[Amelia Chaffinch]

 

The Terriers v The Baggies

Or the only Yorkshire premiership team vs the only West Midlands premiership team

John Smith's Stadium

Saturday 4th November 

3pm

My long-awaited fixture! I have been accused of having a love-in with the Baggies. It's true! Since new606 days I have enjoyed good banter with their fans. As a result, West Brom became my premiership team when previously I had no interest in the EPL and, in fact, I thought I would never have another premiership team! But, here we are, facing off! I would be happy for them to do well all season long. What can I hope for on Saturday? A draw? Honours even? ... nah, of course, I want to win but it wouldn't hurt me if they go boing boing. It has been said by one of their own that they could do to lose to expedite Pulis' departure. More about him later. 

A bit of history

Formed in 1878, they have a 30 year head start on us, and originally known as the West Bromwich Strollers. They changed Strollers for Albion in 1880. The Albion bit was an area of West Brom and some of the players had links to it. They acquired their first trophy, the Staffordshire Cup, in 1883, beating Villa in the semi and Stoke in the final. They have won the FA Cup no less than 5 times. The one they can't beat us on is winning the league (although they got there first!); they have done that just the once in 1919-20. They have, however, spent most of their time in the top flight. They play at the The Hawthorns but I'm sure theo will cover the history of that in his thread when he does the away leg. 

As their home kit is blue & white stripes, they are likely to be in their 2nd choice kit of red & white on Saturday.

In 1978, WBA signed 3 black players, Laurie Cunningham (died tragically in a car crash aged 33), Cyrille Regis (cousin of one of my favourite athletes, John Regis ... that 4X400 relay in the World Championships Tokyo 1991!) and Brendon Batson (became chief exec of the PFA). This was a milestone in English football and is accredited with the acceptance of black players (not that it should have been an issue). They were known as the Three Degrees and there is a statue honouring them in the town. 

 

This is montage put together by our very own Ska'd:

Talking of which, if you'd like a good read, get this:

Brummie Road by Ian Richards

Mind you, the local dialect can be harder to read than Glaswegian!  

You can't teach an old terrier new tricks but you can tell him that the creator of TV series New Tricks, Roy Mitchell is a lifelong WBA fan and named his main characters after the Halfords Lane Stand. Other names are taken from the club, too. 

West Brom have many famous fans... Frank Skinner, Adrian A Face For Radio Chiles, Lenny Henry, Julie Walters, Eric Clapton, Goran Ivanisevic (is that true?) to name a few.

The only "played for both" I can find is Ishmael Miller. Never quite did it for us, despite us willing him on.

West Bromwich and District Sunday Methodist Table Tennis League

Overall, we have the better of them. Our last meeting was in January 2010, and the one and only time we have met in the FA Cup. We lost 2-0 at home. Their goals came from Graham Dorrans and that pesky Chris Wood. Prior to that we have to go back to the 2000/01 season and old League One. The best we did that year was a draw away, having already lost at home. 

So what do we expect on Saturday? We are 13th on 12 pts, they're 15th on 10. There's little to choose between our form and top scorers:

West Brom's squad for their last match vs Man City was:

Tony Pulis gets a lot of stick for relying on success through set pieces. In other words, they think he is boring. I think this is why....

I swear I wasn't looking for that! What a boring voice that guy has got ... the presenter not Pulis... then again...! So they will try to get corners. As we have been known to be unable to defend corners, we could be in for trouble! However, that's if we let them play. It should have draw written all over it but I think we will win. I am going for 3-1 which I realise is optimistic.

If they think Pulis is boring, they should try Chris Powell ... that was boring football! Nice fella but we were losing fans by the bucketload! David Wagner was a revelation after that, never mind a revolution! Those who hung in there got cheap season tickets and higher priority for away matches if they'd been going for long enough. There was some compensation for sticking around and deserved it was, too!

A day to remember...

Saturday is to be our Remembrance match. Players are to wear shirts with printed poppies and these will be auctioned later for the Royal British Legion. The Legion will be selling poppies around the ground. There will be soldiers from Dishforth in attendance (thought that was RAF???). The minute's silence will include the Last Post performed by a cornet player from Terrier Brass and the Britannia Rescue stand will do a poppy display (Baggies, that's the stand to your right, as you will see it).

Perhaps the Baggies could follow this up with a rendition of the Lord is my shepherd?

Jeff sings...

I'll leave you with West Brom's legend Jeff Astle singing Welcome Home. If you swap home for back, it suits the purpose of welcoming you back to Huddersfield, the town and the club. It will be nice to see you here. 

Further note to Baggies - there's no segregation as far as pubs are concerned. The closest is the Ropewalk in the Odeon Complex right next to the ground. There's also a Pizza Hut and a Costa - that's where you find me after the match! You are also particularly welcome in the Gas Club. There's a small fee to go in but I think the drinks are reasonably priced. There's the Yorkshire Rose. There are a few mentioned in the football ground guides such as the Head of Steam near the railway station. I couldn't tell you if that one's still open. I can vouch for the ones I have linked to still being there... I think! 

I am sure some of our terriers will give good advice on where to go if I am wrong. 

[Lord Snooty]

Nice one, Chaffers.

I loved Jeff Astle. Along with George Best, he was my favourite non Terrier when I was a lad. Especially when he scored that "offside" goal at Bellend Road.

[Amelia Chaffinch]

I was tempted to post that clip from Fantasy Football.

[Lord Snooty]

Played for both; Dicky. Dick Krzywicki. Dick Krzywicki on the wi-ing.

[Amelia Chaffinch]

Tanzanian Terrier on twitter says Jason Davidson has played for both. Forgot him. Came to us from West Brom.

[BaggieSteve]

That's a great preview, Amelia I was at the cup game in 2010, we stopped by on our way home to Scotland from Birmingham. As I recall, it snowed like crazy that night and we stopped at a Premier Inn somewhere local. It was a really good day all round and made very welcome by the Terriers fans. Of course, those were the days when we attempted to score. A Huddersfield win on Saturday would be bittersweet - no fan wants his team to lose and I'll be rooting for a Baggies win but a defeat might have a silver lining...you can work out the rest.

I hope it's a great game, I think what Wagner and his team are doing is quite outstanding. Have a good one

[Amelia Chaffinch]

Wonder if you stayed at the one at Apsley Marina? 
Of course we'll both have our nutter sections but thankfully they are few and it will be one of those ties when you can chat to each other before and after whatever the result.
David Wagner is already a club legend. He won't lose that whatever happens. Once in a while you get a gem!

[Lord Snooty]

I think that FA Cup match was one of the last ones I took my dad to.

[Amelia Chaffinch]

I was just trying to work out why I didn't go to the Cup tie. It was Sat 2nd Jan. I was stuck working Saturday afternoons for about 4 years and couldn't go to Town matches most weeks except for when I booked leave. I think it was the year after that I finally got moved to Saturday mornings and could go again. It was awful being stuck at work with a match going on!

[Beefy 1965]

Great write up Chaff
I can only echo Baggie Steve's sentiments

Pulis out

---

Oh and thanks for mentioning the three degrees

Regis the best forward I have seen, and Laurie Cunnigham was special, very special , I don't think i will ever see a player like that in a Albion shirt again..
Trust me Ryan Giggs was a poor man's Cunningham ............
He was that GOOD