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‘Gentleman’ John Talbut helped Wile take his place in West Brom's backline

Albion legend John Wile has paid tribute to ‘gentleman’ John Talbut, the man he replaced at the heart of the Baggies defence, who died this weekend aged 79.

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John Talbut

FA Cup hero Talbut was part of the Albion defence that won the competition with a 1-0 victory over Everton at Wembley in 1968.

He passed away peacefully on Friday night, with his family by his bedside, after a six-year battle with dementia.

Oxfordshire-born Talbut was signed for £30,000 by Jimmy Hagan from Burnley and spent five years from 1966 at The Hawthorns, making 144 appearances. He also played in the League Cup final defeat to Manchester City in 1970.

Wile joined Albion from Peterborough United in 1970 aged 23.

He was six years Talbut’s junior and would go on to take his place in the backline, as Talbut moved to Belgium, where he was player-manager with KV Mechelen for three years.

“I came to the club essentially to replace John,” Wile said. “And I couldn’t have been made more welcome by the whole club and John in particular.

“He must’ve realised I was certainly going to be challenging for his place, but he couldn’t have been more helpful, and his wife Ena to my wife Carol.

“It was a great bunch of lads. Everybody was really friendly and helpful. We all got on and socialised as a group.

“I didn’t expect to be in the team. I thought I’d probably play in the reserves. But I went straight into the team, apart from cup matches, which John played in.

“But when I played in the league he couldn’t have been more helpful.

“John was another big centre-half who was a gentleman. West Brom were lucky to have him at that time.

“It’s some years since I saw him, that would’ve been the Astle Day (in 2015) and I don’t think he’s been back since then.”

Wile described his dominant defensive predecessor, ‘Big T’ as he was known due to his aerial prowess, as a strong but slightly reserved character,

“He was strongly built, at one time he was close to (being an) international,” Wile added. “He was a good player. It was a good team. They’d only just won the FA Cup in ‘68.

“John was a bit more reserved than some of the other lads. There were some big characters in the dressing room.

“But he could hold his own with the banter and he was well respected by all the players.

“It was a great shame that he’d been struggling for the last few years.”

Wile continued: “It was an unusual move at the time. As it happens Mechelen, where he went, is a place I know very well.

“Mechelen is a very lovely place. I can imagine why he chose to stay there.”

Baggies legend Tony ‘Bomber’ Brown, another member of Alan Ashman’s FA Cup-winning side, joined in the tributes.

Brown said: “He was a terrific lad, really down to earth. He came from Burnley and we became good friends straight away.

“He was a very good player and centre-half and formed a great partnership with John Kaye. They formed a good partnership at the back, two big lads.

“They were big mates, they liked a tipple. There was no big-headedness about Big T as we called him.

“I can’t praise him highly enough. I don’t think anybody would have a bad word against John. He never took any prisoners, opposing centre-forwards knew they were in for a real hard afternoon.”

Talbut passed away in a care home in Mechelen, where he had settled. He is survived by wife Ena, daughters Nicola and Debbie and son Mark.