Walsall Web-Fans

Written by the fans, for the fans!

Dramatic Last Day Of The Season Games

Memory LaneWalsall Web Fans looks back at four last games of the season which were full of drama and had an impact on our future years. The most heartbreaking must surely be the sequence of events against Charlton Athletic in the 1962-3 season. Walsall needed to avoid defeat to stay in the Second Division. The opening half was scoreless with Saddlers looking comfortable enough. At half time the heavens opened and the torrential rain was so bad that the game had to be abandoned to the disappointment of the 18,820 fans at a very soggy Fellows Park who could believe what they had just witnessed when seemingly half way to safety.

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Memory Lane – Walsall’s centenary game Vs Manchester United

Walsall Web Fans looks back to a special Centenary Year Celebration Game between Walsall and Manchester United which took place on April 22nd,1988, as part of the club’s year of special events to acknowledge this milestone. Alex Ferguson was just 18 months into his long Old Trafford career in the hot seat and fielded quite a powerful line up of international players to represent his club for this prestigious frendly game including Bryan Robson, Steve Bruce, Paul Mc Grath, Gordon Strachen and Norman Whiteside. Walsall’s team was also virtually full strength and was an opportunity for their own international striker David Kelly to show what he could do against quality defenders.  Continue reading →

1987-88 Promotion Season Recalled (Part 10 – April and May)

The all-important month of April had a funny look to it on the fixture list. There were games on the 2nd, 5th and 9th of the month – but not another one until the 30th due to fixture changes and the Football League’s centenary celebrations which gave an unbalanced feel about April. To help fill the gap a bit, Saddlers did arrange a friendly against Manchester United on the 22nd at Fellows Park as part of the club’s own centenary celebrations. Continue reading →

1987-88 Promotion Season Recalled (Part 9 – March)

Walsall kicked off the month of March with a hard-fought 2-1 Tuesday night home win against Bury in which The Saddlers had to comeback from being a goal down early in the game. David Lee had fired The Shakers into the lead with a stunning 25 yard strike which gave home keeper Fred Barber no chance. This was Bury’s first shot of the game and with David Kelly out injured, manager Tommy Coakley pushed Richard O’Kelly into his striking role. Walsall didn’t let the early goal unsettle them and were back in the game on 29 minutes when when, following a tremendous run and cross from Willie Naughton, midfielder Paul Jones struck home his 12th goal of the season. O’Kelly worked tirelessly throughout and provided the winner with a sweet flick for Craig Shakespeare to latch on to for his 9th goal of the season to complete a good comeback. Continue reading →

Match From The Day- Shrewsbury (H) 2006

Walsall Web Fans looks back at a League Two game between Walsall and Shrewsbury Town on Boxing Day 2006 under Richard Money at Bescot Stadium. The Saddlers were already on 49 points at this, the half way point of the season, leading the division by four points over nearest club MK Dons. Our old Shropshire rivals were in 14th position. There was a terrific atmosphere inside the ground with 8,345 in hoping to see a derby-day classic. As ever in these battles, there was only a single goal in the game in what was a lively encounter with a Walsall player given a first half red card. Continue reading →

The Manager’s rarely a wanted man at Walsall

With current Walsall boss Dean Smith being loosely linked with the vacant jobs at the likes of Swindon Town and Coventry City, we were asked who was the last Saddlers manager to leave and go and manage another league club after being ‘poached’. Well the answer is that it has never happened before in the history of our managers since the club appointed their first ever manager in 1926.  Continue reading →

Memory Lane – Birmingham City V. Walsall FA CUP Round 5 1975

Walsall Web Fans recalls the day when Walsall’s brave 1974-5 FA Cup run ended in Round 5 at St Andrews as Saddlers were narrowly beaten 2-1 by First Division Birmingham City before an attendance of 43,841. Walsall’s progress to this round (which hitherto had only happened on two occassions in 1900 and 1939) was via beating Ashford Town, Newport County, Manchester United (after a replay) and Newcastle United. Walsall were hoping to make history by beating Blues, who were struggling in the top flight. Walsall, meanwhile, were on an eleven game unbeaten run in all competitions. A 50,000 crowd limit was set by the police with 12,000 tickets being allocated to Walsall supporters which included just under 2,000 seats priced at £1.50 and £1.25. Paddock seats were 80p and standing tickets at 50p. Continue reading →

1987-88 Promotion Season Recalled (Part 7 – January)

