Team of the Decade

So, as a final look back at the decade, I’ve put together my WFC Best XI from the past ten years. I’ve discounted loan only players so, for example, George Evans misses out and it’s rather attacking focused. Some choices were easy and obvious, others not quite so.

I doubt that anyone will agree with all selections so please feel free to add any changes you’d make in the comments section.

As grim as the 2010s were, we also had some amazing footballers you know.

Richard O’Donnell (GK)

2013-2015
Appearances – 105
Goals – 0

It was a genuine flip of the coin between O’Donnell and Neil Etheridge. Indeed, had I accounted for career progress after Walsall then Etheridge would have got the nod. Comfortably.

In the end I went for O’Donnell on the basis that he retained top form right up to the moment he left, whereas I felt Etheridge dropped a level once he knew he was leaving.

Both Etheridge and O’Donnell were super consistent and there were weaknesses amid the breathtakingly good. In O’Donnell’s case it took a change in play to maximise his abilities and a coach as smart as Dean Smith to adjust his defence to allow this.

During his early appearances it was evident that O’Donnell struggled to deal with crosses on the cusp of his six yard line (see Bristol City’s first at Wembley as a late WFC career example) so Dean Smith found a way of driving teams inside to either cross diagonally or shoot. And when it came to out and out shot stopping O’Donnell was utterly brilliant.

The save that will always stand out is the one at Preston but over the course of 105 appearances O’Donnell established himself as one of the better goalkeepers I’ve seen in a Walsall shirt. A genuinely brilliant shot stopper with eye-opening reflexes and strong with the ball at his feet, O’Donnell could’ve played much of his career at Walsall had we been able to match the pay structure of others, particularly Wigan. I genuinely don’t think that his departure cost us anything in the following season’s promotion challenge but we haven’t had a goalkeeper better than O’Donnell since the day he left.

It’s worth noting that ROD’s career never reached the heights of his time at Walsall and I genuinely think this is due to the impact of Dean Smith and his ability to mask the flaws.

Jason Demetriou (RB)

2015-16
Appearances – 52
Goals – 4

An absolute gem from Dean Smith’s little black book of past players & contacts. Having worked with Demetriou at Leyton Orient, Smith bought Jase back to English football in the summer of 2015. Somehow Demetriou had been allowed to drift for five years at AEK Larnaca but from the moment he kicked a ball at Walsall he became a genuine fan favourite.

One of the new breed of full back Demetriou’s real strength was blasting forward – an ability that regularly pinned his opponent in defensive mode and probably masked the fact that he’s not the greatest defender that the world has ever seen. To be fair though, he didn’t need to be as Smith’s 2015/16 side looked to defend on the front foot, dominate possession and attack at every opportunity. It was a system built for a player like Demetriou and he had a magnificent and all to brief 12 months in a Walsall shirt.

The goal against Gillingham is probably the single moment that most remember him for and it absolutely secured his place in folklore but he was a fabulous footballer in a fabulous period to follow us.

Demetriou wasn’t the only player we recruited from Cyprus over the decade but he was significantly superior to what followed. He departed as part of the post play-off exodus stating that he wanted to be closer to his London home. He’s been true to his word at Southend ever since and of all who transferred to non-Championship clubs, Jase probably made the best move of all.

Rico Henry (LB)

2014-16
Appearances – 58
Goals – 3

When he made his debut at a smidgen over 16 years of age, standing in for an injured Andy Taylor in a JPT game at Tranmere, almost the entire left side of the team seemed focussed on protecting their very young team mate. By the hour mark they’d seen enough to stop worrying about a player who was already comfortable at the level he’d just risen to. Six months later, Rico Hendy had effectively ended Taylor’s impressive Walsall career and was an automatic choice when Dean Smith selected a left back.

A wonderfully talented footballer, with the turn of pace required in a modern top-end full back, Henry’s rise and departure was every bit as quick as it was impressive. Henry’s ability to tackle and understanding of when to do so marked him out almost immediately. Similarly his marauding runs forward both with the ball at his feet and in support of others was mighty impressive and a level above anything many of us had previously seen in a Walsall full back.

In the end Henry’s departure left a sour taste with many feeling the sale was too early, short in valuation and the fact it was Brentford (again) rather grating. Post Walsall, Rico’s career has been limited by a series of injuries but with Celtic sniffing round last summer and more suitors sure to follow as that initial 5 year deal runs down we may just see a little more value added to that deal in the near future.

Andy Butler (CB)

2010-14 & 2014
Appearances – 183
Goals – 14

“Give everything you have for the badge on the front of your shirt and they will never forget the name on the back.”  Whilst Butler never said this I can’t think of a quote that is quite as appropriate.

The day Andy Butler joined was the precise moment where the mid-decade revival began. Butler openly admits his career was going nowhere when he first signed a WFC contract but the drive, motivation and leadership he demonstrated infected a football club that was desperate for a leader.

We’ve had better players and more accomplished defenders than Butler – James Chambers being an obvious example. But in a sport where the importance of positive influencers is often overlooked Andy Butler stood head and shoulders above every Walsall player over the decade as a positive influence on the team, his dressing room and the football club as a whole.

