First match attended

The music has never made much impression on me, but I do remember Oh What a Night by the Four Seasons being played over the Tannoy at half time, would have been spring of 1976 I suppose, and a young WPC was tapping her foot and bending the knee in time with the beat, and a senior rank went over, had a word, she blushed a bit, and stopped doing it. “Conduct unbecoming” I suppose. :grin:

26th October 1963 v Oldham ~ 1-1 and Palin scored from the spot. First season back in Div 3 following relegation and that awful game against Charlton. I was 10 years old and went with my Dad (He was at the Charlton game)
Next game was v Notts Cty the following Tuesday and we won 2-1 and I was hooked.
Loved Fellows Park. To me there was always a great atmosphere unlike Bescot

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We beat Doncaster 1-0 (Gary Childs) in April '85. It was Easter Monday and Billy Bremner was Donny manager.
We did lose 1-0 to Gillingham the next week though.

I think the Doncaster one must be the one, Ive just remembered incorrectly.

I do vaguely remember seeing Gary Childs scoring in one of my first games.

I had a memory of beating them, it was always good to put one over on Bremner.
In the summer he signed Brian Caswell for Donny, then was given the Dirty Leeds job in the autumn, and took Caswell there.

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24th March 55/56 home to Watford, won 2-1.

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Wow . I had never clocked that . Makes it even more special :+1:

We had some great strikers in those days - Kelly , Christie , Cross obviously but also Steve Elliot featured for one season after playing a long time for Luton in the top flight I think ?

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He had a fairly brief spell at Luton but couldn’t settle, and as Mini Preece went the one way, he came the other. He was decent for us, I don’t think he’d be spoken of as one of our greats, like Kelly, Buck, Kyle, Rambo, Bradshaw etc., but certainly shouldn’t be spoken of badly either. He was a good solid performer.
It was PNE where he’d spent a long time, 300 games or so I think, and after his season and a bit for us he went to Bolton, I think.

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Another player diagnosed with dementia in 2019 at age 60.

I didn’t know that. That seems very young.

My first game October 88 against Watford, lost one nil and that was the beginning of our record breaking run of consecutive defeats, welcome to supporting the Saddlers! Yet somehow I was hooked and have been ever since.

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He was a decent player for us as you said. There was a feeling at the time though that David Kelly was ready for a first team place and not just a ‘super sub’

I was only young, about 10 I think, so I am going of memories of what my Dad and his mates talked about. It probably didn’t happen as often as I remember but it did seem like Kelly used to come on and score often but didn’t get a chance in the starting line up often under Buckley.

I know there was a bit of frustration for a time that The Buck didn’t start Ned more often.
As a young player he was quite frail though, very skinny, so maybe Buck thought he would use him sparingly, until he gained some muscle and strength. Kelly had a fairly long career, so perhaps the manager was right, or perhaps he’d have scored prolifically from even earlier. Who knows.

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I remember reading match magazine (my grandad used to buy it me every week) after Kelly had left Walsall and they did an interview with him. He answered biggest disappointment as “not getting a chance under Buckley” So it obviously niggled him a little. I think he would have scored goals from the off, I remember him taking Coventry to pieces. Still as you said, he made a pretty decent career for himself.

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Yes, it was one of those things. I could understand why Buck did it (used him sparingly) but whether it was the better option is up for debate I suppose.
It must be one of the harder aspects of management, having a player who clearly is of above average ability, and not wearing him out through overuse, but also not stifling him so that he fails to progress.
The Buck played a lot of youngsters from an early age, quite a few were regulars in their teens, he wasn’t against giving chances, so he must have had his reasons.

Kelly did tend to be a bit rubbish when he got a start. Coming on as a sub suited him as there was less pressure.

Hindsight is a great thing but another skinny striker was given his chance at 17 becoming a regular at 18. I mean Allan Clarke of course who left still only 19 after 41 goals in 72 appearances compared with Kelly who left at 22 after 147 appearances including subs and 63 goals. Sniffer was probably the better player but started when young players had less protection . Perhaps Buck needed a latter day George Kirby to protect Kelly.

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I remember the Moody Blues playing ‘Go Now’ live at half-time at FP, although on the half way line, opposite, we could hardly hear it. That would have been Dec 64 / Jan 65 ish (when it had topped the charts).

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I remember that game. It tipped it down that day. My Dad had to replace his programme as I’m pretty sure he dropped it in a puddle :smiley:
Do you remember at half time where the kids for both teams would run from the halfway line and try and beat the keeper? I was the first to score for us against Oldham from which we went on to win.
Best day of my life until I got married. Cardiff came close a couple of seasons later though.

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