Old Baggies - WBA Former Players

Stuart played for the Baggies from 1950 to September 1952 when he was transferred to Southampton. In his time at Albion  he amassed 246 appearances and scored 9 goals.  Stuart appeared for his country 43 times….33 of the caps being obtained whilst at Albion….a record even to today. When asked about this achievement he ….continued……That’s right, I’m really proud of that achievement, I wouldn’t have dreamed that it would have lasted until today mind. When you consider that in those days we only had the home internationals, and a few games against European countries, and maybe some World Cup games, it isn’t bad is it. Also, when I was playing, you had to be born in Wales to represent your country, and of course as we know that has changed as well. However that was probably an advantage to me because, we didn’t have many players come out of Wales at that time. I had the privilege to play  quite a few times for club and country with my old mate and namesake Graham. Graham is younger than me and was more or less starting as I was finishing, but it was still nice to play with him, another fine Welsh player.



Its been nice meeting Graham and all the others today, a sad day, because Bobby was a particular friend of mine. When a came to West Brom, we used to room together on away games and when we were on tour. We always shared, and of course we became great friends. I followed his career wherever he went, as a player and of course into management, which as we know was magnificent. Whenever he was in Southampton  I met up with him. When he was manager at Newcastle I was still at Southampton and we were both  still in the Premiership then. We had some very good times together Bobby and I….or should I say….Sir Bobby!

A very nice man. A lot of things have benn spoken about  ‘What a good manager he was’….and he was. Wherever he went he won something. However, in my mind, not enough has been said about Bobby as a player. He was a magnificent player. He cam here (to Albion)…as an inside forward. He moved back to wing half, and  established himself in both the Albion and England teams. He was of course, really unlucky to miss out on the 1962 World Cup through injury, and hardly played again.
I have many memories of Bobby in our times together, one of the things that always sticks in mind is Every Year we used to go to the Cup Final together. Bobby had a car, and I hadn’t. In 1958 I played in the World Cup, and made friends with two English people. We became great frinds, and when I played for Wales they ‘cottoned on to Wales’ and followed me everywhere. They both came from London, one from Hayes and one from Uxbridge. When Bobby and I came to the Cup Final, we used to stay with them. I stayed at Hayes and Bobby in Uxbridge. We used to travel down on the Thursday, and go to the Sports Writers dinner on the Thursday night. On Friday lunchtime we used to go to the International Club dinner, and on Friday evening we would watch the annual England-v-Young England match, before going to the Cup Final on the Saturday, and travel home on Sunday. Bobby and I did that year after year. I probably knew him better than most. Fond memories indeed. Another thing not many people would understand is that in those days wages weren’t as good as today.

At that time Bobby was very friendly with Ray Potter the goal-keeper, so he and Ray had a window cleaning business. They used to go round with their buckets and sponge and clean windows! Can you see any of todays players doing that to earn a few extra bob. Then there was the strike that nearly was….I suppose none of us could really afford to go on strike, but we were all so incensed with the situation, that we were left with no alternative and many many players would have gone on strike. Bobby certainly didn’t want to go on strike, but would have. Of course everything turned out well for us in the end, although none of the players then, would have realised it was going to escalate to the situation we have today! With the money the players earn today, I would be happy to sign on for three months….May, June and July!!!

Having watch today’s game against Newcastle, I think that both teams are going to do reasonably well. As the season goes on both sides are going to improve, and they could both be in a position to challenge for promotion. I thought  that Albion had the advantage in the first half, and Newcastle came back strongly in the second half. Overall a draw was a fair result.