Sun 30th August

We’re up to third place in the table on the back of yesterday's win and although there’s only four league games gone it feels kinda good.

Sat 29th August - Burnley

Our old friends Burnley are in town.  Burnley, the sleeping giants of the lower leagues - now how many times have I heard that? More like a hibernating tortoise (© Kev Wellings).

The Clarets aren’t the most popular of visitors, mainly due to the floodlight incident at Turf Moor a couple of years ago. 1 - 0 up, the winners away to Liverpool and the fucking lights go out.

As this part of East Lancashire are still in a pre-decimalisation time-warp it appears that the leccy meter only accepts bobs and shillings and they were all out of them. The strange coinage that is the fifty pence piece won’t go into the meter so we’ll have to come back in five days, pay to get in again and lose on penalties.

Strangely Burnley fans seem to think were bitter and twisted about this. Too right I am.

The Clarets are fairly well supported away from home and this always creates a decent atmosphere under the Bescot roof. Hence the fact that there have been a number of cracking games between the two sides over the past decade and this one can also be added to that list.

The away side started very brightly and should have led when their big number 9 Andy Cooke blazed over ala Ronnie Rosethial. They also grazed the post mid way through the first period. The Saddlers came back however and seized the initiative on the half hour. Porter’s shot was blocked and Brissett followed in to register his first league goal in Walsall colours. The boys saw the half out comfortably and produced some real quality forward movement arguably last sighted in the Kevin Wilson era.

How reassuring it was to hear the cries of “shit ground, no fans” from the away end. Perhaps “nice ground, loads of empty seats and unreliable/very reliable (delete as applicable) floodlights”  is  a song we could rehearse for the return fixture.

The second half began with a good few minutes for Burnley but they never really tested Wacka. We then got a real grip of the game and should have extended our lead as Porter broke and shot wide when doubling our advantage would surely have been easier. The two Walsall central defenders clashed heads early in the half and both required treatment, as did the referee. The two players were tended to by each team’s physio but the ref was ignored to the great delight of all the fans in the ground.

The match restarted and Burnley soon levelled the game. A great cross and flick on left Clarets front man Gordon Armstrong to head home.  In all honesty, it was a real good quality goal. Burnley looked the more likely winners from this point but never really created another good enough chance.

Unlike the Saddlers.

Uncle Ray, unlike much of the crowd, had stuck with Ricketts through the game and his faith was duly repaid in the final minutes. Rico fed Brissett with a inch perfect pass, JB took his time and crossed beautifully for Darren Wrack to head home. The cross was so good that even I could have scored this one – in my dreams.

Wrack was then fouled in the box, got up and converted the spot kick. Rammell wanted it but Wrack told him to where to go. At this point the Burnley fans left the Stadium en-masse, obviously giving up hopes of the lights going out.

Three more points takes the total to ten and the month isn’t over. August has been a good month for us. We’ve shown a real desire to work hard and play to our strengths. Our discipline has been fantastic and the rewards for this have been obvious to see. Is this really the same team that laboured so badly in Scotland? Goodbye August and thank you.

Fri 28th August

Or was he pushed?

Thu 27th August

Last nights Worthington Cup draw paired us with Charlton. Well it would have done if we’d have triumphed last night. I’ve never been to the Valley so it’s a bit of a blow. I remember a couple of good wins over the Addics in the late 80’s (and a less memorable 3 -0 er at Selhurst Park). Happy Days.

Ruud, a personal God of mine, returns to English football as Kenny Dalglish jumps at Newcastle United.

Wed 26th August - Q.P.R.

My first visit to Loftus Road.  Straight to the game from work meant I left the house at 5:40 in the morning and expect to be home around 1am tomorrow. I really must be mad. 

The somewhat cheerful trip down to the smoke was in stark contrast to the opening day trip to Gillingham where the Smiths to centre stage on the stereo and talk of relegation filled the car. Who said a fortnight was a long time in football? Jan Sorensen?

The Saddlers appeared to have exited their dressing room at about the same time that we left the Springbok pub so things must be serious.  One day we might even see the kick off, which would be in stark contrast to Brentford last season where we only just made the kick off for the second half. High hopes we had that day! This mood of optimism is a concern.

The game mirrored the first leg with QPR taking the fight to a well organised and disciplined Walsall back four. Mike Sheron had a couple of chances early and really should have scored. Had he not been shit he probably would have. 

