Old Baggies

Our last programme notes wished Roy all the best in his new role as England Manager, we now wish to welcome on behalf of the Former Players Association our new Head Coach Steve Clarke. It is nice that he has kept Keith Downing and Dean Kiely as part of his team and we should also take this opportunity of welcoming Kevin Keen to the fold. Steve has a wealth of experience working alongside some great Managers, in particular a Former Legend from the 50’s the late Sir Bobby Robson. We would like to wish them a long & successful career here at The Hawthorns. It is good to hear Steve talk about Cup success because we at the Hawthorns have been brought up on a few Wembley visits and a few more would not go amiss. Welcome too to the new faces and the return of everyone’s favourite Ben Foster on a long contract, we hope they all have a successful season here at The Baggies.

It only seems like yesterday that we gathered for the final home game v Arsenal, they say time flies and so it does. Our worst summer for years weather wise but so much has happened during these last few months. We held our Annual Golf Day at Walsall in June and welcomed the return of a few faces not seen for a couple of years, namely Mark Grew, Kevin Summerfield and former coach Richard O’Kelly. A few regulars were missing noticeably the 1968 contingent in Graham Williams, John Kaye, Bobby Hope and Graham Lovett. Considering the weather we had a superb day, the sun shone, the course was excellent and again everyone had a good time. Our thanks go to everyone who took part and especially to our sponsors CPC Civils (Con Cunningham), Solihull Roofing (Tony Sammon) & Amros Promotional Products (Neil Betteridge), all are excellent sponsors. We would also like to thank Graham & Phil Silk for there support.

Our winners were CPC Civils who’s Former Player was Kevin Summerfield, 2^nd The Tiggers with Keith Downing, 3^rd John Lucas Team with Joe Mayo, 4^th Amros Promotional & 5^th Black Bean Coffee Grinders with Bob Ward. We hold a Golfer of the Year competition between our members and Kevin Summerfield won with 32 points.

Two weeks ago the announcement was made that the Sandwell Council, WBAFC and local Businessman Jim Cadman are joining forces to erect a statue in honour of our 3 Legends who inspired a generation of black professional footballers. This statue of Brendon, Cyrille & Laurie will be erected in West Bromwich in July 2014. The Former Players Association is very proud that those particular members are to be honoured in this way and will be fully involved over the next 2 years in support of the project.

We are holding a Dinner in the Richardson Suite on Thursday 6^th December as part of this tribute with the theme of the dinner being about the 5-3 victory v Man United in December 1979. Also we will be commemorating 10 years since the formation of our Association.

Once again the Association is working closely with Adrian Wright and his Commercial Department. We will be providing 2 Former Players as Guest Speakers in the East Stand Hospitality areas with a Former Player acting as MC in the Millichip, Bassett & Pennington Suites, this will be done on a rota basis and those involved are Ray Wilson (FPA Chairman), Derek Monaghan, Ian Hamilton and new this year Paul Raven, we hope everyone enjoys this match day experience.

For further in formation on the various activities of the Association please contact Geoff Snape our Secretary on 07860 523866 or email geoffsnape1@btinternet.com.

Our thanks to everyone who supports the Association and we close by wishing all the Players, Coaches a successful 2012-13 season and further consolidation in the Premiership.