances and scored 158 league goals, most prolifical ...

Laurie Cunningham Laurence Paul Cunningham (8 March 1956 – 15 July 1989) was an English professional footballer. A left winger, he notably played in England, France and Spain, where he became the first ever British player to sign for Real Madrid. Cunningham ...

and

Brendon Batson Brendon Martin Batson, OBE (born 6 February 1953) is an English former footballer who played as a defender for Arsenal, Cambridge United and West Bromwich Albion. Club career Born in St. George's, Grenada, Batson moved with his family to Trini ...

; and is considered to be an integral part of the acceptance of black footballers in the English leagues. In his second spell as manager,

Ronnie Allen Ronald Allen (15 January 1929 – 9 June 2001) was an English international football player and manager. He was a professional footballer for nineteen years, between 1946 and 1964, making 638 appearances in the Football League, and scoring 2 ...

guided the team to both domestic cup semi-finals in 1981–82. The mid-1980s saw the start of Albion's longest and deepest decline. They were relegated in 1985–86 with the worst record in the club's history, beginning a period of 16 years outside the top flight. Five years later, the club were relegated to the Third Division for the first and only time.

Recent years (1992–present)

Albion had spent the majority of their history in the top-flight of English football, but when the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

was founded in 1992 the club found themselves in the third tier, which had been renamed Division Two. In 1992–93, Albion finished fourth and entered the play-offs for the first time. Albion's first appearance at

for over 20 years – and their last at the original stadium – saw them beat

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley of ...

3–0 to return to the second level – now renamed the First Division. Manager

Ossie Ardiles Osvaldo César Ardiles (born 3 August 1952), often referred to in Britain as Ossie Ardiles, is an Argentine football manager, pundit and former midfielder who won the 1978 FIFA World Cup as part of the Argentina national team. He now runs his ...

then joined

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

, however, and a succession of managers over the next few seasons saw Albion consolidate their Division One status without ever mounting a serious promotion challenge. WBA The Great Escape

The appointment of

Gary Megson Gary John Megson (born 2 May 1959) is an English former football player and manager. He has previously managed Norwich City, Blackpool, Stockport County, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion, Nottingham Forest, Leicester City, Bolton Wanderers an ...

in March 2000 heralded an upturn in the club's fortunes. Megson guided Albion to Division One safety in 1999–2000, and to the play-offs a year later. He went on to lead the club to promotion to the Premier League in 2001–02. After being relegated in their first Premier League season, they made an immediate return to the top flight in 2003–04. In 2004–05, Megson's successor, former Albion midfielder

Bryan Robson Bryan Robson OBE (born 11 January 1957) is an English football manager and former player. He began his career with West Bromwich Albion in 1972, where he amassed over 200 appearances and was club captain before moving to Manchester United in ...

, led the team to a last-day "Great Escape", when Albion became the first Premier League club to avoid relegation having been bottom of the table at Christmas, as well as bottom on the final day of the season. They failed to avoid the drop the following season, and Robson was replaced by

Tony Mowbray Anthony Mark Mowbray (born 22 November 1963) is an English former professional footballer who is currently the manager of Sunderland. Mowbray played for Middlesbrough, Celtic and Ipswich Town as a defender. He began his coaching career with Ip ...

in October 2006. The club competed in the

Championship play-off In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

final at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

on 28 May 2007, but lost 1–0 to

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

. The following season, Mowbray led the Baggies to Wembley again, this time in the semi-finals of the

, where they lost 1–0 to

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most d ...

. One month later, Albion were promoted to the Premier League as winners of the Championship, but were relegated at the end of the 2008–09 campaign. Mowbray left the club and was replaced by

Roberto Di Matteo Roberto Di Matteo (; born 29 May 1970) is an Italian professional football manager and former player. During his playing career as a midfielder, he played for Swiss clubs Schaffhausen, Zürich and Aarau before joining Lazio of Italy and Chels ...

, who led the club back to the Premier League at the first attempt, but was dismissed in February 2011 and replaced by

Roy Hodgson Roy Hodgson (born 9 August 1947) is a former English football manager and player. He managed 22 different teams in eight countries, beginning in Sweden with Halmstads BK in the 1976 season. He later guided the Switzerland national team to ...

. Hodgson guided Albion to an 11th-place finish for the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

season. Then followed an eight-season continuous run in the

. It included an 8th-place finish in 2012–13 under Steve Clarke, and 10th-place finishes under Roy Hodgson in 2011–12 and

Tony Pulis Anthony Richard Pulis (; born 16 January 1958) is a Welsh football manager and former footballer who last managed Sheffield Wednesday. Pulis obtained his FA coaching badge at age 19, followed by his UEFA 'A' licence aged 21 – making him on ...

in 2016–17. On 5 August 2016, it was announced that long-term owner Jeremy Peace had sold the club to a Chinese investment group headed up by Lai Guochuan. By this time, the club had begun to fall into a state of torpor, and were relegated at the end of the 2017–18 season, ending their eight-year Premier League stay. Pulis and his replacement

Alan Pardew Alan Scott Pardew (born 18 July 1961) is an English football manager and former professional footballer, who is the current manager of Greek Super League club Aris. Pardew's highest achievements in the sport include reaching the FA Cup Final ...

were both sacked during the season. Albion finished fourth in their first season back in the Championship under the management of Darren Moore and caretaker manager

James Shan James Shan (born 28 October 1978) is an English football coach who is a first-team coach at Sheffield Wednesday. Playing career Shan spent a three-month period in the youth set-up at Walsall at the age of 15. Following his spell at Walsall, Sh ...

