Cyrille Regis

Cyrille Regis was born on 9 February 1958 in the town of Maripasoula, French Guiana, to parents from St Lucia, Robert and Mathilde Regis. The family moved to London in 1963, when he was five, and he arrived unable to speak English. He trained as an electrician and played part-time for the non-league club Hayes.

West Bromwich Albion signed him in May 1977 for £5,000, after their scout Ronnie Allen recommended him. He scored twice on his debut in the League Cup against Rotherham on 31 August 1977, and scored on his league debut a few days later. Under the manager Ron Atkinson he formed, with Laurie Cunningham and Brendon Batson, the trio nicknamed the Three Degrees, which became a landmark for Black footballers in English football.

The Three Degrees faced racist chanting and bananas thrown on to the pitch. When Regis was picked for England he received a bullet in the post with a threat. In 1978 he won the PFA Young Player of the Year award, and in September 1982 he became the first Black captain of the England Under-21 side. He was capped five times by England between 1982 and 1987, becoming only the third Black England international.

He scored 112 goals in 297 appearances for West Brom before joining Coventry City in 1984 for £250,000, where he won the FA Cup in 1987. He later played for Aston Villa and other clubs, scoring more than 150 league goals in a career that took him from non-league to the top division, and retired in October 1996. He became a coach and agent.

The death of his friend Cunningham in 1989 changed Regis's priorities, and he became a born-again Christian. He was appointed MBE in 2008. He died on 14 January 2018 after a heart attack, aged 59. A statue of the Three Degrees, The Celebration, stands at The Hawthorns, and Regis said that he and his team-mates were part of the first generation of Black players in the country.