How a ten day Florida trip kicked started West Brom's famous Premier League Great Escape

No team who had been rock bottom of the table at Christmas had survived. At Christmas 2004, Albion were bottom, and were then smashed 5-0 against Liverpool.

Bryan Robson's men were hurtling straight back to the Championhip.

It looked like there was no way out, sitting way adrift at the bottom of the table. He made January signings and then early in 2005, he whisked his players away to a mid season training camp in Florida.

Due to be training camp, it turned into more of a holiday for Albion's struggling squad - but it turned out to be a masterstroke.

On their return, Albion strung together a run of results that kept them in the fight and ultimately led to them staying up against the odds on the final game of the season.

Back in 2020, one of the key catalysts for survival, January signing Kevin Campbell, told the story of the famous Florida trip and how it paid off for Robson and Albion.

Speaking on the Undr the Cosh podcast, Campbell, who sadly passed away in 2024, explained: "We went on a training trip to Florida, a ten day trip. It wasn't Disneyland, we went there on one day!

"We played Crystal Palace and in the last knockings it was 2-1, we thought we win this and go to Florida on a high.

"Last minute, 2-2, totally deflated.

"We get to the airport and Bryan Robson said, 'look lads, we're here to train, this is not a jolly up, I don't mind you having a few beers on the plane but this is serious'.

"So we were having a laugh, and it wasn't often you were able to get away from the pressure.

"We had a good nine days, and then just one day of training!

"It was nine days on the lash, and all we had to do was to be there to make the plane.

"We had a full week of training to catch up on but we had to be there for the plane, and everyone was, although we had to get Robbo (Bryan Robson) up!

"We had about seven or eight games left. We knew we should have beaten Palace, and then had a run of games where we beat Everton and won three games on the spin.

"It gave is the impetus and we clawed others back in. It was massive."