, losing the Championship play-off semi-final against Aston Villa on penalties.

Slaven Bilić Slaven Bilić (; born 11 September 1968) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player. He is the current manager of EFL Championship side Watford. Bilić, who played as a defender, began his career in 1988 with his hometown c ...

took over as boss on 13 June 2019, and led Albion to automatic promotion back to the Premier League during the 2019–20 season. Back in the Premier League, Bilić was controversially sacked on 16 December 2020, with

Sam Allardyce Samuel Allardyce (; born 19 October 1954), colloquially referred to as Big Sam, is an English football manager and former professional player. Allardyce made 578 league and cup appearances in a 21-year career spent mostly in the Football Lea ...

named as his replacement the same day. After Albion were relegated from the Premier League at the end of the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season, Allardyce resigned from his position. The club appointed

Valérien Ismaël Valérien Alexandre Ismaël (born 28 September 1975) is a professional football coach and a former professional player who most recently managed Turkish club Beşiktaş. During his playing career, Ismaël played for Racing Strasbourg, Crystal P ...

as replacement ahead of the following season, but he was sacked on 2 February 2022, with the team falling out of the play-off places.

Steve Bruce Stephen Roger Bruce (born 31 December 1960) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back. He most recently managed West Bromwich Albion. Born in Corbridge, Northumberland, he was a promising scho ...

was appointed Manager the following day. After a bad run of form in the 22/23 season, which saw West Brom go bottom of the table, Bruce was sacked after many protests from supporters. Richard Beale the took charge, gaining a win against reading in one of his three games. He was then replaced with

Marcelo Bielsa Marcelo Alberto Bielsa Caldera (, nicknamed ''El Loco Bielsa'' , meaning "The Crazy Bielsa"; born 21 July 1955) is an Argentine professional football manager who was most recently the head coach of Premier League club Leeds United. He is a forme ...

’s former understudy and former Huddersfield manager Carlos Corberán.

Crest and colours

Badge

Albion's main club badge dates back to the late 1880s, when club secretary Tom Smith suggested that a throstle (song thrush) sitting on a

crossbar Crossbar may refer to: Structures * Latch (hardware), a post barring a door * Top tube of a bicycle frame * Crossbar, the horizontal member of various sports goals * Crossbar, a horizontal member of an electricity pylon Other * In electronic ...

be adopted for the badge.McOwan p. 15. The badge has been subject to various revisions since then. It has always featured a throstle, usually on a blue and white striped shield, although the crossbar was replaced with a

branch at some point after the club's move to the Hawthorns. The throstle was chosen because the

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

in which the team used to change kept a pet thrush in a cage. It also gave rise to Albion's early nickname, ''the Throstles''. The hawthorn bush is also a favourite bush of throstles, which were regularly seen on the pre-stadium estate and local area. As late as the 1930s, a caged throstle was placed beside the touchline during matches and it was said that it only used to sing if Albion were winning. In 1979, an effigy of a throstle was erected above the half-time scoreboard of the Woodman corner at the Hawthorns, and was returned to the same area of the ground following redevelopment in the early 2000s. In 1975, a version of the badge (on a

roundel A roundel is a circular disc used as a symbol. The term is used in heraldry, but also commonly used to refer to a type of national insignia used on military aircraft, generally circular in shape and usually comprising concentric rings of dif ...

rather than a shield) was granted by the

College of Arms The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the British Sover ...

to the Football League for licensing to the club. The badge was described in heraldic

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The ...

as, "On a roundel paly of thirteen argent and azure a

mistle thrush The mistle thrush (''Turdus viscivorus'') is a bird common to much of Europe, temperate Asia and North Africa. It is a year-round resident in a large part of its range, but northern and eastern populations migrate south for the winter, often ...

perched on a

raspberry The raspberry is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the genus ''Rubus'' of the rose family, most of which are in the subgenus '' Idaeobatus''. The name also applies to these plants themselves. Raspberries are perennial with ...

branch leaved and fructed proper." This is the only known occasion on which the branch has been described as a raspberry branch rather than a hawthorn branch:

Rodney Dennys Rodney Onslow Dennys, (1911 – 13 August 1993) was a British foreign service operative and long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. During World War II he served in the Intelligence Corps of the British Army. Caree ...

, the

officer of arms An officer of arms is a person appointed by a sovereign or state with authority to perform one or more of the following functions: * to control and initiate armorial matters; * to arrange and participate in ceremonies of state; * to conserve a ...

responsible, may have been imperfectly briefed. The badge was re-designed in 2006, incorporating the name of the club for the first time. The new design aimed to safeguard and consolidate the club's identity. Prior to this, the main club badge rarely coincided with that worn on the first team strip. No badge appeared on the kit for most of the club's history, although the Stafford knot featured on the team jerseys for part of the 1880s.Matthews (2007) p. 64. The

town arms were worn on the players' shirts for the

and

FA Cup finals. The town's

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

motto, "''

Labor omnia vincit ''Labor omnia vincit'' or ''Labor omnia vincit improbus'' is a Latin phrase meaning "Work conquers all". The phrase is adapted from Virgil's '' Georgics'', Book I, lines 145–6: ''...Labor omnia vicit / improbus'' ("Steady work overcame all ...