Butler’s heart on sleeve style, the unwillingness to accept defeat, the obvious desire to reward the unwavering support from the stands and the realisation of the responsibility to the shirt and club set the tone that others simply had to follow. If Smith was the brains and architect of our improvement then Andy Butler (and Adam Chambers) were his on field lieutenants.

I guess the pinnacle of his Walsall career came at the other end of the pitch with that ‘it had to be him’ headed tap in at Molineux but that does significant disservice to the other 180 odd appearances where he fought tooth and nail for the shirt on his shoulders and badge on the front.

And whilst I wrote this in a previous blog, it’s worth repeating. If you never saw the 1998/99 team and want to know what they epitomised have a look at Andy Butler and his qualities. He wouldn’t have been out of place in that first Graydon team.

As a footnote, he’s been gone for half of the decade but even at Scunthorpe on Wednesday, where he was an unused substitute, his song got an airing. You don’t have to be Messi or Ronaldo to be a lifetime darling of the Saddlers faithful, you just have to give your all, every time you play. Which I guess takes us back to the opening quote – he gave his all, we will always recognise that.

James O’Connor (CB)

2014-17
Appearances – 123
Goals – 3

Solid, dependable, honest, professional. You’d have thought Jon Whiney could have tried to lean on these qualities, rather than ostracise them. And how we missed his calming authority over the following couple of years.

I have a lot of time for James O’Connor, a player who knew exactly what he was, understood his own limitations and made the very most of the abilities he was given. He was Mr 7/10 week after week, rarely winning man of the match plaudits, rarely losing his individual battle, consistently delivering consistency and stability to the spine of the team and his back four. I looked on YouTube for a JOC video but it’s virtually bare, which kind of reflects the type of player he was – nothing flash, being effective was always more important that catching the eye.

Whatever happened to facilitate his premature departure and why isn’t really the point here but I do wonder how the WFC board allowed a struggling manager (who was never going to turn things around) to force O’Connor’s departure. That JOC got on with it and never did his washing in public is testament to his manner and professionalism.

The epitome of Mr Dependable, you can be sure that we’ve missed the input of this player significantly more than the manager who jettisoned him since they both departed.

Adam Chambers (CM)

2011-19
Appearances – 331
Goals – 2

Everything you ever wanted a Walsall player to be.

A magnificent ambassador for the football club off the pitch and an incredible force on it. It’s been 18 months since he last kicked a football and we still haven’t replaced him.

331 appearances with two goals, both in his first ten games meant that there was only one midfield place available for the majority of the decade. A captain who led by example and an integral figure in every good Walsall performance, run, win and achievement since 2010.

Chambers was probably Dean Smith’s first priority signing but he repaid that loyalty multiple times over in a stellar Saddlers career that extended as long as it did because of how professionally Chambers looked after himself. A genuine giant of this football club, last year’s foot injury denied him a place in the all-time top 20 WFC appearances (he’s 22nd). An automatic choice for most of the decade, Chambers should also be hugely proud of the fact that he’s the only player to ever lead a Walsall team out at Wembley.

If I could’ve had a career playing for Walsall, I’m pretty sure I’d have been satisfied to have had one like the career Adam Chambers produced.

I also understand why Darrell Clarke handled the fact Chambers was out of contract last season, particularly as he wanted to bring his ‘own men’ into the dressing room. However, this football club would be significantly better for employing the man, the professional, the captain and all of that experience he brings in some capacity. He has too much to offer to let someone else tap into it.

Sam Mantom (CM)

2012 & 2012-16
Appearances – 153
Goals – 19

I’ll get the gripe out of the way first – the way he left us left a sour taste. We’d treated Mantom extremely well over the years. He got his break here, we went back for him, we carried him for a year after a mystery holiday injury, Smith sacrificed Michael Cain to squeeze his own player into a Wembley final… I could go on. That he repaid that by cashing in on Scunthorpe’s spendathon doesn’t sit well by me, irrespective of the crazy numbers Scunthorpe offered. I just felt like he owed us a year.

That said there were times in this decade where he was an irresistible force in the Walsall midfield. An initial loan spell bought immediate joy as Manton dovetailed beautifully with Florent Cuvelier. We won games we’d have almost certainly lost without the pair’s midfield drive and a decent spring enabled the team to enjoy a relatively comfortable April & May. Recruited again 12 months later, Mantom again did enough to justify the calls for the move to become permanent and the club turned an Albion youth product into a League One midfield force.

Most of the good Walsall displays across the decade have included input from Sam Mantom and it’s no coincidence that our March/April slip up in the 2015-16 promotion chase coincided with a dip in Mantom’s own form and performance. Similarly, when Mantom was good, then so were we. Nothing epitomised that more than the 0-4 win at Blackpool, where Mantom literally ran the game at his pace and the 0-1 win at Brentford where the fans need to win that day manifested itself in a Mantom performance full of drive and determination. Yes he took an early bath for two yellows but he tackled everything that moved that afternoon and plenty that didn’t.

If you want to know where the Walsall players were mentally on that afternoon at Brentford, have a look at the reaction when we scored and won. Don’t tell me they weren’t sending a message to their former manager.

