Everything You Need to Know About West Brom

02/03/21 2840

Considered by many in recent history to be the ultimate Premier League yo-yo club, West Brom are in the thick of a relegation battle this season and the task of keeping them in the top-flight is squarely on the shoulders of an expert escape artist, Sam Allardyce.

Names: West Bromwich Albion Football Club

Nicknames: The Baggies, The Throstles and The Albion

Founded: 1878

Stadium: The Hawthorns. Capacity, 26,688

Noteworthy Former Players: Cyrille Regis, Jeff Astle, Laurie Cunningham, Bryan Robson, Gareth McAuley and Zoltan Gera.

Manager: Sam Allardyce. ‘Big Sam’, as he is affectionately known, began his management career with Limerick in 1991 and went on to take charge of Blackpool and Notts County during the mid to late 90s before an 8-year spell with Bolton Wanderers (1999-2007) where he really made his name. Sam then moved to Newcastle, Blackburn, West Ham and Sunderland before being offered the England job in 2016.

Allardyce only had one game in charge of the national team before being sacked due to some off the field revelations. He returned to club football that same year with Crystal Palace before taking the managers position at arguably his biggest club to date, Everton, from 2017/18. Following a 2-year break from the game, Allardyce returned to management in 2020 with West Brom, who sacked Slaven Bilic with the club sitting in the relegation zone.

History

West Brom claimed their one and only top division title to date back in 1919/20 but have been more successful as a cup side. The Baggies have claimed five FA Cup titles between 1888-1968 and secured the League Cup in 1966.

The clubs last appearances in one of the major domestic cup competitions arrived in 1970 when they lost 2-1 to Manchester City in the League Cup. West Brom have played 18 games in major European competitions, picking up 7 wins, 4 draws and 7 defeats in the UEFA Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup.

The Baggies first made it into the Premier League in 2002 but were relegated at the end of their first campaign. The Baggies returned in 2004 and stayed in the top-flight for two seasons before once again returning to the Championship in 2006.

The club next made it into the Premier League in 2008 and following immediate relegation, they returned again in 2010. This time the Baggies enjoyed a prolonged spell in the Premier League between 2010-2018. After two more years in the second tier, West Brom returned to the Premier League in 2020 and now face another relegation battle.

As Things Stand

With 26 games of the 2020/21 season played, West Brom find themselves sitting second from bottom with 17pts to their name. Sam Allardyce has never been relegated from the Premier League before, but his current side sit 9pts from safety and boast the worst goal difference in the division, -35.

Keeping the Baggies in the Premier League is undoubtedly Sam Allardyce’s toughest challenge for many a year, but if anyone can pull off another great escape for the Baggies then Big Sam is the man.