Tue 29th December

So the old year ends with little more than a whimper.  I suppose the fact that we’re still a second Division outfit is something to be thankful for as is Mr Graydon’s appointment and the reduction in the irritating babble our ex-Chairman and current owner enjoys sharing with anyone willing to listen.  The Club seems to be moving in the right direction for the first time in two or three seasons and the playing staff is possibly as strong as is has been for ages.  The kids are emerging and the days of Porter and possibly even Adie Viveash look numbered.

One thought for the unlucky Johnny Kiester who could have learned so much from Uncle Ray.  He didn’t have as far to go as either Roper or Platty but now may have played his last game.  When you hear that Madrid are offering McManaman 110 grand a week and you compare it with JK’s current position then you realise that not all footballers are benefiting from Jean Marc Bosman and his legal eagles.

1998 was a mixed year.  The respectability earned at Old Trafford was blown by late March in a combination of players who should have known (and done) better, a board of directors happy to play the tune of the Chairman and a Manager who had lost the faith everyone except the supporters. The players simply didn’t give a shit for him, us, the Club or themselves and basically let everyone down.  

Conversely, the manager and fans cared like hell and yet the board provided us with Edyle,  Tholot and Gisbert Bos a Rotherham reserve whose Walsall career ludicrously never even began, let alone finished.  

Autumn and Winter were better.  Rammell and Pointon arrived without fanfare, as did Wrack.  Indeed the only fuss was over Brissett's arrival following what so far has been his best game for us at home to Sheffield Wednesday.  The subsequent arrivals of Green,  Pingu and Otta were also ignored by both the Gold & Black and Claret & Blue obsessed press but have all enjoyed success. 

The French quartet have thankfully gone, none of whom are worthy of a place in this current side. Granted Peron was comfortably good enough but work rate under the Graydon masterplan would always have been an issue.  The loss of Hodge hasn’t been noticed and if we could pick up a natural goalscorer to partner Rammell then the early season promise will surely be fulfilled.

The arrival of the halfway mark in the season also means we are no longer the early pacesetters and the boys deserve credit for keeping it going.

On a final note - the JWB labelled "best squad ever assembled at Bescot" has been ruthlessly demolished and rebuilt within 6 months by a man who has spent £30,000. This team would batter the previous one to within an inch of their lives, leave them breathlessly crawling along the gutter and still have not broken into sweat. There is simply no comparison.

Best squad at Bescot? Utter shite. This is the best squad we have seen at Bescot.

Mon 28th December - Wigan Athletic

When you’ve just dropped valuable points at home and need a win pretty badly the last place on earth a Walsall supporter would choose to go is Wigan.  Last season when we urgently needed points was the desperate performance in a desperate season and probably sealed the fate of Big Jan. 

Even when we have been the best side in the division we’ve always contrived to get bugger all from this dog hole and we got naff all here today either.

The story at Wigan is an old one and it’s been repeated more times than Faulty Towers.  We create bugger all,  they take their first chance and go on to win comfortably as our performance degenerates below the quality seen on Hackney Marshes.

Yes, all this played out in front of an uncovered relic of a terrace and a wooden stand that was either never finished or they started knocking it down within days of it being finished. 

Springfield Park is a combination of the worst parts of Halifax, Exeter and Rochdale. The Layer Road of the North.

Perhaps when those grounds were improved Wigan went tatting for the gubbins that were left over.  Indeed as they wait for their new ground to be constructed Wigan have devised a cunning plan to save money.  Simply let the old ground fall down.

There is little point in going over the old story of how we managed to lose here again and the only points of note were a chance for Wrack at 0 - 0 and the confirmation that Simpson is surely not good enough to fritter a substantial amount of money on him. In ninety minutes he never managed to beat his man once and without us having any serious pace up front he has to go past people to create time for the front two to get into  dangerous positions.  Hednesford material if ever I’ve seen it.

Stuart Barlow scored both Wigan goals and they spent the last ten minutes trying to create a third for him as we had the piss taken out of us.  An altogether forgetful afternoon that bore more resemblance to the pre June Walsall than the version that exists now.

