thumb|upright|right|West Bromwich Albion club badge c. 1900–2006 thumb|upright|right|The coat of arms of West Bromwich has featured intermittently on Albion team shirts. Albion's main club badge dates back to the late 1880s, when club secretary Tom Smith suggested that a throstle (song thrush) sitting on a crossbar be adopted for the badge.McOwan p. 15. The badge has been subject to various revisions since then. It has always featured a throstle, usually on a blue and white striped shield, although the crossbar was replaced with a hawthorn branch at some point after the club's move to the Hawthorns. The throstle was chosen because the public house in which the team used to change kept a pet thrush in a cage. It also gave rise to Albion's early nickname, the Throstles. The hawthorn bush is also a favourite bush of throstles, which were regularly seen on the pre-stadium estate and local area. As late as the 1930s, a caged throstle was placed beside the touchline during matches and it was said that it only used to sing if Albion were winning. In 1979, an effigy of a throstle was erected above the half-time scoreboard of the Woodman corner at the Hawthorns,Matthews (1987) p. 239. and was returned to the same area of the ground following redevelopment in the early 2000s.
thumb|upright|right|West Bromwich Albion club badge c. 1900–2006 thumb|upright|right|The coat of arms of West Bromwich has featured intermittently on Albion team shirts. Albion's main club ba,dge dates back to the late 1880s, when club secretary Tom Smith suggested that a throstle (song thrush) sitting on a crossbar be adopted for the badge.McOwan p. 15. The badge has been subject to various revisions since then. It has always featured a throstle usually on a blue and white striped shield, although the crossbar was replaced with a hawthorn branch at some point after the club's move to the Hawthorns. The throstle was chosen because the public house in which the team used to change kept a pet thrush in a cage. It also gave rise to Albion's early nickname, the Throstles. The hawthorn bush is also a favourite bush of throstles, which were regularly seen on the pre-stadium estate and local area. As late as the 1930s, a caged throstle was placed beside the touchline during matches and it was said that it only used to sing if Albion were winning. In 1979, an effigy of a throstle was erected above the half-time scoreboard of the Woodman corner at the Hawthorns,Matthews (1987) p. 239. and was returned to the same area of the ground following redevelopment in the early 2000s.