The club’s taken on board a supporter suggestion and negotiated with Centro and Midland to launch a new matchday special bus service to get people to and from the stadium!

Buses WFC1, WFC2 and WFC3 will run each matchday between now and the end of the season, so if you’ve had trouble getting to the match, here’s a great solution.

WFC1 runs from Walsall Wood, via Shire Oak, Brownhills, Pelsall and Rushall.

WFC2 runs from Lower Farm via Bloxwich (Park Road), Blakenhall and Coalpool.

WFC runs from Bloxwich (Turnberry Road) via Mossley and Beechdale.

Fares are 1.70 one way or three quid return. The service will operate for the Colchester, Wycombe, Tranmere, Hartlepool and MK Dongs games, and if successful will continue next season. More info on the official site here and a timetable is here (with a great photo of Swifty!)

A performance barely worthy of the name ‘football’ saw Walsall slump to a dismal 0-1 defeat at home to previously lowly Yeovil. The game never got going for the Saddlers, or the pitiful 2,929 hardy souls who turned out tonight.

The club official website’s headline “Snow joke as Saddlers slip” was an amusing diversion for a moment, until one realises the importance of this atrocious result. While the season was never going anywhere even before the match, it appears that the players and management have no concept of playing for pride, no concept of entertainment, no concept of tactics and no concept of winning a game at home.

This clueless approach leads one to wonder at the victories we have achieved in this campaign – have we actually put any tactical plan into action, or are these just the result of blind chance in the league of averageness?

One certain fact: Crowds of under 3,000 will become the norm down Bescot Crescent if things do not change. That prospect should fill the fans, the club and the owner with dread.

wednesburysaddler summed up the game with this masterful post on the match thread:

gutless spineless rubbish crud waste of time bunch of puddings with the worst tactician of a manager ive ever seen

My “Proud To Be A Saddler” coffee mug will remain at the back of the cupboard until such time as I feel I agree with the sentiment it expresses. I’m ashamed.

Walsall have been allocated 490 (yes, 490!) tickets for their FA Cup first round match away against plucky Stourbridge on Saturday 7 November. Refreshingly, Stourbridge haven’t cashed in on their opposition’s lofty status and the tickets cost only 12 quid (or 8 for concessions)

This unusually high allocation should take the pressure off the gate considering we take much less than that to most away games at the moment, but this being the “magical” FA Cup, there’ll be some pressure on fans to get in early to book their ticket or miss out.

Season Ticket holders get first dibs, but to honour these faithful supporters the club has decided, in it’s infinite wisdom, to put tickets on sale at 10.00am this Saturday, October 31, when many of these regular followers will already be on the road, travelling to support the Super Saddlers away at glamorous Wycombe. The ticket office closes at 2.00pm on Saturday, reopening Monday morning, which rather scotches the club’s excuse that the tickets had to go on sale Saturday as many fans can’t wait till Monday as they have to be at work. How about those Season Ticket holders that work, AND are loyal enough to be going to follow the fortunes of the club away on Saturday?

If you’re a Season Ticket holder AND going to Wycombe, get a mate or family member to go down to the ground with your season ticket book Saturday morning for the best chance of gettting a ticket.

Perhaps a fairer solution would have been to start selling tickets from the town shop on Sunday. Still, when has customer cervice ever been a strong point of the club, especially when you know you’ll sell out anyway?

Casual fans (as in no season ticket, not young idiots with ASBOs) get an opportunity, if there’s any left, at 9.00am on Thursday 5 November.

Don’t forget the Walsall old crusties take on an All-Star Supporters team this Sunday to raise funds for Walsall Hospice.

Where: Rushall Olympic Ground, Dales Lane
When: Sunday 1.00pm kick-off
How much: Just £2 to watch the greatest spectacle this side of Sunday tea.

There’ll be a fund-raising raffle as well, prizes kindly donated by fellow fans for this special occasion so bring along some more cash to throw into the pot. Special mentions to prize donors when I find out who they all are, but firstly I know Asps, former site sponsor with IC Shipping (great freight forwarding service) has been involved. Thanks Ian!

Rumours that the Supporters side are having to play in a Wolves strip are untrue.

