Preface

A Year In The Saddle.
My 1998/99 Walsall FC Diary.

I got my first PC in early 1998, having not owned a computer since my Sinclair Spectrum died a decade earlier after one of Sir Clive's budget chip-boards burned out. Predominantly bought to co-write & produce our new fanzine One Step Beyond it also offered the opportunity to create an electronic diary of what should have been a pretty mundane if not miserable season.

In July 1998 we were nailed on 98/99 relegation favourites, had an inexperienced manager - Ray who?, Boli & Hodge were either gone or on their way and others were desperate to follow. Indeed the ultra popular Jeff Peron was looking like the last survivor in a game of bulldog, our star asset wriggling clear as the faithful tried in vein to hang onto him.

Oh, and the majority shareholder and landlord wasn't being particularly communicative with press or public nor especially sympathetic as the rent at WS1 became more and more of an issue amongst fans. Hope wasn't as crushed as it is in 2012, but it wasn't that much different.

What happened over the next nine and a half months was as close to a miracle as you'll ever see. Granted ultra discipline, togetherness, an unbelievable work ethic and the fact that everyone wanted to beat Manchester City all helped but Ray Graydon crafted the only team I have ever seen that was better on grass than it ever looked on paper and proved that impossible doesn't exist. Misfits, cast-offs, those no-one else wanted and a couple of kids came together and blended to become the most efficient football team I've ever seen in Walsall shirts.

And whilst they weren't unbeatable, they never accepted defeat until the referee's final whistle ensured there was no way back. They fought for themselves and each other like no other, although Jason Brissett did stretch this theory and Graydon's patience to the limit.

It was, without doubt, the best season I've ever had Walsall FC watching and I was lucky enough to create the following. I haven't edited it, barring spelling errors and the occasional libel avoiding swerve, so it is how I felt on each day.

Apologies if you're a wolves fan, an ex-Villa striker who fell out with John Gregory & Ulrika, a football stadium landlord, a majority shareholder of a football club, the apologetic mouthpiece of the aforementioned landlord or shareholder, a sun tanned former director of football or a fan of Roger Boli - some of the following may twang a nerve or two.

However if you're a Walsall fan looking for a reason to believe a decade and a half on then please dig in and hopefully enjoy. Miracles really do happen. I was there.