From the age of 15 Tony Brown was taught to play the ‘the Albion way’.

Now the Baggies legend believes the Albion of the present are upholding the best traditions of the Hawthorns past.

If they weren’t anointed already, Saturday’s winning televised goal-fest with Charlton saw Albion crowned in the eyes of the nation as the Championship’s ‘great entertainers’.

And Brown, who watches his former club home and away in his role as a radio pundit, is thoroughly enjoying seeing the class of 2007 rise to the free-flowing expectations of supporters.

“It was instilled into me as a youngster that at Albion we played football,” said ‘Bomber’.

“It was a passing game and we kept the ball on the floor, and that’s always the way it was.

“I was brought up that way. I joined Albion at the age of 15 and from the first day we were always told ‘this is how we play football’.

“And the club has nearly always been that way. It has carried on that way for years and Albion have traditionally been a footballing side.

“There have been times down the years when they have had difficult periods and they have struggled for results. And there have been times in the last few years when I don’t think they have had the players to play that way, but the way they are playing this season has been like a breath of fresh air.”

Brown knows a thing of two about entertaining Baggies supporters.

As the club’s record post-war goalscorer with 279 in all competitions, he also bridged the eras, from the FA Cup glory in 1968 to the third-placed finish in the old First Division under Ron Atkinson in 1979.

It is that team – widely regarded as the most entertaining in the club’s history – that has drawn comparisons with the present side  under Tony Mowbray.

And Brown fully understands the parallels seen between that famous squad and the current crop of Baggies talent.

“Obviously they are in a different league,” said Brown. “That side in 1979 played in the top division against the top teams in the country whereas this team are trying to get into that division. 

“But as far as their footballing attributes are concerned I can definitely see the similarities.

“They try to play football now the same way that we tried to play it back then – it’s fast, passing football and the ball is kept on the floor.

“When that works well, as it is at the moment, it is the most exciting type of football.”

The great Baggies team of 1979 was the side that launched ‘the three degrees’ into the national consciousness with Laurie Cunningham and Cyrille Regis integral to the side’s attacking menace.

The third member of the famous trio, full-back Brendon Batson, was on hand to see his old club dispatch Charlton at the weekend.

And he, like former team-mate Brown, was impressed with what he saw.

“I think it’s a measure of this team that they believe in the system,” said Batson.

“The style of play allows other teams to have their spells as well, but once the manager gets the defence sorted out and gets a few players back then at least he has got a philosophy which will stand them in good stead for winning games in an entertaining style.

“And, after all that’s what you come to football for.”

The man behind the current side, manager Mowbray, has been keen to play down his perceived image as a crusader for passing football.

Instead, he insists there is as much room in football for the artisan as for the artist.

But he remains adamant that Albion’s current style prompted by the silky skills of Filipe Teixeira, Zoltan Gera and Robert Koren is their best chance of succeeding.

And he reckons bringing the players round to his way of thinking was the only thing between him and making his vision reality.

“I play in a certain way – the way I believe the game should be played,” said Mowbray.

“It’s a philosophy we try to follow and it’s how we play.

“We don’t set out to be the great entertainers, we just set out to play the way we want to play.

“There is no right or wrong way to play football – it’s whatever wins you games and gets you points.

“Other teams might be very direct and not put two passes together all game and yet win matches and be heralded as the best thing since sliced bread.

“If that’s what wins them matches then good luck to them, but you have to believe in what you believe in and try to follow it through 100 per cent. You have to get the players to buy into it and once they do that and believe in it then you have a winning formula.

“That would be the same whether it was 100 passes before a shot or one pass.

“If the players believe that’s right then you have a winning formula.”