2014–15 West Bromwich Albion F.C. season
# 2014–15 West Bromwich Albion F.C. season

The 2014–15 season was West Bromwich Albion's fifth consecutive season in the Premier League, their ninth in total. The season was notable for West Brom ditching the traditional white and navy stripes kit in favour of white and navy pinstripes kit, which angered many supporters. Eventually, the white and navy stripes kit was brought back the following season. During the season, they also competed in the FA Cup. West Brom were knocked out of the League Cup in the fourth round, losing away to Bournemouth. The club exited the FA Cup in the sixth round, after they were beaten by local rivals Aston Villa.

On 6 November 2014, Albion unveiled a statue to their record goalscorer Tony "Bomber" Brown outside the East Stand of The Hawthorns. A few days later, prior to the club's home match against Newcastle United, a blue plaque was unveiled in memory of Harold Bache, a former Albion player who was killed in action during the First World War. The plaque was subsequently mounted on the outside of the East Stand, opposite the statue of Brown.

Alan Irvine was sacked as head coach on 29 December, after a run of poor results, with Tony Pulis appointed as his replacement three days later.

During every home match throughout the season, the Albion fans applauded through the ninth minute of the match in support of the Justice for Jeff campaign. This concluded on 11 April 2015 when, for their home match against Leicester City, the Jeff Astle Foundation was launched. To promote this, and in memory of Jeff Astle, the players took to the pitch in a plain white kit, a replica of their 1968 FA Cup winning shirts. The kit featured no sponsors and was numbered 2–11 (with the goalkeeper in a blank kit).

In March 2015 a new Premier League record was set in the match between West Bromwich Albion and Manchester City for the biggest difference between the number of shots on target by two opposing teams (16 by Manchester City, 0 by Albion). This record still stands as of December 2016.

## Players

### First-team squad

    Squad at end of season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | GK | ENG | Ben Foster |
| 2 | DF | ENG | Andre Wisdom (on loan from Liverpool) |
| 3 | DF | SWE | Jonas Olsson |
| 4 | DF | NIR | Chris Baird |
| 5 | MF | ARG | Claudio Yacob |
| 6 | DF | ENG | Joleon Lescott |
| 7 | MF | SCO | James Morrison |
| 8 | MF | ENG | Craig Gardner |
| 9 | FW | NGA | Brown Ideye |
| 10 | FW | NGA | Victor Anichebe |
| 11 | MF | NIR | Chris Brunt |
| 13 | GK | WAL | Boaz Myhill |
| 14 | DF | AUS | Jason Davidson |
| 15 | DF | BEL | Sébastien Pocognoli |
| 16 | DF | CRC | Cristian Gamboa |
| 17 | MF | SCO | Graham Dorrans |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 18 | FW | ENG | Saido Berahino |
| 19 | MF | ENG | Callum McManaman |
| 20 | DF | ENG | Liam O'Neil |
| 21 | MF | COD | Youssuf Mulumbu |
| 23 | DF | NIR | Gareth McAuley |
| 24 | MF | SCO | Darren Fletcher |
| 25 | DF | ENG | Craig Dawson |
| 29 | MF | BEN | Stéphane Sessègnon |
| 33 | DF | IRL | Bradley Garmston |
| 34 | FW | ENG | Kemar Roofe |
| 36 | MF | ENG | Adil Nabi |
| 37 | MF | ENG | Mani O'Sullivan |
| 38 | GK | ENG | Jack Rose |
| 40 | GK | ENG | Alex Palmer |
| 43 | DF | ENG | Callam Jones |
| 44 | FW | WAL | Tyler Roberts |

### Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| - | - | - | - |
| 19 | GK | ENG | Luke Daniels (to Scunthorpe United) |
| 22 | DF | MSR | Donervon Daniels (on loan to Aberdeen) |
| 27 | MF | POR | Silvestre Varela (on loan from Porto) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 28 | MF | ARG | Sebastián Blanco (on loan to San Lorenzo) |
| 30 | FW | GRE | Georgios Samaras (on loan to Al-Hilal) |

## Non-competitive

### Pre-season

West Bromwich Albion's pre-season friendlies were announced on 22 May 2014, with several matches confirmed by the club later in the summer. All times listed are in BST unless stated.

