As Bad as Things Got: West Bromwich Albion, 11th May 1991

West Brom haven't had a particularly easy time of things this last couple of years, but 33 years ago things were arguably quite a bit worse.

The story of West Bromwich Albion’s team of the late 1970s is a well-worn tale. Under the managership of Ron Atkinson, the club became one of the most progressive in England, becoming the first to field three black players and breaking new ground by touring China. The end of that period in the club’s history, however, would come suddenly and tragically, and the chain of events that would follow on from it would, in just a decade, lead the club to the lowest point in its history.

Tom Silk was a self-made man. An engineer by trade, his company Hampson Industries had done well for itself through innovative problem solving and embracing new markets, and he was invited to join the board of directors of his local football club in 1965. When Albion fell into the Second Division in 1973 for the first time in almost a quarter of a century, it was time for a change in the running of the club. Bert Millichip took over as the club’s chairman, but his conservative instincts were tempered by Silk’s taste for thinking outside of boxes.