Sun 27th December


That penalty is really irritating me today.  Page 325 on Ceefax could have looked so much better and in total desperation I checked ITV teletext on the off chance that they had mis-calculated and made us top.  It was never going to be though and we had to suffer the indignity of only being second.

Sat 26th December - Wycombe


The visit of Wycombe provided more ups and downs than the average James Bond film as the Saddlers managed to defy gravity with their form.  At times we were hot, red hot and at times we were desperate, properly desperate.  The back four minus Ian Roper looked very shaky and the midfield minus Keates looked shot in the last twenty minutes.  Simpson would surely be more at ease in a bath of sharks than trying to go past a full back and Wrack blows hot and cold more often than a dodgy hairdryer.

The front two look good when the ball is fed to them, Rammell seems willing to die for the cause every week.  As for Gary Porter I’ve given up on him.  He is a shell of the player he was and how he got a two year deal heaven knows.  In many ways he is symbolic of the disaster that was last season. For me his two year deal was about 101 weeks too long.

Every Boxing day brings out a sizeable crowd and with it the Mr Hyde in the Saddlers.  One nil up and if not coasting then we were at worst pretty comfortable. Quite how we managed to mess up the chance of three points and the much coveted top spot is anyone's guess.  Fulham had won 2 - 0 in a midday kick off and we only had to win and score three to take top spot.  In reality we simply had to win.  We managed neither.

The opening goal followed good work by Marsh down the right and a sweet finish by Rammell. This really should have been doubled in a flash as Otta crashed one against the bar before Wrack messed up when he should have done better. We were creating enough to have won at a canter but just couldn’t find that second game killer goal.

The second half came as soon as the first half went and unfortunately it took our form with it. By now we were having the game dictated to us by Wycombe and it was hardly a surprise when the visitors levelled matters.  The shock was a mistake by Richard Green that led to the goal with the unusually named Jerome McSporran notching.

We immediately picked up the tempo in search of another and almost without delay won a penalty with Rammell being adjudged to have been fouled in the far corner of the box.  Maybe a tad harsh on the defender but hey who cares?  Pingu stepped up and blasted over ala Chris Waddle and joined the 1998 Bescot twelve yard hall of shame.

Wycombe took heart from this and grabbed the lead when another example of 1997/98 defending reared it’s ugly head.    The self destruct button had been pressed and if we were going to take top spot we were going to have to spin this game on its head. We almost did.

Rammell levelled matters with a kind of solo scramble at the back stick and I thought he had won it with a header following a free kick and an Otta flick.  However a loathsome cretin of a linesman flagged for offside and the goal was ruled out before it had even been chalked on. 

The game petered out as both sides looked too tired to push for a third goal and to be frank the only winner from this one were Fulham.

Tue 22nd December


Deano picked up a suspension on Saturday and is unavailable for the trip to Burnley on the day after the day after the eve before if you follow.

Mon 21st December


The Express & Star goes over the top in giving Walsall the same treatment as they usually save for the local teams.  Player profiles, colour pictures and the over the top hype that can only ever be written by a wolf loving journo.  

Uncle Ray gets similarly excited and offers a refund to anyone who didn’t enjoy the match.  Well for forty nine minutes I had zero enjoyment and the last ten were absolute hell.  Perhaps I could claim five pounds fifty back?

Sun 20th December


Four minutes away from top spot.  PNE/Fulham was goalless until the 86th minute where Fulham mercilessly snatched the points and top spot from right under our noses.

Sat 19th December - Stoke City

Questions, questions. And they all needed answering.

Today was our stiffest examination of our credentials and to be honest we graduated with flying colours.  The GCSE rejects of last term have flowered into the brightest of sparks that they are today.  The team that looked odds on during a painful summer to be relegated have come through, blossomed and look a more than useful side.  The P word is on the tip of my tongue and should we mess this season up, missing the automatic places and the play offs then the rest of this poxy division had better watch out next time round. Graydon has us on the march and after today I suspect that everyone knows it.

