When I get older..........

[Q165]

Happy belated mate.
It has struck me that we are all a similar age on this board. We were the kids of the 60's, watching the likes of Osborne, Astle, Hope, Brown, Clark and Williams every week without knowing we would never see their like again.
Young fans today cite Odemwingie, Scharner and someone called Maresca as the best they have seen.
We probaly all stood within feet of each other in the Brummie when the Hawthorns was a proper football ground.
Our defeat by Leicester in the 69 semi and the 1973 relegation shook me to the core as i never thought either possible.
We returned and burned brightly for a few seasons, but the team wasn't the band of brothers the 60's one was.
For the last 30 years we have had little to shout about other than promotions.
Now we are back to square one.
The 1990's was the only decade we didn't grace the top flight, and i hope this is just a temporary setback rather than a terminal decline. But for me the decline started after the 73 relegation, the ground got smaller and the players were no longer club men.
We have never been the club we were since.

Lucky us

[holmleighchris]

Happy belated mate.
It has struck me that we are all a similar age on this board. We were the kids of the 60's, watching the likes of Osborne, Astle, Hope, Brown, Clark and Williams every week without knowing we would never see their like again.
Young fans today cite Odemwingie, Scharner and someone called Maresca as the best they have seen.
We probaly all stood within feet of each other in the Brummie when the Hawthorns was a proper football ground.
Our defeat by Leicester in the 69 semi and the 1973 relegation shook me to the core as i never thought either possible.
We returned and burned brightly for a few seasons, but the team wasn't the band of brothers the 60's one was.
For the last 30 years we have had little to shout about other than promotions.
Now we are back to square one.
The 1990's was the only decade we didn't grace the top flight, and i hope this is just a temporary setback rather than a terminal decline. But for me the decline started after the 73 relegation, the ground got smaller and the players were no longer club men.
We have never been the club we were since.

I don't think 1973 was the turning point Des. Look at the players we had in the late 70s. Back then players weren't chasing the money that's why they stayed put. Look at Alec Jeffries at Doncaster. Played for England but was never tempted, or maybe offered, the chance to play in the top flight. In 73 when we went down most of the top players stayed. Bomber, Willie, Cantello to name 3.
The birth of the Premiership was, for me, the start of the decline of the sport, loyalty, and, as time moved on, competition to win the ultimate prize in the English game.
Maresca was an outstanding player albeit in a lower division.

[Q165]

But 73 was a massive shock. To me Albion always had been a Div1 team and I could not not see or contemplate anything changing that. I think it was the rapid decline that happened that contributed to the awful feeling. All was forgotten on that wonderful afternoon at Oldham

[WBA1955]

The last time i stood on a packed Hawthorns of over 40,000 was 1976, our first year back after the 73 relegation, the ground became 36,000, then 33,000, and finally 25,000.
It doesn't matter if you can fill a ground or not,( look at Sunderland and Boro ), the size of a ground reflects your ambition.
My grandad who was a West Brom miner, stood on the terraces in 40,000, 50,000 and on a few occasions over 60,000 gates. He died in 1975, the year before we began to shrink.
The late 70's was our Swan Song as "The Albion", a club in decline even though we looked outwardly healthy.
Peace promised 16 years ago to make the ground 40,000 capacity if we went up, instead he made it even smaller, he even nicked Chris's seat.
Today despite our illustrious past, we are seen as as similar sized club as Swansea, QPR, and feckin Bournemouth. Players actually see the latter as a better option.