Given City have played two of them already, I’ve been on about the three sides (Birmingham, Reading and Rotherham) tipped to go down this season by many a lot in the last few days, but the choice of so many pundits to win the league, Norwich, who we beat 1-0 on the opening day, currently find themselves at the bottom of the league with just one point out of a possible nine.
This tends to take the attention away from how highly fancied sides such as West Brom, Middlesbrough and, to a lesser extent, Luton are all awaiting their first win = albeit at a very early stage of the season.
We face the first named of that trio at the Hawthorns tomorrow with the Baggies having drawn against Middlesbrough and Watford and lost on Sunday at early pace makers Blackburn, but, with Cedric Kipre unable to play under the terms of his loan deal, I’d say anything other than a defeat will be a great outcome for City.
Here’s the usual quiz on upcoming opponents with all of the answers being West Brom players from the decades in question, I’ll post the answers on Thursday morning.
60s. With a surname which sounded like something that was fashionable during this decade gone wrong, this skilful midfielder was helped along the route to becoming a footballer in his youth by his father installing floodlights in his back garden so he could practice all day long Always in demand, West Brom were the first of his nine clubs and, apart from a spell guesting for a team in America under the weird scheme of the time whereby teams from Europe would represent different cities in the USA during the summer months, he always stayed faithful to his southern half of England roots. The Throstles, as West Brom were known then, were one of only two sides he played more than one hundred league games for, with the other one being something of an outpost, despite a ground which evoked familiarity. His final club saw him representing Romans. He died of a heart attack in 2009 shortly after being adopted as the UKIP party’s candidate for the following year’s General Election in a seat in the city of his birth, can you name him?
70s. Apart from a short loan spell where he headed for the capital, but ended up a hundred miles away from it, West Brom was the only team this Selly Oak born defender ever played for in his homeland. However, he played for seven different sides in the country he settled in and he eventually won a cap for his adopted homeland when he started in a game against Haiti. He won his two encounters with City as a West Brom player, but do you know who I’m describing?
80s. Blemish sprouted?
90s. Clove set in oil for European Cup winner (5,5).
00s. A defender with a huge amount of expectation thrust on him from the moment he first kicked a football has been seen plying his trade at, among others, Keys Park, Westleigh Park and Testwood Stadium. In better times, he played for West Brom in Cardiff during this decade and helped earn his side a point, he also turned out for Gordon Brown’s team for a while, who is he?
10s. Name the one time West Brom striker who was sold for £12 million and went 913 days without scoring a goal in first team football.
20s. Which West Brom player saved three penalties in a shoot out during this decade?
Answers:
60S. Bristol born Dave Burnside played for West Brom between 1957 and 1962. He also turned out for Los Angeles Wolves in 1967 during his time with the Baggies biggest rivals. Burnside’s next club was Plymouth where he stayed until 1971 and the following year he ended his career with a season at Bath City.
70s. Alan Merrick played one hundred and thirty one times in the league for West Brom between 1968 and 1975, including both of their matches against City in 74/75 when they completed a double with a pair of 2-0 wins. Apart from his loan spell with Peterborough, Merrick spent the rest of his career playing in America and was capped by that country in 1983.
80s. Mark Grew.
90s. Steve Nicol.
00s. Pele, a Portugal born Cape Verde international was in the West Brom team which drew 0-0 at Ninian Park on April Fool’s day 2008 – he later moved to Falkirk (apologies for the mistake in the question there – Gordon Brown’s team is Raith Rovers) and a variety of non league clubs including Hednesford, Havant and Waterlooville and AFC Totten.
10s. Saido Berehino was sold by West Brom to Stoke for £12 million despite there already being signs of the disciplinary problems which have blighted his career. Berahino went from 27 February 2016 to 28 August 2018 without scoring a goal and went to play in Belgium after leaving Stoke, but returned to England last season when he signed for Sheffield Wednesday and, despite scoring a hat trick in a 6-0 win over Cambridge, he was told his contract was not going to be renewed and so is currently without a club at the age of twenty nine.
20s. Alex Palmer saved three penalties while on loan at Lincoln City in a Papa John’s Trophy game at Hull on 2 February 2021.