INTRODUCTION

I am positively sure that all supporters of West Bromwich Albion Football Club, young and old, have at sometime or another, been involved in a heated argument concerning a former or current player of the club.

In numerous pubs, side street cafés, schools, homes and in the open air, discussions have raged, some fearsome, at the rate of thirteen to the dozen, and in most cases no definite solution has been forthcoming before the respective parties have called it a day and trudged off to their places of abode. Some of the questions under the hammer revolve around the obvious; When did so-and-so first join Albion? When did he leave? Who did he play for after Albion? Where did he come from? Where and when was he born? What type of player was he? And so on and so forth.

Now, with this publication close to hand, virtually all these types of argumentative questions can be answered in earnest, with perhaps a welcoming hand-shake or half-pint coming in at the end.

This Who's Who will satisfy that laudable curiosity. On the pages which follow you will find hundreds of pen-picture biographies covering each and every player who has donned the famous 'Navy Blue and White Stripes' of West Bromwich Albion Football Club in senior matches from December 1879 to the present day.

I must admit, or rather reveal, that it has taken me four years of happy but painstaking research work to compile all the necessary facts and figures set out herewith, and therefore the contents supplied must make this a unique source of valuable information appertaining to one specific club.

I have not sought to create a demand with this booklet, but rather to supply a vital need.

I am well aware that there will be some mistakes of fact and also many omissions, particularly in the period leading up to the turn of the century when certain information seems to be difficult to ascertain in full detail. Some of you will forgive me for this, I am sure, but others will find it unforgivable. To them I can only offer my apologies, and assure them that I have done my best to include all the interesting facts I could find and to see that they are as accurate as possible.

Tony Matthews

November 1977