Lost to Brizzle at Bescot on Boxing Day and then played Northampton at their place on Sunday. This was the game when Jimmy was kicked in the head by John Gayle and they couldn’t stop the bleeding and Marshy went in goal. My (possibly biased) memory is that we outplayed them but they had four shots, three of which went in and they won 3-2. The ref took no action against Gayle, he should have asked me, I had a perfect view and it looked deliberate.
Incidentally we scored fewer goals in the League in 97-98 than we did last season under Flynn, just 43 compared to 46 last term.
That was in his book as well, but I think Wacka’s memory is hazy as he is states in the podcast we lost 3-1 and it was 3/4 games from the end of the season, when in actual fact we lost 1-0 and we still had 8 or so games left to play.
I remember the Northampton game quite well. Just me and my Dad went as most of the usual minibus lads didn’t want to go, so I drove, which was and still is rare. I seem to remember we didn’t take as big a following as we usually did to Northampton.
We did outplay them, Hodge was brilliant. There was a feeling we could have done with a bigger striker that season as we had good wide players, but Watson and Boli were small (although Watson could head a ball quite well if I remember rightly)
As good as Boli was when he was on it, he was poor at times as well, especially once all the Cup fun and games had finished.
The first game he played for us, I can’t remember who it was against, but I am sure it was a night game and he came on as sub.
There were a lot standing by us saying “If he isn’t good enough for Swansea, why would we want him” Not that many minutes later opinions were changing! I agree, one of my favourite wingers for Walsall, probably just behind Scott Houghton.
I remeber that game like it was yesterday mate the whole stadium fell silent even the northampton fans fell silent for around 5 minutes i agree with you i still to this day think it was deliberate and it was a bang on red
Has any manager ever been so fondly remembered as Jan after being in charge for just one season? Don’t think there has he gave us some great memories in that season even though we didn’t achieve anything on paper it was so entertaining and exciting at times.
Depends on the heading at the top of the paper. If it is competitions then you are bang on, a trophy/promotion less season.
However in terms of money brought in from the cup competitions, plus I think we also sold Peron and Boli for cash, who knows what that did for us, could have kept the wolves from the door given as at the start of that decade we were selling Rimmer to keep us viable. He also blooded a couple of youngsters who went on to have stellar careers with us in Roper and Keates.
An eventful 12 month tenure that potentially had a big impact on future years, that were some of our most successful.
I’m getting a bit worried now. I’m the same age as Sorenson…. I’m at that stage now where if someone near to my age dies I think “wow I dodged a bullet there”…. R.I.P Jan,thanks for the memories .
Sad loss, I have so many happy memories of that season. A true character that is now all but gone in modern football, we now live in a world where he would not even have got an interview, let alone a job.
that peterborough game before we played man united, my memory is vague, was it postponed or a replay? I know we went there knowing who we’d be playing, I’ve never been somewhere before knowing we’d turn them over as much as we all seemed to that night.
I missed the time BFJ was our manager as I was living in the states. It was just about the time the internet started so I was in touch, but also a bit detached. Came back just as Sir Ray took over.
From reading about his time at the bezzla, it’s easy to see why he’s remembered with such affection by our supporters.
another Jan classic team talk what a character.
. I’m at that stage now where if someone near to my age dies I think “wow I dodged a bullet there”…
. R.I.P Jan,thanks for the memories 
.