[Lord Snooty]

Huddersfield Town v West Bromwich Albion
The Sky Bet Championship
Saturday November 20th - 15:00 ko
at the John McAlpharm Stadium

Huddersfield Town welcome West Bromwich Albion to Leeds Road on Saturday afternoon for the first home game since.........seems like years ago!

No news yet on the two serious looking injuries picked up at Cardiff by skipper Jonathan Hogg and Duane Holmes. We have had four players away on international duty. Sorba Thomas remained in Cardiff after that shocker of a defeat, to meet up with his Welsh pals. He sat on the bench for both games, so should be nice and fresh to rip those Baggies to pieces. Scottish Highlands went north and made his first start for the u21s. Danel Sinani, fresh from becoming the first ever player from Luxembourg to score in the Championship, played twice for his country over the weekend. And Levi Colwill made his first start for the England u19s. No news on these players fitness yet, which just leaves us to see how many of the players left behind at Canalside that Carlos Corberán has managed to break.

As for West Bromwich, well they have Karlan Grant coming into form. He has 8 goals so far this season. We all know how dangerous he can be. We will also be facing some ex Leeds horrors. Robert Snodgrass is now plying his trade in Baggieland. We all remember what a prick he can be. And then there's Kyle Bartley, who surely won't be allowed back into the stadium, having been given a stadium ban after starting a fight with David Wagner in 2017.

They also have Alex Mowatt, another BellEnder, who they signed from Barnsley. He always scores against us, but was missing from their last game, a draw at home to Boro, so hopefully he won't be around on Saturday.





A brief history of West Bromwich Albion: formed in 1878 as West Bromwich Strollers, apparently because you had to walk all the way to Wednesbury to buy a football. The name didn't stick and they became the Albion shortly after.

They played in local leagues and entered the national FA Cup in 1883/84. They made it all the way to the Final in 1886, losing to Blackburn Rovers and again in the following year, being beaten by Aston Villa. Then in 1888 they only went and won it. They beat Preston North End in the Final 2-1, with goals from George Woodhall and Jem Bayliss.

Later that year, they became one of the twelve founder members of the Football League. Four years later, in 1892, they won the Cup for a second time, beating Villa 3-0 this time. Jack Reynolds, Sammy Nicholls and Alfred Geddes scoring the goals in the last Final to be played at the Kennington Oval. They met Villa for a third time in the Final in 1895, but the Villains won it then. Albion moved into the Hawthorns in 1900, but suffered their first relegation in the same season. However, they boing boinged back up straight away, winning the Second Division championship.

In 1896, a young boy called Fred Everiss joined the staff of the football club. Then in 1902, in what would be an unbelievable situation nowadays, as a 19 year old, he was given the job of manager/secretary. An outrageous appointment? Well, he kept the job for 46 years, making him the longest serving manager in Football League history.

Everiss's first bit of glory was that 2nd division title just mentioned and they were top of the First Division for a while in the next season, before fading to finish 7th. The following season, they got relegated again. No yo-yo this time though, staying in Div 2 for a while, but then winning the championship once more in 1911. They followed that in the next season with another FA Cup Final, losing to Barnsley in the Final, after a replay. The first Final was played on the 20th of April 1912 at Crystal Palace, just five days after the sinking of the Titanic. The match finished 0-0 and so both teams traipsed up to Brammall Lane, where the Tykes triumphed 1-0. The gate receipts for the match of £2615, were donated to the Titanic Disaster Fund.

Albion were still in the First Division when the war broke out. Post war, they won their one and only Football League title in 1919/20, winning it by a massive 9 points (only 2 pts for a win then) from runners up Burnley. They also beat Spurs to win the Charity Shield. They almost won another title in 1924/25, but fell two points short of Huddersfield Town, who were winning their second title and would go on to be the first team to win three in a row.

Success didn't last though and the club were relegated in 1927. They came back again in 1931, finishing as runners up to Everton. They also won the Cup again, beating local rivals Birmingham City in their first visit to Wembley Stadium. William "Ginger" Richardson scored both the Albion's goals in a 2-1 victory. Earlier in the season, Ginger had scored 4 goals in 5 minutes against West Ham, a record that still stands to this day. Another record that still stands is that they are so far the only team to win promotion and the FA Cup in the same season. We'll be hoping to match that when May comes around again. 

