During the 2008–09 English football season, West Bromwich Albion competed in the Premier League, following promotion from the Football League Championship as Football League champions the previous season.
West Bromwich began the season strongly with ten points from their opening seven games leaving them in midtable, but that proved to be as good as it got for the Midlanders and with only five more league wins during the rest of the season Albion soon sunk to the foot of the Premier League and were relegated in last place.[1] At the end of the season, manager Tony Mowbray left to take charge at Celtic; he was replaced by MK Dons manager Roberto Di Matteo.
In January, an assessment of company accounts by Equifax saw Albion rated third among Premiership clubs by credit rating, with a score of 71 out of 100.[2]
Source: Premier League Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored. (R) Relegated
Background[]
West Bromwich retained their kit sponsorship deal with English company Umbro, who introduced both a new home kit and a new away kit with navy shorts and yellow shirts and socks. The club was unable to find a kit sponsor for the season, and so became the first club in Premier League history to go a season without any kit sponsorship.
Albion completed a £3 million-plus refurbishment of the Halfords Lane Stand in time for the start of the season. This included new dressing rooms, dugout areas and tunnel, executive boxes and a media gantry. As a result, the capacity of The Hawthorns was slightly reduced to 26,272 and the stand was renamed as the West Stand.[3] New navy blue seats were installed in the stand, replacing the lighter blue seats previously fitted.[4]
Players[]
First-team squad[]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
^Kiely was born in Salford, England, and represented them at U-15, U-16, and U-18 level, but also qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally and made his international debut for the Republic of Ireland in November 1999.
^Pelé was born in Albufeira, Portugal, but also qualified to represent Cape Verde internationally and made his international debut for Cape Verde in 2006.
^Teixeira was born in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, but also qualified to represent Portugal internationally and represented them at U-18, U-20, and U-21 level.
^Méïté was born in Colombes, France, but also qualified to represent the Ivory Coast internationally and made his international debut for the Ivory Coast in 2003.
^Morrison was born in Darlington, England, and represented them at U-17, U-18, U-19, and U-21 level, but also qualified to represent Scotland internationally through his grandparents and made his international debut for Scotland in May 2008.
^Mulumbu was born in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo), but also qualified to represent France internationally and represented them at U-20 and U-21 level before making his international debut for the Democratic Republic of the Congo in March 2008.
^Sawyers was born in Birmingham, England, but also qualified to represent Saint Kitts and Nevis internationally and represented them at U-23 level before making his international debut for Saint Kitts and Nevis in October 2012.