There was a dinner on Thursday night for West Bromwich Albion players who had been at the club when Ron Atkinson was their manager in the late 1970s. A few could not make it. Brendan Batson and Cyrille Regis were at a fund-raising dinner for Paul Birch, a Midlands rival who has bone cancer and a young family. Ally Robertson was moving house.

Despite their absence, there were enough old stars around to light up a galaxy. And they had a moment to remember one of the best of them, Laurie Cunningham, who died in a car crash in 1989 when he was 33.

There remains a great camaraderie in the team that finished third in the First Division and reached the quarter-finals of the Uefa Cup. They were good times for West Brom. “And bad times, too,” says Robertson. “We were the nearly men. We had a fantastic year and then the side broke up. It is a pity we could not keep the team together because we felt we were still learning.”

For one special season, the Baggies were a match for anyone, even the great Liverpool line-up under Bob Paisley. They were built in five years. Don Howe laid the foundations, Johnny Giles added to them and Atkinson made the finishing touches.

There was a lot to be said for their blend of experience and youth. They were speedy, exciting, talented and innovative. They were the first British club to tour China and the first to field three black players in the same team. Atkinson called Batson, Cunningham and Regis the Three Degrees after the American soul group but they endured appalling racial abuse at away grounds.

West Brom’s talent reached its height in a 5-3 win against Manchester United at Old Trafford on December 30, 1978. “It could have been 7-5 or 7-6 and even the Manchester United fans were calling it a great game,” says Robertson.

Then a big freeze kicked in, the side lost momentum and a fixture pile-up proved too much for a small squad. They were beaten in the last two minutes of the Uefa Cup quarter-finals by Red Star Belgrade and lost 1-0 at home to Nottingham Forest in the final game of the season, which decided second place.

Albion broke up swiftly. Cunningham went to Real Madrid and midfielder Len Cantello to Bolton. Neither was adequately replaced. A year later Atkinson was in charge at Manchester United and the dream had died.

Tony Brown, who also played in the 1960s Albion team, says: “Even though the 1960s side won trophies and got to four finals, the 1978-79 side was a better football team. It was a tragedy we broke up so quickly, but while it lasted we were on fire.”

1 Derek Statham

An attacking left-back who played 299 league games for West Brom but surprisingly won only three England caps. He nearly joined Liverpool but failed a medical. He had a sandwich-making business and now lives in Marbella where he is a chauffeur for a property development company

2 Cyrille Regis

The French Guiana-born striker was with non-league Hayes when scout Ronnie Allen spotted him and offered to dip into his own pocket when the West Brom board balked at the £5,000 fee. Regis was the focus of the team’s attacking game, scoring 82 goals in 237 league games. He won an FA Cup medal at Coventry and is a football agent for the Stellar Group

3 Tony Godden

Signed from Ashford Town, he made 267 league appearances in goal for West Brom during an 11-year spell. He was loaned to Luton and Walsall before joining Chelsea. Now the goalkeeping coach at Rushden & Diamonds

4 David Stewart

The Glasgow-born goalkeeper won one cap for Scotland and played for Leeds in the 1975 European Cup final. In 15 months with the Baggies, he had 36 reserve-team games but none for the first team. He moved to Swansea where he is a goldsmith

5 Ally Brown

Signed from Leicester, the Scottish striker scored 72 league goals in 279 matches in 11 years. He also played for Crystal Palace, Walsall and Port Vale. He worked for the Throstles club until 2003 and is now a warehouseman in an iron foundry in Walsall

6 John Trewick

A West Brom apprentice, the England youth midfielder spent six years at The Hawthorns before a £250,000 transfer to Newcastle. During West Brom’s tour of China, he famously joked about the Great Wall of China, “Once you’ve seen one wall, you’ve seen them all”. He was caretaker manager of West Brom and now coaches at Hereford

7 Bryan Robson

A dynamic midfielder who began his career at The Hawthorns, he played in 198 league matches before joining Manchester United. An England captain, he played 90 internationals and finished his career at Middlesbrough, where he managed. He was also in charge of West Brom, Bradford and Sheffield United and is now an ambassador at Old Trafford

8 Tony Brown

Bomber, as he was known, was nearing the end of a 20-year spell with West Brom. He won the FA and League Cups in the 1960s, played a club-record 720 games and scored a record 279 goals. Regarded as West Brom’s greatest player, he won one England cap. He lives in Walsall and does commentary for Capital Gold radio

9 Ally Robertson

The combative central defender was another long-serving player, notching 506 league performances. The Scot won back-to-back promotions with Wolves and managed Worcester and Cheltenham. He lives in Stourbridge and is a business manager for Sytner Oldbury, a BMW car dealership

10 Brendan Batson

The Grenada-born defender was the first black player to represent Arsenal. He played for Cambridge before joining West Brom where he played in 172 league games before injury ended his career. He is a football administrator and has been at the forefront of efforts to kick racism out of the sport

11 George Wright

A physiotherapist, he was at Arsenal when they won the double in 1971 and moved to West Brom when Don Howe became manager. Wright died earlier this year

12 John Wile

A stalwart in the Baggies defence for 13 years, the Albion captain played 500 league matches for the club. He was player-manager of Peterborough and chief executive at West Brom. Now owns a manufacturing business selling conveyors to the building industry

13 Ron Atkinson

A wing-back at Oxford United, he made a big impression as manager of West Brom and Manchester United, where he won two FA Cups. He was also in charge at Atletico Madrid, Sheffield Wednesday, Aston Villa, Coventry and Nottingham Forest. He was a TV commentator and until last February a consultant at Halesowen Town

14 David Mills

Britain’s first £500,000 footballer was signed by Atkinson from Middlesbrough in January 1979 but was unable to retain the scoring form he had displayed at Boro. A move to midfield did not help matters and he was sold to Sheffield Wednesday for £30,000. He was assistant chief scout at Newcastle and now scouts for Boro

15 Gary Owen

Another big-money signing, the midfielder joined in the summer of 1979 for £550,000 from Manchester City. Brought in to replace Cantello, he failed to fill the void. Although a talented regular with excellent vision, he was hampered by injury and illness. He does media work and is an art dealer. He also works for a gas and electricity supply company

16 Peter Barnes

The clear-out by Malcolm Allison at Manchester City saw the speedy winger move south for £752,000 six weeks after his good friend Owen. He was Albion’s leading scorer the next season before joining Leeds. He won 22 England caps and works in radio, TV, coaching and scouting. He is also involved in artificial pitches

ESPN Classic, Sky channel 442, will show Strikers: Cyrille Regis at 9pm today

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