They lost another Cup Final in 1935, this time against Sheffield Wednesday. That man Ginger (named as such officially to avoid confusion with a team mate with the same name) scored a club record 39 goals in the 35/36 season, but by the start of WWII, the Baggies had been relegated and with the 39/40 season abandoned after just three games, they couldn't get back up.

After 46 years in the job (as secretary/manager), Everiss retired, moving upstairs onto the Board of Directors. He left with a great record. The only Albion manager to win the League, also three promotions from Div 2 (twice as champions), one FA Cup and two runners up and also the 1920 Charity Shield. Sadly though, three years into his retirement, he died in 1951, aged 68.

Jack Smith took over the managerial reigns in 1948 and won promotion straight away. He'd left by the time the Baggies next won silverware. It was Vic Buckingham in charge of the 1954 FA Cup winning side, that also finished runners up in the league, behind Wolves but a couple of points above 3rd placed Huddersfield Town. The Cup Final win was against Preston and Ronnie Allen scored a couple, with Frank Griffin getting the late winner to make it 3-2.

Allen scored a hat trick in the Charity Shield, played at Molineux against Wolves. The match finished as a 4-4 draw, with the Baggies coming back from 2-4 down. The Shield was shared, in those pre penalty shoot out days. Albion continued to be one of the top sides of the 50s with three consecutive top 5 finishes, but then Buckingham left for Ajax and the club started a decline.

Not a dramatic decline though. They had a cracking League Cup record in the 60s, winning it in '66 and being runners up in '67 and also in 1970. The win in 1966 was against the famous West Ham side who would soon win the World Cup for England. Albion won it 5-3 on aggregate, winning the 2nd leg 4-1 at the Hawthorns, after losing the first 1-2.

The following season was the first League Cup Final to be played at Wembley and the Baggies cocked up big style, being beaten 3-2 by 3rd division side QPR. This was after they were 2-0 up at half time as well. Jimmy Hagan had been the boss for these League Cup Finals, but the 67/68 season saw Alan Ashman take over and he led them back to Wembley for the FA Cup Final.

The opponents for the Final were Everton and after a goal less 90 minutes, Jeff Astle scored the only goal of the game, becoming the first player to score in every round. He became the first player to score in the finals of the FA Cup and the League Cup, when he scored in the 1970 League Cup Final defeat to Man City and also finished that season as the league's leading scorer.

Tony Brown matched that feat in the next season, but in 1973 the Baggies got relegated, ending their longest consecutive top flight run of 24 years. Don Howe was manager then, but he was replaced by Johnny Giles (Leeds and Eire) as player/manager and he got them back up in 1976. He didn't hang around long though and was replaced by their former star player, Ronnie Allen.

However, Baggies legend or not, he didn't last long, with disagreements with the Board being a problem, he left after five months for the lure of the money in the Middle East. His replacement was an up and coming new manager, who had just gotten Cambridge Utd promoted from Division 4. His name was Ron Atkinson. He brought with him, full back Brendon Batson. West Brom already had two black players, Laurie Cunningham and Cyrille Regis in the side, in a time when racism was rife in the game and with Batson's addition to the team, Big Ron christened them the Three Degrees. Such was the popularity of these three and their legendary status in the game and the fight against racism, a statue of them was made many years later and now stands outside Costa Coffee in the New Square Shopping Centre. Sadly, only Batson was still alive to see it. Here's a picture of the statue......Nice, innit?

Anyway.....Big Ron got them to their highest League finish for 20 years, finishing 3rd in 78/79, qualifying for the UEFA Cup. They reached the quarter finals, losing to Red Star Belgrade. In that season they won 5-3 at Old Trafford, being the last team to have scored five away at Man Utd, before Liverpool did it the other week.

Albion under Atkinson were one of those teams that neutral fans loved for their style of football. However, Cunningham was transferred to Real Madrid for a club record fee and despite 3rd and 4th finishes in the league and a couple of FA Cup semi finals, Ron didn't think he was getting the backing he deserved and so when Man Utd came calling, he fecked off to Old Trafford in 1981.

Ronnie Allen returned and the Board allowed Big Ron to steal star player Bryan Robson, the Baggies struggled and had to win their last match of the season to stay up. Those neutral fans were all cheering the Albion on again and there were celebrations all over the country as they beat Leeds United 2-0, not just to stay up but also to relegate the White Shite instead. 

