How West Brom's Ally Robertson tamed the Best on his debut

Manchester United are the opposition. And it’s your job to stop arguably the greatest player in the world.

That is the situation Albion legend Ally Robertson found himself in 50 years ago.

It was on October 25, 1969, that the centre-back was given the nod to start alongside John Talbot at the heart of the defence.

And when Robertson’s first tackle saw him win the ball from George Best, Baggies fans knew they had a new hero.

So what did manager Alan Ashman tell his teenage centre-half prior to the game?

“Not a thing,” Robertson joked.

“It was just one of those, I was told to go out and do exactly what I had been doing for the reserves.

“There I was, 17 years old, the game was on television, I was playing against George Best. It was the biggest home crowd of the season.

“I said to myself ‘good God.’

“But the message from everybody was the same. I was incredibly fortunate because I was in a team full of wonderful players. Dougie Fraser, Graham Williams, Jeff Astle, Tony Brown – but they all said the same thing – ‘just do what you have been doing’.

“Bobby Hope told me the most important thing was my first touch. So I just played it simple.

“And then I grew into the game from there.”

Robertson rang his parents in Scotland when he was first told he would be making his debut.

“I called but they already knew,” he continued.

“The club had phoned them and paid for a flight for them from Edinburgh to Birmingham.

“I will never forget that. As a family we didn’t have a lot of money so it was the first time they had ever been on a plane.

“They were put up in The County Hotel in Walsall so I met them there.

“I’ll never forget the one piece of advice my dad gave me before the game was ‘don’t look at the crowd’.

“And I didn’t. I didn’t look at it once even though I knew they were there. And I stuck to that rule throughout my entire career.”

While Robertson’s parents arrived at the game in style, the defender didn’t. “I got the number 75 bus to where we were having our pre-match meal,” the Express & Star columnist continued. “Can you imagine that now? I had my steak and beans and then travelled to the stadium with the team.”

Robertson took the place of the injured John Kaye in the team. But he says Kaye was a huge inspiration to him throughout his career.

“He would always try and help me,” Robertson continued.

“I would say to him ‘I’m trying to take your place in the team.’

“And he would reply, ‘you will one day, son’. He only wanted to help me improve as a player.

“I found his attitude incredible.

“So I then made sure I was the same when I was an older player.”

With Albion going on to beat United 2-1 thanks to goals from Brown and Hope – it’s fair to say Robertson’s debut couldn’t have gone any better.

“Watching myself on TV that night was incredible,” he said.

“I actually felt I had played all right. But in his post-match interview, Matt Busby said it was one of the best debuts he had seen in a long time.

“To hear that from him was amazing.”

Robertson admits he now can’t believe that United game was 50 years ago.

“I told my wife it was 50 years ago and she turned round and said she was seven then because she’s 10 years younger than me,” he joked. “I just said ‘don’t’.

“Fifty years, I can’t believe it.

“To this day, though, I just feel so lucky to have played in such a good side and that Albion were a team who would always give young players a chance.”