I know there are some old fans on here but......

[The Birdman]

Football all round has changed I loved standing in the old days however I am surprised more fans weren't killed on the old terraces crushed on crash barriers .
Love the safer Amex however I wish more fans would get more involved and noisy increasing the Atmosphere.
Looking forward to the Cardiff and FA cup game.

 

[scousefan]

It's very hard time to compare. This side is much fitter. However the side that went up In 1979 stayed up for 4 years without a lot of expensive imports. The present side will need major new signings to have any hope of staying in the premiership. Football has become a more professional international game with a bigger gap between top and bottom.

I'm enjoying this year just as much as 1978/9, so I really can't divide the teams. However the job is only half done!

 

[Hastings gull]

Lawro, Stevens, Wardy, Sully, Horton, Moseley, Robinson......have we got players better than them now? Impossible really to compare one era with another..........think I'll make up my mind if/when we're doing OK in the PL.

Very tempting to say this is the best squad, and it surely must be one of the very best, but so hard to compare. The late 70s squad achieved something not since emulated, so do agree -wait until we do get in the PL!, and then perhaps a more accurate comparison can be made.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I reserve judgement until I see this team tested in the Prem.

If you were going to make a composite side of the 2016 vintage and the old Division One side then I still fancy the likes of Lawrenson, Stevens, Foster, Case and Moseley would take some shifting, not to mention the side of the mid-80s with Penney, Connor and Dean Saunders.

I suspect the current squad are a little bit fitter and more athletic.

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

I agree with OP best team and squad in my 40 odd years together with management, owner and stadium.
But, the team that played in the Hereford season must be mentioned for a different type of togetherness under extremely difficult circumstances, they fought tooth and nail to keep this club in Division 4 and to have the balls to do it on the last day away from home was a special performance from players that quite frankly not very good.
What with all that was going on at the time it would have been easy to give up.
Without that team and manager we may not have been able to start this thread.

 

[GT49er]

It's very hard time to compare. This side is much fitter.

I suspect the current squad are a little bit fitter and more athletic.

I agree that fitness regimes are much more scientific these days - and records show that men can now run (very slightly) faster and jump higher than they could in the 70s and 80s. It is easy (and convenient at times too) to forget how energy sapping it was to try and run through deep, slimy mud, and the muscle wearying strength and strain it took to stop and/or change direction on a surface that gives you all the assistance that black ice would.
Not to mention that heading the ball hurt more back then! - balls were not as heavy in the 70s and 80s as they had been in the 50s and earlier, but they still could be pinged 40 yards with a flick of the foot like today's can!
That's why it's so difficult (and futile really) to try and make comparisons.



Oh, and tackling was allowed back then too!

 

[Triggaaar]

You really should allow yourself to dream a little of what could lie in the not too distant future. If Leicester managed it, why not us?

A top four finish in the Premier League

Champions League football

Knocky v Messi at the Amex

I could go on (I do in my dreams...)

Your dreams are crap. In my dreams I'm brought out of retirement and scoring winning goals.

 

[The Birdman]

Lawro, Stevens, Wardy, Sully, Horton, Moseley, Robinson......have we got players better than them now? Impossible really to compare one era with another..........think I'll make up my mind if/when we're doing OK in the PL.

I'll tell you what's a lot better now is the pitches the medical surport the players get, in the old days some of the pitches were like playing on ploughed fields. And only one sub.

 

[Dave the OAP]

I'll tell you what's a lot better now is the pitches the medical surport the players get, in the old days some of the pitches were like playing on ploughed fields. And only one sub.

...blimey..remember the baseball ground in derby? Seem to remember they needed a groundsman to paint the penalty spot due to all the mud!

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Football was an amazing buzz in the 70s (I am a 47 year veteran), but I was just as pleased to get home in one piece as I was to see the Albion take 2 points back then. The players and the game: slower, muddier, unfitter, uglier (dreadful haircuts, dreadful tackling from behind and back passing). The supporters: poorer, thicker, very easily pleased, smoking fags, male, extremely dreadful haircuts, shitty clothes, quite smelly (whether it be the Brut or the sweat). The last time I heard the 'n' word at football was around about 96, in the South Stand. It was a very odd moment, not least because someone else remarked, correctly 'but he's not even black'. Why I loved it all is sometimes hard to fathom - but I did.

No, everything is better now, most importantly our prospects.

 

[Driver8]

This season has a lot of similarities to78/79 as we had to continue where we left off the season before despite a massive disappointment in the last game. I just hope we don't leave it to the last game this season.

 

[Miami Seagull]

This season has a lot of similarities to78/79 as we had to continue where we left off the season before despite a massive disappointment in the last game. I just hope we don't leave it to the last game this season.

Agreed, it's amazing how history seems to be following the same path..lets hope it continues to May.

 

[papajaff]

The ONLY side that can compare to this one is the 78/79 side. I've been supporting for 50 years now.

I'd love to see this side take on that one. And I honestly believe this one would edge it.

 

[severnside gull]

Looking back over nearly 60 years there is only the period 80-82 that compares - plying in rhetoric top flight against the best on the land. Mullet yes side was wonderful but Division 2 then didn't have the intensity of the modern day Championship.
The level of competition now really is two steps above.
That aside I'm old and my memory is fading and I genuinely can't remember enjoying an Albion side's achievement as much as this one. I even enjoy getting better results whilst not playing as well as last season. Free- flowing football is great but there's nothing like a bit of competotive grit to get you on the edge of your seat.

 

[Pavilionaire]

I suspect the current squad are a little bit fitter and more athletic.

To be fair to the likes of Stevens and Lawrenson, there was none of this stupid yellow card bollocks or teetering on 9 bookings for 5 games - great temperament, great timing, precious few bookings. Both players would walk into this Albion defence right now.

 

[CP 0 3 BHA]

Have there been past players who would get into this side if playing today? Certainly yes - several.

Has there been a squad that has performed at such a consistently high level before this 2016 bunch - probably not.

This is backed up by the stats for the year that Ladbrokes tweeted yesterday - most wins, least loses, most points, most clean sheets, least goals conceded of all 92 teams in the top 4 leagues. And that doesn't include the historic 21 game unbeaten run that came shortly before. Remarkable.

 

[SeagullDubai]

Couldn't agree more. The great thing about this season is that even when we go behind, we keep fighting and deliver the results. History has proved time and time again that you need to be the most resilient team on the pitch, not necessarily the best. We are without doubt the most resilient team in the Championship.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

The team that finished 13th in 1982 was pretty good - Robinson, Ryan, Ritchie, Smith to provide goals, Foster, Gatting and Stevens keeping them out, Grealish and Case linking. We won at Spurs and Liverpool, finally beat Arsenal, and were capable of almost anything.