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Fans want West Brom to honour Tony ‘Bomber’ Brown
Friday 13th January 2012, 10:15AM GMT.
Tony ‘Bomber’ Brown
West Bromwich Albion fans will launch a campaign tomorrow to get Baggies legend Tony ‘Bomber’ Brown honoured at The Hawthorns.
Supporters at the clash with Norwich will be asked to sign a petition calling for a permanent tribute to the club’s record goalscorer.
Brown, who still attends matches in his role as a radio pundit, netted 279 goals in a club record 720 appearances in all competitions.
John Kitchen, one of the organisers of the ‘Honour the Bomber’ campaign, said the initiative had been timed to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the death of fellow Albion legend Jeff Astle on January 19.
Kitchen said: “Legend is a word that is used at the drop of a hat now, but Bomber really is ‘Mr Albion’.
“A lot of us were lucky enough to grow up watching him, whether it was with the Cup-winners in 1968, the team that won promotion under Johnny Giles in the 70s or that great team of the early-80s.
“We want to see Bomber recognised by the club now, while he is still involved and able to see it and enjoy it.”
Brown, 66, already has a corporate suite named in his honour within the West Stand at The Hawthorns, but the campaign is for a more prominent tribute that is accessible to all fans.
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Excellent idea. Sort it JP.
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Bomber Brown is Mr West Bromwich Albion. Sadly he did not get the recognition he deserved for England. We have the Astle gates and in my opinion we should either have the new rebuilt Halfords Stand named after him (If it happens) or a Statue built like Henry at Arsenal. A magical player.
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Good luck with this, the Bomber is clearly one of the top players in Midlands football in the last 50 years!
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A true legend,get behind the campaign to honour him.
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Its about time our greatest ever servant was honoured in a fitting and permanent way.
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Bomber is at or near the top of a list of a number of legends who have graced The Hawthorns and also represented the club and country across the land and around the globe.
My preference would be for a Bayeux Tapestry style bronze work depicting the history of the club. There is abundant space for it around the East Stand. It would be “inclusive” of all the key figures and events in the club’s history to day. A statue or statues could be erected separately in addition to this, with Bomber’s being the first?
Up The Baggies!
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A true legend,i will never see the like again in my life time. Take a bow Bomber you make me proud to be a albion fan
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Knowing the Bomber he will be highly embarrased about this as he is the most down to earth person you could ever wish to meet.Full credit to the people involved and coming from the supporters will mean the world to him.To any younger people who never saw him play I am 51 years of age and the Bomber scored goals for Albion before I started infant school and he was still scoring goals when I was 19 years of age and in full time employment.From an infant to an adult, one thing in my life never changed and that was this man scoring goals from midfield.That is what is really meant by the word LEGEND.
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Well if Fulham can have Michael Jackson, I am sure we can have Bomber.
Legend!
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A fitting tribute is long overdue.
218 league goals!
And many of those came while playing in midfield, for a team which did not enjoy the luxury of dominance afforded today’s top Greed League goalscorers.
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Bomber Brown is Mr West Bromwich Albion. He did not get the recognition he deserved for England. Either we should name the new halfords lane stand (if it ever gets built) or a statue outside the ground like Arsenal did with Henry. He was simply magical.
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I used to go a lot in the 60′s and 70′s with my mates and watching Astle, Hope, Clark and Bomber was an absolute pleasure. Great entertaining football.
Why not name one of the stands after him, got to be better than East or West?
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One more thing, does anybody know what the teams likely to be tomorrow? I’m going tomorrow and looking forward to a good performance, and a win
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Good luck.
Not sure if anyone remembers but i wrote a blog about the fact he should honoured about five years ago. I also went on BRMB to discuss it with Tom Ross, both the fans who called in and the posters on here was sent to JP.
I received a letter that basically said no. The reason was that how would we decide who gets honoured, and a kind of if we do it for one we would have to do it for all, which was total frollocks.
Bomber is a legend and he should be honoured as such, simple.
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I stood in a queue recently just to shake Johnny Gile’s hand, and Id do the same for Bomber.
He’s an Albion hero!
Where do I sign??
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so they should
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Afternoon all,
it’s a great idea – why it’s not happened sooner is a puzzle really. Maybe something behind the east stand- near the Astle Gates.
Regards
AndyH
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Well done John Kitchen. It’s about my only criticism of the way our club is run. We had Jeff’s gates too late for him to see how much he was still loved by the supporters, let’s not do the same with Bomber.
I know the Chairman’s stance is where do you draw the line but surely we don’t have too many candidates. I remember Bomber’s debut when my dad said Hovis is playing today and being a bit thick I didn’t get it. He gave us about twenty years of unstinting service and despite not being a local chose to stay with the club when he finished playing.
Other clubs do a much better job of hailing their heroes and I don’t think we have too many in living memory that are deserving of it. The combination of being a great player and staying loyal to the Baggies are the qulaifications, Jeff, Bomber, Ronnie Allen, Ray Barlow. I can’t think of too many others and we do have four stands don’t we. If it’s about money how about the Banks’s Bomber Brown Stand for instance. I’m sure some firms wouldn’t mind tying their names in with these players in a sponsorship.
