4 Geoff Horsfield and West Brom
Geoff Horsfield was a journeyman footballer that worked his way up the football ladder until his crowning moment came in the season of 2005. He spent the early part of his career playing part time for non-league teams whilst working as a bricklayer.
Eventually he was signed by Fulham and helped them gain promotion to Division One before moving to Birmingham and getting promoted again, this time to the Premier League. After moving briefly to Wigan, Horsfield headed back to the midlands to West Brom.
On the last day of the 2004/5 season West Brom were bottom of the Premier League and had a home game against Portsmouth. They had to win that game and hope that Crystal Palace, Norwich and Southampton all failed to win in order to avoid relegation. The club had been bottom of the table at Christmas and it was a famous fact that no team had ever recovered from that position to avoid the drop.
The first half against Portsmouth was goalless and after the break West Brom manager, Bryan Robson sent on Horsfield to try and get his team a goal. This he duly did with his first touch unleashing a powerful volley from the far post to give his side the lead. Horsfield also set up West Brom’s second with a clever back heel teeing up Keiron Richardson to finish the game.
West Brom had done all they could and had to wait nervously for the results of their relegation rivals. The news came through and it was good as all three failed to win. West Brom finished the season fourth from bottom and avoided the drop breaking the curse that being bottom at Christmas meant you would get relegated.