A TREASURE TROVE OF EXOTIC BAGGIES TALES

A TREASURE TROVE OF EXOTIC BAGGIES TALES

West Brom lifer Tony Matthews has written more football books than any other author – over 140 to date – but Albion’s former official historian rates Baggies Abroad as one of his very best.

 

Jam-packed full of astonishing stories and priceless pub-ammo trivia, the book covers every match West Brom have ever played abroad, starting as far back as 1893. Since then the Baggies have visited more than forty different countries, covering all four points of the globe.

 

Featuring a foreword by the great Cyrille Regis MBE, Baggies Abroad unearths a wealth of exotic, jawdropping trivia that will fascinate any West Brom fan. Did you know…
 

  • When Albion visited China in 1978, midfielder John Trewick, answering a question about the Great Wall, said: “Impressive, isn’t it. But once you’ve seen one wall, you’ve seen them all.”
  • The top attendance for a competitive game involving Albion on foreign soil is 95,300 - for their UEFA Cup fifth round, first leg 1-0 defeat by Red Star Belgrade in Yugoslavia in March 1979.
  • Albion scored 59 goals in nine tour games in Canada/USA in 1959. Former England manager Bobby Robson netted 12, including six in one match – a 15-0 win over Alberta All Stars.
  • Before Albion’s UEFA Cup tie with Red Star Belgrade, rivals fans from Partizan Belgrade, entered the stadium and fought a raging battle with home supporters, resulting in two deaths.
  • Only 47 paying spectators (in a crowd of 139) attended the Anglo-Italian Cup tie between Cosenza and Albion in Italy in December 1993.
  • Three Presidents – Milton Obote (Kenya), Kenneth Kaunda (Uganda) and Dr Kamuzu Banda (Malawi) - saw Albion beat the Kenya national team 2-1 in Nairobi in June 1968.

 

Click here for more information, or to read a sample from Baggies Abroad: The Complete Record of West Bromwich Albion's Global Travels.