As the half wore on the reds began to have more of say and whilst never quite dictating the game finished the half impressively. The second half saw Saddlers much more dominant and it came as a bit of a shock when QPR drew first blood.  Sheron taking advantage of some poor defending.  

At this point their keeper decided to thank the Walsall fans behind his goal for their teams generosity by sticking two fingers up at us. What a sad, irritating, sing when you’re winning bastard. 

The boys fought back well and the recently introduced Micky Ricketts crossed for Rammell to head goalwards with nine minutes left. The goalkeeper fumbled the initial header and Rammell made sure in the ensuing scramble. 

Not such a smart arse now is he? More of a lanky fuckwit.  

Extra time saw QPR take the tie with a goal in each half but the celebration that followed the third goal left another bad taste in the mouth. Following Slade’s goal he turned 180 degrees to salute the away fans with his arms raised and his head nodding. Only one word will suffice here - wanker.

  

Despite this ill feeling the performance was again very creditable and we exited the competition and West London with our heads held high.

Mon 24th August

It appears that the Club are trying to force Jeff Peron’s hand in staying or going. I don’t blame them. If Peron, who at the end of the day is a quality player on quality money, isn’t interested in playing for us then he should go.

And if the only Clubs interested in signing him are only of a similar standard to us then that should tell him something. At 32 he cannot afford to waste time playing Pontins football against Rochdale reserves and Uncle Ray knows this. He needs to decide to stay or go and soon and reserve football will probably make the decision a little easier.

The reserves, by the way, drew one a-piece with the Dale.

Sat 22nd August - Wycombe

WWFC today, so it’s personal. Not the riff-raff from up the road but the upwardly mobile ones from Buckinghamshire. A thirteen big ones entry fee lightened the load on the old wallet - and they say football still belongs to the working classes!  It would if the working classes were taking home £28k per annum.

Didn’t see many signs of the blue collar worker around Adams Park. However we did see plenty of evidence of red collar workers as the Saddlers grafted their arses off to secure another handy triple pointer.

The home side offered little and the reds accepted another OG, appearing again alongside a tidy Rammell finish in front of a sizeable Saddlers contingent. As the ball hit the back of the net I remembered just what it was like. Twelve relatively inactive weekends had allowed the memory to falter slightly but it was crystal clear again. There is no, and I mean no, feeling like the ball hitting the back of the opposition net.

Wayne Dyer appeared for his debut and has legs that resemble those of Moses Kiptanui. Man of the Match was probably Andy Rammell, who led the line magnificently and grafted all afternoon when we didn’t have the ball.

The Walsall aces take fourth place in the table and I’m feeling a little giddy already. Surely it can’t go on like this.

Thu 20th August

The day after the night before. Albion crashed out pitifully at Brentford 3 - 0 but the mighty Barnet suffer at the hands of Bull & Keane FC.  The Star says that Bully looked like the player he was ten years ago. That’s probably because he was playing against the same shit he was ten years ago. Young Robbie is apparently not for sale but then neither was Freedman or Claridge or Jason Roberts or.....

The real bad news today however is the loss for the season of  John Kiester.  JK was unquestionably playing the best football of his Walsall career and this is a massive blow to both the team and the player.

Uncle Ray is also reported to have signed Wayne Dyer on a short term contract. Wayne who?

Mon 17th August

The E&S seem unsure of what to make of it all. They report the impressive shape, system and the tightness of the back four but note the lack of a genuine goalscorer. This is also known as sitting on the fence and waiting to see where we are ten games down the line. However given the league start and the mess we made of the Scotland fixtures I think everyone is confused at present.

Wednesday’s visit to QPR is off due to home players having international commitments in the Northern Ireland game that has been cancelled out of respect following the Omagh bomb.  Efforts were apparently made to put the game back on but the police objected or something.

An objecting police force or an objectionable police force? Given it’s the Met, I guess it’s safe to conclude that it’s both?

Sat 15th August - Northampton Town

Old favourites Northampton opened the home league campaign at Bescot and who will ever forget cuddly Johnny Gayle and his black belt manoeuvre on Wacka last Christmas.

Playing seventy nine minutes without a keeper is not the easiest thing in the world which was in stark contrast to the referee’s decision that followed the ‘infringement’.  Red card, early shower, cheerio - no problemo. Well any competent referee would have seen it that way, indeed I suspect that even Stevie Wonder would have seen this one. Everyone except that is twat who was refereeing on that particular afternoon who failed to witness what the rest of the stadium so blatantly saw.

