Six former West Brom players to feature under ex-boss in Leicester 5,000/1 anniversary match

Six former Albion players will feature in a side managed by Tony Pulis for the 10-year anniversary of Leicester City’s Premier League win.

The Foxes are hosting a commemorative fixture against a home side containing top-flight winning legends from a decade ago.

Italian Claudio Ranieri will return to the east Midlands to manage Leicester on Saturday. Skipper Wes Morgan, who lifted the Premier League trophy in 2016, will lead the side.

They will face off against an ‘all star XI’ - and there is plenty of Albion representation in the away dressing room at the King Power Stadium.

Former Baggies boss Pulis will lead the visiting side.

Among his 17-man squad are Shane Long, Gareth McAuley, Luke Steele, Erik Pieters, Wes Hoolahan and Dwight Gayle.

The most recent of those former Baggies, Dutchman Pieters, left The Hawthorns in 2024 after 61 appearances in blue and white stripes.

Defender Pieters, now 37, has had short-term deals in the Championship with Luton and Derby since, but made just one combined appearance, as an 89th-minute substitute.

Albion favourites Long, McAuley and Gayle are also among the visiting side.

Irishman Long, 39, hung up his boots in 2023 after a farewell season at his first English club Reading. The striker’s three Premier League seasons with the Baggies brought 22 goals in 87 games.

Northern Irishman McAuley clocked up the most Albion appearances of any former Baggie turning out against the Foxes on Saturday.

The current Northern Ireland under-19s boss played 227 times for Albion in seven top-flight campaigns.

Striker Gayle, 36, spent just one loan season at The Hawthorns but lit up his stint with a bagful of goals.

Gayle was Albion’s 24-goal top scorer in 41 appearances during his loan from Newcastle. He formed a lethal partnership with Jay Rodriguez in the 2018/19 campaign but the Baggies fell short of Championship promotion with the play-off penalty shootout defeat to Villa.

The striker’s Albion career ended with a red card in the semi-final first leg after netting against Villa. He went on to join Stoke.

Former goalkeeper Steele, 41, is the former Baggie whose association with the club goes furthest back.

He spent two seasons at the club, between 2006 and 2008, as deputy keeper after arriving from Manchester United. The former England youth man arrived alongside Paul McShane as Tomasz Kuszczak went the other way.

His Albion debut and one of just two appearances for the club came in a late win at Leicester’s King Power in December 2007, with Craig Beattie the match-winning hero.

Steele became a favourite at Barnsley and spent three seasons at Greek giants Panathinaikos, playing 99 times.

The keeper’s last professional playing club was Notts County in the National League in the 2020/21 campaign.

He scored twice playing for non-league Deeping Rangers as a striker in 2022.

Steele and former Kidderminster man Michael Gash were joint-managers of Peterborough Sports for two-and-a-half years until last September.

Attacker Hoolahan, 44, played just 10 times for the Baggies in the 2018/19 campaign.

His only starts came in the FA Cup.

The Irishman, a hero at Norwich, had a short stint Down Under at Newcastle Jets before he starred for two seasons at Cambridge in League Two and hung up the boots after a one-game stint for 11th tier Doncaster City.

Completing the all star squad are Joel Ward, Wes Brown, Charlie Daniels, Troy Deeney, Steven Davis, Cameron Jerome, Dan Gosling, Glenn Whelan, Papiss Cisse, James Collins and Wayne Routledge.

The 2pm kick-off raises funds for the Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha Foundation and Leicester City in the Community. Tickets can be purchased here.