Jeff Astle's West Brom legacy remains strong

The outpouring of grief that greeted the news and the sadness his demise still inflicts proves just how much 'The King' meant to Albion supporters.

He bagged the winning goal in the 1968 FA Cup final, scoring in every round of the competition that year, but for many Baggies he is remembered for so much more.

He scored 174 goals in 361 appearances for the club in a 10-year stint between 1964 and 1974.

"He was an absolute hero," said Ally Robertson, who joined the club as a youngster when Astle was in his pomp. "He made everybody in the dressing room happy because he did funny things all day, every day.

"When I was kit lad he used to take the mickey out of my Scottish accent every morning.

"Later on he told me it was because he could see I was becoming a good player so he was trying to get me involved with the first-teamers early.

"He was a pleasure to be with, he used to play jokes on people, like cutting John Osborne's trousers off at the knee.

"But he took the mickey out of everybody, and it was always with a smile, there was never anything nasty behind it.

"On the pitch he passed the ball with his head, he was absolutely brilliant at it. But people didn't give him enough respect for the amount of skill he had, they just thought he was great in the air. He did a lot of other things as well, he was very good."

Astle died from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease caused by heading footballs.

Since then his family have been campaigning for research into the links between heading football and brain injuries.

For most of that time, they have been met with inadequate responses, but after setting up the Justice for Jeff campaign in 2014, it appears the Football Association are finally listening.

Dawn Astle, Jeff's daughter, is currently waiting for the FA to complete some research into the links between heading footballs and dementia.

"One of the things that is being looked at is whether a higher proportion of former players have dementia compared to the normal population," she said. "It's really important that statistic is found out."

Former Albion manager and World Cup winner Nobby Stiles is a player from Astle's era now struggling with Alzheimer's and dementia. But Dawn has met plenty more.

Thanks to the tireless work of his family, Astle's legacy could be a powerful one in the world of football.

"There's not a West Brom fan who doesn't know Jeff Astle, he's The King," said Robertson. "It would be a fitting tribute if some good could come out of his death."