SYNOPSIS

WEST BROMWICH ALBION is one of the oldest football clubs in the world. Founder-members of the Football League in 1888, Albion’s story parallels that of the game of soccer itself, from its beginnings in Victorian England to today’s multi-million pound business.

In 1987, football historian Tony Matthews set out to record in great detail the club’s story since that day in the late 1870s when some young cricketers from George Salter’s works in West Bromwich decided to form a football team.

Now, six years later, as Albion return to the new First Division after a glorious Wembley triumph, Matthews has updated his work to include much new information and photographs.

There are the dates, results, attendances, Albion line-ups and scorers, of every first team competitive match, even in wartime, played by Albion to 1993. This is complemented by a history of the club and its grounds and biographies of over 100 star players and details of every manager.

Coupled with hundreds more fascinating facts and statistics, it all adds up to probably the most detailed history of a football club ever produced.