Albion’s foreign legion

Nine Englishman, two Scots and one Welsh dragon were on duty the last time Albion lifted a major trophy.

Four decades on and the Home Nations have become the United Nations with the Baggies at the vanguard of the changing face of English football as one of the country’s most cosmopolitan squads.

With 17 different nations represented in the dressing room, no Premier League squad is drawn from a broader pool than Albion’s.

The Baggies find themselves level with four other top flight clubs at the summit of the top flight’s ‘league of nations’.

Back in 1968, Stirlingshire-born Bobby Hope was the most exotic member of the side that lifted the FA Cup.

While Villa manager Martin O’Neill’s preference for English talent puts Villa at the bottom of the table, domestic signings are often a luxury Tony Mowbray often cannot afford. “We can’t pay over the odds and this is a club where you have to put a lot of things into the equation,” said Mowbray.

“There are English players that we like but if you go and ask the question you are asked for too much money. We are trying to get value for money in the market we are in and with the funds we have got. There are marketplaces where you can go and shop and where you can get players and England is very difficult.

“There are some players in League Two in England at the moment who we quite like and would like to bring to our club to help us. They wouldn’t play in the team now but we would like to bring them in, as we did with Graham Dorrans, because they are good footballers.

“But we get quoted £1m-plus for players in League Two and we’re not at the level to pay that kind of money for them.

“We go abroad because the prices you would pay in the lower leagues here are the prices you would pay abroad for someone to go straight into your team.”

For Graham Williams, the Welshman who lifted the FA Cup for Albion in 1968, the move towards multi-national teams bodes extremely badly for the future of English football.

While the former skipper does not blame Mowbray for looking abroad for the best value, he says the premium on English talent could have a profoundly negative effect on the national team. “The trouble is that English players generally cost too much, which is why managers look abroad,” he said. “And when English players get to 21 they are looking for a big contract, whereas clubs can go to other parts of Europe or further afield and get people much more cheaply.

“But if you look at the Premier League statistics now, how many English players are at the top of the lists? Not many, and before long England could be getting their players from the Championship.“When I was at Albion we all went to the club from school and grew up there so there was real loyalty.”

However, Mowbray insists his cosmopolitan side is as united as any squad in the country. He said: “I don’t think it brings any problems. I think we’ve a good group.

“I’ve always said that the dressing room is very important at a football club and I worked hard pretty early in my tenure trying to make sure we got that right.

“The bottom line is that whatever nationality they are they are human beings. They either gel and have a good chemistry or they don’t.”