Walsall legend, manager Ray Graydon, will be at The Banks’s Stadium this Saturday to collect his club award for being voted onto the Broad Street, Birmingham, ‘Walk of Stars’.

Sir Ray beat off some stiff competition from the club’s history to win out as the fans favourite and Saturday’s home game against Exeter gives every fan who remembers his time at the club the opportunity to turn up in support of one of our most popular managers.

UTS urges all supporters who can make the game to be there to see Ray take centre stage, and show him the appreciation he deserves for his heroic times at Walsall.

He’s being presented with his award before kick off, so you’ll have to turn up earlier than 2.59pm to catch a glimpse of the great man. Please, get along to the Banks’s this Saturday and make him feel welcome by giving him the turnout he really deserves, and the thanks of everyone who remembers his time at the club.

If you only go to one game this season, make it this one.

Heavyweight forward Sam Parkin has signed today.

Sam’s career began at Chelsea, and whilst not making the grade at the top flight club, he went on, via some loan moves, to Swindon, where he spent three lethal seasons.

Parkin was transferred to Ipswich after his Swindon days, but injury forced him down the pecking order, and he was 6th choice striker by the time Luton showed an interest, back in the days when they were still spending other peoples’ money. His three year deal there was blighted by injury, and he collected a lot of wages as one of the increasingly desperate club’s top earners whilst not fit to play.

Released at the end of the season following a barren spell at Luton and on loan, he’s obviously caught the eye of Marty & Hutch, and will turn out in a Saddler’s shirt next season. If we can keep him fit, he could and should be a useful addition to the forward line.

Messageboard comments suggest his recent lack of match experience may have led to a few extra pounds being put on, so it’s up to Jon Whitney to help him avoid earning the “Super Sammy Porking” tag. Let’s hope he can rediscover his hunger for goals instead of pies.

Welcome aboard, Sam Parkin!

Straight from the internet, more old guff about the club that never sleeps in the close season…

Preseason Starts Thursday
In a bold and innovative move, the Saddlers start preseason team training without a team. The UTS Friendly Crew from Wednesday night might want to wash their kit and turn up at Essington in case they’re needed to make up the numbers for a five-a-side.

Alternatively, those senior squad members who’re signed up might want to pop down to Goals on Wednesday night and reacquaint themselves with what a football looks like, and make up the numbers for a five-a-side.

New matchday routine
The club have announced that Mike Day will introduce a new era of matchday entertainment, interviewing players past and present, hosting quizzes and guiding autograph hunters at Bescot.

We think this is a great move, one which should see fans arriving a little earlier to meet their favourites and enjoy a pint and a pie (when available). It’s good to see the club give the fans the time of Day for a change.

Player supports Rotherham instead
Ian Breckin, former Notts Forest star, has turned down a move to Bescot, opting to go North instead of uprooting his lifestyle. Whilst it’s fair to say he could have done a job for us, we’re sure there’s plenty more opportunities and we’re glad Hutch hasn’t had to go Breckin the bank to land him.

Express and Star change headline: shock!
Gasps of amazement were heard across the planet as internet users logged in to the E&S transfer rumours page to view the now-familiar “Walsall – nothing to report” comment. Instead, they were greeted with “No news for Saddlers today”.

It’s fantastic that the Stir has seen fit to personalise it’s coverage of Walsall. Now all it has to do is find the news.

That’s about it for the moment. Remember – we’ll (probably not) be first with the transfer news. Will Billy put pen to paper? Is the Banks’s’s’s kitchen up to good Italian food, and can they find a reliable groundnut supplier? All might be revealed soon.

Meantime, discuss it all on the messageboard, where your message may be locked randomly according to the prevailing mod mood

Nothing ever happens in the close season, so we thought we’d better document it…

The Taxman Cometh
League clubs have voted to approve a new rule for the coming season. If you fall behind in payments to Her Madge’s Revenue, you’ll be subject to a transfer embargo.

Pardon me for spotting the obvious, but with the transfer window only open mid-season, it’ll be pretty easy to splurge your war chest and speculate, then wait till May before settling up with the government. Still, better than nothing, and raises awareness I suppose.