Ok, we only won by the odd goal but the manner in which we did it was superb.  The openly, if not overly respectful Saddlers of the opening minutes quickly overcame their stage fright and scared the living daylights out of the league leaders to the point that for much of the first hour Stoke resembled rabbits frozen by the glare of the headlights from an oncoming articulated lorry.

Only a combination of poor finishing and bad luck kept the scoreline down as Walsall simply overran an organised and functional visiting side.  The Clayheads have done much better than many people expected this term and have basically led the division from the start of the season but they surely haven’t run into a better footballing side than us.  Our speed of thought, our movement and our passing was a thrill as the hard miles of training ground work blossomed into the performance so far this season.

The back four nullified the Potters attack, the midfield eventually got the better of their compatriots and Rammell and Otta ran the legs off a pretty lead footed Stoke back four.

Following a nervy start the boys got into full flow and created a fair amount of chances.  Wrack looped a header over the bar,  Otta and Keates mis-hit chances before Rammell connected with a long ball and smashed his shot onto the top of the bar with the keeper well beaten.  If that had gone in the place would have exploded.

Chances were coming regularly though and in reality the only problems Stoke were causing us were down our right as Brian Small used his pace to good effect.  He really is pretty pacy and each time Wrack attacked him he always had that extra yard of pace to fall back on.

Unlike the defender on the other side.

As half time approached Pingu fed Pointon a diagonal ball which teased the right back into a lunge, Pointon saw it, cut inside and slipped his opponent.  He then crossed a perfectly measured centre for Rammell to dive full length and do what he does best.  From the second that the ball left NP’s foot it was a goal, Rambo, with a free header to meet, was never going to miss that one.

Bescot went absolutely fucking potty. The foundations tested to the max as the place literally shook in celebration, indeed I honestly can’t remember another moment like it at our new(ish) place.  Marshy’s goal against Leeds came close but was at the other end, Rammell did it in front of his people.  A class finish from a class act.

Half time came and went and the second half followed much the same pattern.  Stoke seemed unable to get into the game and the hideously one footed Kevin Keen looked badly, if not embarrassingly, out of his depth.

We picked up two bookings for timewasting and Stoke received the same punishment for a two footed tackle and an elbow.  Good to see that the punishments are measured with the same punishment. Both Stoke players can count themselves lucky boys as either could have seen red instead of yellow.

As the game wore on the Saddlers fell further and further back and ended up defending our eighteen yard line. Those last ten minutes seemed longer than a night on the streets of Baghdad as Stoke produced an ariel raid into our penalty box that even Clinton and Blair would have envied. We held firm though, Stoke were never going to score, and took the points in a utterly faultless display.

I can't remember Walker having a shot to save in the whole ninety minutes although we did have to hack one chance off the line.

Elsewhere a clearly unfit Richard Green was inspired as he led a magnificent back four to another clean sheet.  In many ways Green had today typified the season so far.  So much bottle, determination and fight backed up with more than a hint of quality and pride in his job.

Gillingham must have a cracking backline if they could afford to let this fellow go.  He couldn’t run in the second half but still made it to the ball whenever he needed to and basically ran the show.   The sponsors gave Rammell the man of the match but no-one deserved it more than Ritchie Green.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Fri 18th December

There isn’t much more to say about tomorrow that hasn’t already been said.  

On the other hand there will be either a lot of questions answered or equally as many put forward depending on both the result and the manner in which it comes.  It looks as if Kyle will play and we’ll need to keep a close eye on the big man because although he’s coming back with nothing to prove he will still be desperate to fill the back of our net.

So, are we for real?

Thu 17th December


Only two days to go before the big day.  No not Christmas day,  two days to the Stoke game.  

I’ve glued the last six doors on my advent calendar shut and coloured them in because in all honesty the 25th is pretty meaningless compared to the 19th.

Presents will be opened on the morning of the 19th and the Queen’s speech is being brought forward to five to three so it doesn’t interfere with the big kick off.

