Cyrille Regis

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Cyrille Regis
Personal information
Full name	Cyrille Regis
Date of birth	9 February 1958
Place of birth	Maripasoula, French Guiana
Position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Retired
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1977-1984 1984-1991 1991-1993 1993-1994 1994-1995 1995-1996	West Bromwich Albion Coventry City Aston Villa Wolverhampton Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Chester City	237 (82) 238 (47) 52 (12) 19 (2) 35 (9) 29 (7)
National team
1982-1987	England	5 (0)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Cyrille Regis (born 9 February 1958) is a former English footballer.

Contents 1 Career 2 Later career 3 Bibliography 4 External links

[edit] Career

Born in Maripasoula, French Guiana and moving to England in his youth, Regis started work as an electrician, playing for amateur team Hayes in his spare time. Spotted by Ronnie Allen, he joined First Division club West Bromwich Albion in 1977, where, under maverick manager Ron Atkinson, he teamed up with fellow black players Brendon Batson and Laurie Cunningham.

It was very unusual for an English club to simultaneously field three black players. The Three Degrees, as they became known, in reference to the contemporary vocal trio of the same name, challenged the established racism of English football and marked a watershed that allowed a generation of footballers to enter the game who would previously have been excluded by their ethnic background. (There was still enough residual racism, however, that Regis, Cunningham and Batson (and Luton's Ricky Hill) were selected for far fewer internationals than many felt their talents warranted.)

Interestingly, after Atkinson's famous on-air use of the word "nigger" [1], Regis defended his mentor, suggesting that the word is less significantly offensive to people of that age.

A strong and fast traditional centre-forward, Regis was voted PFA Young Player of the Year in 1978 and went on to win five England caps. Regis was also an FA Cup winner in 1987 with Coventry City, where he 'scored' a fine header before it was disallowed.

After leaving Coventry in 1991, he was transferred to their arch-rivals Aston Villa and partnered Dalian Atkinson in the 1991-92 season. But he left at the end of the following season after being forced-out of the side by new signing Dean Saunders, and signed for Wolverhampton Wanderers. He had little success at the Molineux, with first-team opportunities restricted by the strength of the Steve Bull - David Kelly strike partnership. His stay at Wolves lasted a single season before he joined Wycombe Wanderers.

After one season with The Chairboys, he was on the move again, this time to Chester City Cyrille Regis played his last game in February 1996, aged 38, and retired from professional football nine months later, having never made a full recovery from an injury suffered in a match with Chester.

[edit] Later career

Since retiring from playing, Regis has worked in a variety of coaching roles before becoming an accredited football agent with First Artist Corporation.

[edit] Bibliography

• Matthews, T (2002) Smokin' Joe: Cyrille Regis - 25 Years in Football ISBN 1-904103-09-X
• Bowler, D & Bains, J (2000) Samba in the Smethwick End: Regis, Cunningham, Batson and the Football Revolution ISBN 1-84018-188-5

[edit] External links

• Page at Hayes F.C. with photographs
• The Black Presence in Britain

Preceded by Tony Woodcock	PFA Young Player of the Year 1979	Succeeded by Glenn Hoddle
Preceded by Denis Smith	West Bromwich Albion F.C. manager Jul-Aug 1999 (caretaker, with John Gorman)	Succeeded by Brian Little
Preceded by Brian Little	West Bromwich Albion F.C. manager Mar 2000 (caretaker, with Allan Evans)	Succeeded by Gary Megson