''", translates as "labour conquers all things" or "work conquers all". The town arms were revived as the shirt badge from 1994 until 2000, with the throstle moved to the collar of the shirts. Albion's first regular shirt badge appeared in the late 1960s and early 1970s where it was blue. Although it featured the throstle, it did not include the blue and white striped shield of the club badge. A similar design was also used during the late 1980s and early 1990s. In the mid-1970s, a more abstract version of the throstle was used on the club's shirts, while in the late 1970s through to the mid-1980s, an embroidered WBA logo was displayed, a common abbreviation of the club's name in print. Not until the early 21st century did the full club badge appear on the team's shirts.

Colours

West Brom have played in navy blue and white striped shirts for the majority of their existence, usually with white shorts and white socks. The team is occasionally referred to as ''the Stripes'' by supporters. A number of different colours were trialled during the club's formative years however, including cardinal red and blue quarters in 1880–81, yellow and white quarters in 1881–82, chocolate and blue halves in 1881–82 and 1882–83, red and white hoops in 1882–83, chocolate and white in 1883–84 and cardinal red and blue halves in 1884–85. The blue and white stripes made their first appearance in the 1885–86 season, although at that time they were of a lighter shade of blue; the navy blue stripes did not appear until after the First World War. For the regional leagues played during the Second World War, Albion were forced to switch to all-blue shirts, as

rationing Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...

meant that striped material was considered a luxury. Like all football clubs, Albion sport a secondary or "change" strip when playing away from home against a team whose colours clash with their own. As long ago as the 1890s, and throughout much of the club's early history, a change strip of white jerseys with black shorts was worn.Matthews (1987) p. 241. The away shirt additionally featured a large 'V' during the First World War. In the 1935 FA Cup Final, however, when both of Albion and

's kits clashed, a switch was made to plain navy blue shirts. An all-red strip was adopted at the end of the 1950s, but was dropped following defeat in the 1967 League Cup Final, to be replaced by the all-white design that was worn during the club's FA Cup run of 1967–68. Since then the away strip has changed regularly, with yellow and green stripes the most common of a number of different designs used. In the 1990s and 2000s a third kit has occasionally been introduced. Albion players – along with those of other

teams – first wore numbers on the back of their shirts in the abandoned season of 1939–40, and names on the back of their shirts from 1999–2000. Red numbers were added to the side of Albion players' shorts in 1969.

Kit sponsors

BSR Housewares became the club's first shirt sponsor during the 1981–82 season. The club's shirts have been sponsored for the majority of the time since then, although there was no shirt sponsor at the end of the 1993–94 season, after local solicitors Coucher & Shaw were closed down by the

Law Society of England and Wales The Law Society of England and Wales (officially The Law Society) is the professional association that represents solicitors for the jurisdiction of England and Wales. It provides services and support to practising and training solicitors, as ...

. Unusually for a Premier League club, Albion were again without a shirt sponsor for the start of the 2008–09 campaign, as negotiations with a new sponsor were still ongoing when the season began. The longest-running shirt sponsorship deal agreed by the club ran for seven seasons between 1997 and 2004 with the

West Bromwich Building Society West Bromwich Permanent Building Society was formed in 1849 and remained a very local society for over a 100 years, only adding a few local branches in the 1930s. The appointment of Frank Dilkes as managing director in 1965 led to substantial re ...

. Today the club's principal sponsor is Ideal Boilers. Other sponsors have included

T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand name used by some of the mobile communications subsidiaries of the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG in the Czech Republic ( T-Mobile Czech Republic), Poland ( T-Mobile Polska), the United States (T-Mobil ...

(2004–08), Homeserve (2010–11), Bodog (2011–12),

Zoopla ZPG Ltd. is a British real estate company based in London, England, owned by Silver Lake Partners. Its brands include the property website Zoopla, price comparison service Uswitch, finance comparison website Money.co.uk, personal finance content ...

(2012–14), Intuit Quickbooks (2014–15),

Tlcbet TLCBET óng.lè.chéng(formerly known as TLC88 and TLC188) is a Philippines based online gambling company founded in 2010. TLCBET offers up to 4,000 in-running games every month. Licensing TLCBET's gaming license is from FCLRC (First Cagayan Lei ...

(2015–16), K8 group (2016–2017), and Palm Eco-Town Development (2017–18). Since July 2018, West Brom's

kit Kit may refer to: Places *Kitt, Indiana, US, formerly Kit * Kit, Iran, a village in Mazandaran Province * Kit Hill, Cornwall, England People * Kit (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Kit (surname) Animals * Young animal ...

has been manufactured by Puma. Previous manufacturers have included Scoreline (1989–91), Influence (1991–92), Pelada (1993–95), Patrick (1995-2002),

Diadora Diadora is an Italian sportswear and footwear manufacturing company based in Caerano di San Marco ( Veneto), subsidiary of Geox, founded in 1948. Diadora produces football boots and athletic shoes, as well as a range of apparel that includes ...