The struggles continued though and at the end of 1985/86, they were relegated to the 2nd division with the worst record in the club's history, only 24 points. Ex Villa boss Ron Saunders was in charge and the Board kept faith with him, but soon lost patience and re-appointed Ron Atkinson. Love the Rons there, don't they?

However, it didn't work out for Big Ron this time and by 1989, with Bobby Gould in charge, they slumped to the Third Division for the first time in their history. They had a couple of seasons at the 3rd level and with Argentinian ace, Ossie Ardiles at the helm for the second of those, they won promotion back up with a Wembley win in the Play Offs. They beat Port Vale 3-0 with goals from Andy Hunt, Nicky Reid and ex Town player (and current academy coach) Kevin Donovan.

They didn't do much in the next few years, but then made it to the Play Offs in 2001, losing to Bolton in the semis. Gary Megson was now in the manager's seat and he did manage to get them up in the next season, as runners up to Man City, for a first crack at what by now was the Premier League. It only lasted one season as they came straight back down. They boing boinged again though, going straight back up again and did manage to avoid relegation. They did get relegated in the next one though. Proper yo-yo club!

Back into the Play Offs again. Losing to Derby at Wembley, after beating Wolves in the semis. Tony Mowbray was now the boss and he got them back to Wembley in the following season, for an FA Cup semi final, which they lost to Portsmouth. Not to worry though, as they finished the season as champions of the Championship and had a third go at the Premier League.

Straight back down again. Oh and boing boing back up again, this time with Roberto di Matteo in charge. He lasted until February in the next season, to be replaced by Roy Hodgson, who got them into the top half of the Prima Donna League. They managed to stay up for 8 seasons, and with Steve Clarke at the helm in 2012/13, an 8th placed finish gave them their highest finish of the new era of overpaid, over hyped football as we know it today.

Town joined them in this super duper footballing premiership, land of milk and money in 2017 and did the double over them, helping send them back down to the Championship. They made it to the Play Offs again, but got beat by Aston Villa. Undeterred, they went up in 2020, as runners up to the BellEnders, but once again, came straight back down and here we are, meeting up again in the Championship.

Head to Head



Town lead the head to head with 30 wins to West Brom's 26, with 17 draws.

Well twice to my knowledge, we have beaten the Baggies at home to avoid relegation. This season's game comes around a bit too early for that, but at least us beating them this time won't have the double edged sword of promoting Leeds Urinals at the same time.

Anyway, that match to which I refer was the last time we met and it was behind closed doors during the long forgotten about "Covid 19 pandemic". It was a Friday night match, live on Sky Sports and Chris Willock, on loan from Benfica, gave us an early lead, poking home after a free kick was poorly cleared by the West Bromwich defence. He had, of course been on loan at the Hawthorns earlier that season and never got a game, so that goal would've been sweet for him.

They equalised just before half time through Dara O'Shea, with a blatantly offside goal that VAR would definitely have picked up, but we won't fret about that because, as we know, we went on to win it in the second half. And it was a neatly worked goal with some excellent work from Lewis O'Brien, setting up future Footballer of the Year and England World Cup winning captain, Emile Smith Rowe to pass the ball into the net past the bewildered Baggie keeper Sam Johnstone.

The result meant that we had avoided relegation, but Sky went and spoilt it by making it all about bloody Leeds. West Brom thought they had blown it and it was pleasant viewing for Town fans watching yond prick Charlie Austin blubbing on the pitch afterwards, but Brentford bottled it and so West Brom went up anyway.

Earlier in the season, long before lockdown, we led twice down at the Hawthorns, with young mister Lewis getting his first Town goal to put us one up. Then some lad called Karlan Grant put us 2-1 up after Matt Phillips had equalised. The Ideal Boilerman had the last laugh though as Town ran out of gas and ended up losing 2-4.

A couple of seasons prior to these games, we met in the Premier League and we helped to relegate them by doing the double. The win at theirs was one of our finest performances of the season, whereas the home win was a quite drab affair. That drab affair was settled by one of the best goals of the season though, Rajiv van La Parra scoring a special goal from outside the area, looping the ball over the keeper into the "top bins". The win down there saw us 2-0 ahead through Rajiv again and super Steve Mounié, but we could've well been four or five up by the time Craig Dawson pulled one back.

