The 1985 – 1986 league season proved to be a debacle for West Brom as they embarked on a very poor campaign which saw the club crash down to an embarrassing 22nd position finish in the first division, which in turn condemned the club to relegation in to the second division, a place they would remain for over 15 years to come at that point. Ron Saunders was installed as the new manager of West Brom and the 1986 – 1987 campaign saw things go from bad to worse for Albion as their first season in the second division was unmemorable as they could only manage a 15th position finish by the termination of the campaign. They crashed out of the league cup in the second round, suffering a 5-1 thrashing on aggregate against Derby County and to cap off a miserable season, they were eliminated out of the league cup in the second round as they lost 1-0 to Swansea City.
Ron Atkinson took charge of West Brom for a second spell at the start of the 1987 – 1988 campaign and even he could not spur the club on improving as they crashed to a 20th position finish, narrowly escaping relegation in to the third tier of English football.
Brian Talbot took charge of West Brom in 1988 and Albion considerably improved their league form, finishing off in ninth place, however they were way off the mark as a top rated side in the division. For the second successive year, Albion crashed out of the league cup in the first round as they suffered defeat against Peterborough. The 1989 – 1900 campaign proved to be a debacle for West Brom as they were fortunate to avoid relegation at the end of the season as they were humiliated to a 20th position finish in the division. The West Brom side of the 1989 -90 season included, Stuart Naylor, Daryl Burgess, Graham Harbey, Gary Robson, Stacey north, Chris Whyte, Tony Ford, Don Goodman, Colin West, Bernard McNally and Gary Hackett.