More seasons in the THIRD teir than any other club I think. We are not a 4th teir club but Pomlett is making us one (possibly National League or even lower) due to his disastrous management of it
Fair enough, but we are, I would say, much better supported than a lot of the teams in League One, Cheltenham, Burton, Fleetwood, FGR and others but they have the advantage of playing at a higher level than us and also have visits from big clubs like Ipswich, Wendy and Pompey.
Ten years ago were Bournemouth better supported than us? In my time following football I would say we were about the same, we had periods of success when we got bigger crowds than them, and vice versa. The last decade has skewed that, of course, and investment has taken them to the Premier League.
Iām not sure Reading were better supported than us in the 70s and 80s, not much anyway, maybe a bit but not massively. Again the last almost 20 years has taken them to heights we can hardly imagine.
And in the late 70s, the 80s and 90s we were better supported than Wigan. It isnāt their support that has taken them to the Prem and to winning the F A Cup.
Rotherham have been more successful than us of late, but again I donāt think itās their support that has done it, they are another club that have been more or less the same as us.
Brentford are doing fantastically at the moment but Iāve been to Griffin Park when thereās been 4,500 to 5,000 fans there, about what weād have had at FP/Bescot.
Itās an interesting question, but I would say historically we are somewhere between halfway and perhaps sixth place in what is now League One.
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I believe last time we were in league 1 we were in the bottom 6 for attendances and in this league i believe we avg about 12 th for attendances. And theres probaly about 4 or 5 non league teams with better avg attendances than us.
Dons Tin hat but Oldham, Gillingham and maybe even Chesterfield are probably all āDivision 3 clubsā, traditionally speakingā¦
Bigger clubs than Walsall have dropped into Non league. I really hope that Flynn can steady the ship because weāve had very little to shout about for years nowā¦
Think you need to give up on any argument that Walsall shouldnāt be in League 1 still division 3 to me. We absolutely should be but we have no right to be. Its shameful in my view that we can no longer compete with the likes of Burton, Accrington, morecambe, Shrewsbury. And aload more also
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I have to agree if we drop down to non league, we could be there for very long time. Notts county and Wrexham are perfect examples.
Dorking Wanderers away on a cold blustery tuesday night 
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Ok that makes sense 
Every team are where they deserve to be. Fact
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It makes perfect sense, as does your reply.
Historically and on merit Walsall FC have since the existence of 4 divisions usually been a third tier club, but have no right to expect to be at that level. It is therefore fair to say that in the years we were at that level, the people running the club and those running the team, and the players themselves reaped the status their efforts and resources merited.
As you say, we currently deserve to be a 4th tier club, because for several years the above mentioned have failed to reach anything other than that meriting anything better.
That fact, against the backdrop of our history rightly calls into question the ability of those running the club, especially as it is those same people in the boardroom that oversaw the drop and demise. FACT.
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The only time i can remember us being in the basement division for so long was when Hibbitt was in charge the first 3 seasons he was here we didnāt have a pot to piss in and almost went to the wall a few times.
This is worse than that at least he got us in the play offs one season and close in another before Nicholl came in and took us up.
You can find details of the average attendance at league clubs over the years at Attendances England .
I think most of your memories of poor attendances at currently successful clubs are correct.
Bournemouth averaged 5881 in 2012.
Reading often had attendances below 5,000 until 1993.
Wigan had gates below 2,000 in the mid nineties.
Brentford and Rotherham also had small gates in that period.
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This blows out the water the mantra that infuriates me the most. āWe have always been a smaller club so it will remain that way.ā
Like I have said countless times on here thereās so many clubs that struggled to get 2k in the nineties that have gone on to grow significantly and now we are in their shadow - to say the least! Rotherham didnt even have a home at one point in the mid naughties.
Good marketing, sometimes good funding and an engaged, unified club-fan relationship. Its amazing what that can achieve. And people wonder why I get so bloody frustrated at the lack of forward thinking and stagnation with us - thinking its some obsession with the people at the club 
The only obsession I wish I could relinquish is Walsall FC and the ongoing desire to desperately want to see us improve both on and off the field.
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Thatās right, the point I was trying to make is that the reason we are being outperformed at the moment by not just Brentford and Bournemouth, but by Cheltenham and Fleetwood goes beyond our level of support.
The reason Reading, Wigan and others have had their day(s) in the sun is for other reasons, ownership and investment obviously, and also some of the reasons mentioned by @funk_hits_the_fan in his post above.
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Except Wolves.
Yep itās frustrating. Even similar clubs that fell into non-league for years have somehow galvanised their fanbases e.g. Stockport, Grimsby, Wrexham.
Thereās just a real feeling of stagnation about Walsall FC.
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Think you will find we have been.
Many a time we have needed votes to remain as a league club
From the 70s Walsall has always been a 3rd teir club. Had a short spell in the early 90s in the bottom teir and 1 season where we bounced straight back
This is our worst ever period ever since then .
Yep, I think officially the longest presence in 3rd tier, sadly I struggle to see way back even to those heady heights
Since the 4th Division came into being in 1959, we have been in it for a total of 13 seasons, including this one.
In that time we have also spent 8 seasons in the second tier and a whopping 44 in the third.
Historically, the third tier is our home, but the clubās current infrastructure and fanbase means just surviving at that level is difficult.
Something obviously went wrong somewhere down the lineā¦
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4 out of those 13 in the last 4 years. Div 4 is not where historically we should be. Canāt see any way back tbh to those higher levels . Particulary with Trivela saddling the club with an enormous debt to buy back its own stadium. Think Pomlett has changed the course of history. Only way out is the Americans piling in some money and just enjoying the ride. Aka the Wrexham model. Highly unlikely though
Iām choosing to be an optimist and give them time, but yeah without proper investment I think being a yo-yo club between Div 3 and 4 is the maximum we can acheive.
To be honest Iād take that right now, anything for a bit of excitement!
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