The Big Interview: Ally Robertson

Thirty years ago this summer, Ally Robertson crossed the Black Country divide.

He always assumed he would finish his career at Albion, but after 18 eventful years playing in some of the best Baggies teams in living memory, the no-nonsense Scotsman joined Wolves around his 34th birthday.

Although his spell at Molineux lasted just four years, the former captain and player-coach packed in a hell of a lot during that time.

There's no hint of arrogance in Robertson's voice when he says the above, just an overwhelming sense of pride. Three decades later, he feels fortunate to have a unique place in the history of both clubs.

It all started in 1967 when he joined the Baggies as a 15-year-old apprentice, leaving six sisters and five brothers behind in Philipstoun, a tiny village 20 miles west of Edinburgh with a population of 300.

"It broke my dad's heart to be honest because he wanted me to go to Rangers," he explained. "I was Rangers daft all my life, but just at that time Rangers gave up their youth team. Reserves were getting put out to junior sides, I didn't want to play in junior sides."

A strapping young centre-back who caught the eye playing for Scotland schoolboys, he had plenty of teams interested.

"I could have gone to Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man United, Rangers, Celtic, but for some reason the only scout I trusted was the West Brom scout.

"Everyone was saying you'll be in the first team straight away, he just said 'put it this way, we'll give you all the facilities and the training, it's up to you to make it, we can't do that'."

Albion had won the League Cup in 1966 and reached the final in 1967, so Robertson saw the Baggies as a big team.

The King

They proved him right in 1968 by winning the FA Cup thanks to a Jeff Astle goal at Wembley, and The King was instrumental in Robertson's development.

"My first job at Albion was kit lad and Astle would take the mickey out of me all the time. He'd ask me a question and then say he couldn't understand a word because I've gone hee hi hoo in broad Scottish.

"Astle told me later that was him getting me involved because he thought I was going to be a good youngster.

"On the bus he'd say 'come on you little Scottish so and so sit beside me'; he'd be playing cards and I'd be his banker.

"If he'd win he'd give me a tenner, which was what I used to get paid for a whole week. I remember thinking what on earth!"

After two seasons plying his trade in the third team and then the reserves, Robertson made his first-team debut as a gangly 17-year-old.

And what a game to be thrown into. A Manchester United team boasting Denis Law, Bobby Charlton, Brian Kidd, Nobby Stiles and a certain winger from Belfast were the visitors to The Hawthorns on October 25, 1969.

Best tackle

Robertson's first tackle in professional football? George Best.

"I won the ball off him! I'm not a nervous person but he was at his peak.

"I was in digs at Hill Top and I got the 75 bus to the ground. Can you imagine in this day and age a young kid making his debut against Man United in front of a crowd of 45,000 people, and he gets the bus to it?

"The game was on TV and Sir Matt Busby actually said afterwards that was the best debut he'd seen in a long time."

Robertson broke into the team at the end of that season but disaster struck next season, the day before his 18th birthday in a League Cup tie with Charlton Athletic.

"I was in midfield, because Alan Ashman used to play us in different positions so we'd learn more. It was half a tackle and you could hear this big crack.

"Jeff Astle came running across and said 'quick get down, you've broken your leg' but I said 'no, no', and I played on until half-time. I didn't realise it was a hairline crack. In this day and age it would've been sorted, but all they did was strap me up.

"I went home, came to training next morning, the physio made me exercise on it and I completely broke my leg."

The injury left Robertson sidelined for over a season, but it was the lasting damage it did to his international career that left him more heartbroken.

"I think that was the biggest reason why I never got a Scottish cap," he said. "You're left out for a year and a half and nobody knows you, you've got to start again.

"I always remember the 1978 World Cup in Argentina because Willie Johnston went. Willie used to say to me the Scottish manager is here, so I'd play out of my skin.

"He'd say the manager says you've done well but I wasn't even in the squad of 40.

"That is the one thing I regret from my whole career, it broke my heart."

Wiley partnership

Back at The Hawthorns, Robertson was starting to build a dominant partnership at the heart of defence with John Wile that would last more than a decade.

"We knew what each other were going to do the minute we walked out on the park, we never had to talk to each other."

The Baggies were relegated to Division Two under Don Howe before Johnny Giles took them back up. "To me Johnny Giles was the best manager we ever had," said Robertson. "He talked to us as if he was the same as us.

"This is how simple it was, he said if you were a midfielder you'd be a midfielder, you're not, you're a defender. So you're job is to win the ball and give it to someone who can play."

But the real fun started in the late 70s when Big Ron Atkinson took over as boss.

Albion bought Brendon Batson, Cyrille Regis and Laurie Cunningham, who were then dubbed the Three Degrees.

But it was a team oozing class all over the pitch. Derek Statham was at full-back, Bryan Robson and Len Cantello were in midfield, Johnston was on the wing, and both Ally Brown and Tony Brown helped Regis up front.

Always the bridesmaid

Under Atkinson the Baggies reached the semi-final of the FA Cup, finished third in the league, and got to the quarter-final of the UEFA Cup, where they were undone by a late goal from Red Star Belgrade.

After Atkinson left for Manchester United, Ronnie Allen guided Albion to semi-finals in both domestic cups.

"We were so unlucky that we didn't win anything," said Robertson. "We were always the bridesmaid. We were so close each time, it was sad really because the lads deserved better. Each semi-final we went to we were absolutely abysmal."

Big Ron brought an exciting brand of football, and nearly won the league in his first full season in charge before Liverpool overtook them on the home straight.

"At times we attacked too much!" said Robertson. "Brendon and Derek were always bombing on, I used to say to them 'you two are supposed to be defenders'!