Jamie Paterson (LM)

2010-13
Appearances – 101
Goals – 16

The best young footballer produced by the football club this decade.

The first Dean Smith youth product to get his chance in the Saddlers first XI. Obviously it helped that Smith was now manager but in reality he was that good it really didn’t matter who was manager. He was always breaking through.

Adept with both feet, lightening quick, a precocious dribbler with a genuine eye for goal, it was clear from very early on that we’d struggle to hang onto Paterson for long and so it proved. Indeed the only surprise is that he hasn’t gone on from his time in a Walsall shirt and been the player his talent suggested he’d become. However six straight seasons in the Championship is hardly a failure.

That season alongside Grigg and Brandy was truly exceptional, with the three of them frightening the life out of League One defences. Frustratingly they all only realised how devastating they truly were after another long winless run and once they fired, they were always playing catch up. Whilst time eventually beat them the sight of the trio in full flow was incredible. And whilst Brandy and Grigg were good, Paterson was simply on a different level.

From a selfish viewpoint, Paterson probably broke through 18 months too early. Just imagine what that 2015-16 team would’ve looked like with Jamie Paterson cutting in from out wide.

As an aside, I’m fairly convinced that the guy Dean Smith talks so positively about in his Birmingham University presentation is Pato.

Febian Brandy (RM)

2012-13 & 2014
Appearances – 57
Goals – 11

Oh Febian, if only you’d hung around. If only you’d seen the wood from the dollars, if only you’d seen in Dean Smith what he’d seen in you. And whilst Walsall was only a midway stop off on an eleven team signing spree, it was the place where you played most often, where you found consistency to match the talent and you were integral to what your manager was trying to build.

In some ways I get the Sheffield United deal – they were huge payers and the level was the same. However in so many other ways the move was madness, and that’s not hindsight talking. Going from big fish in small pond to small fish in a rather demanding lake was never going to end well.

I guess the first Walsall stint is the one everyone most fondly remembers but that first half hat trick at Notts County when returning on loan from the Blades was pretty special.

A player diminutive in stature but high in quality, Brandy had an ability to dribble and engage opponents in areas they really didn’t want to be. He also had a genuine cutting edge and whilst he wasn’t the greatest finished you’ve ever seen Brandy was one of those once in a blue moon players that make a travesty of where they’ve previously been and the free transfer tag that bought them to Walsall. Like Kyle Lightbourne, you had (and have) no idea how he’d never cracked it anywhere else.

Should have stayed, should have cracked it, should have stayed with a manager who understood him, should have been the player he genuinely could have been. Such a waste.

Romaine Sawyers (10)

2013-16
Appearances – 158
Goals – 19

Where do you start?

I tell you what, I’ll list his weaknesses first – he doesn’t score the amount of goals a player of his talent could. That’s it.

His strengths? Vision, ball control, passing range, football intelligence, weight of pass, control of games, the way he improves everyone around him, his ability to create time and space… you get the picture.

We’ve had a few very good players drop down the leagues and end up at Walsall over the years with Paul Merson being arguably the most naturally talented of them. When Merson started at Walsall his passing range was unreal, he saw things and did things I’ve never seen before, but he did the with some pretty good players around him. As the squad depleted and the standard dropped, so did Merson’s ability to do the things that took your breath away, partly due to the decline in the player but at least equally due to the fact that Merson was no longer working with players capable of operating on his wavelength. They didn’t see the things he did and he couldn’t operate at their level.

Romaine had that ability, Romaine could see what Craig Westcarr, Sam Mantom or Keiron Morris (no offence intended to any of them) saw. Romiane had everything you as a Walsall fan could wish to see. Not only was he the best footballer we’ve seen this decade he is one of the best footballers I’ve ever seen play for Walsall. He was that good.

Some saw laziness in the Sawyers mannerisms but they couldn’t have been more wrong. His post Walsall ascent, which will inevitably end in Premier League football is evidence of that. You don’t get where Sawyers has by playing when you feel like it. A genuine Rolls Royce of a Walsall player, a once in a generation talent who was fully appreciated by many but wasted on a few.

How we miss him now.

Tom Bradshaw (CF)

2014-16
Appearances – 86
Goals – 40

Easily the best striker of the decade. Indeed you have to go back to Jorge & Kyle to find a player who found the net so consistently. The first time I saw him I could see the potential and what we’d been missing became instantly obvious. The ability to drop short to link play then explode in the penalty area was top drawer and had those elastic bands Bradshaw had for hamstrings been just a little stronger his record of a goal every other game would arguably have been better given the amount of times we rested him for the last quarter of games that had already been won.

His first Walsall goal, at Port Vale, was quintessentially Bradshaw – one touch to receive the ball and one touch to score. And whilst he scored headers, tap ins, sniffer goals, one-on-ones, toe pokes and rockets the symmetry amongst them all was being in the right place at the right time and his unrivalled knack of hitting the target and at least asking a question of the goalkeeper. Indeed I’ve never seen any player in a Walsall shirt hit the target as regularly as Bradshaw.

The goal at Preston is the one we’ll always remember but in truth there were so many that most just blended into a haze of goalscoring beauty. There was a late lob over Doncaster’s goalkeeper that changed a point into three and a nerve calming early goal against Fleetwood, when we really needed a win, that stand out.

