'Pioneering': West Brom's John Homer recalls memories of The Three Degrees

Express & Star

West Brom supporters' club chairman John Homer recalls his memories of The Three Degrees - as part of a new Express & Star series.

Transcript

00:00novelty if that's the right word was to see a black player in the albion lineup um

00:07there weren't many black players around there west ham had this yes i'm at this there was a

00:13chap called john charles who played right back and and they had a lad called adi coker as well

00:18and of course clyde best um but lorry came to the albion and wow we we knew we'd got a superstar

00:27he had an outstanding debut at spurs along with tony godden that was his debut as well that day

00:33and i remember there was one point in the second half when he was playing keepy up on the halfway

00:37line which was sensational you know and the spurs players were crowding around him and and they

00:43couldn't get anywhere near him basically so he made an immediate impression and obviously

00:49it's always a good thing to score on your own debut and and that that starts the ball rolling immediately

00:57the game that i do remember early on was a home game against newcastle united and this is the first

01:03time we saw the spectre of of racism as well in in in connection with the albion and and lorry to start

01:11with we played newcastle united at home and and the series at the time that was number one viewing was

01:19roots yeah most people obviously of my age will remember that and there was a fair lot of chanting

01:26from the newcastle fans at the time we're taking the context of the time i'm not saying they do it now

01:32but then there was but lorry cunningham that day was absolutely brilliant and it was only for the

01:39acrobatics of a chap called mike mahoney in the newcastle goal that we didn't beat them but he was

01:45super and he scored a headed goal to equalize a newcastle strike but i remember at that point i was standing

01:52behind the smedic end goal and every time he got the ball he just came forward and people couldn't

01:58take the ball off him and it was the real first indication of what a wonderful player he was going

02:05to be and his potential going away west from which albin were coming to town and everybody wanted to see

02:11them the new musical express that year i don't know you're probably too young the nme as it was called

02:17every every christmas used to have a column of what's in and what's out and the nme was never

02:25too bothered about football but that christmas 78 after we beat man united 5-3 and won at the arsenal

02:33we were top of what's in oh wow yeah and also if you go to the hawthorns in the east stand there's a

02:40collage of photographs and there is a picture of the cover of an nme and on the front

02:47is cyril regis which that for me was my two loves there football and music combined that was a

02:57statement so we were very much the in thing because of this pioneering black players and also the

03:05wonderful fluid attacking football cavalier um style of play that we have i think

03:1277 78 there was an undercurrent of it but slowly but surely i think as more black players came into

03:21the game it died down a little and certainly instead of it being universal at all grounds and i'm not

03:28saying that it was at all grounds to start with but the number of grounds where you went uh and the

03:34racism chanting it suddenly started to go but there were grounds where it stayed west ham yeah west

03:43ham the famous incident where they were throwing bananas on the pitch and cyril picked one up and

03:48ate it and threw the skin back into the crowd saw all that the the national front were around at the time

03:55you know uh but the thing about the albin supporters whatever was going on in the area they took these

04:02players to heart and and and you will know that you've spoken to brendan if you spoke to cyril

04:08cyril would say the best way that i could answer these chants was to score goals he was raw but it

04:14was pace and power and not frightened to shoot uh first touch now messing about with the second touch

04:22that ball comes in the box bang he's going to hit it and we know he scored some spectacular goals

04:28but at the end of the first season we play everton and and and this is when the saint etienne scouts

04:35were in the crowd in the birmingham road in watching him because of his french nationality

04:40yeah french guiana we know we know anyway they're watching him and he he gets a goal against everton

04:47where mike lyons is hanging onto his shirt basically and trying to pull him back but his strength and his

04:53power he leaves him behind and then smashes it past george wood and in the same game he got another

04:59one which is back to goal on the edge of the box turns super volley top corner bang he scored wonderful

05:07spectacular goals uh and with cyril regis at his prime you thought that anything is possible of course

05:15if you ran at the time when everything was going on we have a football club here who are bold enough to

05:21field three black players who are bold enough to take on all the insults and all the racism and all

05:26the chance and all that crap that was going on around them right and overcome it at our football club

05:34at west bromwich albion you know so many black footballers that followed the ian wrights of this

05:40world and deon dublin's and everybody ian wright says that the the moment he wanted to become a

05:45footballer was when he saw the three degrees on the telly and he turns to his dad apparently and said look

05:52at this these are black blokes who can make it in the game and if they can do it i can do it now

05:58groundbreaking pioneering stuff

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