"But the atmosphere at the club was great, the enjoyment was hard to replace.

"Gilesy made sure we gave nothing away whereas Big Ron said if they score two we'll score three."

Slowly the team broke up. Atkinson went to Manchester United and took Robson with him. Cunningham was sold to Real Madrid after the winger demolished Valencia in the UEFA Cup.

There was another stint under Giles, before Ron Saunders took the club down to Division Two after a disastrous few months with Nobby Stiles.

Ron Saunders and the end of Albion

It was Saunders' arrival in February 1986 that signalled the end of Robertson's tenure at The Hawthorns.

"I would have stayed at Albion until I retired," he said. "But Saunders never talked to me from the day he came in."

The former Blues and Villa manager left the veteran centre-back out of the squad, so he went back to Scotland over the summer and worked his socks off to stay in peak physical condition.

But after a misunderstanding on a telephone call in pre-season, during which Robertson unwittingly swore at Saunders, the Baggies boss paid up his contract.

"I went and sat in my car outside and started crying," he admitted. "I had a go at the chairman Sid Lucas, told him 'I've been here 18 years and I've given it everything'.

"I said to Saunders 'If I ever bump into you outside I'm going to belt you, because what you've done is an absolute disgrace. I'm going to prove you wrong, wherever I go, I'm going to prove you wrong'."

Little did Robertson know at that stage, the next place he would wind up was just down the road.

Revenge

Things were bad at Molineux in the summer of 1986.

Wolves were entering a season in Division Four after three relegations in a row.

"Next thing I know Brian Little phones me up and he said why not come to the Wolves as player-coach?

"I thought how can I come to the Wolves after 18 years at the Albion?

"In the end he talked me round. I got a tiny sign-on fee and he paid me next to nothing. But I thought this is my new start.

"I said to the Albion people 'I hope we pass each other, I hope you come down and we go the other way'."

There was fire in Robertson's belly, the type of fire reserved for revenge, but he and Little had a big job on their hands.

"I turned up at training, but they had no kit. Brian said haven't you brought your own? I hadn't had to bring my own kit for 18 years so I phoned Dave Matthews, kit man at Albion, and said Dave, 'I need kit, but it can't be blue and white!'

"Within two weeks I was thinking 'what on earth have I done?' The players that were there couldn't have got in Bromsgrove's side.

"There must have been 10 players that shouldn't have been there. There was mice in the dressing room and all sorts, but slowly things started to change.

"We won three games out of four, things were starting to get better and then Brian Little got the sack!"

Little was only in charge for 36 days, but it proved to be a good decision because that's when Graham Turner arrived.

Turning it around

"To be fair to Turner he turned it completely round. He was the Johnny Giles of Wolves, he was telling us to kick the balls in the corner.

"I was thinking I can't play like this.

"I've been brought up at the Albion we get the ball down and play.

"Turner said 'get the ball in the corner, I'll prove to you it works'.

"Six weeks later I went back and said 'I can only apologise, I can now see where it is going'. Then he made me captain.

"At first I got some stick. I did chase one fan. All I could here was him shouting 'you Albion ******'. So I cleared the ball and turned to him and said 'I'll see you at the end of the game mate', but he ran off."

Steve Bull, Andy Mutch, Andy Thompson, Floyd Streete and Robbie Dennison all joined the club and Wolves made their way up the table into the play-offs.

Robertson was suspended for the two-legged final against Aldershot, which Wolves lost.

But the disappointment only lasted a year, because next season Wolves went up as champions and completed the double when they won the Sherpa Van Trophy.

Wembley winner

Robertson had won nothing in 18 years at Albion, and yet two seasons into his Wolves career he was lifting a trophy at Wembley. The irony was not lost on him.

"I used to laugh about the Sherpa Van, I thought it was a stupid little trophy that nobody bothers about.

"But I didn't realise at the time what it meant to the Wolves supporters.

"We were driving up to Wembley and it was gold and black everywhere. There must have been 50,000 Wolves fans, they filled three-quarters of the stadium.

"To walk up those steps and lift that trophy was incredible. And I couldn't believe that I'd done it with Wolves in the Fourth Division."

Steve Bull scored a whopping 52 goals that season and next year the team topped Division Three as champions too.

"Bully was never going to have the best touch, he was never going to be the most skilful player, but that doesn't matter if you score the goals," said Robertson. "His attitude was brilliant, and he deserved everything he got."

Robertson made 30 appearances in Division Three the year Wolves won promotion, but he only played a handful of games in Division Two and left to become player-manager of non-league Worcester City.

"It was fantastic to be part of Wolves," he said. "The history is huge. We were down and out and we brought it back.

"We were down to 5,000 supporters at Molineux when we started and by the end of the season there was 10,000. Then it climbed up to 20,000 and you're back up to what it should be.

"We created an atmosphere that was absolutely brilliant. The team spirit was second to none. I remember we played Albion once. I was out of the team by this point, but Bully and Robbie Dennison scored and we won 2-1. I stood up and cheered.

"They weren't a patch on the players I played with at Albion but the camaraderie and the laughs was ever so good. I wish I'd been two years younger to get into the First Division, that would have been heaven."

Retirement

Robertson eventually patched things up with Albion, so well in fact that he helped set up the former players' association.

He's since made his home in the West Midlands, and currently lives in Stourton, a small hamlet near Stourbidge.

The likeable Scot turns 64 in September and works as a business manager at a BMW car dealership in Shrewsbury.

He's led a whole life since retiring from football, but it's never far from his mind.

"People say you can't love both? I tell them of course I can.

"It's fantastic for me to be able to look back on both with pride."