West Brom pulled a blinder with Rochdale transfer but Wolves connection has tarnished it since | OneFootball

West Brom’s bargain buy of Craig Dawson was a masterstroke, but a switch to their Black Country rivals has smeared his reputation in blue and white.

West Bromwich Albion have made some bargain-buy transfers throughout their history, and central defender Craig Dawson certainly falls under that category.

The Baggies made the move for the towering central defender back in 2010 from then League Two side Rochdale, and not many Albion fans could have expected the meteoric rise he’d have in the Black Country all the way down from the fourth tier.

While the 34-year-old would go on to have a largely successful career with the Baggies despite a sour ending, an eventual move to bitter Black Country rivals Wolves will undoubtedly have left his Albion legacy tarnished forever.

Football League World takes a look back at his time at The Hawthorns and how his eventual move to Wolves shifted the opinion of him among the Albion fanbase.

Craig Dawson’s career at West Brom

Dawson would go on to rejoin the Dale on loan from West Brom after his permanent switch was completed and would secure further loan action away with Bolton Wanderers while he patiently waited to break into the first team frame.

Gaining valuable EFL experience, Dawson would go on to get his first run of games in a blue and white shirt towards the back end of the 2013/14 campaign, featuring in nine out of the last 10 top flight games as Albion scraped Premier League survival under Pepe Mel.

A combination of management from Alan Irvine and Tony Pulis over the following season saw Dawson get his first big breakthrough, starting 29 times and registering two goals.

For the next two seasons under the Welsh coach, the Rochdale-born defender would go on to miss just one Premier League game, notching four goals in each term with his attacking prowess from set pieces continuously improving.

Dawson would make 29 appearances for the club during the Baggies’ relegation back down to the second tier, with his stay starting to turn sour when he submitted a written transfer request and demanded a return to a Premier League club.

After refusing to go on Albion’s pre-season tour to Portugal due to Burnley, Everton and West Ham registering interest, West Brom didn’t receive an offer close to their £20m asking price, and Dawson had a change of heart, representing Albion for a final season as they earned a play-off spot under interim boss Jimmy Shan.

Dawson would net the equalising goal in their play-off clash with Aston Villa in the second leg, but the Baggies were edged out in a penalty shootout, and Dawson’s spell came to an end, moving to Watford for a reported £5.5 million in the summer of 2019.

Craig Dawson’s controversial switch to Black Country rivals Wolves

A short spell at Vicarage Road following his departure from The Hawthorns was met with a permanent move to West Ham after an initial loan move, but two years on Dawson would depart in the 2023 January transfer window to none other than West Brom’s bitter local rivals, Wolves.

After already causing discontent with the Albion faithful with his transfer request and not staying on at the club for another season of Championship football, Dawson well and truly lost any support of his previous backers with this transfer decision, particularly with how the Baggies had originally given Dawson the platform to make his mark in the top flight.

Dawson was consistently booed and jeered in a hostile fashion when Albion and Wolves met in the FA Cup last season, highlighting his lack of popularity in those parts for the betrayal shown to wear the gold and black colours of the enemy.

Although the defender was a top signing from the Baggies for minimal money and helped them achieve some memorable seasons in the Premier League, all love is lost in that relationship with how the story ended, and Baggies fans will wish to see similar relegation trouble in the top flight affect both Dawson and Wolves.