(2003–2006),

Umbro Umbro is an English sports equipment manufacturer founded in 1924 in Wilmslow, Cheshire and based in Manchester. They specialise in football and rugby sportswear featuring their ''Double Diamond'' logo. Umbro products are marketed in over 1 ...

(1974–89, 2006–11) and

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufacture ...

(2011–18).

Stadium

The speed with which the club became established following its foundation is illustrated by the fact that it outgrew four successive grounds in its first seven years. The first was Cooper's Hill, where they played from 1878 to 1879. From 1879 to 1881, they appear to have alternated between Cooper's Hill and Dartmouth Park. During the 1881–82 season, they played at Bunn's Field, also known as the Birches. This had a capacity of between 1,500 and 2,000, and was Albion's first enclosed ground, allowing the club to charge an entrance fee for the first time. From 1882 to 1885, as the popularity of football increased, Albion rented the Four Acres ground from the well-established West Bromwich Dartmouth Cricket Club. But they quickly outgrew this new home and soon needed to move again. From 1885 to 1900, Albion played at

Stoney Lane Stoney Lane was a football ground in West Bromwich, England. It was the home ground of West Bromwich Albion from 1885 until 1900. History West Bromwich Albion moved to Stoney Lane in 1885 from their Four Acres ground in 1885. A 600-seat grandsta ...

; their tenure of this ground was arguably the most successful period in the club's history, as they won the FA Cup twice and were runners-up three times. Throstle at the Hawthorns

By 1900, when the lease on Stoney Lane expired, the club needed a bigger ground yet again and so made its last move to date. All of Albion's previous grounds had been close to the centre of West Bromwich, but on this occasion they took up a site on the town's border with Handsworth and

Smethwick Smethwick () is an industrial town in Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It lies west of Birmingham city centre. Historically it was in Staffordshire. In 2019, the ward of Smethwick had an estimated population of 15,246, while the wider b ...

. The new ground was named The Hawthorns, after the

bushes that covered the area and were cleared to make way for it. Albion drew 1–1 with

in the first match at the stadium, on 3 September 1900. The record attendance at the Hawthorns was on 6 March 1937, when 64,815 spectators saw Albion beat

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostl ...

3–1 in the FA Cup quarter-final. The Hawthorns became an all-seater stadium in the 1990s, in order to comply with the recommendations of the

Taylor Report The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster Inquiry report is the report of an inquiry which was overseen by Lord Justice Taylor, into the causes of the Hillsborough disaster in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989, as a result of which, ...

. Its capacity today is 26,850, the four stands being known respectively as the Birmingham Road End, Smethwick End, East Stand and West Stand (Halfords Lane). At an altitude of 551 feet (168 m) above sea level, the Hawthorns is the highest of all the 92 Premier League and Football League grounds. The Hawthorns is certificated under the highest

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs fo ...

pitch surfaces which means it is ready to host almost any competition if required. The stadium's West Stand has the potential to be developed over the Halfords Lane at the back of the stand to allow for an upper tier, bringing the capacity of The Hawthorns to around 30,000. West Bromwich Albion own retail outlets around The Hawthorns, including its Stadium Megastore and seasonally a club store in

town centre. They also own the former Hawthorns Pub, a

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

building behind the West Stand on the corner of Halfords Lane and the Birmingham Road. This has served as the official club fanzone with licensed bars, live music, fan favourites – such as mascots and children activities – as well as being shared with a high street food outlet. The pub competes with The Vine pub in Roebuck Lane, a popular destination for visiting and home football fans year-round.

Supporters

Fan culture

The official West Bromwich Albion Supporters Club was founded on 4 October 1951. In the years since then, over 30 branches have been established throughout the United Kingdom, and internationally in Jersey, Ireland, Spain, Malta, Croatia, USA, UAE, India, Thailand and Australia. There are also supporters groups for those with disabilities, for mental health support,

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

supporters, supporters in the emergency services and armed forces, and

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

people. Albion's "club anthem" is ''The Lord's my Shepherd'', a setting of

Psalm 23 Psalm 23 is the 23rd psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "The Lord is my shepherd". In Latin, it is known by the incipit, "". The Book of Psalms is part of the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and a boo ...

. Supporters of the team celebrate goals by bouncing up and down and chanting "Boing Boing". This dates back to the 1992–93 season, when the team was promoted from the new

. '' The Liquidator'' instrumental by the

Harry J. Allstars Harry Zephaniah Johnson (6 July 1945 – 3 April 2013), known by the stage name Harry J, was a Jamaican reggae record producer. Biography Born in Westmoreland Parish, Jamaica, Johnson started to play music with the Virtues as a bass player be ...

has also been popularly used in the stadium since the late 1960s. The

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

song "West Bromwich Albion" by Ray King is another club anthem popularly played before matches. In recent years fans of the team have celebrated the end of each season by adopting a

fancy dress A costume party (American English) or fancy dress party (other varieties of English) is a type of party, common in contemporary Western culture, in which many of the guests are dressed in costume, usually depicting a fictional or stock cha ...

theme for the final away match, including dressing as

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

in 2004 in honour of Player of the Season Thomas Gaardsøe. In 2002–03 Albion's fans were voted the best in the Premier League by their peers, while in the BBC's 2002 "national intelligence test" ''Test the Nation'', they were found to be "more likely to be smarter than any other football supporters, registering an average score of 138". Wbaaficion

Famous fans include Goalkeepers Aaron Ramsdale and Ben Foster, comedian

Frank Skinner Christopher Graham Collins (born 28 January 1957), professionally known as Frank Skinner, is an English comedian, actor, presenter and writer. At the 2001 British Comedy Awards, he was named Best Comedy Entertainment Personality. His televisio ...

