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+----- Thread: WBA vs Birmingham & Norwich - Match Thread (/showthread.php?tid=11705)
WBA vs Birmingham & Norwich - Match Thread - Ska'dForLife-WBA - 14-09-2022
![[Image: 6-BJJFX5-P6-KA6-COMQ42-SU.jpg]](https://i.ibb.co/BfcSDwh/6-BJJFX5-P6-KA6-COMQ42-SU.jpg)
Over ten days have gone by since Brandon Thomas-Asante rifled home the last-gasp equaliser that made him, if not an instant legend, then certainly a candidate for that office pending a few more goals, some blue-and-white hair-dye and a cheeky bit of boinging when the occasion demands (the latter two traditions being in sad decline amongst our players since Paul Scharner hung up his boots). And naturally, the passing of the Queen last week has cast a long shadow over the intervening period, which the tributes and marks of respect due to take place tomorrow night won't fully lift. But when all due honour has been paid to a truly historic reign, Albion and Blues will slog out the first of this season's derby games, and hopefully make it a fitting spectacle.
Albion's home league record versus Birmingham remains solid, with three wins and two draws since our last defeat in August 2005. For Blues, having beaten us at St Andrew's in April, if they could replicate the form that saw them triumph 1-0 at Preston in their last match, then aside from recording back-to-back wins on the road for the first time in over a year, they'd also be looking at consecutive victories over us for the first time since the pre-Great Escape winter of December 2004. An unlikely outcome on balance, but nevertheless, this time Albion would do well not to gift any early goals for the visitors to circle the wagons on, especially with the far tougher prospect of a trip to Carrow Road looming at the weekend and the wins column still worryingly bare.
The first match of a new monarch's reign is an auspicious event in itself, occurring only five times in Albion's 144-year history, and the club remain resolutely unbeaten in these watershed fixtures. The death of Queen Victoria and accession of King Edward on 22nd January 1901 was followed four days later by the first ever FA Cup tie played at the Hawthorns, in which Albion beat Manchester City 1-0 (the visitors perhaps a little preoccupied by the troubling thought of the throne being claimed by a potato); in turn, that majestic spud duly shuffled off to the chip-pan of eternity ten days after the 1909-10 season, meaning that the first Baggies match of George V's reign was a 1-1 draw at Hull to open the subsequent campaign four months later. George gave way to the other Edward - the one with a taste for American divorcees and sticking his right arm out at a funny angle - on 20th January 1936, nine days before Albion drew 1-1 at Bradford in the cup, and his abdication on 11th December presaged a 2-2 Baggies stalemate away to Manchester United the following weekend. Elizabeth II then succeeded her father on 6th February 1952, the same day Albion recorded a 2-0 cup win over Gateshead in front of a 40,000 crowd at St James's Park - it seems that the match was played after the announcement of the King's death in the morning, with the national anthem and Abide With Me sung in his honour before kick-off, but the Queen's accession wasn't confirmed until 5pm, after the final whistle - but for good measure, we followed it up three days later by beating Middlesbrough 1-0. All in all, why go against that kind of proud tradition?
RE: WBA vs Birmingham & Norwich - Match Thread - talkSAFT - 14-09-2022
Brilliant, Ska'd!
Has a Monarch ever attended an Albion match? (I know it was Princess Margaret who presented Willie with the Cup in '68, and the Everton fans jeered her for wearing a red coat!
)
RE: WBA vs Birmingham & Norwich - Match Thread - Ska'dForLife-WBA - 14-09-2022
(14-09-2022, 08:32)talkSAFT Wrote: Brilliant, Ska'd!
Has a Monarch ever attended an Albion match? (I know it was Princess Margaret who presented Willie with the Cup in '68, and the Everton fans jeered her for wearing a red coat!
Well, the King played 292 games for us! Can't beat that for royalty
I've only bothered looking at the cup finals, but aside from Princess Margaret in '68, it was the Queen Mother who presented the trophy in '54, the Prince of Wales (i.e. future King Edward) who attended when Albion lost to Sheffield Wednesday in '35, just eight months before his accession, and Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (George V's third son) who watched our win against Birmingham in '31. (No monarch attended a cup final before 1914, so our early finals won't fit the bill). The 1967 League Cup was presented by the Lord Mayor of London, and 1970 I'm not sure about, but don't think it was the Queen.
RE: WBA vs Birmingham & Norwich - Match Thread - 4evaabaggie - 14-09-2022
Why haven't we kicked off yet?
RE: WBA vs Birmingham & Norwich - Match Thread - Ska'dForLife-WBA - 14-09-2022
Traffic problems on the M5 apparently. Don't know the specifics.
RE: WBA vs Birmingham & Norwich - Match Thread - derbybaggie - 14-09-2022
Traffic problems, delayed 15 mins
RE: WBA vs Birmingham & Norwich - Match Thread - 4evaabaggie - 14-09-2022
Okay, cheers, apparently large fire in hockley not sure if that would add to it.
RE: WBA vs Birmingham & Norwich - Match Thread - baggietrousers - 14-09-2022
Impeccable tribute to the Queen from both sets of fans. Did the west Midlands proud.
RE: WBA vs Birmingham & Norwich - Match Thread - Baggie_One - 14-09-2022
Shocking 15 minutes
Losing 1-0
RE: WBA vs Birmingham & Norwich - Match Thread - 4evaabaggie - 14-09-2022
1 - 0 Birmingham ..... Here we go again,make it difficult for ourselves.