With Fulham hopefully not winning at Preston North End we’ll go top f we can collect all three points. The last time we headed all twenty three other teams was in 1987 I’m told. I can’t remember it to be honest but I don’t think it will have felt as good as this might.

The pessimist in me worries that I'm getting too optimistic, that we will probably lose on Saturday and it will all be a massive anti climax but hey who cares.  We’re on the ride now and all those in the queue behind will have imagine what it’s like and wait until we’ve finished.

Wed 16th December

Ada is back in training and hoping to be available foe the weekend.  Richie Green is doubtful with the same back strain that kept him out of the Oldham exhibition and Uncle Ray appears reluctant to pitch the two rookies together again in an environment that will be far more testing than the one at Boundary Park.

Lancaster Gate-gate rumbles on as our 2006 World Cup bid appears to be in jeopardy as a consequence of yesterday’s news.  The newspapers seem to be going a bit soft as they give Kelly a fairly easy ride of it.  They do however put themselves in a possible libellous situation by reporting that he is a Blackpool fan.  I’d sue for that, I can tell you.  

Maybe he is a Blackpool fan after all.  That’d explain where he got his charmless personality from.   David Mellor chair of the Football Task Farce demands the resignation of Mr Wiseman on national TV.  He cites respect for the post as a reason to quit. 

Now correct me if I'm wrong but didn’t he wriggle & fight tooth and nail trying hang on to his cabinet post when he got caught out dabbling in a bit of extra curricular by the tabloids?  Didn’t he refuse to resign?

The European draws took place and pitted Man United against Inter Milan.  The other survivors in the Champions league are Real Madrid,  Bayern Munich, Kaiserslautern,  Juventus,  Dynamo Kiev and  Olympiakos.  The elite are, as Doug Ellis told Dwight Yorke,  in the UEFA Cup and they line up as Celta Vigo,  AS Roma,  Lyon,  Parma,  Marseille,  Bordeaux,  Athletico Madrid and Bologne.  Proof,  if it were ever required,  that Douggie is full of shite. 

Tue 15th December

A fairly quiet day explodes as dusk arrives with the resignation of  the ‘Bonnie’ Graham Kelly and the vote of no confidence in Clyde or Keith Wiseman as he prefers to be known.  Apparently they’ve been caught loaning out loadsamoney to the Welsh FA in exchange for World Cup voting favours. 


The scandal, will inevitably be referred to as Lancaster Gate-gate.  OK it’s a pretty stupid idea but surely non more so than the thought of restructuring the FA into a modern forward thinking organisation.

David Davies,  one of Kelly’s cronies steps into the breach on a temporary basis with Paulo Di Canio the bookies favourite not to replace sluggy in the long term.  

Inevitably Keith Wiseman takes the usual FA officer stance and buries his head in the sand hoping that his no confidence vote goes away.  No resignation, no dignified exit,  no respect for our game and no more than we have come to expect from a representative of our Association.  

Mon 14th December

The build up to the Stoke game begins as the sell out boards appear poised to go up.  Uncle Ray still finds fault with the boys performance at Oldham as he criticises the players for losing possession too easily.  He also demands the passing improves over the next few weeks and I’m pretty impressed by this.  He appears to ease off the players after disappointing results and pushes them harder following a good win.  

He’s also probably trying to keep their feet firmly on the floor but to be honest I’m floating about three feet in the air these days. Heady stuff.

Sun 13th December

It seems to me that if you’re going to win at places Oldham it is very important to get your foot in the door first.  We’ve now opened the scoring at Gillingham,  Wycombe,  Chesterfield,  Luton,  Wrexham,  Macclesfield and here and have gone on to win five, draw one and lose one. 

Our only away defeats so far have been the annual one at Wrexham,  Manchester City and Fulham.  The only sides expected to do well that we haven’t visited are Stoke and Reading and we’re the only side to take anything from Saltergate. 

In addition to this the current seventh placed side (Luton) are twelve points behind us.  It may be very premature to talk about the P word but the garden is looking very rosy.  Time for a lie down.

