30 years on: When West Brom dominated Port Vale on and off the field at Wembley play-off final
It’s exactly 30 years since Albion dominated on the field and in the stands at Wembley.
May 30, 1993, will live long in the memory of Baggies of a certain generation.
Rivals Port Vale were swept aside with minimal fuss in the Second Division play-off final as Ossie Ardiles’ thrilling Albion side – with Baggies fans making up around four-fifths of the 53,000 crowd – partied long into the London night or back home in the Black Country.
Former captain Darren Bradley recalls a sea of Albion colours on the old Wembley Way, he remembers the realisation he will lift the trophy in front of tens of thousands of delirious Baggies after the 3-0 win.
Bradley and former team-mate Bernard McNally told how boss Ardiles, at The Hawthorns for just 13 months, was ahead of his time and revolutionised how Albion worked and played.
And Bradley also recalls the sense of unease ahead of the post- final official dinner reception having been (almost certainly) tricked that he had lost the trophy!
“I can remember going 3-0 up (in the 90th minute) and relaxing a bit, but still not fully! When the whistle went... again you wish you could savour it. Relief, more than anything,” Bradley, 57, told the Express & Star.
“And then there’s the realisation ‘I’m captain and I’m going to get the cup’ – the crappy trophy they put up – but to turn around and show it to the Albion fans, it was just incredible.
“You get older and reminisce. I took a few of my pals, one of them has passed now, and we snuck out of the players’ lounge and sat at the middle of the pitch about an hour after the game.
“I also remember drinking champagne in those old baths – it was about six feet deep – there’s a photo knocking about of me and Ossie.