, TV presenter

Adrian Chiles Adrian Chiles (born 21 March 1967) is a British writer and television and radio presenter. He has co-presented both '' The One Show'' (2007–2010) and '' Daybreak'' (2010–2011) with Christine Lampard. He was also the chief presenter for fo ...

One Direction One Direction, often shortened to 1D, are an English-Irish pop boy band formed in London in 2010. The group are composed of Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and previously Zayn Malik until his departure from the g ...

singer

Liam Payne Liam James Payne (born 29 August 1993) is an English singer. He rose to fame as a member of the boy band One Direction. Payne made his debut as a singer in 2008 when he auditioned for the British television series ''The X Factor''. After being ...

, comedian

Lenny Henry Sir Lenworth George Henry (born 29 August 1958) is a British actor, comedian, singer, television presenter and writer. Henry gained success as a stand-up comedian and impressionist in the late 1970s and early 1980s, culminating in '' The Le ...

, actress

Julie Walters Dame Julia Mary Walters (born 22 February 1950), known professionally as Julie Walters, is an English actress. She is the recipient of four British Academy Television Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, two International Emmy Awards, a B ...

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically dr ...

guitarist

Ronnie Wood Ronald David Wood (born 1 June 1947) is an English rock musician, best known as an official member of the Rolling Stones since 1975, as well as a member of Faces and the Jeff Beck Group. Wood began his career in 1964, playing guitar with a ...

, tennis player

Goran Ivanišević Goran Ivanišević (; born 13 September 1971) is a Croatian former professional tennis player and current coach. He is the only player to win a Wimbledon singles title as a wildcard. He achieved this in 2001 while ranked world No. 125, after ...

, television presenter

Cat Deeley Catherine Elizabeth Deeley (born 23 October 1976) is an English television presenter and actress. From 1998 to 2002, she hosted the ITV children's show '' SMTV Live,'' for which she won a BAFTA Children's Award, and its spin-off chart show '' ...

, DJ Dave Haslam, boxers

Richie Woodhall Richie Woodhall (born 17 April 1968) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1990 to 2000. He held the WBC super-middleweight title from 1998 to 1999, as well as the Commonwealth middleweight title from 1992 to 1995, and the E ...

and

Tommy Langford Thomas Langford (born 12 July 1989) is a British professional boxer. He held the British middleweight title from 2016 to 2018, and the Commonwealth middleweight title in 2016. Professional career Langford made his professional debut on 8 Septe ...

, and guitarist

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list o ...

Publications

The club has published an official matchday programme for supporters since 1905. The publication was entitled ''Albion News'' for many years, but was renamed ''Albion'' from the 2002–03 season until the close season of 2013, when it was renamed back to ''Albion News''. It won Premier League Programme of the Year in 2002–03 and Third Division Programme of the Year in 1991–92. In 2007–08, it was awarded Championship Programme of the Year by both Programme Monthly and the Football Programme Directory. The programme has a circulation in excess of 8,000 copies. The first West Bromwich Albion

fanzine A fanzine (blend of '' fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleasure of others who share ...

, ''Fingerpost'', was published from 1983 until 1992, and was followed by several others, most notably ''Grorty Dick'' (1989–2005) and ''Last Train to Rolfe Street'' (1992–1995). Since ''Grorty Dick'' ceased publication in 2005, the club now only has one fanzine dedicated to it; 'Baggie Shorts' which is produced by the West Bromwich Albion Supporters' Club London Branch.

"Baggies" nickname

Although known in their early days as ''"the Throstles"'', the club's more popular nickname among supporters came to be ''the Baggies'', a term which the club itself looked down upon for many years but later embraced. The phrase was first heard at the Hawthorns in the 1900s, but its exact origins are uncertain.McOwan pp. 38–40. One suggestion is that the name was bestowed on Albion supporters by their rivals at

, because of the large baggy trousers that many Albion fans wore at work to protect themselves from molten iron in the factories and foundries of the

. Club historian Tony Matthews, however, suggests that it derives from the "bagmen", who carried the club's matchday takings in big leather bags from the turnstiles to the cash office on the halfway line. Other theories relate to the baggy shorts worn by various players during the club's early years. The official club mascots are named ''Baggie Bird'' and ''Albi''; both are based on the throstle depicted on the club crest.