Strangely however my abiding memory of Tom Bradshaw will be Jon Whitney hauling him off at Barnsley when we were 0-3 down in the play-off semi. Absolutely everyone in the stadium looking at the Walsall touchline and wondering if they were seeing things.

Yes, he was off the pace (they all were) but right at the point that we needed a goal we hauled off the most likely player to nick one. Whatever Whitney was thinking, he was asking himself the wrong question and drawing entirely the wrong conclusion (the clues were always there btw). At that point, with promotion already blown, any chance we ever had of holding on to our prize asset was also lost.

That we attempted to replace Bradshaw with Andreas Makris tells you everything you need to know about Jeff Bonser’s final decade at the helm.

—   —   —   —   —   —   —   —   —   —   —   —   —   —   —   —   —   —   —

So there it is. A team of the 2010s to celebrate.

If only we’d had them all out together, eh.

Saddle Sore

After publishing a review of the decade on Wednesday, I think it’s fair to say the vast majority of readers found something in the piece that they could relate to.

We had a lot of positive reaction (thank you all so much) and it seemed to strike a chord with many. The overwhelming sense was we’d hit the mark and despite it being a little downbeat it was hard to spin much positivity on what we’ve seen since New Year’s Eve 2009.

It also prompted someone who spent a lifetime chronicling everything Saddlers to reach out and offer his thoughts and opinion on both the past decade and where we find ourselves today.

Paul Marston saw just about everything in his near sixty years covering Walsall. And, whilst he’s officially retired these days, he was keen to do a follow up piece that conveyed his thoughts on the current situation at The Banks’s.

Anyone who listened to his opinions during a couple of headline appearances on the Express & Star’s Bescot Beat this time last year know that he’s honest, forthright and doesn’t suffer fools, underperforming players or landlords, easily.

Paul also called our run to relegation long before many saw it coming and warned us of ignoring what was happening at Notts County at our peril. And blimey he was right.

We really appreciate Paul’s kind offer to contribute the below and David Evans (@DSadlad) for helping Paul make contact.

Enjoy.

SADDLE SORE

By PAUL MARSTON

IF new Walsall owner Leigh Pomlett is considering a New Year resolution for the second half of another disappointing season so far, I’ve got one for him.

It’s this, and it’s guaranteed to be popular with the long-suffering fans who, until fairly recently, must have cringed when, as the team took the field, the stadium announcer urged them to welcome ‘The Pride of the Midlands’.

Now likeable Leigh should ban any manager, coach or spokesman delivering those hated words: “Please remember this club is punching above it’s weight”.

Years ago they might have got away with it when the Super Saddlers were beating the likes of Manchester United and Newcastle United in the FA Cup and even Wolves and the Baggies in league games. But surely not now.

The club is based in one of the largest towns in England – 13th, I think – and should be able to support a Championship team, let alone one in League 2, despite the fact that many people have been driven away to watch the neighbouring bigger clubs.

Profits are made every year, although some supporters will no doubt claim that was because of former owner Jeff Bonser’s Scrooge-like policy. So how come the team under Dean Smith reached a Wembley final for the first time in its history – the 2015 Johnstone’s Paint Trophy – with a huge 70,000-plus crowd, and sells good players, yet ends up with a hapless side that slides into the Football League basement without a whimper?

It’s unbelievable. Maybe Mr B would point out that a long-established club like Bury won promotion to League 1 last season on other people’s money and have ended up going bust, out of the Football League, and now, apparently, heading for re-form in about the 10th tier of soccer.

We obviously don’t want that scenario at Bescot, but let’s get back to that pathetic phrase ‘punching above their weight’ .

Why do small clubs climb out of non-league football and overtake Walsall?

Little Fleetwood, who can only just manage about 2,000 fans at home games, are currently in League 1 and hoping for a play-off place which could lead to a Championship spot next season; Burton Albion have had a spell in the Championship and are now comfortable in League 1; Forest Green lie sixth in League 2;  Cheltenham are now in an automatic promotion spot; Salford City are above the Saddlers;  Accrington are doing fine in League 1; and Wycombe are top of League 1 by some distance.

And I can remember the last Walsall game I attended at Bournemouth and put 50p in a bucket – ok, I’m a bit tight – to help keep the Cherries alive. Look at them now….living it up in the Premier League and regulars on Match of the Day !

Now that’s what you could call punching above your weight. Makes you sick, doesn’t it?

I was inspired to write this piece after reading Darren Fellows’ excellent review of the last ten years which began, rightly, with the word…..DECAY.

As a local journalist I covered Walsall games for over 50 years and have loved the club, many of its players, managers and owners and I count many of its wonderful supporters as my friends. It’s been a roller coaster ride, but even in the difficult days at Fellows Park when fans of local neighbouring clubs sent in a few bob to help the club going, there was always a real warmth and happiness about the Saddlers.

Compare them with the sinking Saddlers and our tired stadium which already looks old fashioned and is in desperate need of smartening up…..or even rebuilding.  What a wonderful opportunity the club missed to provide something for the town and fans with a bit of style and pride when they cashed in on dear old Fellows Park to a supermarket chain all those years ago.