Sat 12th December - Oldham Athletic

In many ways this was as good as it can get.  We arrived at Boundary Park knowing that if we performed we would win and we did precisely that. 

Inside the first five minutes Pingu had a chance that he snatched at and a brilliant move featuring Marsh,  Rammell and Wrack culminated in Tarka heading home a brilliant opening goal.  The cross from Wrack was inch perfect and the header that followed was equally as accurate. 

We controlled the half with some superb movement and passing,  never really letting Oldham get foothold in the game.  Green had missed the game with a back strain and in the absence of the also injured Viveash our centre back partnership was Ian Roper and Matthew Gadsby(combined age 40).  They also happened to play very well.  

A bit of luck arrived on the half hour as Walker came for a ball he was never going to get and the subsequent header looped over our crossbar.  A rare mistake in a pretty good sequence of games for Jimmy.  Oldham were quickly punished for missing the chance as another cracking move saw Bjarne carry the ball 40 yards, a quick one two with Rammell and a wide ball to Simpson who crossed for the immaculate Rambo to head home.  A fantastic goal and the away crowd went potty. 

Thirty five minutes gone and all we needed to do was not be silly.  We weren’t.  In fact we missed a hatful of chances the final score would have embarrassed the Latics if we had only converted half of them.  Otta (twice),  Wrack,  Rammell and Keates had chances well saves by the impressive Oldham keeper.  He really was the difference between respectability and a hammering.  In particular his save from Rammell was unbelievable.

We eased off,  understandably so following the previous Tuesday night’s exploits,  and introduced Porter to sit in front of the inexperienced centre defensive pairing.  He did a pretty food job of it.  Watson replaced the Otta and Evans returned for the again faultless Marsh.  Otta was the outstanding player today and fully deserved the ovation he received on leaving the pitch. 

The game ended without and real problems for us to cope with and the points were ours.  This was without doubt the performance of a team that believes it is going to win.  The confidence around the team is higher than for a long time and the only blip on an otherwise perfect day was Fulham snatching second spot on goal difference after the buried Burnley  4 - 0. 

Bring on Stoke. 

Fri 11th December

The visit to Boundary Park tomorrow means that (a) we are closer to the moon than at almost any other English football ground (b) it’ll be freezing cold and (c) we need a result. 

With a tough schedule of games coming up we need to get something from a game that on-form we are probably expected to harvest something from.  I’ve never seen us score there let alone win so it’s coats at the ready and fingers crossed. 

Thu 10th December

Uncle Ray make another move for Paul Simpson as he takes him on loan for another month.  I wasn’t over impressed last time but it appears he may have been carrying an injury.  We haven’t got a natural left sided player so I guess he has to be worth another look.

Wed 9th December

Last night’s win came at a price.  Pointon and Green are doubtful for Oldham on Saturday and a suspension is looming for the again impressive Roper.  Uncle Ray was just pleased to make it through to the next round.

The reserves spank Pathetic Athletic or Wigan reserves as they prefer to be called 5 - 0.  They must be really crap.

Tue 8th December - Bristol Rovers

The road to Wembley, so effectively closed by PNE on Saturday,  is open again thanks to the contraflow that is the Auto Windscreen Shield and Bristol Rovers are the cones that represent tonight's challenge.  Our last sojourn in this compo left a devastated Saddlers contingent to make their way home from Hampshire on a Heroic Tuesday night and now having paid our dues and had our card stamped and we've simply got to win this poxy competition.  Wembley is the lifetime ambition I have no control over and I’m not certainly going to die until we get there.

At five past nine we were out,  2 - 0 down and having created umpteen chances and converted none things were looking pretty dire.  Seventy five minutes later we were through,  I’m not really sure how but in a cup tie the result dictates. Details about how good or bad we were are exactly that. Details, in cup ties simply don’t matter. 

