Club News

It’s a family affair

Double winner’s descendants visit The Hawthorns

EVEN if you don’t realise it, you’re familiar with Stan Wood. 

That’s him on the banner in the Woodman Corner, immortalised in black and white, smiling away on the left of the picture after Albion had collected the FA Cup in 1931, on the way to the still unique double of winning the FA Cup and promotion in the same season, Stan playing 50 games on the left wing that term, scoring 17 goals.

Although Stan ultimately moved away from the area and settled in Yorkshire, the Wood family has retained its affection for the Albion and today, three generations of the family – Stan’s son Terry (82), grandson Paul (53) and great-grandson Ben (23) – will be at The Hawthorns to watch the Throstles take on Tottenham, defeated, as fate would have it, by a Stan Wood goal in round four of the FA Cup in that very season.

After playing, Stan worked in Holdsworth’s Mill in Halifax, Terry following him there before later becoming a teacher. Paul works for Bradford Council while Ben has just finished his Master’s in sport, health & exercise, the two of them regulars at Bradford City these days.

Even so, when Albion are up north, they often make the pilgrimage to watch us and they were in the crowd on that wonderful day at Valley Parade when Prince Igor of Slovakia struck the winning penalty that all but put us in the Premier League, Paul wearing an Albion sweatshirt over his Bradford top.

The Wood family appear to be a good luck charm, watching us win 2-1 at Wigan, 2-0 at Huddersfield in the FA Cup and the 2-1 win at Blackburn that featured a James Morrison cracker, Albion fans consoling them on hearing their accents, only to be told they were following the right team.

Let’s hope they maintain that form today.