Where do Walsall go from here? Onwards and upwards, I hope. And the way the fans turned out at Northampton for the opening game of the season shows what support the new chairman can expect if he gets this great old club moving in the right direction again. Good luck to him, he seems a really good guy.

I had great hopes before the season began when Mr Pomlett recruited new manager Darrell Clarke, who had proved his ability with two promotions for Bristol Rovers. Must admit I have been disappointed with his performance so far, particularly his tinkering with the team…..surely he must know his best side by now.

When did Walsall last have FOUR strikers, but unfortunately they have been firing blanks so far this season. At least it seems we are safe from relegation with troubled clubs below the Saddlers in the basement league.

But their current plight is something I warned about on the Express and Star Podcast well before the end of last season. I suggested people take a look at Notts County’s perilous position – now the oldest club in the Football League are playing non league football….along with the likes of Wrexham, Hartlepool, Darlington, Chesterfield, Halifax, Stockport County, Barrow, Torquay United, Yeovil and Barnet who have all been our regularl opponents in the past.

So look out Saddlers, Solihull Moors are after your spot. Now that really would be someone punching above their weight, but it could happen.

SOS – Save Our Saddlers. Wonder if Jeff sent Leigh a nice cheque for Christmas ?

Here’s my 50p, anyway !

FOOT-BALL NOTE: Walsall have regularly provided excellent players for bigger clubs over the years, and now my friend and former skipper Dean Smith – who took us to Wembley – is the boss at Villa Park. Wonder if he could push a few decent players Walsall’s way ?  Just a thought.

Don’t Look Back In Anger – a 2010’s Review

A View of the Decade

Decay. We resemble featherless battery hen whose laying days have come to an end. Fed and watered just enough to be kept sufficiently alive to lay the 450000 eggs we needed to justify the bother, deprived of anything beyond what was absolutely necessary to keep us laying. Skin and bones, bereft of light, an remunerative pulse with a depressing existence.

Yes we’ve recently been rehomed, but this ugly mess won’t be beautified overnight.

We lost our identity, our mojo, any semblance of sporting ambition. We lost faith, patience and, eventually, our status as the decline in standards, investment and ambition infected every part of the business. We lost managers, players and, most importantly, supporters who simply gave up “whilst he’s still there” and had found something better to do by the time he’d gone.

Most significantly however, we lost the USP that bought most of us together. Maybe it’s the same everywhere but I always felt we were different. We were a cup team, a big game team, a team always looking for a nose to bloody. Yes, we’d inevitably trip up in games we should never really lose and got beat as many times as we won but there was an insular mentality to supporting Walsall and a defiance carved from years of living in the shadows of the delusion of others. We were different to them, we knew who we were – we were Walsall.

So who are we and what the hell does “We are Walsall FC” actually mean these days? I know it comes from the same marketing geniuses that delivered the bullshit that was “My Club My Town” (I’ll ignore the Birmingham Walsall thing) and “I believe” on the eve that every out of contact player departed. But we haven’t been a cup team in decades, we’re not exactly a big game team and apart from Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest we don’t dish many bloody noses out any more.

In truth, We are Walsall is about as hollow as annually celebrating 19 years of profit, whilst owing circa £2m and watching the status and self-respect of the club continually erode.

“Championship ambitions” they regularly said. A claim every bit as hollow as it ever was lofty. Strangely, this was often followed five to seven months later with a managerial change in a desperate attempt to keep us in the division. Us punters listened but I seriously doubt that many truly believed it.

Championship ambitions required a plan. Words, as the season ticket selling hashtags always proved, are worthless on their own. Then again, you can’t really go into every season saying “Our budget is uncompetitive and we’ll do well to survive” without losing even more credibility than you already have.

If Leigh Pomlett does one thing over his tenure at the club I hope he recognises the absence of identity and USP. Similarly, the mute arrogance that fuelled the like it or fuck off to Luton, Bournemouth or Rotherham sentiment has no place in a business with so few customers and by his actions Pomlett seems to recognise this every bit as much as those who abandoned us under the previous farmer.

I’ll leave readers to draw their own conclusions to the Bonser legacy. For me however, to leave a football team poorer than the one he purchased three decades earlier is a pretty defining achievement. And that first Bescot team was nothing short of fucking awful.

The early days of Leigh Pomlett’s tenure have been characterised by bridge building and reaching out, not only to the survivors but also those who walked away. The free beer, the letters of thank you, the visibility and openness of communication demonstrate the direction of travel and desire to reconnect.

I wish Leigh well. We’re unquestionably better than what we’d been allowed to become and make no mistake, it’s pretty clear that any further decay carries the very real threat of the loss of Football League status.

Goal of the Decade

Easy. Tom Bradshaw at PNE. There were a lot of ghosts extinguished that night and a lot of high end performances. Richard O’Donnell kept us in it, particularly early on, as we somehow survived Preston’s first half onslaught. His save from Jermaine Beckford was truly as good as you will ever see. How he got that much of a hand on the ball I’ll never know. The back four and midfield were incredible, working flat out all night to (a) keep the opponent at bay and (b) to establish a foothold in the tie. Romaine covered miles trying to fuse the huge efforts of what at times felt like a flat back eight behind him into some kind of attacking spark, whilst Tom Bradshaw fed on scraps, maintaining sufficient threat to ensure Preston’s fullbacks didn’t push on too far and the centre backs held station.

