Few book launches end with their star dressed as Freddie Mercury, serenading the crowd, chest hair exposed.

In 2002, at a victory parade to celebrate Albion’s second promotion in as many seasons, the club’s then-Assistant Manager, Bob Booker, treated thousands of fans to a costumed rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody from the balcony of the civic reception organised for the team. Fifteen years on, yellow jacket and decorative ice cube at the ready, Booker recreated the scene in preposterous fashion for the benefit of a special podcast recording in honour of this Albion legend.

Part jester, part exceptional coach, Booker was joined tonight by Mark McGhee, the manager who he helped to mastermind one of the most memorable days in the club’s history, when a gritty Albion side won the 2004 play-off final at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium to secure promotion to the Championship.

Booker and McGhee would have made great entertainers had they never become professional footballers, and their anecdotes highlighted the very different age they operated in during their time at the club. With a shoestring budget far removed from the Premier League riches the club now enjoys, the pair’s success was remarkable.

Booker was under strict instructions, he recalled, to take potential new signings on tours of the seafront rather than the ramshackle Withdean Stadium and makeshift training facilities, and he was a tireless sidekick to McGhee – now Assistant Manager of Scotland – as they brought the best out of the likes of tempestuous striker Leon Knight and local boy Adam Virgo.

The presenters for the evening, Ady Packham and Alan Wares, of radio show The Albion Roar, skilfully drew a string of stupendous stories from their guests, many of which nodded to author Greville Waterman’s excellent book, Ooh-Aah: The Bob Booker Story.

As cult heroes and charmers, Booker and McGhee’s folkloric status is unquestionable.