West Bromwich Albion

West Bromwich Albion was founded in 1878 and were one of the founding members of the Football League. West Bromwich Albion are more commonly known as 'West Brom', and their nickname is 'The Baggies'. West Brom play their home games at 'The Hawthorns', which is in West Bromwich, about 8 kilometres north of Birmingham. The Hawthorn's capacity is 26500 and has been West Brom's home since 1900. The current manager is Slaven Bilic, who has also been a Premier League manager at West Ham United and managed his country - Croatia.

'The Baggies' play in dark-blue and white striped shirts, white shorts, and white socks. No-one is 100% certain why West Brom's nickname is 'The Baggies', but here is one theory. In the early days, before the start of each game, the staff used to carry all the money from ticket sales to the club’s office. They used big cloth bags to carry all the coins, and were accompanied by police officers. When the fans saw this, they shouted ‘Here come the bag men’, which changed into ‘Here come the baggies’. Before long, ‘Baggies’ had become the club’s nickname.

West Brom have played in the Premier League for a total of 13 seasons, they have been relegated four times, in 2002-03, 2005-06, 2008-09 and 2017-18, and promoted to the Premier League four times, in 2002, 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2020. The highest West Brom have ever finished in the Premier League was 8th place in 2012-13, but they have won the league once, back in 1920! West Brom have also won the FA Cup five times and the League Cup once, but the last of these victories was in 1968. 

If clubs are frequently relegated and promoted, they are described as ‘yo-yo’ clubs, after the toy wheel that goes up and down on a string. 

Prediction 2020/21: 20th

Key player: Matheus Pereira

Did you know.......?

West Bromwich Albion's record victory was their 12–0 league win against Darwen on 4 April 1892. This is still the biggest victory for a game in top-flight English football.