In truth it’s a game we probably should’ve lost, and have lost many times. Preston were generally better and stronger then we were, but they just ran into a team who were beginning to realise how competitive they could be and a striker at the absolute peak of his game.

I promise you, had you offered me 0-0 in the 81^st minute I’d have undoubtedly have taken it. I’d readily accept that it had evolved into a 50/50 game at that point but you just knew that the away side (us) would sit back in the last few minutes and take a draw. Or so you thought you knew.

When Romaine was fouled within sight of the edge of the box and Anthony Forde beautifully wrong-footed the goalkeeper, the repercussions were significant. In that single moment, the belief of one team grew exponentially and the other psychologically imploded as the cushion of an away lead and the knowledge that the return tie was now resembling bit of a mountain seismically clashed.

Preston pushed forward, desperately searching for an equalising olive branch but you could see their shape and discipline becoming increasingly frayed. Mentally and physically they were shot and you didn’t need to specialise in the psychology of football to recognise it, it was that blatantly obvious. They were there for the taking and we had eight minutes and a bit of stoppage time to finish them off. But were we brave enough? Or was 1-0 enough?

And then the moment came. Like all great predators, he saw it from miles away and adjusted his run to maximise the error without creating alarm. Like a big cat waiting to pounce, timing was everything. Go too early and the chance won’t arrive, go too late and you’ll not get there. Then, as James Baxendale’s closing down pressed his opponent into an over-hit and blind pass, Bradshaw instinctively pounced. It wasn’t a gamble run or a flyer, it was a calculated exploitation of a tired defensive error. One touch later he had the whites of the goalkeeper’s eyes in right front of him and, to be honest, a lot to do with little to aim at and almost no margin for error.

But he was never going to miss. Never. Ever. Going. To Miss.

Because the genuine predators don’t. Three seconds later Bradshaw had somehow squeezed the ball through the goalkeeper’s legs and as it rolled between the posts, the away end exploded in a Wembley bound frenzy. There was to be no denying us this time.

One error, one opportunistic moment, one beautifully precise finish, one tie over. Given the prize on offer, it has to be goal and moment of the decade.

Performance of the Decade

I think we painfully saw two from Bristol City. That Wembley shut out, whilst incredibly disappointing was significantly contributed to by an outstanding Bristol City team and performance. In the midst of a run for the League One Championship they comfortably brushed aside a very good, albeit partially unfit, Saddlers team. Similarly the 8-2 final day hammering might have been different on any other Saturday (or Sunday) during the regular season but free from the shackles of pressure and facing a team interested in going toe to toe they ran us properly ragged in a savage second half display.

As for Walsall, the aforementioned win at Preston is right up there. Blackpool 0-4 was similarly mighty impressive as were a couple of wins against Sheffield United and the 5 goal blitz of Port Vale. I’ll also always cherish the 1-0 FA Cup win at Brentford, with special mention for whoever designed the Griffin Park layout. That Smith had to cross us (wasn’t the first time he’d done that) before and after each half was beautifully awkward. If Leigh wants to know what #WeAreWalsall is truly about, could I suggest he has a deep think back to that afternoon because that was this football club at our very best.

Despite that, I’ll go for the 1-0 win at Molineux, where we not only won but won comfortably with a score line that flattered the opponent more than it ever did us.

The opening 45 minutes was a pass perfect demonstration of how to hold possession, move the ball around the opponent and stretch them into shapes and areas of the pitch they really didn’t want to go. After 35 minutes I looked at the stats on my phone and we’d had 74% possession and whilst it levelled out over the final hour we dominated the ball and the game so much that the only shock was it took us so long to score.

When the goal came it was inevitable who scored and so deserving for a player who in revitalising his career gave so much to this football club.

In truth we probably ran into Wolves at the right time, as the transition from relegation was incomplete but given the resources they had and the players at Kenny Jackett’s disposal it was still a monumental win. Indeed had the referee rightly dismissed Carl Ikeme for hand ball midway through the second half then the result could’ve been even better.

There were better wins, more important games and results than this in the decade but given the location, given the quality of opponent and given what it always means this has to be the stand out performance.

And whilst I don’t for one moment believe that our twitter account was ‘hacked’ the post that followed the final whistle was the stuff of legend.

Transfer of the Decade.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda, might have been Troy Deeney. Oh how Leigh Pomlett could’ve used that elusive 20% sell on that never was. Fair play to the lad however, I genuinely respect his loyalty to Watford. Indeed, if only a certain manager had repaid a few ounces of the faith his employer put in him……

Given that the windfall never came, I guess that It has to be Pomlett. We’ve long become a second rate beer trader devoid of sporting identity or ambition. The decay on the pitch increasingly replicating itself in a tired and out of date infrastructure, some of which was masked by the olive branches of hope we enjoyed as the Dean Smith era matured.

