Few players are ever afforded the honour of being universally known by their first name. But mention the name Cyrille and everyone knew who you meant. A man who united all, whether you supported his club or not, you admired him for his strength, desire, determination and courage.
These were the late seventies and early eighties when
football fans could still relate to the players they watched every Saturday.
These weren’t too far from the days when Tom Finney used to travel with
supporters on the bus to matches. These were the days when you could’ve played
against a player as a kid, who then made it as a professional footballer. We
lived through our heroes then, they were us. We dreamed about being them, we
pretended to be them in our kick-a-bouts in the street. We mimicked their
posture, their peculiarities, their mannerisms, their celebrations.
This was when players were all different, there were tall
ones, short ones, fat ones, thin ones, bald ones, ginger ones, lazy ones and
those faster than the proverbial off a shovel. Players could be plucked from
non-league or just the lower leagues and turn out for the big boys and we it
helped fuel the belief the dream was possible for all of us.
They were us. We were them, and we loved them for it.
Sure we had clubs we hated, our rivals, those we despised.
But more often we admired other clubs and other players. Down the years some
have transcended rivalry, have fought through bigotry to be roared on by fans
from all sides.
Cyrille did that.
Born in French Guiana, a French territory on the South
American mainland, in February 1958, Cyrille came to England in 1963. Cousin of
John Regis, the 200 metre record holder, he trained as an electrician when he
left school and then at the age of eighteen he joined Molesey in Surrey. A year
later he moved to Hayes and this was where he was spotted by former West
Bromwich Albion legend and now Chief Scout, Ronnie Allen. He encouraged the
club to take a punt on the youngster, although they baulked at the four figure
sum being suggested. Allen was so certain Regis would make it that he offered
money from his own pocket to get the deal done. In May 1977 Regis joined West
Brom for the princely sum of £5,000. By way of comparison, a couple of months
later Liverpool broke the British transfer record when they signed Kenny
Dalglish to replace Kevin Keegan for £440,000.
Allen then took over as manager at The Hawthorns when Johnny
Giles resigned. Regis scored on his debut for the reserves and so Allen threw
him into the first team for the League Cup game against Rotherham United in
August 1977. He scored twice in a 4-0 win. He earned a starting place against
Middlesbrough the following weekend, and scored again.
The goal? Well, it was to become his calling card, his
blueprint. If you ever watch highlights of his goals so many are like this.
He picked the ball up near the halfway line, ran towards the
penalty area and unleashed an unstoppable shot past Northern Ireland
international goalkeeper, Jim Platt.
It was a goal just like this which was voted goal of the
season for the 1981-82 season against Norwich. Norwich played the ball forward
into the Albion half and centre-back, Ally Robertson, knocks it back into the
Norwich half where Cyrille has dropped back to take the ball on his chest. He
his almost on the edge of the centre-circle with his back to goal. The ball
drops to his feet and he turns tightly to leave one defender floundering. You
then have the hilarious sight of another Norwich defender trying desperately to
get hold of Cyrille in a manner reminiscent of Lilliput people trying to grab
Gulliver. Cyrille is now away and driving towards the Norwich defence, those
legs pumping, the crowd roaring him on. Thirty yards out he looks up, sets
himself and unleashes a fearsome drive which roars into the top corner of the
net.
These days many a player can fire a shot from that far out
as the balls and the boots have changed. But back in these days the balls are
heavier, the pitch muddier and less chance of a sweet strike. But Cyrille
larrups it to such an extent that if this was a park kickabout, you’d need to
take a couple of bus rides to fetch it. You can tell from his teammates
reaction they’d seen it all before and that was just Big Cyrille.
Cyrille was an imposing figure. Many teams had big strikers,
or “the big number nine” as they were known, but few as mobile or as fast as
Cyrille. He had huge thighs and he would just run at defenders in a way which
left you believing he would need the fans on the terraces behind the goal to
move aside just so he had room to slow down to a stop. Defenders would bounce
off him, be left in his wake, floundering to reclaim whatever glimmer of
self-respect may be left.
But perhaps more importantly for the time, Cyrille broke
boundaries. When he signed for West Brom there had never been a black player
represent England at full level, although his teammate Laurie Cunningham, was
capped by the Under-21 team a month before. Viv Anderson finally broke into the
full side in November 1978. Cyrille became the third black player to represent
England when he came on as substitute against Northern Ireland in February
1982. He would never complete a full ninety minutes for his country, winning
just five caps at a time when there were plenty of strikers to choose from.
Maybe this enhanced his cult status. Records are littered with players
supporters rated who successive England managers did not.
At West Brom manager Ron Atkinson was building a team which
would take on the might of Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the First
Division. Along with Regis and Cunningham he had a young right-back, Brendon
Batson. The three of them would become known as The Three Degrees, a popular
black female singing group. They were undoubtedly an inspiration for many young
black kids who had believed the world of professional football was not for
them, would not welcome them.
I can remember listening to Sports Report on Radio Two sometime
in late 1979 when West Brom had won and they announced that the club had gone
to the top of the First Division for the first time in their history. Atkinson
had built a wonderfully attractive young side with the likes of Regis,
Cunningham, Robson, Statham, Batson, Owen along with more mature and wily
knowledge of Wile, Robertson and the two Browns. They never won anything, with
an FA Cup Semi-Final in 1978 being the peak. After finishing third in the
League in 1979 they also reached the UEFA Cup Quarter-Finals.
Cyrille brushed off racist abuse like he brushed off
defenders when he was marauding towards goal. When he was called up for England
for the first time he was sent a bullet in the post. Undaunted this just made
him more determined to make something of himself and prove the haters wrong,
and boy did he. “I kept it as a reminder of the evil some people had inside
them. For the rest of my playing days it was a motivation that they weren’t
going to stop me”.
After seven years, two hundred and thirty three appearance
and eighty two goals, Cyrille moved to Coventry City where he played almost as
many games. His crowning glory was the FA Cup win in 1987. Twelve goals in that
season earned him a surprise recall to the England squad as Bobby Robson gave
him one last hurrah against Turkey. Unfortunately Cyrille never found the net
for his country but this didn’t diminish his legend one bit.
In the summer of 1991 he moved to another Midlands club,
Aston Villa where he played two seasons before ending his career at Wolves,
Wycombe and finally Chester City. It was a career which spanned almost twenty
years, with plenty of memories and many inspirations.
15th January 2018 it was announced Cyrille had
died from a heart attack, a month short of his sixtieth birthday. The tributes
have poured in.
Jacqui Oatley, journalist and presenter
There are not many West Brom legends who could walk through
the door at Wolves and be idolised from day one. Such was the respect that
Cyrille Regis commanded. Revered in the West Midlands and way beyond
Pat Murphy, journalist and broadcaster
In all my decades of covering Midlands football, there has
been no figure more admired and loved among we reporters than Cyrille Regis. He
scored goals we dreamed of while lying in the bath, routed the racists,
respected the fans – and smiled.
Players such as Dion Dublin, Shaka Hislop and Mark Bright
were equally reverent in their acknowledgment of the inspiration of the man and
how he was the reason they went into football.
In 2008 Cyrille was awarded an MBE for his services to
football and charity.
It is very difficult to accurately put into words the mark
this man made, but rest assured if you choose to look up his record, his
moments, his career, you will not be disappointed.
Football has lost a colossus today.