Pingu, from the spot, reduced the defecit then Walter Otta levelled matters for the Saddlers and following a tense half hour of golden goal extra time,  or golden no-goals as it can now be known,  we entered a penalty shoot out.  They scored, we scored,  they missed, we missed  and so it went until Rammell stepped up.  

Clearly not wanting to take it the walk forward was a long one, as was Bob Willis style run up.  The scars of Lincoln still hadn’t appeared to have healed and despite hammering to ball into the centre of the goal you got the feeling that they still hadn’t.  The net bulged however and we were through. Rambo was again the hero in an already heroic season and if we continue in this vein we may just make those Magical Mystical Towers. 

To again comeback from two down shows the level of commitment and character these players have and perhaps one or two people are beginning to take us seriously.  Maybe even I am.

Manchester City plummet to even greater depths as they are beaten at home by Mansfield Town 2 - 0 in front of 3007 paying customers.  Patience may be wearing a little thin in Moss Side.

Mon 7th December

It's reported that young Robbie is back in training following his near fatal brush with the TV remote. Be brave young man.

Sun 6th December

Nob End draw the FA Cup holders at Deepdale in round three as Arsenal follow ball 42 out of the pot.  I’m a tad disappointed but not overly so.  The twin towers are possible on two fronts if we apply ourselves correctly over the next twenty odd games.  We have few distractions and I reckon we should go it big time. 
For the record we will also cheering for Bolton on third round day.  The devil’s children followed the Trotters out of the ridiculous transparent TV friendly plastic box and hopefully the great cup run will end there.  Also Albion visit Bournemouth and Villa have a testing tie at home to Hull City.  It can’t be any easier than that Norwegian Ladies Pub side they almost tripped over against last September.  Come on Hull.

Sat 5th December - Preston North End

That’s all folks. We came, we saw, we lost, we're out.

Preston are one of the better Second Division sides and I’ll be surprised if come the spring they’re not around the shake up. A very well organised and tight unit with more than a touch of ability running throughout the side. They've spent well.

The game itself was very tight and a single goal always looked very likely to win the game. Ray surprised me by changing a winning side, turning a blind eye to one of those golden rules he appears to be loath to break. Rammell and Evans returned to the line up with Marsh switching to left wing. Platt and Watson were the unlucky ones.

The two sides basically stood toe to toe and slugged out a high quality first half, neither team taking a step backwards or concede anything in the quest for an advantage. Chances however, were few and far between with PNE probably feeling the most disappointed at the break. Especially when we escaped a nailed on penalty claim on the stroke of half time when Green tripped Nogan inside the box.

The second half followed much the same pattern as the first as both sides went for the knockout blow. It eventually came on the hour as Wayne Evans found himself outpaced down our right and when Green and Nogan simultaneously challenged for the ball it looped over Jimmy Walker and almost apologetically crossed the line.

We were in trouble now, probably having to chase a goal in order to force a replay, however the match, as a contest, ended before we'd even reshaped as moments after the first Paul McKenna fired home an unstoppable shot from 35 yards. A bit of a career goal I fancy and more significantly no need for Saddlers fans to check what time tomorrow's 3rd round draw is.

We huffed, puffed but couldn’t break down a resolute PNE backline and made a rather quiet exit from the finest cup competition in the world. Sounds like a good name for a compilation album to me. No one really stood out but Marshy probably shaded the Man of the Match honours.

Fri 4th December

The greatest cup competition in the world organised by the biggest bunch of tossers in the world. For such an wonderful competition (which it truly is) to be left in the hands of such incompetents is amazing. You sometimes feel that the people who run Lancaster Gate couldn’t organise themselves a visit to the toilet so heaven only knows how they managed to make the FA Cup so special.

Wed 2nd December

We've only gone and signed Cyrille Regis on trial. Has the world gone mad? No, not exactly. However it appears that we've signed two Frenchmen whose first names happen to be Cyril and Regis. Frenchmen & Bournemouth in the same week remind me of the utter turmoil that was last season. I think I need a lie down.

Tue 1st December

Wigan spank Fulham 2-0 and Hayward fails from the spot into the bargain. Damn shame that.