## Competitions

### Overall

| Competition | Started round | Final position/round | First match | Last match | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Competition | Started round | Final position/round | First match | Last match | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Premier League | — | 13th | 16 August 2014 | 24 May 2015 | 38 | 11 | 11 | 16 | 38 | 51 | –13 | 29% |
| League Cup | 2nd round | 4th round | 26 August 2014 | 28 October 2014 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 33% |
| FA Cup | 3rd round | 6th round | 3 January 2015 | 7 March 2015 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 3 | +10 | 75% |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 45 | 15 | 12 | 18 | 56 | 59 | -3 | 33% |

### Premier League

**League table**

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 11 | Everton | 38 | 12 | 11 | 15 | 48 | 50 | −2 | 47 | |
| 12 | West Ham United | 38 | 12 | 11 | 15 | 44 | 47 | −3 | 47 | Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round |
| 13 | West Bromwich Albion | 38 | 11 | 11 | 16 | 38 | 51 | −13 | 44 | |
| 14 | Leicester City | 38 | 11 | 8 | 19 | 46 | 55 | −9 | 41 | |
| 15 | Newcastle United | 38 | 10 | 9 | 19 | 40 | 63 | −23 | 39 | |

* ↑ England was given an extra qualification berth for the Europa League first qualifying round as one of the top three associations in UEFA Respect Fair Play ranking. The spot was given to West Ham United after finishing on top of the Premier League Fair Play table.

**Results summary**

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |

Source: Premier League

**Results by matchday**

| Matchday | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Ground | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | A | H | A |
| Result | D | D | L | L | W | W | L | D | D | W | L | L | L | L | D | W | L | L | L | D | W | D | L | D | W | D | W | L | W | L | L | L | W | D | W | D | W | L |
| Position | 6 | 11 | 17 | 19 | 16 | 10 | 13 | 14 | 12 | 10 | 13 | 13 | 15 | 16 | 16 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 |

**Matches**

The fixtures for the 2014–15 season were announced on 18 June 2014.

All times listed are local time (BST or GMT).

### FA Cup

As a Premier League side, West Brom entered the FA Cup in the third round.

### League Cup

As a Premier League team, West Brom entered the League Cup in the second round.

## Player statistics

### First team squad

Appearances include starts and substitute appearances. Yellow and red cards are from all competitive competitions.

| No. | Pos. | Nat. | Name | Premier League | Premier League | FA Cup | FA Cup | League Cup | League Cup | Total | Total | Discipline | Discipline |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| No. | Pos. | Nat. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | | |
| 1 | GK | ENG | Ben Foster | 28 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | ENG | Andre Wisdom | 24 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | SWE | Jonas Olsson | 13 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | NIR | Chris Baird | 19 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 5 | MF | ARG | Claudio Yacob | 20 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 25 | 0 | 5 | 2 |
| 6 | DF | ENG | Joleon Lescott | 34 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | SCO | James Morrison | 33 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 37 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | ENG | Craig Gardner | 35 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 3 | 10 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | NGA | Brown Ideye | 24 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 30 | 7 | 2 | 0 |
| 10 | FW | NGA | Victor Anichebe | 21 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 25 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | MF | NIR | Chris Brunt | 34 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 39 | 3 | 5 | 0 |
| 13 | GK | WAL | Boaz Myhill | 11 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 14 | DF | AUS | Jason Davidson | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | BEL | Sébastien Pocognoli | 15 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 16 | DF | CRC | Cristian Gamboa | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 17 | MF | SCO | Graham Dorrans | 21 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| 18 | FW | ENG | Saido Berahino | 38 | 14 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 45 | 20 | 2 | 0 |
| 19 | MF | ENG | Callum McManaman | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 20 | DF | ENG | Liam O'Neil | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | MF | COD | Youssouf Mulumbu | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 23 | DF | NIR | Gareth McAuley | 24 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 31 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 24 | MF | SCO | Darren Fletcher | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 25 | DF | ENG | Craig Dawson | 29 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 34 | 2 | 7 | 0 |
| 27 | MF | POR | Silvestre Varela | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 28 | MF | ARG | Sebastián Blanco | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 29 | MF | BEN | Stéphane Sessègnon | 28 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 33 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| 30 | FW | GRE | Georgios Samaras | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | DF | IRL | Bradley Garmston | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | MF | ENG | Kemar Roofe | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 36 | FW | ENG | Adil Nabi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | MF | ENG | Mani O'Sullivan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 43 | DF | ENG | Callam Jones | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

Last updated: 24 May 2015 Sources: West Bromwich Albion and Soccerbase

### Top goalscorers

| Name | Premier League | FA Cup | League Cup | Total |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Saido Berahino | 14 | 5 | 1 | 20 |
| Brown Ideye | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| Victor Anichebe | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| James Morrison | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Chris Brunt | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Craig Gardner | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Own goals | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Craig Dawson | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Gareth McAuley | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Graham Dorrans | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Darren Fletcher | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Joleon Lescott | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Jonas Olsson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Stéphane Sessègnon | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Silvestre Varela | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 38 | 13 | 5 | 56 |

