Bluffers Guide to West Brom
Tuesday, 26th Jul 2011 07:00 by Col

West Brom come to Spotland on Tuesday evening, so we bring you the lowdown on the Baggies and what we can expect from them.

West Brom in a nutshell..... There's two ways of looking at West Brom. Their finishing position amongst the 92 clubs is remarkably consistent, changing just two or three places every season. However, given that divide usually is enough to see them change division. I think the phrase is "too good for the Championship, not good enough for the Premiership". A sort of Rob Earnshaw manifested as a club. Last season saw them break that routine with their highest finish since the glory days of Big Ron and his much fabled Three Degrees of Regis, Cunningham and Batson.

Who's the gaffer..... I think 99% of all football supporters were delighted for Roy Hodgson last season when he successfully steered the Baggies to 11th place in the Premier League. Nobody could have complained had the former Inter Milan manager called it a day after the terrible treatment he suffered during his brief stay with Liverpool last season, but the usual break from football wasn't to be for Hodgson, and he was back in football thirty four days later. His CV is unrivalled in the top flight, if not anywhere in the world, given that he has managed three different international sides, and in seven different domestic leagues. In two of his last three jobs, he has led the side to their highest placed finish in over thirty odd years, with a European final thrown in.

The current lot..... Last year's finish of 11th place will have brought some rare optimism to the Hawthorns, with half a dozen sides or so fancied for relegation ahead of the Albion. Hodgson has got a decent squad together, with a number of potential match winners amongst his armoury. Striker Odemwingie is undoubtedly the pick, having put his Russian nightmare behind him to finish as top scorer last season with 15 goals, and a couple of Premier League Player of the Month awards along the way. He even became the first player to score in five successive matches for West Brom in forty years. Oh, and they have some lad called Craig Dawson to call upon this season too.

Played for both Dale and West Brom...... Tony Ford, Steve Parkin, Craig Dawson, Paul Williams, Kevin Donovan, Reuben Reid, Daryl Burgess, David Cross, Luke Daniels, Winston White

Dull but true..... West Brom are one of a handful of teams that Dale have never played in competitive action. There are just eight other teams who can claim this.

Youtube Golden Moment.... Cyrille Regis' goal of the season from the early 80's was considered but we found a clip which had a Dale connection to it and the added bonus of seeing United concede five goals at home.

And we think Steve Coppell was man of the match too Dave.

He was a bit good..... We might have denied him the Youtube Golden moment, but that lad Regis was a bit special. Like all great footballing stories, he was plucked from non league obscurity by a scout who returned to the club proclaiming to have found the next big thing in football. The jump from the Isthmian League to the top flight proved to be a walk in the park, and the French born striker went on to become one of the first black superstars in the English game as unfashionable West Brom became a real force in the game. As mentioned above, his goal against Norwich in the FA Cup got him a Goal of the Season award from the MOTD people. Even a brief spell at Wolves has done nothing to diminish his reputation with Baggies fans.

Try not to mention..... Steve Bull. All teams can look back at a player that they let go who went on to prove them wrong. But when that player then goes on to join your local rivals, scores about a million goals, spends the rest of his career there, gets called up to play for England, declares his undying love for his new side to the extent of having bits of the ground named after him, and even gets a bit of recognition off Elizabeth Windsor then it's all a bit much. Of course, there'll be some Baggies fans who will until their dying day proclaim that Bull was crap anyway and they were right to let him go, but it could all have been so very different had they thought Bull was worth more than four appearances.

West Brom' famous five