Rivalries

Historically, Albion's greatest rivals were

from nearby

. The two clubs contested three

s between 1887 and 1895 (Villa winning two and Albion one). More recently, however, some Albion fans tend to see

as their main rivals, particularly as between 1989 and 2002 Albion and Villa were never in the same division, but Albion were in the same division as Wolves for 11 out of 14 seasons. This had led to Aston Villa supporters now considering

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

to be their fiercest rivals. A less-heated rivalry also exists with Birmingham City, with whom Albion contested the 1931 FA Cup final, as well as a semi-final in 1968. A number of

hooligan firm Hooligan firms (also known as football firms) are groups that participate in football hooliganism in European countries. For groups in Latin America, see barra brava and torcida organizada. Belgium *Club Brugge – East Side *RSC Anderlecht � ...

s associate themselves with Albion, including Section 5, Clubhouse and the Smethwick Mob.

Black Country derby

Albion and Wolves contest the

, one of the longest standing derbies in world football. It is considered one of the fiercest rivalries in English football. A 2008 survey found it to be the most intense rivalry in the country, with one in four fans from both clubs claiming that their rivalry went much deeper than football. The two sides have played each other 160 times, with their first major clash being an FA Cup tie in 1886. Both Albion and Wolves were founding members of

, making the derby the joint oldest in English league football. The rivalry came to prominence when the two clubs contested the league title in 1953–54, and during the 1990s it intensified to new heights among supporters, with both clubs languishing in Division One for much of the decade and only local pride at stake. Moreover, in 2002 Albion came from being 11 points adrift to overhaul Wolves to gain promotion. The rivalry was further heightened after the sides met in the play-offs in 2007. A 2004 survey by Planetfootball.com confirmed that the majority of both Albion and Wolves supporters consider the other to be their main rival. In February 2012 the Baggies beat Wolves 5–1 away from home, with

Peter Odemwingie Peter Osaze Odemwingie (born 15 July 1981) is a retired Nigerian professional footballer who played as a forward and winger. Odemwingie grew up in Uzbekistan and Russia and began his career with Bendel Insurance in the Nigeria Premier League. ...

scoring a hat-trick. The game became known as the 'demolition derby', and remains the highest scoring Black Country derby of the 21st century. Despite their geographical location, fellow Black Country club

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

are seen as lesser rivals, having played in a lower division than Albion for most of their history.

West Bromwich Albion–Aston Villa rivalry

Ranked by ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' in 2010 as the most fierce in the region alongside the

and the

Second City derby In English football, the Second City derby or Birmingham derby, is the local derby between the two major clubs in the city of Birmingham – Aston Villa and Birmingham City, first contested in 1879. Villa play at Villa Park while Birmingham play ...

, games between

and West Brom are particularly fierce. The two first met on 9 December 1882, in the second round of the Staffordshire Cup: Villa hosted a 3–3 draw in front of 13,900 fans, while in the replay West Brom won by a single goal with an attendance of 10,500. On 3 January 1885, they met for the first time in the third round of the FA Cup: a goalless draw at West Brom was followed by a 3–0 victory for them away at Villa. The following year, both teams became founder members of the Football League. They met first in a league fixture on 19 January 1889, Villa winning 2–0 at home, before a draw the next week ending 3–3. The two teams met in two further FA Cup finals in the 19th century, a 3–0 win for West Brom in

and a 1–0 win for Aston Villa in

. Birmingham City were relegated from the Premier League in 2011 and Wolverhampton Wanderers a season later, leaving Aston Villa and West Brom as the only West Midlands teams in England's top division. Without their respective main rivals and with Albion finishing above their nearest rivals for the second season in a row, the historic rivalry was rekindled to pre-1990s competitiveness. At the end of the 2015–16 season, Aston Villa were relegated, leaving West Brom as the only West Midlands team in the top flight for the 2016–17 season. After Albion's relegation at the end of the

2017–18 Premier League The 2017–18 Premier League was the 26th season of the Premier League, the top English professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992, and the 119th season of top-flight English football overall. The seaso ...

, the teams faced each other in the Championship. In the 2018–19 EFL Championship play-off semi-finals, Villa knocked out West Brom on penalties, after Albion had two men sent-off over both legs.

Ownership and governance

''As of 9 February 2021'':

Board of directors

Senior management

History of Albion's ownership and governance

In the club's formative years, West Bromwich Albion were run by a seven-man playing committee, and funded by each member contributing a weekly subscription of 6d ( six pence) (2p). Albion's first chairman was Henry Jackson, appointed in 1885, with the club becoming a

limited company In a limited company, the liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by shares, the li ...

in June 1891.Matthews (2005) pp. 267–269. Other early chairmen of Albion included

Jem Bayliss Albert Edward James Matthias Bayliss (1 August 1863 – 19 August 1933), known as Jem Bayliss, was an English footballer who played for West Bromwich Albion, as well as the English national side. He captained the West Bromwich Albion side whic ...

and

Billy Bassett William Isiah Bassett (27 January 1869 – 8 April 1937) was an English association footballer, director, and club chairman who served West Bromwich Albion for over half a century. Biography Playing career Born in West Bromwich, the eldest of ...