Post Smith the rate of decay hasn’t changed, it’s just become increasing amplified by the awful fayre on offer each Saturday afternoon. Smith, and his infamous five year plan, were light years in front of a tired and out of ideas board headed by a woefully out of touch collector of rent. And whilst I will never accept Smith’s defection to Brentford was anything other than self-serving and a slap in the face to the incredible loyalty he’d been shown here, it’s pretty clear that he could see the financial wood from the trees.

Pre-Bosman you used to be able to fund a football team by flogging a carvery alongside a few barrels of sponsored lager a week and maybe persuading Villa to turn out in late July. But as parachute payments and eye watering Championship wages polluted the thinking and actions of our competitors we failed to respond. Sunday markets, wedding fayres and yet another M6 advertising board isn’t and will never be the answer that it once was. And nothing summed up just how out of touch the whole club had become more than Roy Chubby Brown being booked to appear at the stadium. The desperate need to shift a few gallons of Fosters and budget Stella compromising the importance of doing and be seen to be doing the right thing. Indeed, how that booking sits alongside the Kick It Out and Rainbow Laces campaigns I have absolutely no idea and whoever sanctioned it should’ve been sacked long before any contract was signed.

Blessedly Bonser has now departed the scene, albeit still collecting on his investment and Pomlett has six and a half years to extricate us from the tentacles that choke sporting progress.

The excitement of his takeover has been somewhat quenched by on-field performance, however I think the vast majority see and sympathise with the level of challenge in front of him both on and off the field of play. He’s a smart operator – he will get it right but we know it’ll take time.

There is lots to do. As noted earlier, three decades of hubristic incommunicado will take a lot of repairing.

On pitch progress will take several transfer windows to repair and mature. This is an inevitable conclusion of the long and painful sporting suffocation by starvation of funding and lost ambition.

Equally, the frustration at the poor matchday experience is rooted in in the inanition of progress. Toilets that wouldn’t have been out of place at Fellows Park, leaking ceilings in the Bescot Bar, beer pulls that struggle to pull a pint a minute and the unfit for purpose digital board (did anyone consider the distance from the Floors-To-Go before signing it off?) are obvious examples. Similarly, one cash turnstile and a three window ticket office leave queues that are frustratingly slow and discourage late arrival.

I have no doubt that Pomlett will get things right, both on and off the pitch, but he needs time, patience and support to rehabilitate a football club that has been off its feet (and I’m being kind here) for quite a while.

What Could Have Been Better

Erm, where do we start?

I’d have genuinely loved Dean Keates to have been the manager we all wanted him to be. Sean O’Driscoll, Doncaster could have nicked a last minute goal at Burton, the second half at Barnsley, almost every January transfer window, the Wembley no-show, the home game vs Wolves – where just a few let quite a lot down, the blind Radio WM reaction that followed, our home form generally – I could go on.

But, in hindsight, I’ll go for the January 2016 transfer window. As a club and fan base we were so preoccupied with holding onto the assets we had, we inexcusably lost sight of what transfer windows are for – improving your squad. That smug, self-congratulatory twitter gif of the shutter doors closing as we hung on to Bradshaw, Sawyers and Henry will haunt me forever.

There wasn’t a better side in the division as 2015 moved into 2016 but in focussing on hanging onto the three jewels in that team the club overlooked the impact that the loss of George Evans would have. Sat alongside Adam Chambers, Evans had the mobility, nous and ability to compliment the positional sense of his captain and his recall and subsequent transfer to Reading left an almighty hole that never got filled.

Sean O’Driscoll signed Bryn Morris as a replacement for Evans, which was a bit like replacing Dean Smith with Jon Whitney. He made one non-descript substitute appearance, but still lasted longer than the manager who recruited him.

Yes, hindsight is brilliant at shedding light on mistakes you never saw coming – and amongst the relief of keeping the team together very few of us foresaw the omission to improve as an issue. But that is the job that others are employed to do and to this day we’ve been paying for the failing on this.

A Few Mentions

Febian Brandy. How good could you have been had you not been blinded by chasing the dough? Will Grigg. My contempt has no bounds, the modern player who took, took and then took. Of his final three year deal, he did so little that WFC were happy to run it down and see how the land lay, then the moment he realised what the sticks at the ends for the pitch were there for he was off in a shot. Richard O’Kelly. Whilst Dean Smith took the brunt of the flak from those questioning his loyalty, O’Kelly walked out relatively unscathed. That December day in 2015 was the umpteenth time that pink cap man had walked out on us – something the club should remember and ensure he doesn’t get the opportunity to do again. Luke Leahy, Andy Cook, Morgan Ferrier. There’s little left to say that hasn’t been said. One thing I would add is that no matter how shite we are today I’ve never once missed any of them.

Jamie Paterson. Most will have Rico Henry as the most talented product of the decade but it was Paterson for me. The first Smith youth product, Paterson had everything you could want in a young footballer and his lack of progress post-Walsall has always surprised me. He was better than a fringe player at Forest and Bristol City. Romaine Sawyers. I’ll be honest, I lost my rag with him once (towards the end), where we conceded after he lost the ball and didn’t track back. I realise that I’d taken him for granted. As a self-admitted Bradshaw fanboy I always saw Romaine as the assist to the main act but what a player he was and is. I hated the fact he signed for Smith at Brentford but his subsequent move to West Bromwich Albion will end with him deservedly playing Premier League football. If you booed him or called him lazy, please give your head a wobble, then show me a more gifted footballer that’s played for Walsall – I’ll wait. Tom Bradshaw our best finisher since Jorge, I thought he’d fire us to the Championship and keep us there. How we miss you now.

