2006-07 Season

4th in the Championship. Lost 1-0 in the play off final to Derby County
League Cup: 3rd round: Arsenal h. 0-2
FA Cup: 5th round replay: Middlesbrough h. lost 5-4 on penalties

Highlight:
3-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup 4th round, 28/1/07

Low Spot:
1-0 defeat to Derby County in the play off final, 28/5/07

Good:
Jason Koumas
Finally settled his differences with the club, helped by the sacking of Bryan Robson, and went on to show what the Hawthorns had been missing.
A strong runner with an eye for goal and the spectacular Koumas is one of the most exciting players to watch at this level. Must surely get his chance in the Premier League soon with or without the Baggies.
Paul McShane
With Curtis Davies hampered by injury and not showing his best form it was left to McShane to become Albion's most reliable defender. Sometimes in the centre but more usually at right back he offered opposition forwards no encouragement either on the deck or in the air.
Okay coming forward but more of an out and out defender.

Bad:
John Hartson
Two goals on his debut suggested that the big Welshman was ready to make a huge impact at the Hawthorns but afterwards his influence waned and he was not seen from February onwards.
There's a difference between being experienced and old and Hartson had begun to look very much the latter.
Steve Watson
His spell at Albion has been something of a disaster and the worst thing about it is you generally never see Watson until he's on the tele or in the paper shouting the odds about what his team is going to do.
If any of the good things he predicted ever came true it wouldn't be so bad but he's proving himself to be no Mystic Meg and would be better advised just keeping his mouth shut.

In Brief:
The Baggies looked to be well equipped to bounce back into the Premier League at the first time of asking but it never quite happened for them.
They made a good start but then began losing away from home with annoying regularity, the first consequence of which was Bryan Robson getting the boot as manager with Tony Mowbray coming in instead.
November started with a home defeat to Norwich and ended with further losses to Stoke and Sheffield Wednesday and the club had fallen to 10th.
From there on form was good enough to get a play off bid back on track but there were enough setbacks to banish any thoughts of automatic promotion.
The play off place was eventually secured but after overcoming Wolves with a degree of comfort in the semi finals the Baggies fell victim to Derby in the final to miss out on promotion.
The club may well struggle to keep hold of their prize assets throughout the team (Davies, Koumas and Kamara) so there may well be plenty of comings and goings before the start of the next campaign.

West Brom FC - WBA Club History

West Bromwich Albion Football Club was formed in 1878 by employees of Salter's Spring Works. For the first three years of their existence the club was known as West Bromwich Strollers before changing to Albion in 1881.

The club were one of the founder members of the Football League in 1888 by which time they were already a household name having reached the three previous FA Cup finals.

Albion lost the first two of these finals to Blackburn Rovers and Aston Villa before winning the trophy in 1888 with a 2-1 win over Preston North End.

The club continued to thrive in the cup but were unable to mount a challenge in the league. Albion won the cup again in 1892 with a 3-0 victory over Aston Villa but lost 1-0 when the two sides met again in the final three years later.

In 1901 West Brom suffered relegation to the second division despite making it to the FA Cup semi finals. They won back their first division place at the first attempt as Division Two champions in 1902.

The club fell back into the second division after two seasons and had to wait until 1911 before gaining promotion as Division Two champions once again. The following season they reached another FA Cup final only to lose 1-0 to Barnsley after a replay at Bramhall Lane, Sheffield.

When football resumed after the First World War the Baggies hit the ground running to claim their one and only league title in 1920. Albion romped home by nine clear points from Burnley in the days of two points for a win and scored over 30 goals more than the next highest scorers in the division.

This form did not last and the club were again relegated in 1927. When they returned to Division One as runners up in 1931 they also collected the FA Cup for the third time, defeating Birmingham City 2-1 at Wembley. Ginger Richardson wrote himself forever in the Albion history books by scoring both goals against their city rivals.

When the club next reached the final in 1935, however, they suffered a 4-2 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday.

Albion suffered another relegation shortly before football broke off again because of war and therefore had to wait until 1949 before returning to the top flight.

This time Albion managed a splendid 24 year stint in the first division and collected the FA Cup on two more occasions during this time.

Two goals from Ronnie Allen and a last minute Frank Griffin winner saw them edge out Preston 3-2 in 1954 and in 1968 a rasping drive by Jeff Astle gave the Baggies a 1-0 win over Everton.

In 1954 the club also finished as runners up in the league behind Wolverhampton Wanderers and shared the Charity Shield with them after a thrilling 4-4 draw at Molineux in which the prolific Allen scored a hat trick.

Their 1968 cup triumph was also made sweeter by the fact that they disposed of Birmingham in the semi finals, winning 2-0 at Villa Park.

There was also involvement at the business end of the League Cup at that time. In 1966 Albion won the competition after the last ever two legged final against West Ham. Albion lost 2-1 at Upton Park in the first leg before roaring back to take the trophy with a 4-1 win at the Hawthorns in the return.

The following year, however, Albion surrendered the trophy to third division Queens Park Rangers at Wembley. Two goals by Clive Clark had put them clear at half time but a Rodney Marsh inspired Rangers hit back to claim victory 3-2 in the second half.

Albion reached the final again in 1970 only to lose more routinely, 2-1 to Manchester City.

After relegation in 1973 the club returned to Division One in 1976. For almost a decade the club produced teams to be reckoned with as players such as Tony Brown, Laurie Cunningham, Cyrille Regis, Derek Statham, Bryan Robson and Remi Moses wore the Albion shirt with distinction.

In 1982 Albion reached the semi finals of both cup competitions only to lose to Spurs in the League Cup and QPR in the FA Cup.

The club suffered a sharp, severe decline in the mid 1980's, however, and were relegated to Division Two in 1986 after winning only 4 out of 42 games.

Then after five miserable seasons in the second division Albion dropped into the third division for the only time in their history in 1991.

Albion escaped the third tier of English football at the second attempt in 1993 after a 3-0 play off victory over Port Vale.

The Baggies struggled to re-assert themselves in the second tier and only finished one place above the relegation zone in 2000.

The following year, however, they improved significantly to claim a play off spot and although they lost out to Bolton Wanderers in the semi finals they maintained their momentum and gained promotion to the Premier League for the first time the following season, 2001-02.

Albion came straight back down, went straight back up and then managed what no-one else has to survive in the Premier League last season.

Lying bottom of the table at christmas the Baggies scraped to safety with a last day victory over Portsmouth at the Hawthorns.

While men such as Ronnie Allen and Jeff Astle certainly have a claim on being the clubs' greatest ever servant surely that accolade belongs to Tony "Bomber" Brown. Between 1963 and 1980 Brown set both the appearance (574) and goals (218) record for the club, all from midfield. A genuine great.

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