Source: West Bromwich Albion, BBC

## Transfers and loans

### Transfers in

| Date | Pos. | No. | Name | From | Fee |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 July 2014 | MF | 8 | Craig Gardner | Sunderland | Free |
| 1 July 2014 | DF | 6 | Joleon Lescott | Manchester City | Free |
| 7 July 2014 | DF | 4 | Chris Baird | Burnley | Free |
| 12 July 2014 | DF | 15 | Sébastien Pocognoli | Hannover 96 | £1,500,000 |
| 18 July 2014 | FW | 9 | Brown Ideye | Dynamo Kyiv | Undisclosed |
| 5 August 2014 | DF | 14 | Jason Davidson | Heracles Almelo | Undisclosed |
| 5 August 2014 | DF | 16 | Cristian Gamboa | Rosenborg | Undisclosed |
| 22 August 2014 | FW | 30 | Giorgos Samaras | Celtic | Free |
| 30 August 2014 | MF | 28 | Sebastián Blanco | Metalist Kharkiv | Undisclosed |
| 28 January 2015 | MF | 19 | Callum McManaman | Wigan Athletic | £4,750,000 |
| 2 February 2015 | MF | 24 | Darren Fletcher | Manchester United | Free |

* ↑ Gardner's signing was announced on 20 May 2014, but joined Albion officially on 1 July 2014, after his Sunderland contract expired.
* ↑ Lescott's signing was announced on 20 June 2014, but joined Albion officially on 1 July 2014, after his Manchester City contract expired.
* ↑ The price paid for Ideye was officially undisclosed, but was reported by local media to be around £10 million.

### Transfers out

| Date | Pos. | No. | Name | From | To | Ref |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 19 July 2014 | MF | 15 | George Thorne | Derby County | Undisclosed | |
| 21 January 2015 | GK | 19 | Luke Daniels | Scunthorpe United | Undisclosed | |

### Loans in

| Date | Pos. | No. | Name | From | Type | Ref |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 22 July 2014 | DF | 2 | Andre Wisdom | Liverpool | 30 June 2015 | |
| 24 August 2014 | MF | 27 | Silvestre Varela | Porto | 20 January 2015 | |

### Loans out

| Date | Pos. | No. | Name | From | Type |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 August 2014 | DF | 22 | Donervon Daniels | Blackpool | Until 2 January |
| 29 September 2014 | DF | 44 | Reiss Greenidge | Port Vale | Until 31 December 2014 |
| 4 November 2014 | MF | 34 | Kemar Roofe | Colchester United | Until 1 December 2014 |
| 13 November 2014 | DF | 20 | Liam O'Neil | Scunthorpe United | Until 30 June 2015 |
| 27 November 2014 | DF | 48 | Wes Atkinson | Cambridge United | Until 3 January 2015 |
| 16 January 2015 | DF | 33 | Bradley Garmston | Gillingham | Until 15 March 2015 |
| 27 January 2015 | DF | 22 | Donervon Daniels | Aberdeen | Until 30 June |
| 5 February 2015 | MF | 30 | Georgios Samaras | Al-Hilal | Until 30 June |
| 13 February 2015 | MF | 34 | Kemar Roofe | Oxford United | Until 30 June |
| 17 February 2015 | MF | 17 | Graham Dorrans | Norwich City | Until 30 June |

* ↑ Daniels was originally loaned to Blackpool for 28 days, but this loan was extended on 22 August to finish on 2 January.
* ↑ O'Neil was originally loaned to Scunthorpe United for 2 months, but this loan was extended on 12 January to finish at end of season.
* ↑ Garmston was originally loaned to Gillingham for 28 days, but this loan was extended on 16 February to finish on 15 March.
* ↑ Roofe was originally loaned to Oxford United for 28 days, but this loan was extended on 12 March to finish on 30 June.
* ↑ Dorrans was originally loaned to Norwich City for 28 days, but this loan was extended on 26 March to finish on 30 June.

### Released

| Date | Pos. | No. | Name | To | Type |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 16 May 2014 | DF | 2 | Steven Reid | Burnley | Free |
| 16 May 2014 | DF | 6 | Liam Ridgewell | Portland Timbers | Free |
| 16 May 2014 | DF | 14 | Diego Lugano | Released | Free |
| 16 May 2014 | MF | 22 | Zoltán Gera | Ferencváros | Free |
| 16 May 2014 | MF | — | Scott Allan | Hibernian | Free |
| 16 May 2014 | DF | 4 | Goran Popov | Dynamo Kyiv | Loan return |
| 16 May 2014 | MF | 10 | Scott Sinclair | Manchester City | Loan return |
| 16 May 2014 | MF | 18 | Morgan Amalfitano | Marseille | Loan return |
| 16 May 2014 | FW | 20 | Matěj Vydra | Udinese | Loan return |
| 16 May 2014 | FW | 50 | Thievy Bifouma | Espanyol | Loan return |
| 28 May 2014 | DF | 28 | Billy Jones | Sunderland | Free |
| 10 July 2014 | DF | 41 | Cameron Gayle | Shrewsbury Town | Free |
