Ron Saunders

[johntoewba]

Thanks Spandau. I’d managed to erase most of this from my memory (I went to most of the games that season as well) but you’ve brought it all crashing back.

I remember some money raising gimmick at West Brom town hall early in his reign where a good sized crowd attended, mainly because the advert for it was pretty vague about what it was all about. Nat Lofthouse was there as a speaker because a similar scheme had been launched at Bolton; think it was a glorified lottery from what I recall although it’s all a bit hazy now. Things I remember most were the 1st team being sat motionless on the stage while Saunders was telling the audience the team hadn’t worked hard enough, to loud applause; but mainly me & my mate pissing ourselves at Paul Dyson’s flares.

I was there with my uncle. It was the Albion bond scheme. Always remember the players faces as Saunders tore into them

[TR 675]

That 86/87 Season was the one when I started going home and away frequently. Missed about 9/10 games that season. Me and my mates dub it 'The Saunders season'. Not for good reasons. We were actually ok till just before Christmas , even if the football was poor 75% of the time. But there were some awful players there and the club were slashing the wage bill. it showed. Reilly, Evans, Dickinson, Dyson Singleton, Steggles etc. Out went Varadi, Hunt, Robertson, Bull, Thompson and a bit later, Crooks, who scored 14 by March. Goodman came in as Crooks went. But it wasn't the 1990 Goodman. We finished 15th which at that time was the lowest we'd ever finished. Crowds as low as 7-8,000, including 6.100 or so v Sunderland (They brought 300 and were in the same doldrums). Away support dipped from 1500-2000, down to 250. Awful, awful season.

This was the first time I'd bought a season ticket which cost I think £20  for the BRE. As the team progressively got worse then the more I went to away games. Crowds dwindled especially after Christmas for both home and away games culminating in a  paltry 200 away fans for Milwall away in a crowd of less than 4000.
As already said it certainly was character building