Former West Brom bosses pay tribute to Chris Brunt and James Morrison
Legendary duo Chris Brunt and James Morrison and promotion-winning bosses Tony Mowbray and Roberto Di Matteo reflected on a wonderful weekend as Albion came together.
Baggies heroes and icons of yesteryear returned to the Black Country in honour of Brunt and Morrison while the well-attended charity clash raised vital funds for The Albion Foundation.
The Hawthorns fixture finished 4-4 after a goal-laden second half full of action, excitement and laughs.
Brunt's youngest son Zach, 11, came off the bench to bag a last-gasp equaliser after former striker Craig Beattie thought he had won it for Team Morrison. Other goals came from Roman Bednar, Steven Reid, Brunt, Simon Cox, Morrison's ex-Middlesbrough colleague Tony McMahon and Hal Robson-Kanu.
Morrison said: "It was a real event. It was great to see, me and Brunty were panicking a bit before but thank you to all who came out to show support, not just for me and Chris but the Foundation too.
"They do some great work in the community, it is pretty impressive and it has been overwhelming."
Brunt added: "It was brilliant, it was great to see all the lads who turned up and thanks to everyone, the foundation for the work they did to make it happen it could have not gone better.
"The game was decent, a bit of a laugh and competitive, and from my point of view to get my little lad on it was a dream come true, thank you to everyone who came.
"Lads came from far and wide to give up their weekends and i will be forever grateful for them, and it was great to share the day with Mozza."
Championship-winning boss Mowbray, now Sunderland manager, gave up his afternoon in one dugout, alongside Di Matteo.
"I had an amazing time here," Mowbray said. "This was my first effort at management in the bigger league, let's say. It was a real challenge for me.
"It was good for me, it tested me. It was a great learning curve.
"I walk around today people still want to talk about the seasons, it's nice to listen to the supporters."
Italian Di Matteo added: "It was really nice seeing faces and catch up with people I haven't seen for a long time.
"I came back to a stadium and club I have very fond memories of. Looking back with hindsight you realise it was great with a really good group of players.
"I was glad when Brunty called me and straight away I agreed to be part of the day for a good cause. It was a perfect day, we sort of said farewell to Brunty and Mozza and they deserve that."
