The relationship between Tony Brown and West Bromwich Albion will crop up more than once in this series, no surprise given that he played more games and scored more goals here in senior football than anyone else. 

Like any longstanding relationship, there were the odd few moments of stress the worst coming in 1981. Although Tony’s playing career essentially ended in the 1979/80 season, Albion boss Ron Atkinson kept him involved with the first team and had promised a second testimonial to follow the 1974 game that he had enjoyed. But when Atkinson left for Manchester United in the summer of 1981, Bomber was told his services were no longer required. He left for Torquay United and the testimonial was shelved. 

The idea was floated on and off through the 1990s before the Club put right the wrongs of the previous decade and granted Tony a second game at the end of the 1998/99 season, staged at The Hawthorns on May 23.  

“It was great that the club decided to give me the game, but then it was about finding a team to play,” Tony recalls. “Playing Jamaica was a very unusual idea, but it went down a bomb in the end. At the time, I thought it was a big gamble. I wondered if we’d get a decent crowd, and I had to pay a lot of money to bring them over, so I was sweating!  

“But it proved a great success, and it all happened in the last week or so when it just went crazy. The ticket office was besieged, they were queuing all day. People from the Jamaican community had told me that was how it would be. They said everybody would want to come, from all over the country, but they wouldn’t get their tickets until the last minute - they were spot on.  

“The Reggae Boyz had fantastic support then, the year after the World Cup, and their fans came from everywhere, not just locally, to see the game. I remember a few days before, the West Indian team had played a cricket match at Bristol and a few of us went down to give leaflets out to the crowd, advertising the game! 

“It was a great crowd, a wonderful atmosphere on the day, unbelievable. A few of the old boys came back for a game before the main match, then Bryan Robson and John Barnes played for Albion against Jamaica. It was great, very touching, a really emotional day.   

“The thing was I’d never been in the Brummie Road End and I said right from the start that if I got a testimonial, I was going to watch it from in there. I tell you what, it was an experience on its own. Absolutely brilliant! Well worth the wait, just for the atmosphere. It made the day for me. What a great memory to keep.” 

Some 20,358 packed The Hawthorns for the game, including world boxing champion Lennox Lewis, who made a half-time appearance. Jamaica won the game 1-0, Marcus Gayle getting the winner early in the second half, but it really didn’t matter. The supporters had had the chance to pay homage to Tony Brown one last time.