Albion have praised the "fantastic" team effort that ensured stricken Glenn Murray was in good hands at Newcastle.

They have paid tribute to their own medical staff, Newcastle Football Club and the Royal Victoria hospital following Murray's clash of heads with Federico Fernandez.

Murray has made a good recovery from the accidental collision with the Newcastle defender in the early stages of Saturday's 1-0 victory, which immediately caused widespread concern at St James' Park.

The Argus understands the striker swallowed his tongue in the incident as well as being knocked unconscious.

The speedy response by Albion's senior medical staff on the bench meant Murray received the urgent treatment he required.

Albion have written a letter of thanks to Newcastle for all their help, including arrangements for Murray's wife, children and parents who were at the match.

Chief executive Paul Barber (centre right) has also expressed gratitude to NHS staff after Murray was stretchered off and taken by waiting ambulance to the Royal Victoria Infirmary.

The Argus: Barber told The Argus: "We are delighted that Glenn is okay. It was a nasty clash of heads.

"You will have incidents like that in matches up and down the country on a fairly frequent basis but nothing quite as serious.

"The first thing is the speed with which Adam Brett, our head of medical services, and (club) Doctor Stephen Lewis got onto the pitch.

"I think it was measured as something like 11 seconds from bench to player.

"In a situation where a player is in a very serious condition on the pitch, speed is of the essence.

"Adam came to us from England rugby, where head injuries are very common, so his understand of the criticality of speed in that situation comes from that background as well.

"It shows that the medics have to be alert on the bench to what is going on in the game, then reacting.

The Argus: "The referee, Andre Marriner (above), was excellent. He immediately called for assistance, which in those situations you would expect the referee to do but sometimes they get shocked by what they see and there's a delay.

"But in this case absolutely not. He (Marriner) was first class, as were the other players, both on our side and Newcastle players.

"They were very quick to realise a fellow professional was in quite serious trouble and wanted assistance onto the pitch as quickly as possible.

"All those things combined were excellent and, once the medics got to Glenn, these are the sort of incidents they train for.

"They did everything they could to get the situation under control, stabilise Glenn's condition and make sure at the point he was moved he was in the proper condition to be moved, with a neck brace in place.

"Then I think the praise switches to the paramedics on the scene, Newcastle's operational management which was excellent, to have the ambulance in exactly the right position at exactly the right time.

"And then, within half-an-hour of the incident, Glenn had his scan. Full credit to the hospital and staff for the thoroughly professional way in which they managed the incident and also the speed with which they treated our player.

"We would like to pay tribute to the staff there and thank them, as Glenn did, for their professionalism and hard work. Sometimes their work goes unnoticed and it's very easy to forget that a whole team of people, in addition to our staff, helped Glenn on Saturday.

"We've also sent a letter of thanks to Newcastle. Their staff behind the scenes helped us because Glenn's family were all in the stadium, his wife, his kids, his mum and dad.

"So we had to manage communication with them and get them to the hospital as well.

"Newcastle couldn't have been more helpful or supportive. So all-round we were delighted that Glenn's okay, as was Newcastle's player involved in the incident, but also very grateful for the support and co-operation we received from everybody up in the north-east who were magnificent."

Brett and Lewis were not the only members of Albion's medical team to make the trip to Newcastle.

Barber revealed: "Not a lot of clubs do this but we had a third medic travelling with us, Adam Johnson (assistant head physio), who went in the ambulance with Glenn, which enabled us to maintain two senior medics at the pitch.

"All these things are part of the investment in the non-technical football side of the club that are very important we have got the best possible care when we've got millions of of pounds worth of talent out on the pitch every week.

"It does also show what a great job the NHS is still doing. In these situations there is probably no better country in the world than ours when it comes to trauma situations and having the right people in the right place at the right time. it was just a fantastic team effort."

The Argus: Barber has also praised the reaction of Newcastle fans in the crowd of over 50,000 - and cleared up why stretcher-bearers (above) were seemingly slow to get to Murray.

Barber said: "The Newcastle crowd were fantastic, very supporting, a very decent human-being reaction.

"They were a bit harsh on the stretcher-bearers but we understand why, because it looks like they are not rushing.

"They are actually not allowed to run. The last thing you want is for a stretcher-bearer to fall over.

"Their job is to get there as quickly as they can but as efficiently as they can and, when they get to the patient, if they have been running their heartrate and adrenaline levels are going to be a lot higher and decision-making is more difficult.

"They are trained to get on the pitch as quickly as they can but not sprinting. The most important thing is the most senior medics in the ground (Lewis and Brett) were with the player, in 11 seconds in this case."