Dann Windfall as Brum Pay Up
AS Dann moves from the Sky Blues to the, er, Blues, the Saddlers will get a slice of the cash from their sell-on clause. 18 months service to Coventry will have seen this drop back a few % but we’ll certainly have a nice little cheque coming our way.

Just in time to pay off the tax man so we can make some free transfers, eh?

Roberts Recovery Rumour
News is reaching UTS that Stephen Roberts may well be recovering from a severe case of knee-knack, compounded by bad back. No doubt he’ll be nearing fine by the pre-Season, and ready by Christmas, so he’s able to make his case for a new contract.

Good luck in recovering, Stephen.

We’ll bring you the transfer news as soon as we hear some. That’s all for now – Mrs. Exile wants the kitchen tidied.

Welcome to the round-up, in which the Walsall current affairs scone has the sultanas removed and dissected….

Manager’s poker bluff pays off
With the news that Ince, Gilmartin, Smith, Sansara and Palmer have all promised to sign up for next season, Hutch looks to have managed a best 5 from 7 in Walsall Hold’Em, the game in which you assemble the best squad from a rank selection and blag your opponents into thinking it’s a great deal really.

As we’re playing on the $10 buy-in tables, there’s plenty around to meet our criteria (cheap, hopefully cheerful), and it’s good news to see some shape to the squad relatively early in the close season. We’re especially lucky to have beaten off all those big clubs chasing ‘Ace’ Palmer, whose versatility as a squad player is vital.

Still waiting on Ibehre (agent issues) and Zaaboub (holiday issues).

Take your seats, please!
This week is the last week for season ticket holders to reserve the seat they sat in last season before they’re put back on general sale. Best get in quick, or if you wait till next week you might get Geoff Whiting’s old seat, complete with tea stains on the concrete underneath. At least, we hope it’s tea.

Transfer rumours
We were going to look at some of the juicier rumours but there aren’t any. The reappearance of Mark Wright ought to be good for about 10 season tickets, but will cause 15 others to be ripped up, while the possibility of signing Jimmy Walker appears to have evaporated following Ince and Gilmartin’s capture. No doubt the thought of the diminutive ex-Hammer driving North made them sign up sooner rather than later.

Barry Hayles doesn’t bear thinking about, the Walker question has been answered, so there’s only one thing left to suggest: Darren Byfield. Now old enough to think about returning.

That’s it for now, shorter than usual as there’s not much happening. I’ll leave a longer gap till 7.

An irregular review of all non-events in the close season.

Walsall to do their best as chief scout appointed
Neckerchief and woggles optional for David Hamilton, the new chief scout for the Saddlers, and the first to earn some pay off Uncle Jeff for scouting since Pedagogue was a boy. Hamilton’s worked with Hutchings before, so this is another piece of backroom jigsaw, and a diversion from twelve months ago, when a certain managerial candidate was told he couldn’t bring in anyone else.

We think this is a positive move, reinforcing the long-held view that as we can’t afford quality, we may as well at least try to develop it and sell it ourselves.

Saddlers aim for bulls hit
A friendly has been arranged away against Hereford, meaning we can once more visit this lovely Welsh border town and meet the welcoming six-fingered residents. (extra) Fingers crossed they’ve bought some oil for the turnstile gates and that they’ll have more than 1 open before kick-off, which won’t be delayed, however many are left waiting outside.

Best avoid this match if you get high blood pressure from watching small town ineptitude. If that’s you, block out your diary for Saturday August 1 from (say) 2pm.

Use it or lose it!
Martsky & Hutch have got tough on the contract abstainers, advising them that offers will start be withdrawn if the players continue to pussy around.

Given that we’re used to operating in the dregs of the market, this is a welcome move, reminding the players that (Palmer excepted) the Premier League teams aren’t coming in for them, and there’s plenty more where they came from.

Jabo does enough to earn a contract
With the Franchise, we think. His burst of activity towards the end of the season, when he reckoned he might be out on his ear after being pushed down the pecking order, might have borne fruit. MK Dons, on the receiving end of one of his rare goal-bound efforts, look to be hunting his signature. See ya, Jabo. Loved your work rate.

That’s all for now. We’ll bring you news of the new signings as soon as there are any.