Nods of respect to Clayton Ince, James Walker, Nicky Featherstone, James Baxendale, Craig Westcarr, James Chambers, Rico Henry, Keiron Morris, Richard O’Donnell, Emanuel Ledesma, Neil Etheridge, Jason Demitriou, James O’Connor, Jason McCarthy, Scott Laird and Erhun Oztumer. You made much of the decade bearable.

(Late Edit) George Dobson – or in particular George’s Titanic goal against Northampton. I honestly thought I was ready for League 2 football right until the moment that sweeping move raised the Banks’s roof, but my reaction proved I was kidding myself. I wasn’t the only one however as the collective explosion of joy and relief as Dobson’s right footer curled beyond Richard O’Donnell was utterly spectacular. It was unequivocally the home moment of the decade. Quite how we failed to build on that moment of emphatic unity, and actually got worse, I’ll never know.

Andy Butler. The seed where the mid-decade revival was born. Butler admits his career was going nowhere on the day he joined but the drive, motivation and leadership he demonstrated infected a football club that was desperate for a leader. If you never saw the 1998/99 team and want to know what they epitomised have a look at Andy Butler and his qualities. He wouldn’t have been out of place in that first Graydon team.

Adam Chambers. Everything you ever wanted a Walsall player to be. A magnificent ambassador for the football club off the pitch and an incredible force on it. It’s been 18 months since he last kicked a football and we still haven’t replaced him. 331 appearances with two goals, both in his first ten games meant that there was only one midfield place available for the majority of the decade. A captain who led by example and an integral figure in every good Walsall performance, run, win and achievement since 2010. Whilst Butler might be the populist choice, Chambers is undoubtedly my player of the decade.

Hopes for the Future

Generally I think the owner is demonstrating that he’s on the right track, has a vision for the football club and sporting desire that’s been missing for too long. I absolutely trust him to turn this mess around.

Apart from that? Patience. An acceptance of how far we’ve fallen, where we are and just how long it will take to make it back. This never was a one year bottom tier tour.

Similarly, we can’t keep sacking managers –

• Mullen (pre-2010) was the cheap option. He was hopeless.
• Hutchings was the choice of no-one apart from Jeff. He was hopeless.
• Smith was supposed to be temporary. He survived a number of long winless runs to prove a success
• O’Driscoll was the overwhelming choice with the best CV. He was hopeless.
• Whitney was the continuity choice. He was hopeless.
• Keates was the up & coming manager with a history and understanding of the club. He was hopeless.
• O’Connor picked up the ashes of the Keates era with the instruction to keep us up. We won once.

Darrell Clarke was the overwhelming choice with a proven CV and record of getting out this division. He has much still to prove and many to convince but if we did sack him (and we absolutely shouldn’t) what in our recent history suggests that we’ll locate and hire a better manager? As with Smith, I believe that we need to ride the ups & downs, give him a number of transfer windows to build and judge him then. I dread to think how many players we haven’t been able to sign because we’re paying off the two and three year deals of failed managers. This has to stop.

Elsewhere, Pomlett and his board need to rebuild the business model so it can adequately feed a competitive playing budget. Be inventive with solutions to antiquated infrastructure;

• If beer pulls are slow and expensive to replace then introduce stand-alone [plastic] bottle bars and give folks the choice to queue or drink.
• Accept that on a matchday the ticket office is unfit for purpose and a deterrent for late arrivals. If we have to be cashless at all but one turnstile why can’t I tap & pay. In every other area of retail I can pay £22 by tapping my card, so why can’t people do this at a turnstile? It’s cheaper and easier than a rebuild.
• Follow up season ticket non-renewals. My son had a season ticket from 6 years old to 19. No one ever asked why he didn’t renew. He went to university but that’s not the point, I’m sure there’s something they could’ve sold him (me).

Apart from that, the obvious ones around promotion and land ownership.

We must prioritise reacquainting the land we play on with the football club. There’s little point in regurgitating the obvious but the sooner we’re completely clear of the clutches of the previous regime the better.

On and off the pitch we are the identikit third tier football club and have been for generations – nowhere near financially strong enough to sustain more than a couple of seasons at the next level up but equally equipped enough to anticipate not being at the level below for too long. I never accepted the punching above our weight tag and never will. All I ever see (and saw) in this was a convenient mask for an underperforming board to hide behind. We have to return there, relatively quickly and in a position to sustain a football club there.

At this level, as Chesterfield proved, you’re only a bad twelve months away from absolute disaster, whereas you can get away with the past 18 we’ve had if you have the buffer of a relegation to play with. If we repeat that, or have a genuine nightmare winter, then Dover, Boreham Wood and Barrow await. And it’s a hell of a long way back from that.

The TwentyTwenties have to be better, right?