Right, back in the Tardis everyone. We're going back to 1910. To Christmas Eve in our first ever Football League season. West Brom were a well established team by now and had appeared in five FA Cup Finals already. Town were bottom of the second division, struggling to adapt to life in the FL when the Baggies came to the West Riding for their first visit to Leeds Road. There were only 4,296 spectators there for this festive fixture and the Board of Directors must've been worrying that election to the League wasn't such a good idea as they might be having to re-apply come the end of the season. West Brom left with the points following a 2-0 win.

By the time we went down there, they were already promoted and just needed to beat us to win the title. We had avoided having to apply for re-election, eventually finishing 13th. A much larger crowd had turned up to see this one, 30,135 cramming into the Hawthorns to see West Brom win 1-0.

So it would be a whole decade before we met again. That would be in Division One in 1920 after we had been promoted. Both matches were played back to back in October and the Baggies were the current League champions, having won it for their one and only time in the previous season. They came up here first and left battered as our brave boys walloped them 5-1. Sammy Taylor, a Frank Mann penalty, two from Ralph Shields and a fifth from Ernie Islip being the scorers.

And then we went down there a week later and lost 0-3. Some things about Town never change. 

Sammy Taylor

The home team won both games in the following season, but then in the next, we got our first double over them in an Easter double header, winning 4-1 at home on Easter Monday and then 2-0 down there the following day. We finished the season in 3rd and they finished 7th. The next season, 23/24, we won the League for the first time and we played West Brom once more in October back to back games. Town won the first one at home 4-2 with a double each for Billy Smith and George Cook. Then played out a goal less draw a week later at theirs.

Both teams were near the top again in 24/25 when West Brom came to ours and won 1-0 in November. By the time we went down there in March, we were top again. George Brown scored our goal in a 1-1 draw. Town finished the season strongly and when Liverpool came to Leeds Road for the final match of the season, a draw was enough for us to win the title, with West Brom finishing as runners up.

They faded in the next one, finishing 13th as we completed the hat trick of titles, the first ever thrice champions (only Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd have done it since). Both matches were drawn though. The first one at Leeds Road was the opening day of the season, with Joey Williams getting ours in a 1-1 draw. The return match was in January with Williams and Brown scoring in a 2-2 draw.

They came up here for the second game of the season in 26/27 and got hammered 4-1, but it was another 2-2 draw at the Hawthorns on New Years Day as Town were on their way to finishing as runners up behind Newcastle. West Brom though, finished bottom of the league and were relegated alongside Leeds U-shite-d.

The next time we met was only a couple of seasons later. They were still in the 2nd division when we were drawn to play each other in the FA Cup quarter finals. A crowd of 52,333 turned out at the Hawthorns to see George Brown score for Town in a 1-1 draw. The replay was on the Wednesday after and Town ran out winners with goals from Alex Jackson and Bob Kelly in a 2-1 win. We lost the semi against Bolton.

They came back up in 1930 and we had eight seasons together in the First Division before they went down again just before WWII started. There were plenty of goals around in that decade, strangely West Brom got their biggest win over us in the season that they got relegated.

They came back up again in 1949 and we had three seasons together before Town got relegated. We were only apart for one season though as we came straight back up. That season, 1953/54 saw us both battling for the title. Both matches between us ended up with Albion winning and our lads didn't even score. It was 4-0 at the Hawthorns and then with Town in 3rd and West Brom at the top in February, they came to Leeds Road and walked away with the points in a 2-0 win. Town faded at the end of the season, mainly due to an injury to Vic Metcalfe, but did manage to beat Wolves in the last game of the season. It wasn't enough though to help the Baggies. They finished 2nd, we finished 3rd and Wolves took the title.

Town struggled in the next couple of seasons though and got relegated in 1956. We did the double over the Albion however in our relegation season, winning 1-0 at home and 2-1 away. That match at the Hawthorns on April 7th 1956, when goals from Dave Hickson and Jimmy Glazzard sparked off a bit of a revival, which ultimately failed to save us, was the last meeting of the two clubs for 14 years.

We totally avoided each other in the 60s and didn't meet up again until Ian Greaves had got the club back into the top flight. Fourteen years outside the first division, in which time, I had been born and had started out on my Huddersfield Town journey. I didn't get to so many of the games in those first division days, as my dad seemed to be working most Saturdays. Thinking back, it may have been an excuse to go with his mates and not his lad, but I have no proof of that. Anyway, I do remember going to Leeds Road to watch us beat West Bromwich Albion 2-1 in November.

