West Bromwich Albion fans have always treasured their strikers.
From Fred Morris to Bob Taylor via Joe Carter, W.G. Richardson, Ronnie Allen, Derek Kevan, Jeff Astle and Cyrille Regis, Albion fans almost always had a legendary forward to revere in the 20th century.
But who is the club’s best striker in the 21st? We have been weighing up the options to come up with a shortlist of six…
Lee Hughes (1997-2001, 177 appearances, 86 goals; 2002-04, 60 apps, 13 goals)
The tragic, controversial conclusion to Hughes’ second stint at Albion, which ended with him jailed for his role in a fatal road crash, casts an inevitable cloud over his Albion legacy.
But when considering on-field deeds by Hawthorns forwards since the turn of the century, the boyhood Albion fan has to come into any discussion.
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His exploits in an Albion shirt began before the period when he scored 13 league goals in 1999-2000, when the club avoided relegation on the final day of the season, and he also scored 21 times in 2000-01 when Gary Megson’s side missed out on winning promotion via the play-offs.
His off-field mistakes rightly preclude him from legendary status but his raw, goalscoring talent was undeniable.
Kevin Phillips (2006-08, 81 apps, 46 goals)
The pacy striker who terrified defenders by running onto Niall Quinn’s flick-ons in a Sunderland shirt had gone by the time Bryan Robson rescued Phillips from a largely unsuccessful spell at Aston Villa.
A Kevin Phillips double and a Diomansy Kamara strike helped us to a 3-2 @SkyBetChamp Play-Off victory at Molineux #OTD in 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟕. 🗓 pic.twitter.com/r4u74dvMwq
— West Bromwich Albion (@WBA) May 13, 2020
But in his place was a fully-evolved thoroughbred forward who thrilled fans, especially as the goalscoring hero of Tony Mowbray’s 2007-08 promotion side.
Phillips scored 22 league goals in 29 starts that season and the phrase “ice in the veins” could have been invented for his finishing. Many team-mates maintain that, had a breakdown in contract talks not led to Phillips’ departure that summer, Mowbray’s side might have survived in the Premier League in 2008-09.
He also had the happy knack of irritating Wolves, with three goals in a single season at Molineux in 2006-07, including two in a play-off semi-final.
Peter Odemwingie (2010-13, 89 apps, 31 goals)
Little was known of the part-Russian-raised Nigeria international when he joined Albion during Roberto Di Matteo’s reign.
But by the time he left three years later, known more widely by the general football public for his drive to Loftus Road, Odemwingie had carved out his own place in Hawthorns history.
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Still the most prolific striker for the club in the Premier League, Odemwingie terrified defenders with his pace and direct style.
If any Albion fans have yet to forgive his deadline-day drive to try to join QPR — and most have now moved on — Odemwingie only has to remind them of his hat-trick in a 5-1 win at Molineux to bring a smile to their faces.
Romelu Lukaku (2012-13, 38 apps, 17 goals)
The Belgian arrived at The Hawthorns as a raw, powerful teenager unable to make his mark at Chelsea as quickly as he wanted.
He left Albion as one of the most sought-after strikers in the Premier League and went on to be one of the costliest centre-forwards in Europe when he moved to Manchester United and then to Inter Milan.
He took a while to make his mark at Albion but found form midway through Albion’s most successful Premier League season ever and scored important goals as they claimed an eighth-place finish under Steve Clarke.
His hat-trick at The Hawthorns in Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement game — a 5-5 draw with Manchester United — highlighted the fearsome player Lukaku became in his time with Albion.
Jay Rodriguez (2017-19, 90 apps, 33 goals)
Perhaps a surprise inclusion in the shortlist, especially given that quite a few of his goals came from the penalty spot, but Rodriguez was a reliable, talented player in a team that often struggled under Tony Pulis.
Few players who were signed by Pulis were destined to become fans’ favourites given the lukewarm relationship the manager enjoyed with supporters and Rodriguez was no exception.
But in a team that was built first and foremost to make life hard for opponents, Rodriguez played his role for the team while usually carrying an attacking threat, too. His finishing finally got the chance to shine in the Championship under Darren Moore and Jimmy Shan when he bagged 22 goals in 2018-19.
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Dwight Gayle (2018-19, 41 apps, 24 goals)
For much of last summer, Albion fans were waiting desperately to hear news of Dwight Gayle re-signing for the club.
That the clamour was so great was a mark of the impact the former Crystal Palace striker made in just one season on loan from Newcastle as Albion almost won promotion via the play-offs under Moore and then Shan.
Gayle’s season was spoiled a little, first by him avoiding a bang-to-rights red card for diving to win a penalty against Nottingham Forest and then for a much more debatable sending-off in the play-off semi-final against Aston Villa.
Such was the quality of Gayle’s finishing and the tight nature of the second leg, his presence may well have sent Albion to Wembley instead of their neighbours.
Honourable mentions…
Had the shortlist had seven places, Taylor would have made it. A bona fide Albion legend, he enjoyed some iconic moments in his second spell at The Hawthorns, including a goal against Charlton to help keep the club in the Championship in 2000 and one against Crystal Palace to take them into the Premier League for the first time.
Taylor’s record of 18 goals in 96 appearances between 2000 and 2003 was respectable, given some of those games came in a struggling Premier League side and almost half came as a substitute but his iconic status was established overwhelmingly in his first spell — 113 goals in 281 appearances between 1992 and 1998.
Diomansy Kamara’s 24 goals in 69 appearances combined with classy displays almost fired Albion back to the Premier League in 2007 and onto our ballot paper.
Jason Roberts scored 27 goals in 101 games and might well have had a celebrated Albion career had he and Gary Megson continued seeing eye-to-eye.
Rob Hulse, Robert Earnshaw, Roman Bednar and Ishmael Miller all had impressive moments in Albion colours.
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And Nwankwo Kanu, who signed at the tail end of Megson’s career, scored just nine goals in his 58 appearances in a team that struggled for the most part but remains one of the most talented players to pull on an Albion shirt this century.
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(Photo: David Davies – PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images)
