'Cyrille Regis rules OK' - West Bromwich Albion trailblazer's role in fantastic Three Degrees

It was from Dave Regis, younger brother of Batson's close friend and former team-mate and trailblazer Cyrille, to deliver the news of the latter's sudden and untimely death.

They had spoken just a day or two prior. Many connected to West Bromwich Albion saw Cyrille regularly, such was his involvement in the club and at The Hawthorns, where a suite is named in his honour.

"Cyrille was such a flipping shock," Batson recalls to the Express & Star. "Even to this day I have to pinch myself and think 'crikey, how many years have passed by?'

"Cyrille and I became better friends when we retired. You step out of that bubble of the game into enjoying other things.

"We spent a lot of time together, around matches, you didn't think anything of it. I'd go into the suite some times around matchdays and without seeing him I almost knew his presence was there. So it came as a complete shock when his brother rang me in the early hours with the news. We miss him.

"We miss Laurie [Cunningham]. With Laurie it was a tragic accident and you can almost... it's life. But with Cyrille he looked so fit, so well, I'd spoken to him just a couple of days before."

Batson, along with Regis and Cunningham, all signed for Albion and became part of an iconic side in a thrilling era for the club on the pitch.

They were given the moniker The Three Degrees by boss big Ron Atkinson, who oversaw some wonderful, flying, attacking football.

Batson was a right-back captured from Cambridge United, where he had played under Atkinson, and recalls his first impression of the man who led the line in some style for his new employers.

"Cyrille I'd seen before on the television," adds Grenada-born Batson. "He looked like a bloomin' boxer, but in person even more so.

"Everybody talked about his strength, but what tremendous ability Cyrille had. The old good touch for a big guy.

"They (he and Laurie) were different characters in terms of personalities, but wonderful company. We miss the two of them."

Regis's journey from French Guyana to Harlesden between central and north west London to The Hawthorns via amateur and semi-professional football is a fairytale.

Ronnie Allen, Albion's legendary former forward-turned-scout-and future boss, spotted teenager Regis - who had trained as an electrician - playing for Hayes of the Isthmian League. Previously he had played amateur football with his mates at Molesey.

John Homer, chairman of the Baggies' supporters club, takes up the story: "He was an electrician - and what a player.