John Homer recalls memories of Cyrille Regis and West Brom impact

John Homer recalls his memories of Cyrille Regis for a new Express & Star series on the Three Degrees.

Transcript

00:00And, of course, subsequently, we know what happens next.

00:02He plays against Rotherham in the League Cup because David Cross was injured.

00:08By sheer fate, Tony Brown, the penalty taker, misses that game.

00:12He's already scored a goal at the Birmingham Road end,

00:15and they get a penalty, and the crowd start to chant,

00:19Sourou, Sourou, and he takes the penalty and scores.

00:23So he gets two goals on his own debut.

00:25The next Saturday, we play Middlesbrough at home,

00:28where he scores his wonder goal, and he runs from the halfway line,

00:32and he beats about four blokes, and then hammers it past Jim Platt.

00:36And the headline in the Sports August that night,

00:39which I cut out and put in my scrapbook, was,

00:41Cyril Regis rules OK.

00:44He was raw, but it was pace and power and not frightened to shoot.

00:50First touch, no messing about with the second touch.

00:53That ball comes in the box, bang, he's going to hit it.

00:55And we know he scored some spectacular goals.

00:58But at the end of the first season, we play Everton,

01:02and this is when the St Etienne scouts were in the crowd in the Birmingham Road

01:08and watching him because of his French nationality.

01:11Yeah, French Guiana, we know.

01:13Anyway, they're watching him, and he gets a goal against Everton,

01:17where Mike Lyons is hanging onto his shirt, basically,

01:21and trying to pull him back, but his strength and his power,

01:24he leaves him behind and then smashes it past George Wood.

01:27And in the same game, he got another one, which is back to goal on the edge of the box,

01:32turns, super volley, top corner, bang.

01:36He scored wonderful, spectacular goals.

01:39And with Cyril Regis at his prime, you thought that anything is possible.

01:46Any form of goal, you never know what he's going to do.

01:50I mean, there's all these, there's plaudit, explosive.

01:53He was graceful at times himself, but explosive and powerful.

01:59Raw, unfettered, bang.

02:01Raw, unfettered, bang.