Nice bloke, was Ron Jukes.

The last time I spoke to him was a few years ago, when I witnessed him in an accident at the bottom of Walhouse Road and stopped to give him my view of the incident for his insurance claim. Thought he was a real gent – and not just because we went to the same school!

No, Ron Jukes was one of the best scouts ever to grace a football club and it is especially sad that he should have passed away at a time when Walsall are producing one of the greatest crop of youngsters they ever have – because he was responsible for bringing to the club some of the greatest players ever to wear the shirt.

His finds included some absolute legends, in the shape of striker Allan Clarke, who went on to play for Leeds United and England, goalkeeper Phil Parkes, another England star, Colin Taylor and Tony Richards, record appearance holder Colin Harrison, Stan Bennett, Frank Gregg and many, many others.

He had two spells with the Saddlers, but also gave sterling service to Wolves (bringing Steve Bull to the club), Blues, Derby (under former Walsall coach Arthur Cox), Shrewsbury and Hereford.

He passed away yesterday in the Manor Hospital, at the age of 79.

Rest in Peace, Ron Jukes, Walsall legend.

Oh My God, I’ve lost count!

It’s the third round replay tomorrow night, with a trip to the Ricoh Stadium and inconsistent Coventry City awaiting the winners.

This game is certainly one we could have done without, one would have thought, but Richard Money has said that he doesn’t mind, as he has such a young squad, well able to cope with the number of games. However, the fact that one or two of the kids have been showing signs of up and down form lately shows the strain that the programme can cause in the inexperienced. On top of that, of course, there is always the ever-present danger of the injury list mounting.

Dicky Dosh has a lot to ponder ahead of the game. At this point, we still don’t know whether Danny Fox will be accepting the offer he’s about to receive from Championship Colchester United. Unless he’s turned them down, he won’t be playing, judging by Saturday, anyway, even with Colchester already having gone out of the Cup. Taundry played well in the role on Saturday, however, and Boertien’s presence on the bench was most welcome.

That leaves the question of whether Mooney or Ricketts might yet be fit to face the Lions, as I have to say, as well as Deeney and Nicholls have done in their absence (I thought Deeney was outstanding again on Saturday), we have still looked a little lightweight in front of goal without the two star strikers.

Lee Holmes will be a little fitter after his outing against Swindon, when he gave a few glimpses of what he is capable of, despite the lack of decent possession we were giving him. Division 2 right backs will not be looking forward to the rest of the season on that evidence.

As for Millwall, it’ll be lots of changes from when we saw them at the Banks’s.
Midfielders Ahmet Brkovic and Marc Laird should be in, after signing contracts with the club at the end of their loan spells from Luton and Manchester City respectively. Both have had injuries recently as well, however.
Skipper Paul Robinson will be back from suspension, but his replacement at Vale on Saturday, veteran Richard Shaw, was red carded and will be missing. Midfielder Dave Brammer returned from a ban in that game, but striker Neil Harris serves the last of his three-match suspension. Danny Senda is expected to miss out with a knee injury while Bryan Hodge and Marcus Bignot’s loan spells are over.
Predictions?

Depends entirely on our performance in front of goal. At our best, we have more than enough to add yet another away win to the collection and give the Fat Controller, amongst several others, the chance to collect one of their missing stadia, with a trip to the Ricoh in the next round.

There have been, not unnaturally, a lot of posts of the message board along the lines of “why are we letting him go” and even a few “why Colchester?”.

I think we need to get a couple of things in perspective here.

Fox is out of contract in the Summer. At the moment, he shows absolutely no inclination to sign a new one. That means that, in June, he could walk away from the club and leave us with nothing. The amount we would receive from a tribunal would likely be very little, as his formative years were spent at Everton, not the Banks’s. If we have received a bid in the region of that reputedly offered and turned down from Leeds, 250,000 to 300,000. then we would be mad not to take it.

There is also the question of which clubs would be interested,

If he is out of contract in the Summer, then not many clubs will be bidding cash for a player they might be able to get for nothing. The only teams bidding will be those who need him now - ie, the likes of Colchester, fighting to stay up, or Leeds, fighting to go up. I’d rather it be Colchester than a rival.

No, our concerns here shouldn’t be the possible departure of the player, but whether Dicky Dosh is going to be given any of the money to strengthen the squad. As for Fox, if he does go, I wish him well, but it his choice and we do have adequate replacements in Boertien, Taundry and Sansara.