Formed: 1878
Previous names: West Bromwich Strollers
Admitted to Football League: 1888
First Division 1
Second Division 3
FA Cup: 5
League Cup: 1

West Bromwich Albion are one of many English clubs who find nostalgia irresistible. In the 21st century they have become known as a yo-yo club, but before that they had loftier ambitions: between 1886 and 1968, the club reached 10 FA Cup finals, winning five. They were also champions of England for the only time in 1920.

Albion began life as West Bromwich Strollers in 1878, having been formed by workers at George Salter's Spring Works. They changed to West Bromwich Albion in 1880 and were founder members of the Football League in 1888. In the same year, West Brom had won their first FA Cup; having lost in the final in the two previous season, they beat the legendary Preston North End side 2-1 in the final.

Another FA Cup followed in 1892, although Albion were less successful in the League and were relegated from the top flight in 1901 and again in 1904. They returned in 1911 and then, in the first season after the war, won their only title in record-breaking fashion: West Brom's totals of 60 points and 104 goals were new highs.

It was a one-off: Albion finished 14th the following season and only really challenged for the title again in 1925, when they finished second to Huddersfield. They continued to flit back and forth between the top two divisions, with relegation in 1927 and 1938, but remained a very dangerous cup team. In 1931, they became the only side in English football to win promotion and the FA Cup in the same year, beating Birmingham 2-1 in the final.

A post-war promotion, in 1949, led to Albion's longest top-flight stint of 24 years. In that time they won two more FA Cups. The first came in 1954, when an attacking side that was described as the "Team of the Century" looked on course for the Double until they lost five of their last seven games.

Albion have not come so close to a league championship since, but they had a period of significant cup success in the Sixties. They won the League Cup for the first time in 1966, lost in the final of the tournament of the same tournament a year later, and then claimed a fifth FA Cup in 1968 thanks to a goal from the legendary Jeff Astle. They lost another League Cup final, this time to Manchester City, in 1970.

The Seventies were most memorable for Ron Atkinson's swashbuckling young side, who finished third in 1979 and then fourth in 1981. The team, uniquely in English football at that stage, contained three black players in Cyrille Regis, Laurie Cunningham and Brendan Batson.

They were known as the "Three Degrees", and starred when Albion famously won 5-3 at Old Trafford in 1978, but Atkinson's departure to Manchester United led to a long period in the wilderness. West Brom were relegated in 1986 and endured their longest period - 16 years - outside the top flight. They even slipped into the third tier for the first time in 1991, a year in which they were also humiliatingly thrashed at home by non-league Woking in the FA Cup.

Gary Megson finally took Albion to the Premier League in 2002, the start of a yo-yo period of seven promotions or relegations in nine seasons. In 2005, West Brom became the first side to survive in the Premier League after being bottom at Christmas; they were even bottom going into the final day.

The yo-yoing continued, and the purist principles of Tony Mowbray and his successor as manager, Roberto Di Matteo, established West Brom as one of the most attractive sides in the country. However, at the depths of another yo, Di Matteo was ushered out and Roy Hodgson was left to rebuild and secured a 10th placed finish in 2011-12 before leaving to take charge of England; leaving Steve Clarke in charge.