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West Bromwich Albion

M

missjayniee

master brummie
Hi all,

Does anyone know where i can get a list of the names of the football players for West Bromwich Albion in the 1920s please.
 
There have been a few books published in recent years which contain this sort of information for Midlands clubs. Tony Matthews the Midland football historian has done a few on the Baggies.
There are some sites on the net I've come across as well if there is a particular name you're after but I'm sure that there are some Baggies fans on the forum who wii come out of the woodwork if you can be more specific. Afraid all my books are on Blues.

Bob
 
Thanks Alf i'm not really into football but someone in the family seems to think there was a link with a WBA football player but she can't remember his name, so i thought if i got a list of names it may jog the brain cells.
 
How interesting my mother told me her grandfather had something to do with the management of West Bromwich Albion and this may be true as I know he was a manager at Salters Springs. His son (my grannies brother) worked in the offices as well. The problem I have is they were both named Thomas Smith!!!! The photo is Thomas senior!
 
i would like to wish my little west brom all the best for the coming season in the premiership and to say i think the gaffer made a big mistake letting kevin phillips go. it will be birmingham citys gain and our loss. wales.
 
I have just finished reading a brilliant book entitled The Gangs of Birmingham by Philip Gooderson. There is a piece in the book about the early problems with football which were almost non existant at this time. The extract made me smile and I now wonder if the T Smith mentioned was my great grandfather Thomas Smith. See post #5

"The secretery of West Bromwich Albion, T Smith, was clearly biased when he wrote to the Mail in 1886 complaining about the Albion's supporters being pelted with snowballs at Aston Lower Grounds - and criticising Walsall supporters as well - while claiming that the behaviour of the Albion spectators at home was always 'exemplary'.
What a company man...lol even if it wasn't true!
I wonder if I can search further as I now have a date and title of secretary.
 
Our family myth is that we are related to JESSE PENNINGTON who was a WBA player & also England captain...maybe not a myth after all as I have now found that we do have Pennington's in the family tree way back when...but I still need to find a real connection to Jesse himself...

Margaret.
 
Another snippet of info on my Thomas Smith has just been sent to me by a friend. I can't seem to find any info on the formation of the club, only that they were originally called the Strollers and were formed from the workers at Salters Springs. I would love to confirm that T Smith is my gt grandfather Thomas Smith. Thomas worked at Salters from the 1860's and was still there in 1911 aged 63 he was listed as a Manufaturer's clerk. I have a lovely old set of 'pocket' scales from Salter's which I assume belonged to gt grandfather.

The Birmingham Daily Post (Birmingham, England), Thursday, September 8, 1887; Birmingham and District Football Association held the annual meeting at the Grand Hotel Birmingham. New clubs were elected followed by the election of officers. Amongst the names elected to the committee was T. Smith, West Bromwich Albion.

Has anyone any suggestions how I could find out more. Thanks Wendy
 
Jessie Pennington
My Mom was a Jones her Dad was a groundsman at the Albion the Jones were involved with Albion Teddy Sanford was my cousin
 
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Hi John we seem to have many links to West Bromwich Albion.

Here is another snippet I found on the net I wonder how true it is. I know my mothers family were fiercely proud of the 'Baggies' I now wonder if this was because of her grandfather Thomas Smith.
Albion's main club crest dates back to the late 1880s, when then club secretary Tom Smith suggested that a throstle sitting on a crossbar be adopted for the crest. Since then, the club crest has always featured a throstle, usually on a blue and white striped shield, although the crossbar was replaced with a hawthorn branch at some point after the club's move to The Hawthorns. The throstle was chosen because the public house in which the team used to change kept a pet thrush in a cage. It also gave rise to Albion's early nickname, The Throstles. As late as the 1930s, a caged throstle was placed beside the touchline during matches and it was said that it only used to sing if Albion were winning. In 1979 an effigy of a throstle was erected above the half-time scoreboard of the Woodman corner at The Hawthorns, and was returned to the same area of the ground following redevelopment in the early 2000s.
 
Well done WEST BROM FC. & GOOD LUCK for Sat;
I bet beamish is feeling sick to have both the VILLA & WBA higher than the BLUES & all that money he keeps telling us they have to spend.
FROM A TRUE VILLA FAN
 
I found this amongst Michael's dad's football collection. I thought it may be of interest to some it is actually made of tin. There are about five of them all different teams it must have come free with a paper called the Topical Times around 1935.
West_Bromwich_Albion.jpg
West_Bromwich_Albion_001.jpg
 
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hi wend..well as a baggies fan i found those very interesting and unusual...well worth keeping i would say...thanks for posting them..and boing boing... come on you baggies i expect you to beat man city today...i hope....

lyn
 
wend thats brillient..i have just read that thread...you have no choice now but to become a baggies fan lol..

lyn
 
Thanks Alf that's interesting because there are loads of those photo's of footballers in this collection. Now I know where they came from too!
 
My mother was brought up by her grandparents and they used to run a pub in West Bromwich.

She clearly remembers some of the team used to drink there after a game and they would pick her up and sit her on the bar.

The pub was called the Golden Cup which i believe was on Cross Street.
 
That's interesting Neville. I have been doing some research into the early days. It seems the players used a regular pub in the 1880's and the pub had a song bird in a cage. The bird was a thrush known locally as a throstle. Apparently this was where the club emblem came from as suggested by my gt grandfather Thomas Smith. I wonder what pub it was.
 
I have just received a copy of yesterday's Express and Star in which Carl Chinn has written a brilliant article about the early days of West Bromwich Albion. The article includes a lovely piece about my great grandfather Thomas Smith and his involvement with the club and the early days of English football.

I now can't look at the club badge without thinking of him knowing he designed the badge still used today. Maybe I should get some royalties....lol
 
Wendy

You must be very proud of your Great Grandfather. Bet it makes a good read:)

Suzanne
 
Here is another interesting report from a newspaper dated 1934 sadly I don't know which paper. I still find it amazing that if I hadn't read the book Gangs Of Birmingham, I may never have descovered all this history on my great grandfather Thomas Smith. I remember my granny telling me he was involved in the start of the club and that she was a supporter. She died when I was 16, I wasn't to interested in football at the time. Oh how I wish I had listened more.

img437.jpg
 
Wendy can you enlarge the team photograph my cousin E (Teddy) Sandford is on this photograph never seen this before
 
John I will try and scan it as it larger as its a small tin square.
 
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