I think it was my grandad who took me to this one actually. Anyway they had star players like Jeff Astle and Tony Brown. Astle was one of my favourite non Town players, especially when he scored a famous goal to beat Leeds later in the season to deny them the title. 

Jimmy Lawson scored Town's first, but it was an unlikely hero who scored the winner from what I remember was from the halfway line. Probably my memory playing tricks, but when Geoff Hutt hit that ball from miles out, it flew into the net, leaving the keeper no chance. The crowd went wild!

Geoff Hutt

We beat them again at home in 71/72 with a Les Chapman goal, but got relegated at the end of the season, finishing bottom and it would be 14 years again before we met up in the league. That was in 1986 then, when the Baggies had been relegated to Division Two. We'd been down tiddley down down and then up tiddley up up and now we were an established second division team. However, the Mick Buxton glory days were coming to an end and after losing the first game of the season at home to Sunderland, we went down to play the Throstles in the second game. We lost that an all, 0-1.

By the time they came up to Leeds Road for the return fixture, we had landed at the bottom of the table. Steve Smith was now in the manager's seat and goals from Duncan Shearer and David Cork sent the West Brom lads away empty handed and we shot up the table to 18th and we easily avoided relegation.

We went down in the next one though and the Baggies did the double over us.

They themselves got relegated in 91. Their first venture down to the 3rd division. They won 2-1 at theirs but we smashed them 3-0 at ours in March in our push for the Play Offs. Phil Starbuck, Chris Billy and a Gary Strodder own goal gave us that win. We finished in the Play Offs top spot, but the Baggies missed out by one place. Shame that as a Town v WBA Play Off semi would've been much better than a Town v bloody Peterborough semi.

So we met again in the next season, both still in the 3rd tier. They won 1-0 at ours in the second game of the campaign, part of a disastrous start of six straight defeats. The point we won down at theirs in January was only our 15th, but miraculously, we stayed up.

West Brom went up though and so we avoided each other for three seasons. Neil Warnock got us promoted but walked out, so Brian Horton was manager when we did the double over them in 95/96. We won 2-1 down there early on in the season, but when they came up here for their first visit to the shiny new McAlpine Stadium, we got our biggest win of the season with a lovely early Christmas present. Andy Turner, on loan from Spurs, scored his only goal for us. Rocket Ronnie Jepson bagged a brace and of course Andy Booth got one as well.

So we had six seasons together in what was by now known as Division One following the creation of the Premier League. One of those seasons was 1997/98, also known as The Great Escape, when Peter Jackson and Terry Yorath masterminded our Houdini act. It was a 1-0 win at home to West Brom that secured our safety, a famous goal scored by Simon Baldry.

It all ended though when we got relegated in 2001. We went down to the Hawthorns three games from the end of the season and Boothy scored in a 1-1 draw. All seemed well, a good away point and almost guaranteed safety. We bolloxed it up and so wouldn't play each other until we got promoted to the Premier League 16 years later.

And we've already talked about that. There was one more match in between. An FA Cup match at ours in 2010 which the Baggies won 2-0 with goals from Graham Dorrans and an 18 year old lanky streak of piss called Chris Wood, scoring the first of many goals he would get against us over the years.

Lanky streak of piss!

So what new tricks are going on down Jack Halfords Lane? Managed nowadays by Valérien Ismaël, who got Barnsley to the Play Offs last season.

Born in Strasbourg, France 46 years ago, he started his footy career with his hometown club, making his debut as a centre back in 1994. He went on to play 87 games for them before Crystal Palace forked out £2.75m to take him to Selhurst Park for what was then, a club record. It didn't work out as planned though and he only stayed in London for ten months, turning out on only 13 occasions for the Eagles before naffing off back to France.

He signed for Lens and played just short of a hundred matches for them, but part of his time there was spent back on loan at Strasbourg. He signed back full time with them in 2003 and was made club captain. His next move was to cross the border into Germany and he played for Werder Bremen, Bayern Munich and Hannover 96.

Injury forced his retirement in 2009 and he was offered the assistant manager's role at Hannover. He then took the role of managing their 2nd XI, followed by a similar role at Wolfsburg. He had a short unsuccessful spell at FC Nürnberg in 2015, returning to Wolfsburg when he got sacked. He was then promoted to Head Coach in November 2016, but was given the boot by February and so was out of work for over a year, before going to Greece and landing a job with Apollon Smyrnis. That appointment lasted for one match!