Personally, I hate Northampton Town. Not in the way I hate wolves, it’s more to do with their style of play, or more to the point, their lack of style. I hate the way Kevin Wilson, once the beloved Kevin Wilson - pass and mover, appears to follow their negative footballing philosophies. I hate the niggle that inevitably comes with the over physicality and the entertainment value that rivals that at a funeral.

Uncle Ray stated in Fridays press that last year was old news and we had to forget about it. Fair enough, but he wasn’t there.

Last year, this was the type of game that would have resulted in defeat. Probably before half time, to be honest. Not any more. Uncle Ray has crafted an impressive resilience, a welcome solidness and decent shape into the shambles that was 1997/98 and we looked pretty comfortable against a very robust and determined Northants.

Nil each was the least we deserved and had we converted one of the few opportunities we had then the visitors may have opened up and been there for the taking.  Watson and Rammell both had chances but to be fair the visiting keeper did well.

The Cobblers started with Plan A (hoof it as far as you can), struggled to get a foot in the game, switched to Plan B (stick to Plan A) and created bugger all really. We weren’t going to concede if we had played until Sunday tea time but needed to take one of our chances. This wasn’t to be but we’re still unbeaten and clean sheeted at the back. Which is nice.

Wed 12th August

The local paper seem not to have noticed the wolves defeat at Barnet and ignore the story on the back page.  No change there then.

Tue 11th August - Q.P.R.

Now I prefer to remember it as the Milk Cup, for obvious reasons, but we’re supposed to refer to it as the Worthington Cup these days. I happen to think that it’s a crappy name for the compo but it’s just a man thing.

QPR make their first appearance at Bescot and look an average first division side.  They showed movement up front, pretty good service from the flanks and a well organised back line.  Gavin Peacock maybe should be renamed Gavin Completecock after a performance like that in those bright red boots. I’m not sure who the referee was but he must have been close to either thumping him or poking his eyes out as Gavin tried to run the game by continually whinging at him.

Saddlers gave as good as we got in an even and particularly tight game containing very few chances. Kevin Gallen impressed massively on his previous outings at Bescot - in the England under 18 shirt - but his second half miss will take some topping this term. Indeed, that miss was as poor as Johnny Kiester was good in an all round top showing from JK. Man of the Match material again.

It’s all square going into the 2nd leg and if we play like we did tonight we’ll be in with a chance.

On the domestic front Albion scrape a win in their home leg against Brentford. Oh, and wolves seem to have been beaten by the mighty Barnet...Oh dear.

Mon 10th August

Pick up the Walsall Express & Star and read about the win on Saturday. They were pretty impressed with us, I wasn’t with them. wolves, Villa and West Brom player by player reports is OK in their local editions but no Walsall ones in the Walsall edition. Cheers lads, much appreciated.

Sat 8th August - Gillingham

It has taken its time but the all new football season is with us.  One final chance for the Saddlers to begin the new millennium in the First Division is the prize on offer. Right now I’d settle for avoiding relegation and another cup run.

We set off on the 370 round trip with The Smiths setting the tone of our aspirations for the next nine months. There is great, often unnoticed humour in Morrisey’s work but, for today at least, Girlfriend in a Coma is a worthy comparison with our hopes and concerns for what awaits. Pessimism absolutely abounds. In bucket loads.

We arrive at Priestfield at around 2 o’clock and head to the nearest boozer for a pint or two of liquid painkiller. An hour in the beer garden makes interesting listening as some clever dick local, obviously unaware that we are there, chooses to take the piss out of today’s visitors. The crap he spouts is unbelievably ignorant and arrogant – the normal Southern bollocks - hence we chose to enjoy the beer and ignore the arse.

The boys start off brightly and boss the game for the opening twenty minutes. There is no place for Peron and Ray has three strikers on the bench - enough to give Chris Nicholl a coronary I imagine. Thirty three minutes into the new season and the Reds draw first blood. A fairly routine long ball over the top skims off Gills debutante Darren Carr’s head, over our old friend Vince Bartram and into the home net. 1 - 0 to the Saddlers and the sizeable travelling fans go barmy. How long’s left? Eight months, three weeks and 57 minutes but who’s counting? Me.