Walsall kicked off the year of 1988 with two games in the opening two days of January with a draw and a win and were still giving away daft goals along the way, something which had been a re-occuring nightmare for manager Tommy Coakley for most of the season. On New Year’s Day Walsall made the short trip to Northampton Town who in those days played at the County Ground, an odd place to play as the one side of the pitch was just roped off as the area was used for county cricket games in the summer. Saddlers started off well enough and took an eighth- minute lead through midfielder Paul Jones who netted with a fine overhead kick from Nicky Cross’s centre. Walsall were in sparkling form with the home defence ripped apart time and time again, despite playing the offside trap at will just like they did at Fellows Park on the opening day of the season. Within seven minutes of their first goal, Walsall found themselves 2-0 up with Jones the provider this time as his corner was flicked on by Graeme Forbes for Nicky Cross to do the rest. It was, at this point, a question of just how many Saddlers would score, such was their stranglehold on the game. The second half was, however, a different matter as The Cobblers made use of the strong wind which was now in their favour and got back into the game with goals from Phil Chard and Glenville Donegal to square the game at 2-2. Continue reading →

Memory Lane – Walsall V. Newcastle United 25.01.1975

Walsall Web Fans looks back at one of Saddlers biggest FA Cup giant killing acts which occurred at Fellows Park on 25th January 1975 in a Fourth Round tie. Walsall had already disposed of the then Second Division Manchester United 3-2 in a thrilling replay in the previous round and went into this game full of confidence being unbeaten in seven games including five clean sheets. This period saw Doug Fraser being in charge of team affairs since the parting of the ways with Ronnie Allen in December. Walsall were in mid-table in Division Three with Newcastle in a similar position in Division One but they had been having a torrid time, losing 5-1 at Manchester City and 5-2 at home to Tottenham Hotspur previously but were expected to turn over Walsall none the less. Continue reading →

Match From The Day – Portsmouth H 2000

Walsall Web Fans looks back on an important game between Walsall and Portsmouth which took place on Saturday April 29th, 2000 in what was known as the Nationwide League 1 (now The Championship) under Ray Graydon. It was imperative that The Saddlers should win this one. It was the last home game of the season with Walsall occupying 22nd place in the table on 43 points, two behind West Bromwich Albion and five behind Crewe, the only two clubs Walsall could change places with to avoid the drop.  Continue reading →

1987-88 Promotion Season Recalled (Part 6 – December)

December 1987 saw Walsall kick off their month with an FA Cup Round 2 tie at the Priestfield Stadium against fellow Third Division side Gillingham. The home side took the lead on six minutes through leading scorer Steve Lovell however within a minute Walsall were on level terms with a goal out of nothing. Trevor Christie chased a lost cause, a long throughball. The striker kept the ball in play, crossed and thanks to uncertainty in the Gills defence David Kelly zipped in to claim his 11th Walsall goal of the season. Gillingham got what turned out to be the winner before half time through Karl Elsey. Saddlers had what looked like two perfectly good goals disallowed in the second half which had manager Tommy Coakley seething as he saw his side lose 1-2 when he should have witnessed a 3-2 win. One amusing incident in this game saw keeper Fred Barber make a clearance which shattered the bedroom window of a nearby house!  Continue reading →

Memory Lane – The Day Aston Villa Helped Walsall Survive Relegation

Walsall Web Fans looks back to an amazing twist to the end of Walsall’s 1970-1 season in Division Three in which, thanks to a bit of help from near neighbours Aston Villa, managed to escape the dreaded drop to Division Four by the skin of their teeth in a situation that was out of their hands. For most clubs the final day of the season was Saturday May 1st. In those days it was two points for a win, no play offs of course and for teams finishing on the same number of points league positions were determined by goal average which meant you had to reach for your calculator to divide your teams goals scored by goals against to come up with a mathematical calculation! Continue reading →

Match From The Day – Coventry (A) 1984

Walsall Web Fans looks back at a brilliant night in the history of Walsall Football Club on October 9th, 1984, in the second Leg of the Second Round of the Milk Cup against Coventry City at Highfield Road, in which The Saddlers were trailing 1-2 from the previous game at Fellows Park. Walsall had enjoyed terrific success the previous season reaching the Semi Finals with those memorable games with Liverpool and Arsenal. Coventry were also a top flight club and were in 20th position in the First Division whilst Walsall were in 11th spot in the Third Division. Despite The Sky Blues lowly position they were expected to progress, what with having home advantage plus the 2-1 first leg lead. City included in their line up midfield general Kenny Hibbitt who was destined to manage Walsall six years later. Continue reading →

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