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Cyrille Regis’ family arrived in the UK as part of the first wave of immigrants from the Caribbean. With the nation still in the throws of post-war regeneration life was a combination of tough challenges and rich optimism, and it was this promise combined with a sense of community and purpose offered in social housing, that inspired Cyrille to go on to become a bold cultural icon in British sport.

Here, he speaks exclusively to 24housing magazine about his upbringing.

“My dad, Robert Regis, arrived in England from St Lucia in 1962 and myself, brother Imbert, sister Nila, and mum Gladys followed by boat a year later with a clutch of possessions.

It has been well documented how difficult it was for the first generation of African Caribbean people who came to Britain in the 1950s and 60s to find housing, and this was certainly the case for us.

From the age of five, when I arrived, it was a constant struggle to maintain regular accommodation, and this continued throughout my childhood as we were frequently moved around different areas.

Included was a short stay in a house at 386 Portobello Road, time at a two-bedroom property in Kensal Rise following the arrival of my brother Dave and sister Denise, and a hostel in Willesden that we were forced to move into following a bust-up with our previous landlord. It would be common to have seven people in a house that had a shared toilet and a kitchen on the landing, but it was nonetheless a roof over our heads.

Sadly, the lack of stable family housing meant that by the age of 9, my brother David and I were living in a children’s home in Aldershot that was run by nuns, with my dad looking after my younger brother elsewhere and my mum and sisters in a Salvation Army hostel in the East End. Things have improved so much these days that splitting families up in this way is an eventuality that people are never again likely to have to face.

After all we had been through, we were delighted when told that the authorities had found us a council house in Stonebridge, North-West London. It was an old two-up, two-down property with an outside toilet and no bathroom. It had derelict houses on either side, but it was great for all the kids because we had access to gardens and more free space than we knew what to do with.

Facilities were basic, and my mum and dad used to take us to the communal buildings in Paddington for our weekly bath, otherwise it was a case of washing and getting clean in the kitchen.

But we cared not about what we didn’t have or how run-down parts of our house were, because it was such a relief to be back as a family. Being together was always the most important thing, and still is.

A few years later the council knocked down the whole road and gave us a flat in the Stonebridge estate, which was new at the time but now carries something of a reputation. It had four bedrooms and an inside toilet and bathroom – it was brand new and it seemed like heaven.

This typifies one of the great things about social housing: the constant regeneration, and even these fantastically modern interlinking flats built only in the 70’s have now been demolished and replaced by new developments.

I think in any walk of life you have to experience the tough times to enjoy the good ones, and from what we had been through, we were very grateful for what had been done for us.

All-told, I lived in council housing from the age of 5 to 21. In fact, I never had my own bedroom until I was 19 when I left London to play football for West Bromwich Albion in the West Midlands. To have my own room seemed like an absolute luxury but is obviously something people take for granted nowadays.

I had been to Kensal Rise Primary School and Cardinal Hinsley RC School in Harlesden. Upon leaving, I became an apprentice electrician with a local firm called Higgins & Cattle and played Sunday morning football in Regent’s Park and Barnet Sunday Leagues. I was spotted by a non-League club, Molesey FC, before moving on to Hayes FC.

My move into professional football was rags to riches stuff. I was spotted by an Albion scout who soon became the club’s manager, Ronnie Allen. He was so convinced I would make it he paid the £5,000 transfer fee with his own money and told the board to pay it back when I made it.

Council housing seemed to be in my blood, and when I moved to West Brom - even though they were a top club at the time - I lived in a council property. Imagine that happening to a Premier League player today? Still, to me it represented home comforts.

I was an aspiring footballer just turning professional, but there weren‘t many black guys in the game, and general attitudes at the time meant that the club didn’t quite know how to handle the situation so they just put the word out to see if anyone would take in this black guy coming up from London.

My landlady Natalie Groce had a son who worked in a factory and he heard they needed someone to put me up. I packed my bags in July 1977 and moved into her council house at 9 Maple Court, Dudley Road, Smethwick.

Natalie was a lovely lady and I still see her today. She is 94 and lives in a people’s home and is sadly suffering from dementia but she really looked after me.

I lived there for two years during an amazing period in my life. I was this raw kid from London who forced his way into the first team and I began scoring lots of goals. Along with my fellow black team-mates, Laurie Cunningham and Brendon Batson, we were household names and the first black British players to really make waves at one club. We became known as the Three Degrees - a phrase coined by the then West Brom manager Ron Atkinson - and it stuck.

Sometimes there was a shocking racist reaction from fans. You’d get up to 20,000 people booing you and calling you names – but we had a team full of talented footballers including Tony Brown and Bryan Robson and it was lot of fun.

I bought my own house when I was 21, which was in Handsworth Wood, and from there never really looked back, eventually going on to play for England. But I’ll always remember the upbringing and influences that made me who I am.

So much has changed since then, in both the attitudes of authorities and those in the street, and it has sometimes become fashionable to criticise and dismiss social housing. But my family was eternally grateful for what it gave us.

You must remember, people living in rented accommodation had lived in fear of landlords who ripped them off, so a lot of families were made to feel safe and secure in difficult times.

For me, it was a massive progression and it made me who I am. But like everything else in life it isn’t just the housing, but the people who matter most - their mentality, their hearts and their behaviour.

It is not where you live or what you’ve got, but the type of person you are that that counts, and I was influenced by so many good people in those areas.”

CYRILLE REGIS PROFILE:

Cyrille Regis was a powerful and skilful centre-forward who played eleven times for England at senior and under-21 level. He scored 205 goals in 701 games during a 20-year professional career with West Bromwich Albion, Coventry City (where he won an FA Cup winners medal in 1987), Aston Villa, Wolves, Chester and Wycombe Wanderers, and picked up the PFA’s Young Player of the Year Award in 1979.

Cyrille’s brother Dave was also a professional footballer, while his cousin is John Regis, the famous British former Olympic sprinter.

Since retiring, Cyrille worked briefly as a football coach but is now a registered Player’s Agent. He is a devout Christian and a spokesman for many charities including Water Aid. He is also president of the Midland Junior Premier Football League.