'Really lucky' - Former West Brom captain reflects glowingly on Baggies stint

Former skipper Jed Wallace admitted he was “really lucky” to enjoy a strong connection with Albion fans across four years at the club.

The 32-year-old has joined Bristol City having checked out of The Hawthorns at the end of his contract this summer after 150 appearances and 16 goals for the Baggies.

Wallace, who arrived in 2022 after seven seasons with Millwall, was an influential senior figure throughout his time at the club. He was a valued leader and took over the club captaincy from Jake Livermore in 2023.

The experienced winger has penned a two-year contract at Ashton Gate as he looks to help Bristol City, under new boss Michael Skubala, improve on a finish of 12th in the Championship last term.

"I've done a lot of running around in this league in the last few years!" Wallace said.

“I had an amazing period at Millwall. I've been really lucky in my last two clubs that I felt I had a great connection with the fans and the people in the club.

"I hope it's the same here. I've played a lot of football at this level now.

"I had some great times at Millwall and also at my last club West Brom as well. I thoroughly enjoyed both of those experiences and hope this will be the same.”

Wallace’s final Albion start was in the critical 1-0 victory at Bristol City in March, a first away win in six months.

The winger emerged as a key regular once again under James Morrison having seen injury ruin his first half of the season under Ryan Mason.

Wallace had previously lost more than 18 months of my game time due to the emergence of academy star Tom Fellows at The Hawthorns.

A win at Ashton Gate led into the spring international break, during which Wallace broke down with another muscle injury, after which boss Morrison said he “could have cried” due to the misfortunate of the timing for the in-form Albion skipper, whose contract was to expire in three months.

Wallace pushed back to fitness but only enough to play a cameo role in the final-day defeat at Sheffield Wednesday.

The winger revealed he took time away with family at the end of the campaign before checking in with his representatives to review options on the table.

Wallace said his mother was born in Bristol, a city still home to his grandparents, so the club was always an attractive proposition.

He said of Robins memories: "Unfortunately - now I'm on this side of it - probably scoring for the opposition!

"It's always been a stadium I've seemed to play quite well at. I played here last season quite recently, in March, when we got a good result that day.

"I'm certainly hoping now I'm on the right side of it, in the red shirt, that we get plenty of results and lots of goals.”

Former Portsmouth and Wolves man Wallace was not the only former Albion wide attacker to bag a new club after academy graduate Akeel Higgins checked in to League One Wigan.

Higgins, who is 21 this month, was out of contract and offered new terms, but opted to make a fresh start in the north west on a free transfer. Albion negotiated a future sell-on clause.

Higgins, who played one first-team match, labelled the move to the Tics as a “no-brainer” after he reunited with former Exeter loan boss Gary Caldwell.

Wigan also completed the loan signing of former Albion loan flop Hindolo Musptaha, who played just twice last term having arrived from Crystal Palace.