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Cyrille Regis (born February 9, 1958) was an
England|English association footballer.

==Life==
Born Maripasoula, French Guiana and moving to
England in his youth, Regis started work as an
electrician, playing for amateur team Hayes F.C.
in his spare time. Spotted by Ronnie Allen, he
joined Football League First Division|First
Division club West Bromwich Albion F.C. in 1977,
where, under maverick manager Ron Atkinson, he
teamed up with fellow black players Brendon Batson
and Laurie Cunningham. It was very unusual for an
English club to simultaneously field three black
players. The Three Degrees, as they became known,
in reference to the The Three Degrees|contemporary
vocal trio of the same name, challenged the
established racism of English football and marked
a watershed that allowed a generation of
footballers to enter the game who would previously
have been excluded by their ethnic background.

A strong and fast traditional centre-forward,
Regis was voted PFA Young Player of the Year in
1978 and went on to win five England national
football team|England cap (football)|caps.  Regis
was an FA Cup winner in 1987 with Coventry City
F.C.

After leaving Coventry in 1991, he was transferred
to Aston Villa and partnered Dalian Atkinson in
the 1991-92 season. But he left at the end of the
following season after being forced out of the
side by new signing Dean Saunders, and signed for
Wolverhampton Wanderers. He had little success at
the Molineux, with first-team opportunities
restricted by the strength of the Steve Bull-David
Kelly partnership.
His stay at Wolves lasted just one season before
he joined Wycombe Wanderers. After one season with
the Chairboys, he was on the move again - this
time to Chester City. Cyrille Regis played his
last game in February 1996 and retired from
football nine months later at the age of 38,
having never made a full recovery from an injury
suffered in a match with Chester.

==Playing career==
*Hayes F.C., (1975-1977);
*West Bromwich Albion F.C., (1977-1984);
*Coventry City F.C., (1984-1991);
*Aston Villa F.C., (1991-1993);
*Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C., (1993-1994);
*Wycombe Wanderers F.C., (1994-1995); and
*Chester F.C., (1995-1996).

==Later career==
Since retiring from playing, Regis has worked in a
variety of coaching roles before becoming an
acredited football agent with First Artist
Corporation. In the 1995-1996 season, he returned
to football as a player with Football League Third
Division|division three side Chester City
F.C.|Chester City.

==Bibliography==
*Matthews, T (2002) Smokin' Joe: Cyrille Regis -
25 Years in Football  ISBN 190410309X 
*Bowler, D & Bains, J (2000) Samba in the
Smethwick End: Regis, Cunningham, Batson and the
Football Revolution ISBN 1840181885 

==External links==
*http://members.aol.com/mtofhayesfc/hayesfc/regis.
htm Page at Hayes F.C. with photographs
*http://www.blackpresence.co.uk/pages/sport/regis.
htm The Black Presence in Britain

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succession box|title=PFA Young Player of the
Year|before=Tony Woodcock |after=Glenn
Hoddle|years=1979
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