And that's when things started to improve for him. He took over at Austrian Bundesliga side LASK in 2019 and got them off to their best ever start to a season. They got to the group stage of the Europa League for the first time, won their group, then beat AZ Alkmaar before eventually getting knocked out by Manchester Utd. But then along came the Covid break. He was heavily criticised after he made the players return too soon and had them making full bodily contact. They were docked points and he was dismissed in July 2020.

He wasn't unemployed long, as he became Head Coach of Barnsley in October and against everybody's expectations, took them from relegation probables, to mid table safety and then up to a play off spot. They finished the season in 5th and so played Swansea City in the Play Offs, but lost 1-2 on aggregate.

On June the 24th though, he was on the move again, to West Bromwich, signing a four year contract, replacing Sam Allardyce.

Last week's line up at home to Boro:

1 Sam Johnstone - England's number 1.
21 Cédric Kipré - Ex Wigan, Ivory Coast u23 international defender.
16 Matt Clarke - Centre back on loan from Brighton.
3 Conor Townsend - Ex Scunthorpe left back.
2 Darnell Furlong - Ex QPR defender.
14 Jayson Molumby - Irish midfielder on loan from Brighton.
23 Robert Snodgrass - Dirty Leeds scum!
20 Adam Reach - Was the inspiration for S Club 7's biggest hit.
11 Grady Diangana - Born in the Congo, played for England at youth level.
18 Karlan Grant - He's electric!
7 Callum Robinson - Irish international striker, ex PNE and Blunts.

Subs:
5 Kyle Bartley - Dirty, dirty, dirty Leeds scum!
6 Semi Ajayi - London born Nigerian international defender.
10 Matt Phillips - Aylesbury born Scottish international.
17 Jordan Hugill - Scored against us for Norwich last season.
25 David Button - Ex Brentford and Fulham keeper.
29 Taylor Gardner-Hickman - 19 year old defender with one senior appearance.
34 Ethan Ingram - 18 year old defender with one senior appearance.

Club connections: Dick Krzywicki signed for Town in 1970 towards the back end of the 69/70 2nd division title winning season, from West Brom. He made 6 appearances that season, scoring four goals. Two of those goals came in the last game of the season, a 3-1 home win over Watford, when we received the trophy.

His good form continued into the next season, scoring in the second game of the season against Southampton when we won 3-1 to go top of the First Division. Before that though, he scored in the summer for Wales against England, who were still World Champions at the time, in a 1-1 draw at Ninian Park. And so he is the last Town player to score against England (I think).

In his Albion career, he played 57 times and was their first ever substitute. Yes youngsters, substitutes were only introduced in the 1960s.

Karlan Grant scored one of the best goals of our brief journey into the murky world of the Prima Donna League. That was his second of the game down at West Ham. I won't go on about him here because we all know all about him as it was all so recent. Just have a look at what we're missing and where we possibly could be now with his finishing ability.

Chris Willock is another recent one. We will be coming up against him on Wednesday night as he's now a QPR player. He was on loan at West Brom before coming to us, but never got a game with them. Lee Peltier will be on our opposition's line up as well next week. He now plays for Middlesbrough. He did get a Baggies game eventually and turned out four times for them in the Prem last season.

Another recent one for them is Sam Allardyce, who was their manager last season. He played one season for us in the 80s and his time at Leeds Road is only remembered for him getting sent off for punching a Fulham player. I don't think he's done much in between playing for us and managing the Baggies. Seems to be a bit of a shy lad who just goes about his business quietly.

A bit further back was Kieran O'Regan. He turned out over 200 times for us, but is only remembered for going in as the substitute goalkeeper and taking a penalty as that stand in keeper. When he left us, he went to West Brom for a couple of seasons, before returning north to manage Halifax Town. More recently, he was the co-commentator for Radio Leeds' Town matches, but packed that in just before our promotion season.

Kevin Donovan scored for the Albion at Wembley in a Play Off Final, after starting his career with us at Leeds Road.

Dennis Clarke was part of our 1969/70 2nd division championship winning side having signed from West Brom in 1968. That was after he had the distinction of being the first ever substitute used in an FA Cup Final when he came on in the 68 Final against Everton.

Sid Rawlings played for both of us in the 30s. George Shaw played a part in our thrice champions story of the 1920s. Signed from Doncaster Rovers in 1924, he played 29 games in his four seasons with us as a full back. He left us for West Brom in 1927 and played a lot more. He turned out over 400 times for them, including the FA Cup Final in 1931, getting himself a winners medal.