, both of whom had earlier played for the club. Indeed, from 1878 to 1986 there was always an Albion player or ex-player on the club's committee or board of directors. Bassett became an Albion director in 1905, following the resignation of the previous board in its entirety. The club was in deep financial trouble and had had a writ served upon them by their bank, but Bassett and returning chairman Harry Keys rescued the club, aided by local fund-raising activities. Bassett became chairman in 1908, and helped the club to avoid bankruptcy once more in 1910 by paying the players' summer wages from his own pocket. He remains Albion's longest-serving chairman, having held the position until his death in 1937. The club's longest-serving director was Major H. Wilson Keys, during the period 1930–1965, including 15 years as chairman. He became vice-president of the

Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

in 1969. Sir Bert Millichip served as Albion chairman from 1974 to 1983, after which he chose to concentrate on his role as chairman of the Football Association. In 1996, the club became a

public limited company A public limited company (legally abbreviated to PLC or plc) is a type of public company under United Kingdom company law, some Commonwealth jurisdictions, and the Republic of Ireland. It is a limited liability company whose shares may be fr ...

, issuing shares to supporters at £500 and £3,000 each, under the Chairmanship of Paul Thompson. The shares were quoted on the

Alternative Investment Market AIM (formerly the Alternative Investment Market) is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange that was launched on 19 June 1995 as a replacement to the previous Unlisted Securities Market (USM) that had been in operation since 1980. It allows ...

, but the club withdrew from the stock exchange in order to become a private company again in 2004. The name of the company thus reverted from West Bromwich Albion plc to West Bromwich Albion Limited, the latter becoming a subsidiary of West Bromwich Albion Holdings Limited. Jeremy Peace took up the post in 2002, after a rift between previous chairman Paul Thompson and manager

forced Thompson to quit the club. In September 2007, Peace acquired additional shares in West Bromwich Albion Holdings Limited, taking his total stake in the company to 50.56%. This triggered a requirement, under the

Takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to ...

Code, for him to make a mandatory cash offer for the remaining shares in both WBA Holdings Ltd and WBA Ltd. Later that year, Michelle Davies became Albion's first female director. She stepped down in 2010. Jeremy Peace announced in June 2008 that he was looking for a major new investor for the club, but no firm proposals were received by the 31 July deadline. On 24 July 2015, Jeremy Peace announced that his sale exclusivity deal was now off after a potential buyer was unable to fulfil the terms of sale. In July 2016, Peace announced that he had found a buyer in the form of a Chinese investment group headed by Lai Guochuan. The figure agreed upon is believed to have been in the region of £175 million – £200 million. The takeover was successfully completed ahead of schedule on 15 September the same year.

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review '' WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...

was originally appointed chairman of the club before Lai replaced him with associate Li Piyue after the club's relegation in the 2017–18 season. Lai himself took over as chairman on 2 February 2022.

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Under-23s and Academy

Coaching staff

''As of 10 October 2022''

First team

Academy

Notable former players

As part of the club's 125th anniversary celebrations in 2004, a survey was commissioned via the official West Bromwich Albion website and the ''

Express & Star The ''Express & Star'' is a regional evening newspaper in Britain. Founded in 1889, it is based in Wolverhampton, England, and covers the West Midlands county and Staffordshire. Currently edited by Martin Wright, the ''Express & Star'' publish ...

'' newspaper to determine the greatest West Brom players of all time. A modern-day, 16-man squad was compiled from the results; all selected players are depicted on a commemorative mural displayed at The Hawthorns. Fourteen of the sixteen players are English-born, with a fifteenth, Cyrille Regis, a

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label= French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic coast of South America in the Guianas ...

-born full

international. The list of 16 is as follows: Jeff Astle Gates

Other notable honours bestowed upon West Brom players include the

PFA Young Player of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Young Player of the Year (often called the PFA Young Player of the Year, or simply the Young Player of the Year) is an annual award given to the young player who is adjudged to have been the best of the s ...

award, which was presented to Cyrille Regis in 1979. In 1998, Billy Bassett and Bryan Robson were named among the list of

Football League 100 Legends The Football League 100 Legends is a list of 100 great association football players who played part or all of their professional career in English Football League and Premier League football. The players were selected in 1998 by a panel of journa ...

, along with Arthur Rowley,

Geoff Hurst Sir Geoffrey Charles Hurst (born 8 December 1941) is an English former professional footballer. A striker, he became the first man to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final when England recorded a 4–2 victory over West Germany at Wembley S ...

and Johnny Giles. Bryan Robson was also an inaugural inductee into the

English Football Hall of Fame The English Football Hall of Fame is housed at the National Football Museum in Manchester, England. The Hall aims to celebrate and highlight the achievements of the all-time top English footballing talents, as well as non-English players and m ...

in 2002, to be joined two years later by Geoff Hurst. Bobby Robson, a player with Albion, has also been inducted, although this was for his achievements as a manager. In 1919–20, Fred Morris became the first Albion player to finish as top goalscorer in

Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First Div ...

, a feat which has since been repeated by Ronnie Allen, Derek Kevan, Jeff Astle and Tony Brown. Brown, who holds the club records for goals and appearances, was voted into the PFA Centenary Hall of Fame in July 2007.

Player of the Year

Partial list of managers

The following managers have all led West Bromwich Albion to at least one of the following achievements while in charge of the club: winning a major trophy or reaching the final, achieving a top three league finish in the top flight, winning promotion or reaching the quarter-finals of a major European competition.

