Will probably get flamed for this, but never quite understood the hero worship of Johnny Crumplin. He was seriously crap when he first started playing for us, a complete liability and quite simply one of the most pilloried Albion players ever. The 'football genius' thing was (obviously) ironic to start with, although he did get better and had one very good game against Liverpool. Still not really sure why this makes him a 'cult hero', though...? I still have lots of memories of how awful he was.
Tough one this, but the most revered and widely acknowledged fans favourites like Bob and Wardy would win polls of most popular.
My definition of cult hero means someone who was raised on some sort of pedestal by the fans beyond his actual achievements or time spent at The Albion.
1. Johnny Crumplin
2. Han Kraay
3. Vicente
Fran Sandaza
Exactly, he was the definition of cult hero. Everyone could see that he simply wasn't very good at football, yet somehow whenever he was on the pitch the ball would manage to find his knee/face/arse and end up in the back of the net.Great shout. What was it Gus said about him once? "He not paticulally queek, he not paticulally skillful, he not paticulally strong. But he scores goals!"
Will probably get flamed for this, but never quite understood the hero worship of Johnny Crumplin. He was seriously crap when he first started playing for us, a complete liability and quite simply one of the most pilloried Albion players ever. The 'football genius' thing was (obviously) ironic to start with, although he did get better and had one very good game against Liverpool. Still not really sure why this makes him a 'cult hero', though...? I still have lots of memories of how awful he was.
Exactly, he was the definition of cult hero. Everyone could see that he simply wasn't very good at football, yet somehow whenever he was on the pitch the ball would manage to find his knee/face/arse and end up in the back of the net.
Yes there was Bennett and Bridcutt's wonder goals to clinch promotion/the title. Numerous great goals from Murray, Barnes, Lua Lua. But I'll never forget the goal our Fran scored against Oldham to put us top for the first time that season.