West Bromwich Albion F.C. seasons

West Bromwich Albion Football Club was founded as West Bromwich Strollers in 1878 by workers from George Salter's Spring Works and turned professional in 1885. [McOwan pp7–8.] [cite web
date=2007-07-13
url=http://www.wba.premiumtv.co.uk/page/History/0,,10366~1022925,00.html
title=In the record book
publisher=West Bromwich Albion F.C.
accessdate=2008-07-22] Albion won the FA Cup for the first time in 1888 and later that year became one of the founder members of the Football League. In the 1900–01 season, the club moved to its current home ground, The Hawthorns. [McOwan p30.] Albion have spent the majority of their history in the top division of English football, including 24 seasons in a row between 1949–50 and 1972–73. From 1986–87 to 2001–02, they spent 16 consecutive seasons outside the top division, recording their lowest ever league finish of seventh in Division Three in 1991–92. The team played in the Premier League for the first time in 2002–03.

Albion have won the League Championship once, the FA Cup five times, the League Cup once and the Charity Shield twice, one of which was shared. They have been runners-up in the League Championship twice, in the FA Cup five times and in the League Cup twice. In European competitions, Albion have reached the quarter-final stage of both the Cup Winners' Cup and UEFA Cup.

The club has played more than one hundred seasons since their first entry in the FA Cup in 1883–84. The table details the club's achievements in all national and European first-team competitions, and records their top league goalscorer, for each completed season. Records of locally-organised cup competitions such as the Birmingham Senior Cup and Staffordshire Senior Cup, which have permitted reserve teams from the 1900s onwards, [Matthews (1987) pp202–206.] are not included.

easons

Key

Key to league record:
*P = Played
*W = Games won
*D = Games drawn
*L = Games lost
*F = Goals for
*A = Goals against
*Pts = Points
*Pos = Final positionKey to divisions:
*FL = Football League
*Div 1 = Football League First Division
*Div 2 = Football League Second Division
*Div 3 = Football League Third Division
*Prem = Premier League
*Chmp = The Championship
*n/a = Not applicableKey to rounds:
*DNE = Did not enter
*QR = Qualifying round
*Grp = Group stage
*R1 = Round 1
*R2 = Round 2
*R3 = Round 3
*R4 = Round 4
*R5 = Round 5

*QF = Quarter-finals
*SF = Semi-finals
*ASF = Area semi-finals
*AF = Area final
*RU = Runners-up
*WS = Shared
*W = Winners

Divisions in bold indicate a change in division.
Players in bold indicate the top scorer in the division that season.

Footnotes

:A. Goals in regular league competition only, excluding play-offs or test matches. Sourced from Matthews (2007) up to and including the 2006–07 season.:B. West Bromwich Albion were one of the 12 founding members of the Football League.:C. The Football League expanded to two divisions in 1892, absorbing most of the teams from the Football Alliance. The league previously known simply as the Football League became the Football League First Division.:D. Albion retained their place in Division One by winning two and drawing one of four test matches, playing home and away against Manchester City and Liverpool.:E. Albion missed out on promotion on goal average, by 0.0056 of a goal.:F. The Charity Shield was first played for in 1908. In its early years, the match took place at the end of the season, but was subsequently moved to September or October of the following season. From 1959 onwards it has been played in August, prior to the beginning of the league programme. It was renamed the FA Community Shield in 2002. [cite web
first=James
last=Ross
date=2007-07-21
url=http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/engsupcuphist.html
title=England - List of FA Charity/Community Shield Matches
publisher=RSSSF
accessdate=2008-07-27] :G. West Bromwich Albion completed the "double" of winning the FA Cup and promotion in the same season. As of May 2008 they remain the only English club to have achieved this feat. [Matthews (2007) p23.] :H. Club record for most league goals (39) and most goals in total (40) scored in a season.:I. The 1939–40 season was abandoned in early September and all results annulled. Albion's record at the time of the annulment was W1 D1 L1 F8 A8 Pts3.:J. The FA Cup was contested in 1945–46 but the Football League did not resume until the following season.:K. From 1939 to 1993, in the event of a draw, the Charity Shield would be shared between the two competing teams, with each team having possession of the trophy for six months.:L. The League Cup started in 1960–61. Most First Division clubs took part in it from the first season, but Albion did not enter until 1965–66, when the FA offered the winners a place in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. [McOwan p86.] :M. Kevan was joint-top Division One scorer with Ray Crawford of Ipswich Town.:N. Albion won the League Cup at their first attempt.:O. Albion lost 2–0 to Heart of Midlothian in the third place play-off.:P. The 1981–82 season saw the introduction of three points for a win.:Q. With the advent of the Premier League, the third tier of English football became known as the Second Division.:R. Promoted following 3–0 victory over Port Vale in the play-off final at the old Wembley Stadium.:S. Lost 5–2 on aggregate in play-off semi-finals to Bolton Wanderers. :T. In 2004–05 the Football League First Division had been renamed the Football League Championship as part of a re-branding exercise by the Football League.:U. Lost 1–0 to Derby County in the play-off final at Wembley Stadium.

References

;General
*cite book| last=McOwan | first=Gavin | title=The Essential History of West Bromwich Albion | publisher=Headline | year=2002 | pages=pp188–293 | isbn=0-7553-1146-9
*cite book | last = Matthews | first = Tony | coauthors=Mackenzie, Colin | title = Albion! A Complete Record of West Bromwich Albion 1879–1987 | publisher = Breedon Books | year = 1987 | isbn = 0-907969-23-2
*cite book | last=Matthews | first=Tony | title=West Bromwich Albion: The Complete Record | publisher=Breedon Books | year=2007 | pages=pp167–397 | isbn=978-1-85983-565-4
*cite web | title=English League Leading Goalscorers 1889-2007 | url=http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/engtops.html | publisher=RSSSF | date=2008-06-06 | accessdate=2008-06-26
* [http://www.soccerbase.com/teams2.sd?teamid=2744 West Bromwich Albion] at Soccerbase.com ( [http://www.soccerbase.com/results2.sd?teamid=2744 Results/Fixtures] , [http://www.soccerbase.com/league2.sd?teamid=2744 League Table] )

;Specific

External links

*cite web |url=http://www.fchd.info/W-BROMWA.HTM |title=West Bromwich Albion |work=Football Club History Database |publisher=Richard Rundle |accessdate=2008-06-29