Some more recent ones. Izzy Brown, Kevin Kilbane, Ishmael Miller, Frank Sinclair, Delroy Facey and Jason Davidson all played for both clubs, though Davidson by all accounts was as shite for them as he was for us! Peter Eastoe came on loan to us from West Brom in 1983. Ronnie Wallwork did so in 2007.



West Bromwich in popular culture: A surprising West Bromwich celebrity name is the famous Irish lead singer of the famously Irish rock band Thin Lizzy, Phil Lynott. So famously Irish was he that a statue of him was erected in Dublin after his death. But he was actually born in Hallam Hospital in West Bromwich, and christened at St Edward's Church, Selly Park.

His mum was from Dublin and his dad was from British Guiana. They had met in Birmingham, but dad had left for London before mum knew she was preggers with Phil. Mum and Phil moved to Manchester, but when the lad suffered racism at school, she sent him to stay with his grandparents in Dublin at the age of eight. Thankfully, he had a happy childhood there and was a popular lad and so apart from being born there, Phil wasn't much of a West Bromwich resident. He could probably have come on Sportsbabble and be known as Baggie_Phil if he were still alive, but tragically, he isn't. Anyway, he was a Man Utd fan and friend of George Best.

Sadly, he was also a heroin addict and and this led to his premature death in 1986 at the age of 36. He left us with some fantastic recordings. Here's probably the most famous one that gets played at both the John Smith's and the Hawthorns......



Two pals who were often shown on tv sat next to each other at Baggies games are Frank Skinner and Adrian Chiles. Frank, of course was host of Fantasy Football League in the 90s (with David Baddiel), where his love for West Bromwich Albion became rather obvious. So much so that he had his Baggies idol on the show, usually closing each episode with Jeff Astle Sings.



Chiles, on the other hand, has the perfect face for radio. But that never stopped tv executives giving him jobs on the telly, notably The One Show and presenting ITV's football coverage for five years in the 2010s. If anybody wonders which footy team he follows, he has a stained glass West Bromwich Albion crest above his door.

There is a Kirklees/West Brom connection. Dewsbury's Betty Boothroyd was MP for West Bromwich in 1973/74 and then for West Browmwich West between 1974 and 1992. She was then Speaker of the House of Commons up until 2000, when she retired. she's still with us as well, aged 92 now. Absolutely no idea if she ever went to the Hawthorns, but I would imagine during all that time as MP she probably would've. Before all that though, she was a famous dancer, lining up with the Tiller Girls.

Recent form - last 6 matches:

Cardiff 2-1 Town
Peterborough 1-1 Town
Town 1-0 Millwall
Bournemouth 3-0 Town
Town 0-0 Birmingham
Town 2-0 Hull

WBA 1-1 Middlesbrough
WBA 1-0 Hull
Fulham 3-0 WBA
WBA 3-0 Bristol City
Swansea 2-1 WBA
WBA 1-0 Birmingham

Town are 8th in the Championship table with 25 points. West Brom are 3rd with 32.

Leading scorers:

Terriers:
Danny Ward (4)
Matty Pearson (3)

Baggies:
Karlan Grant (8)
Callum Robinson (3)
Matt Phillips (3)
Alex Mowatt (3)


November the 20th down the ages: How did we get on in previous matches played on this date?

1909: Rotherham Town (h) FA Cup, drew 2-2 (Alonzo Drake, Joe Jee)
1915: Hull City (h) Wartime League, WON 1-0 (Layton)
1920: Arsenal (h) Div 1, lost 0-4
1926: Sheffield United (a) Div 1, drew 3-3 (William Devlin, George Brown 2)
1937: Liverpool (a) Div 1, WON 1-0 (Pat Beasley)
1943: Halifax Town (h) Wartime League, drew 0-0
1948: Middlesbrough (h) Div 1, drew 0-0
1954: West Bromwich Albion (h) Div 1, drew 3-3 (Jimmy Glazzard, Jimmy Watson, Len Quested)
1965: Derby County (h) Div 2, lost 1-3 (Don Weston)
1971: Ipswich Town (a) Div 1, lost 0-1
1976: Mansfield Town (h) FA Cup, drew 0-0
1982: Mossley (h) FA Cup, WON 1-0 (Malcolm Brown)
1993: Blackpool (a) Division Two (3rd tier), lost 1-2 (Iwan Roberts)
1999: West Bromwich Albion (h) Division One (2nd tier), WON 1-0 (Dean Gorré)
2001: Brentford (h) Division Two (3rd tier), drew 1-1 (Leon Knight)
2004: Colchester United (a) League One (3rd tier), drew 0-0
2010: Exeter City (h) League One (3rd tier), lost 0-1

Well, not many wins, but we have beaten West Brom before on this date. Oddly, this match will be the third one against the Baggies on this date.

