Cyrille Regis: a pioneer on the pitch and the leader of a generation | Richard Williams

As a player, Cyrille Regis used his strength and control to burst through the defences. As a man, he endured unspeakable abuse in order to ease the way for others

The sun was shining on the Baseball Ground, which didn’t seem to happen very often at a ground traditionally reduced by early winter weather to a bog of sand and mud. But on that Saturday afternoon at the end of the 1970s – the exact details, including the score, don’t matter – even the climate seemed to be welcoming the visitors, Ron Atkinson’s West Bromwich Albion.

Out they came, into the sunlight. Cyrille Regis, Laurie Cunningham, Brendon Batson, Ally Brown, Len Cantello and the rest. They were wearing their change strip, to avoid a clash with Derby County’s white and black. Their shirts were broad vertical stripes of yellow and bright green. Their shorts were that same green, their socks yellow. They looked like Brazil. And that, sometimes, was how they played.

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