Records

West Bromwich Albion's record victory was their 12–0 league win against

Darwen Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners". The A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to the s ...

on 4 April 1892. This is still the widest margin of victory for a game in the top-flight of English football, although the record was equalled by Nottingham Forest when they beat Leicester Fosse by the same scoreline in 1909. Albion's biggest FA Cup victory came when they beat Chatham 10–1 on 2 March 1889. The club's record league defeat was a 3–10 loss against

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

on 4 February 1937, while a 0–5 defeat to

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

on 18 February 1967 represents Albion's heaviest FA Cup loss. Tony Brown holds a number of Albion's club records. He has made the most appearances overall for the club (720), as well as most appearances in the league (574), FA Cup (54) and in European competition (17). Brown is the club's top scorer in the league (218), the FA Cup (27) and in Europe (8). He is also the club's record scorer overall, with 279 goals. W. G. Richardson scored 328 goals for the club, but this includes 100 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, which are not normally counted towards competitive totals. Richardson holds the club record for most league goals in a single season, scoring 39 times in 1935–36. Albion's most capped international player, taking into account only those caps won whilst at the club, is

Chris Brunt Christopher Colin Brunt (born 14 December 1984) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder and is the current West Bromwich Albion loan player manager. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders ...

. He appeared 55 times for

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

as an Albion player, earning 65 caps in total before retiring from international football in 2017.

Jesse Pennington Jesse Pennington (23 August 1883 – 5 September 1970) was an English footballer in the early part of the 20th century. He was nicknamed "Peerless Pennington". Career Born in West Bromwich, Pennington was a left-back for West Bromwich Albion fo ...

is the club's most capped England international, with 25 caps.Matthews (2007) pp. 404–405. The highest transfer fee paid by the club is £15 million to

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig, and colloquially referred to as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company Red Bul ...

for Oliver Burke on 25 August 2017. The record transfer fee received by Albion from another club was for the transfer of

Salomón Rondón José Salomón Rondón Giménez (; born 16 September 1989) is a Venezuelan professional footballer who plays as a striker for the Venezuela national team, and is currently a free agent. After starting out at Aragua, he went on to spend most o ...

Dalian Yifang Dalian Professional Football Club () is a professional Chinese Association football, football club based in Dalian, Liaoning, that participates in the China League One, China Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA) ...

in July 2019 for £16.5 million.

Honours

Major honours

Reference: West Bromwich Albion team 1920

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

(Tier 1) **Champions (1): 1919–20 **Runners-up: 1924–25, 1953–54 *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third t ...

(Tier 2) **Champions (3): 1901–02, 1910–11, 2007–08 **Runners-up: 1930–31, 1948–49, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2009–10, 2019–20 *

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the ...

EFL League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

(Tier 3) ** Play-off winners (1):

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

**Winners (5):

**Finalists:

, 1887,

1912 Events January * January 1 – The Republic of China is established. * January 5 – The Prague Conference (6th All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party) opens. * January 6 ** German geophysicist Alfred ...

**Winners (1):

**Finalists:

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

, 1970 *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier L ...

**Winners (2):

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own ma ...

''(shared)'' **Runners-up:

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. I ...

**Winners (1):

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

**Finalists:

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijiangs ...

Minor honours

**Runners-up:

* Tennent Caledonian Cup **Winners: 1977 *

Watney Cup The Watney Mann Invitation Cup (normally referred to as simply the Watney Cup) was a short-lived English football tournament held in the early 1970s. It was held before the start of the season, and was contested by the teams that had scored th ...

**Finalists: 1971

Footnotes

:A. : Older sources quote the year of formation as 1879, as evidence of a Strollers match from 1878 came to light only as recently as 1993. :B. : ''Throstle'' is a colloquial

name for the

song thrush The song thrush (''Turdus philomelos'') is a thrush that breeds across the West Palearctic. It has brown upper-parts and black-spotted cream or buff underparts and has three recognised subspecies. Its distinctive song, which has repeated musica ...

. :C. : The town crest remained on the away strip until 2001. :D. : Kevan was joint-top scorer with

Ray Crawford Ray Crawford (October 26, 1915 – February 1, 1996) was an American fighter ace, test pilot, race-car driver and businessman. Biography Born in Roswell, New Mexico, Crawford served as a U.S. Army Air Corps fighter pilot and flew the P-38 ...

of Ipswich Town. :E. : Secretary-manager. Albion did not appoint a full-time manager until 1949. :F. : The Football League First Division was the top division of English football until 1992, when the Premier League became the top division. At the same time, the second, third and fourth tiers of English football became known as the Football League First Division, Second Division and Third Division respectively. These three divisions were renamed again in 2004 as part of a Football League re-branding exercise, becoming known as the Football League Championship, League One and League Two respectively. :G. : This feat was repeated by Sunderland in the 2013–14 season and Leicester the following year.

References

;General * * * * * ;Specific

External links

West Bromwich Albion F.C. – Official websiteOfficial Supporters Club
(archived)
Former Players AssociationWomen's teamWest Bromwich Albion F.C. – Official Hospitality website
{{Authority control Football clubs in the West Midlands (county) The Football League founder members Association football clubs established in 1878 English Football League clubs West Bromwich FA Cup winners EFL Cup winners 1878 establishments in England Football clubs in England Premier League clubs