By Mister Happy
June 21 2005

Over the last 10 years Saddlers supporters have never had it so good. It has been a roller coaster decade of emotional, adrenaline busting football. Has it all come to an end? Despite the disappointment of last season, Saddlers supporters have never had it so good. For decades we drifted amongst the dead wood, nearly went out of existence and fought off a merger with The Noses.

Briefly we rose up under Coakley to the upper echelons only to be immediately shot down again. With the club in terrible disarray it took a long time to recover.

But recover we did.

September 1994 was the turning point that saw us begin the transition from a poor third division side into one that established itself in the first division. It was September 1994 that a certain Chris Nicholl breezed into Bescot and bellowed the famous words; “I want promotion”.

Chris Nicholl was a breath of fresh air. Tough, uncompromising, he left the players at his disposal in no doubt as to what he wanted to achieve. If they didn’t want promotion, they knew where the door was. The message was clear.

His first league game in charge resulted in a 2-1 home victory against Gillingham with Kevin Wilson and Stuart Ryder scoring the goals. Up front we had the deadly duo of Kevin Wilson (still one of the most skilful players to wear a Saddlers shirt in my opinion) and Kyle Lightbourne who between them logged an excellent 39 goals. The whole team was co-ordinated by O’Connor (10 goals) in the middle of the park and the pace and creativity was supplied by wing wizard Scott Houghton. At the back we had Chris Marsh, Watkiss and unsung hero Palmer. Other players of note include Ntamark, Rogers, Gibson, Ryder and Trevor Wood in goal.

As the months progressed, so the Saddlers chances of promotion increased with consistent performances, goals galore and fantastic entertainment for the fans. Along the way there were of course disappointments. None more so than the 3-1 humiliation at home against Chesterfield. Certain sections of the Bescot faithful (myself included) believed that was as far as the Saddlers promotion bandwagon would go.

Chris Nicholl had other ideas. He would march his players into the middle of the pitch at places like Doncaster and Exeter and say “Look around at this place because you won’t be here next year”. His determination and belief was unwavering. He took no prisoners in his ferocious approach to football management and didn’t particularly care whether or not people agreed with his methods. He upset certain sections of the fans over the Stuart Watkiss incident when he claimed that if he had his own way he wouldn’t pay injured players.

And so, May the 4th finally came. Destination Gigg Lane. All we needed was a single point to secure promotion, to secure Chris Nicholl’s dream. Hordes of Saddlers fans packed the away terrace, the beach balls, the noise, the huge Saddlers flag being passed over the terrace, the stomach churning tension will never be forgotten.

We had a stand in keeper for the injured Wood called James Walker, Martin O’Connor was stretchered off as Bury bombarded the Saddlers goal. Somehow, the Saddlers fought and fought and defended the Bury onslaught with every ounce of energy. The ballboy incident, the belief that Bury were going to nick a goal made this one of the most tension filled nights of my entire life. Injury time lasted what seemed like an eternity before finally, at last, the referee blew up. Walsall were promoted to division 2 amidst joyous scenes. The revolution had begun.

Amazingly, all of this was achieved by manager Nicholl without buying or selling any member of the faltering squad he inherited. This was the beginning of our transformation from third division nobodies into an established first division outfit.

Chris Nicholl maintained Walsall at this level for another couple of seasons. Eventually though Nicholl decided to call it a day and left the club in order to play some more tennis. Very odd behaviour I must say.

Maybe he thought he couldn’t take the club any further?

After Nicholl left we had a season under Jan “40 fags a day, lead singer of Mud look-alike, large around the waist” Sorensen. Did he really play at the top level in Europe? The mind boggles.

Even though the Saddlers were nearly relegated under his stewardship his team were capable of some fantastic, fluid passing football. With the explosive Boli up front, the magnificent Peron on the left wing, John Hodge on the right wing, Ada Viveash and Mountfield at the back, this team possessed strength as well as attacking flair. Who could forget the Coca Cola victory against the millionaires from Nottingham who included the likes of Van Hooijdonk, Gemmill and Campbell amongst their ranks.

Sadly though, his lack of discipline and tactical knowledge required at this level of football meant he lost the players confidence towards the end of the season and coupled with the flirtation with relegation he was duly given his cards.

Great hair though!

Soon after, a new appointment was made to take charge of the Saddlers. “RAY WHO” screamed the headlines on some internet sites (although Neil wasn't in charge at the time - snigger). The club were accused by fans of trying to do things on the cheap as Graydon was appointed as it came as a complete surprise. Some people believed the Chairman wanted another “yes” man to work alongside fans favourite Taylor – snort!, (job role still unknown – what is a director of football anyway?).