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Totally agree cant think of another middie who
scored so regularly and did he ever get booked?
This guy who hails from Manchester is a true baggy
Wev’e had plenty of legends but Tony still loves
the Albion and attends every match.
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Not before time, He was an amazing player. I always used to check the Central league results in “The Pink” to see if he had scored for our reserves again when he was up and coming. The astounding thing was, he was never classed like Ronnie,Derek,Jeff,Bob. He was never called a striker, Another thing that astounds me, Doyler is.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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A statue of Bomber at the side of Jeff. That would be nice.
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Can’t the Club or E&S do an online voting system then all of the supporters of WBA & Tony Brown can add their support to a worthwhile cause??
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Long overdue. Everyone get behind it!!!
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Start work on a bronze statue and place it by the club shop now
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Long overdue a legend and a gentleman !!!
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Great idea John, by the way I do know you if you are reading! ex Self preservation society member!
His life is dedicated to us so why not give him back something in recognition!
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some of my earliest and fondest memories of the baggies (76 thru early 80s) are built around Bomber doing what he did best; making the net bulge!
met him a few times when i was a kid and he was a player, and met him more recently when i was a big kid and he was a reporter. absolutely smashing bloke, and as great a servant to our club as anyone to any other club
like some of you have said already, the only question is why he hasn’t received his due honour already
glad i bought tickets for tomorra now. be worth it just to stick me autograph on the petition
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p.s.
how many times did michael jackson play for fulham eh?
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There shouldn’t even be a discussion about this. Bomber is a legend in every sense of the word, if you cut the guy open he would bleed navy blue and white. Come on Jeremy get it sorted, bronze statue outside the main entrance would be my choice and I can’t imagine one single Albion fan being against the idea.
Boing Boing!!
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Nice bronze statue in the vicinity of the club shop. One of him striking the ball with his trade-mark tongue hanging out. That’s our Tone.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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I have seven fish in my pond. 6 ordinary goldfish, the other was a superb black one you only saw in sunlight. Then he changed to nearly white! Why? Don’t ask me. I named him Michael Jackson and my great grandson adores him, always calling him by name. And he comes in close.
Bomber deserves anything the club can do and we should remember that Ray Barlow is still around. I had the honour of speaking to him about 8 years ago as he was going in the game with his son. It would be nice if a reporter found out how he is now. He’s two or three years older than me I think. Saw his first game, against Walsall I think, around 1944. I’ll check later. Ronnie Allen was 1951 first game, against Wulfies and scored our equaliser. A hero from day one.
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My dad’s hero! Arsenal and even Blackpool have statues of club legends and Bomber is certainly a WBA Legend.
The job they have done at around the Emirates shows you can honour many legends from many era’s and this highlights the history and achievement of the club and its past players and teams.
We should not only be getting this sorted now but also for others such as Allen etc.
I am sure JP wants the stands for greed league Sponsorship and as far as I am concerned he can have them as there is plenty of space to honour the past around the ground in a number of ways.
Lets make the first one happen with the Bomber – A Statue for the fans would be BOSTIN!
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I think I can see JP’s side of the discussion. I also think that Tony Brown should have something like a stand or corner, but what about John Osbourne, Bobby Hope, “The Three Degrees” or Johnny Giles, just to name a few. And those are just the names from when I went to the games. I’m sure there are a lot of names that people would throw into the ring.
For the youngsters: -
John Osbourne aka the bionic goalie, one of the best goalies I have seen. I have memories of him cadging a fag from a fan when the other team couldn’t get near our goal.
Bobby Hope, could place a ball on a sixpence anywhere on the pitch.
The Three Degrees, Laurie, Cyril and Brendan, pure class.
Johnny Giles, I was there on his last match where no one left the ground and everyone called for his return to the pitch and when he did was given a standing ovation.
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He’s always around at the Albion just like Jeff and Super Bob were. He is a true legend, not like the modern day mercs at Utd and Man City. I would be suprised if there isn’t an Albion fan who hasn’t had a chat with him or at least seen him knockin about. I sadly never got to see him play but he is more than worthy of a 200 foot statue stradling the Brummy road behind the Hawthorns. That is the plan isn’t it?
Boing Boing
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Fully accepted Bomber is a Legeng & should be recognised while with us!
However for one sadly passed away, we must accept that Laurie was the one that needs recognising as the true legend to grace the Hawthorns turf in the past fourty years!
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35 Jerry.
Can’t argue with you that Laurie was a great player but he showed no loyalty to the club which is surely a prerequisite. Surely Cyrille is a more likely candidate.
33 Medway.
You’ve opened up a thought there with Bobby Hope. How about an Astle End, a Bomber End, The Allen Stand, The Barlow Stand and the Hope, Johnson, Regis and any suggestions for the other corners Cyril although perhaps Neil Clement should be in with a shout.
30 Jack.
I think that’s Greyfriars Bobby you’re thinking of.
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