We look really well organised, difficult to break down and they are always key ingredients to any good second division side. Play like this for 46 games and mid-table isn’t unachievable.

The Gills wanted to pass the ball around and this gave our back four lots time to organise themselves and we looked comfortable.  Hodgy disappeared from the game – I’ve heard that before (more than once) and the Saddlers held out for a great, opening day win. Three points from an away start can’t be bad.  Man of the Match was probably between Porter (yes really) and Kiester but in truth there were really fourteen of them.

Now after listening to all that crap for much of the hour before kick-off, how I’d have loved to bump into the aforementioned beer garden nob on his miserable walk home. 1-0, fuck off.

Fri 7th August

The Express and Star back page screams “Peron says non” as our mercurial talent turns down the Keegan and Al Fayed bankroll. Clearly the E&S sports desk either didn’t hear about last night or were a damn sight braver than those at the Meet the Manager thingy, because I wouldn’t have gone back there.

For what it’s worth, it looks as if someone thought it may be a good idea to swap Jeff Peron (one of the more popular people in Walsall) for Steve Hayward (presently one of the Town’s less popular people). Blimey. There’s a word for people who come up with notions like this and it rhymes with rick.

Thu 6th August

Uncle Ray is appearing at a meet the manager night so the lads decide to attend.  Ray seems a decent, honest chap with definite ideas on how to play, train and behave.  He appears to have total faith in what he is trying to do and the way he wishes to lead the Club.  He answered most the questions thoroughly and to the best of his ability but on a few occasions skirted around the answer, perhaps he should have been a politician.

Footballers are generally not the most intelligent apparently, “I give them one job to do and expect them to do it. We won’t be asking square pegs to fit into round holes.”

Ray also categorically states that Jeff Peron hasn’t signed for Fulham and when pushed by one fan he got pretty shirty, informing the poor chap that he wasn’t a liar, that he didn’t like the inference that he was a liar and silenced the room like a headmaster walking into an out of control chemistry class and shooting the teacher between the eyes.

After that everyone else was too scared to ask anything anymore taxing than whether Ray preferred Rice Crispies or Weetabix for brekkie. For what it’s worth I’d hazard a guess that he’s a Kellogg’s cornflake man myself and is repulsed by the thought of highly tuned athletes tucking into sugar puffs, coco pops or pop tarts.

He also reveals that he has signed Neil Davies on a short term contract.

Wed 5th August

Good news on the back of the paper as Brissett and Wrack sign contracts - something which makes a nice change. Usually we let anyone with a bit of potential and a decent performance behind them jump into the wolves scout’s car and pop down the A454 to have a chat about a potential move to the custard bowl before realising we’ve missed out on them.

Tue 4th August

Phone the Club in an attempt to speak to Roy Whalley, however he’s on annual leave until the 12th of this month. From the outside it does seems a strange time to go on holiday, given we’ve had a 6-8 week break and have season tickets to sell plus new contracts and registrations to sort. I guess that this must be a quiet time in the conference season.

Mon 3rd August - Sheffield Wednesday

Sheffield Wednesday visit Bescot for our final pre season run out and the visitors fielded what appeared to be a relatively strong side.  Paulo Di Canio looked pretty skilful and if he considered passing the ball from time to time he wouldn’t half be a player.

The Saddlers included triallists Tony Whitter (who also appeared at Stafford), Darren Wrack and Jason Brissett.  Chris Marsh also finally appeared - apparently he was injured all along - replacing the impressive Matt Gadsby at full back.

The Owls looked a poor Premiership side and what they did manage to create was wasted by poor final touches or abysmal finishing. In contrast, Walsall finally performed however and the 2400 payers enjoyed a pretty good game and a super Walsall display.  Indeed a gate of 2400 justified the lower pricing policy with the Alsop End very nicely populated.  Was ISSA right to push for lower prices?  I think so.

On the footballing side Jason Brissett stole the show with a stunning free kick, an assist for Andy Rammell and a generally top rate performance. Johnny Kiester also impressed and barring the almost obligatory sloppy set piece goal that we conceded it was a faultless night.  I’ll just pinch myself to check it isn’t a dream.

Sat 1st August

Apparently we won 3 - 0.  Triallist Darren Wrack notched a brace and Andy Watson got the other. The team was reported as overflowing with triallists and I’ve lost count of these buggers now. Wrack is only in his early twenties apparently, which is obviously far too young for us.