West Brom pay tribute to Liam Payne as former One Direction star dies
West Brom have offered their condolences after former One Direction star Liam Payne passed away on Wednesday, 16 October.
Payne tragically lost his life after falling from the third floor of a hotel building in Buenos Aires, Argentina [The Mirror] and had only turned 31 in August.
The Wolverhampton-born singer was a proclaimed West Brom fan and the Championship club have now joined the tributes to him, releasing a statement via X (17 October) along with an image of him at one of their games at The Hawthorns.
The statement read: “We’re shocked and saddened to learn of the passing of Baggies fan and musician, Liam Payne.
“Our thoughts are with Liam’s family, friends and loved ones at this tragic time.”
Liam Payne was a West Brom fan
Payne expressed his admiration for the Baggies when he appeared in Soccer Aid in 2022, saying [The Daily Mail]: “I don’t get to the games as often as I’d like though.”
In 2017, the West Midlands club notably joined in congratulating him on the birth of his son via social media.
Taking to X (Twitter then), West Brom posted a customised shirt for the baby and jokingly told Payne to make sure his son is an Albion fan too.
Payne also had opened up about arguments with his then-girlfriend Cheryl Cole over their support for the Baggies and Newcastle respectively.
Speaking on Capital, as quoted by BirminghamLive (21 February, 2018), he said: “I’m a West Brom fan, but that’s not the problem.
“Sometimes it is! Well, this is the thing, I mean Cheryl’s not really that massively into football but she likes to bring up where they’re from.”
Payne made a name for himself as one of the members of the popular boy band One Direction before they went their separate ways in 2016.