Given that Graydon didn’t have enough players to put out a first team squad on the pre-season tour to Scotland many fans shared the bookies and pundits views that Saddlers were favourites for relegation. The obvious favourites for promotion were Fulham backed by mega rich Al-Fayed and big guns Manchester City.

Tough disciplinarian Graydon came into Bescot and immediately laid down his terms to the players. His rules were simple. No mobile phones or tape recorders in the dressing room, no untidy dress, no swearing in matches or training and no disputing referee’s decisions!!!

The season began with a tough fixture at Priestfield with the Saddlers gaining a 1-0 victory in a bruising encounter. New boy Rammell shone in the match with his physical presence and steely determination to chase every ball an indication of what we would see for the remainder of the season. The winning goal came courtesy of a freak own goal with a Gills player back heading a shot over his own keeper.

As the season unfolded the free transfer, bargain basement Saddlers found themselves towards the summit of the table – a position they were to maintain for the majority of the season.

Along the way we were hammered at both Maine Road and Craven Cottage and also threw away some silly home fixtures including a 3-2 reverse against York and a 2-0 defeat against Reading. But still, we remained within touching distance of Stoke, Man City and Fulham.

As the season progressed so the Saddlers’ belief and determination increased. The back line was solid with Marsh, Green, Viveash and Pointon. The width supplied by Brissett and Wrack who fed the always willing Rammell. I still maintain that it was Rambo’s strength and belief that pushed the Saddlers to promotion. He was a leader, he was a dressing room influence. Along with both Richard Green and Ada Viveash this team fought and battled out victories on opposition turf.

This determination was typically shown at Bristol Rovers. After having gone 2-0 down within the first five minutes it looked as though a thrashing was to be handed out by the Pirates. The Saddlers however had different ideas and pulled the match back to 2-2. Unfortunately, Rovers then took the lead again. Surely this was curtains. No. Again the Saddlers battled and fought for every ball and with only 10 minutes remaining up popped Rambo to draw Walsall level again. Not content with a point the Saddlers continued to attack and with only one minute left on the clock Icelandic Larusson scored to secure Walsall an absolutely amazing victory. This was a team that had bags of spirit and belief (and could play a bit too).

The discipline was maintained, the team spirit never wavered and automatic promotion secured with a 3-1 victory against Oldham leaving the Saddlers in the second automatic promotion spot behind Champions Fulham.

This season had been truly amazing. Somehow, a collection of free transfers, trialists, foreign imports and borrowed players had been collected together (some then discarded) and gained promotion by unknown manager Graydon. A squad that had been backed as favourites for relegation had somehow overcome the mighty Manchester City for the second promotion spot.

Having now climbed back to the summit of the Football League what then followed was nothing short of high adrenaline, roller coaster emotion busting drama. Stretched out a number of years I might add.

Glorious victories over Wolves, Blues and the Baggies were quite mind blowingly fantastic but ultimately Saddlers fell at the last hurdle and returned to the lower league.

Ray Gradon then proceeded to do the impossible again, gaining promotion back up to the first division, this time giving us a memorable never to be forgotten day at The Millennium Stadium.

As ever, all good things had to come to an end and with another relegation looking a possibility coupled with an awful display at the Hawthorns Sir Ray agreed to leave.

Jeff Bonser then made the decision to install ex Wolves man Colin Lee to the Bescot hot seat. Although not universally popular, Lee managed to deliver something that Graydon had failed to do. He managed to secure another season at the top level.

He managed this not only once, but twice.

During his tenure we saw unprecedented levels of quality brought into the club. Players such as Ritchie, Merson and Samways were tempted to sign for this backwater club in the West Midlands heartland. Quite unbelievable.

Colin Lee deserves much credit for this. Unfortunately we had to pay the price and the memorable survival days at Brammall Lane and Blundell Park were finally erased when at the third time of asking we were finally relegated on the last day of the season – on goal difference.

After all these years of high drama many fans were still on an adrenaline high when Paul Merson was given the reigns full time. Indeed, our opening few matches of attacking football, coupled with Merson’s declaration we were the best team in the league did nothing to curb our over inflated anticipation.

Unfortunately, as it gradually dawned that we were nowhere near a promotion winning side the negativity on the terraces began to appear, largely borne through frustration and years of an adrenaline high one would assume.

We are now back where Chris Nicholl left us albeit with some quality youngsters on board and a much improved stadium. The question is, which way will we go from here.

Will we remain amongst the footballing deadmen or will we once again rise from the ashes. I do not have the answer.

However, I am pleased that I have witnessed the excitement of the last ten years