West Bromwich was a market town, but grew during the Industrial Revolution and now has population of over 100,000. It lies 5 miles (8 kilometres) outside Birmingham. West Bromwich Albion was formed in 1878 and is a founder member of the Football League in 1888. They have played at the Hawthorns stadium since 1900. They were once Champions of England in 1919-20 and have won the F.A. Cup five times (most recently in (1968). They also won the League Cup at their first attempt in 1966. West Bromwich Albion have spent much of their history in the top flight, but they have been in the Championship since 2021. They had financial issues when under the ownership of a Chinese investment group headed by Lai Guochuan, but were taken over by Florida-based entrepreneur Shilen Patel (who became Chairman) and his father in February 2024. Several of their former managers have also been head coaches at Watford (Roy Hodgson, Slaven Bilić and Valérien Ismaël). Carlos Corberán was a highly regarded manager, who joined them in October 2022 when they were in the relegation places. He led them to safety with a run of 10 victories in 12 games and they just missed out on the play-off places on the final day. The following season West Bromwich Albion succeeded in finishing in 5th position and reaching the play-off semi-finals. Corberán (despite having signed a contract extension until 2027) left West Bromwich Albion in December 2024 to join Valencia, his hometown and boyhood club in La Liga. Tony Mowbray replaced Corberán, but was sacked after 3 months and an interim manager was appointed until the summer. Ryan Mason (who had been assistant manager under Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham) was appointed as their new manager on a three year contract in July 2025. Mason is only 34 years old and retired early from his playing career in 2018 due a fractured skull (resulting from a head collision with another player). Mason inherited a talented squad despite the departure of players such as Tom Fellows and Torbjørn Heggem in the summer. Their most expensive signing was Norwegian striker, Aune Heggebø, in July 2025. He has scored only 1 goal and produced 2 assists in the Championship (plus 1 goal in the EFL Cup). Isaac Price is the leading scorer with 4 goals, but Mikey Johnston has also scored with a couple of quality, long-range strikes. Alex Mowbatt is influential in midfield. Callum Styles, who plays at left-back, is versatile (because he can also play in midfield or on the left wing) and has been linked with Watford in the past. Last season Watford won 2-1 at home to West Bromwich Albion and lost 1-2 away. This season West Bromwich Albion are in 5th place in the Championship after a 2-1 win against fellow play-off rivals, Preston. This victory followed a poor run of results in the previous five matches, when they drew one home game match with Leicester and won only one match away to Norwich (who have lost every home game this season). Watford had many players away on international duty so – hopefully – most of them will have now recovered from their travels and be fit to play. Irankunda (after flying back from the United States) did not look at his best in the loss to Sheffield Utd. and Javi Gracia will also be gradually getting to know his players.
After the criticism before and following the game yesterday feels like this is must win for Gracia and he has to get the team selection right too . Although whereas PP got blamed for not picking the team fans wanted to see now it’s claimed Bayat/Pozzo are selecting the line up . Not sure how much people believe that or just don’t want to be seen pointing fingers at Javi already .
It's also the highest stadium in England above sea level and one end of the ground is in Birmingham and the other was in Staffordshire.
