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Each month we take a look at an
Albion ‘programme from the past’. A number of the programmes will be rarities, allowing a much wider audience to view them, perhaps for the very first time.
Chelsea v
West Bromwich Albion, Football League Division One, Stamford Bridge, Saturday 30th
September 1978
Ahead of Saturday’s trip to
Stamford Bridge, our featured
programme this month is from the game that saw
Albion’s last league victory on
Chelsea soil, a 3-1 win back in
September 1978.
The game was played in the early stages of a season that
would go down in Baggies’ folklore as one of the club’s best ever seasons.
Goals from Cyrille Regis, John Wile and Tony Brown helped Ron
Atkinson’s men come away from
West London with both points, points that were welcome after a run
of four games without a win. Steve Wicks had earlier opened the scoring for the
hosts after just four minutes.
Brown’s goal equalled the long-standing club record of 208
league goals set by Ronnie Allen, he would break the record two weeks later with
a goal in a
3-1 victory against Leeds United at
Elland Road.
After the aforementioned winless
run, Albion would soon hit form
however, after a 1-0 defeat in their next game at home to Spurs, the Baggies
would win ten and draw two of their next twelve games to push themselves into
real contention for the First Division title. Sadly, a poor run of form in April
would end any title aspirations the club and supporters had.
The club would still finish the season in third position, a
placing the club has not matched in the following 35 years.
The
two teams lined up for
the game as follows:
Albion: Tony Godden, Brendon Batson, Derek Statham, Laurie
Cunningham, John Wile, Alistair Robertson, Bryan Robson, Alistair Brown, Cyrille
Regis, Len Cantello, Tony Brown. Substitute: John Trewick (for T Brown)
Chelsea: Peter Bonetti, Gary Locke, David Stride, Gary Stanley, Steve Wicks, Ron
Harris, Kenny Swain, Ray Wilkins, Tommy Langley, Ray Lewington, Duncan McKenzie.
Substitute: Clive Walker (for McKenzie)
A
crowd of 20,186 were in attendance at Stamford Bridge.
Tony Brown's record-equalling
strike
As for the matchday programme, it was a typical
Chelsea issue for the season, indeed the same cover was used throughout the
season. The 28 page publication cost 25p.
Compared to many programmes of the era it does have
plenty of reading material to go along with a more than average stats and facts
content. Three pages are devoted to the Baggies.
Not particularly rare, the programme is widely
available for £1 - £2.
View the complete programme here
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