Alonzo Drake, who scored in 1909 against Rotherham Town, I mentioned in the last match thread. He's the one who also played cricket for Yorkshire. We have nothing on record as to whether he was a racist or not. After leaving Town, he finished his football career with Rotherham Town, who merged with local rivals Rotherham County in 1925 to form Rotherham United.

The 1976 FA Cup match against Mansfield, was our first ever meeting with the Stags. An old bloke I knew, was hoping that this game would end in a draw, as a replay would mean he could complete the 92 Club. Not just having visited the entire 92 League grounds in the FL, but the unique feat of watching Huddersfield Town on all 92. He got his wish, but we lost the replay.

Malcolm Brown, who scored in the FA Cup on this date against Mossley, is a club legend. He is 6th in our all time appearances list with 403 (over two spells). In that amount is a club record of 259 consecutive appearances, a record that will never be broken. Ironically, that record ended when he was transferred to First Division Newcastle Utd, but he missed that entire first season with them through injury.

The 1999 home victory over West Brom was part of a golden run for the team under the management of Steve Bruce. This win took us up to 2nd in what is now known as the Championship and was our sixth consecutive victory in the league. It was also a part of a run of 9 wins out of 10 league games. The only one of those we didn't win? Well after beating Barnsley, Sheffield Utd, Ipswich, Swindon, Forest and the Baggies, we lost 0-2 at bloomin'  Walsall.

West Bromwich Anagrams: Some football related, some not.

1. Refs Revised 
   
2. Byron Town 
   
3. Reggae Show 
   
4. Python Lilt 
   
5. Horny Goods 
   
6. Toyboy Bed Troth 
   
7. Thomson Jeans 
   
8. REM Albion 
   
9. Eleven Airmails 
   
10. Therese Greed 
    

[theo_luddite]

Aw roight ower kid? Y'am 'ave done a bostin thread there chap.     

Y'am are gerrin' good at this wi' all the practice y'am 'avin' aintcha? Arr.

Early doors pic of Old McGalphsmiths Farm there too.

South stand (at best WSW) still being built and the North Stand (at best ENE) still not as much as a set of foundations.

Grey peys 'n' faggots fer tey anyone?

---

PS - shouldn't "Combi-Gas Boiler Man" become "Heat Pump and Solar Panel Man"? Just asking for a friend with a combi boiler who got rid of an inefficient expensive, boiler, immersion heater and water tank system about 10 years ago.

[theo_luddite]

6 - Dewsbury's finest ever centre back and Toyboy chaser (or is it Scent her Back?) - Betty Boothroyd
4 - The boy is back in Town - Phil Lynott

[themaclad]

You'll realise after you've played them that it might have been a better idea to leave the rugby posts up, hoof, look towards the moon you have more chance of seeing the ball

[talkSAFT]

*****
(That's 5 stars - not 5 asterisks!)

Great read, Snoots..... I'd come up and buy you a pint if I could.
May the best team win......
No, sorry! I hope you get thrashed.

[Lord Snooty]

Thanks, talkSAFT. Hope you get thrashed too.

[ritchiebaby]

1. Fred Everiss
9. Valérien Ismaël (had to copy that to get the accents in)

My temperature went up three degrees when I saw their photo. Not because of the bountiful Sheila Ferguson, but Valerie Holiday - much more fun!!!   

[Baggiebob(BBB)]

You can't half admire this and other write-ups. This takes a lot of hard work with references and dedication to the sport and your love of Huddersfield.

Well done me Lord, and may it continue.

Can I ask if you do the write ups in the Huddersfield weekly program - if not, why not, with pay of course?

[Lord Snooty]

Thanks Bob. No I don't.

---

I used to write for the fanzine though, where my claim to fame is coming up with the original Neil Warnock anagram that is now world famous.

[ritchiebaby]

Brilliant, Snooty. You'll go down in the annals of history.