You haven’t mentioned the attendance but I expect it was about 30,000, because my mate assures me they never got less than that.
Interesting to look at the Wolves team - how many of them would we have wanted? Tim Flowers was a great prospect, and Ainscow and King had been good but were on the way down, Edwards and Purdie were not as good as Elliot, O’Kelly or Cross, nor as good as David Kelly, who iirc was our sub that night. Crainie was a good player when he wanted to be, should have had a better career, but they didn’t have much when you think about it. Who the heck was Zelem? Clarke? Chapman?
You are right about the Food Mixer being eerie at the time, with only the South Bank and White Elephant Stand being open.
It’s hard to compare over the years, but I just don’t believe that division 3/ League 1 has that quality of player anymore. He was so dynamic, could run with the ball, scored goals, made goals, clever off the ball movement, he was such a clever player. His technique was superb. I remember one goal he scored v Bournemouth I think it was, at Fellows Park, run down the left wing, everyone waiting for a ball in, and he just bent it in to the top corner with the outside of his boot. Class player, was gutted when he left.
I Was only young when we had Nicky cross but one thing that struck me about him was how he held the ball up kept defenders at arms length as he turned and how strong he was . Very good player for us.
Still recall him storming off down the tunnel when Coakley substituted him with plenty of time still to go after scoring a hat-trick (vs Rotherham?) with his young son up in the stand who he was dedicating the goals to. Moved shortly after and I always put it down to that being the cause.
I think you’re right, and it shows players don’t have to be huge to be good with their back to goal or at holding the ball, Kev Wilson and Alan Buckley were superb despite being short.
Fun story - walking back to the car with my dad after this in our shirts, a wolves top wearing woman mounted the kerb in her car to try and run us over. We put our coats back on and waited to gloat until we got out of that hellhole
Attendance figures were 11,330 at FP and 11,310 at Molineux according to The story of Walsall Football Club. For the league games was 10,480 at FP (1-1) and 7,522 at Molineux (0-0) that season.
Whilst Nicky storming off after being substituted caused a bit of friction between player and manager they had a clear the air meeting and following an apology from the player that was the end of the matter. It was the player’s refusal to carry out orders from the manager during a game that annoyed the manager so much that he knew he had to get rid asap as he explained to me earlier this year …
Tommy also gave an interesting insight into the departure of Nicky Cross. "I wanted to play Nicky wide right in the FRT game v Peterborough with David Kelly ‘in the hole’ and playing Trevor Christie up top but he kept drifting in. At half time I told him to stay wide, I’m using this game as an experiment. But he still wouldn’t listen. I turned to Gerry and said he’s got to go. He said ‘You can’t do that wee man he’ll guarantee you 20 goals a season. Have a think about it.’ In my managers office there were two telephones. I was on the phone in there to Gerry the next day and the other phone went so I told Gerry I’d have to answer it. The guy at the other end of that phone said ‘Hello this is David Pleat here. ( Leicester manager ). I want to take your lad Cross, are you selling him?’ I’m selling him. He will guarantee 20 goals a season for you. David said, ‘I’ll give you 65 grand for him.’ I said I want 75 grand and you can speak to him. So was Nicky tapped? I can’t say for certain. Ray Whalley insisted he stayed. I got on the phone to Terry but he said he was leaving on a plane to Bulgaria and said phone me back later. I told Terry that he ( Nicky) would have to go. Terry said ‘Tell Whalley to go forth and multiply.’ I had to draw the line with him for not interfering. "
I’d love to get the chance to speak to Nicky Cross one day to get his version of events regarding his Fellows Park exit.
We went up anyway so I suppose Coakley would think it was justified, but with Kelly moving on in the summer, we could have done with Cross the following season. He probably wouldn’t have kept us up (we finished about 15 points adrift I think) but he would have made us more competitive.
I know it was a good while ago and money is saft now, but 75 grand for a player who scored 21 and 16 goals in his two full League seasons with us seems a bargain, even for the 80s.
I wish Coakley could have made things work and the player had stayed.
On our last visit (and win) to the Custard Bowl, I met up with a Dingle mate in the Lych Gate beforehand. As I was going behind enemy lines I didn’t wear my replica shirt just a club t-shirt with a discreet badge on the breast, and kept my coat on.
After the game I had a bit of time to kill before my train back to Telford, so I want back in - this time taking my coat off. After a while though the land lady came over and asked if I’d mind putting back on as it is a home-fans-only pub on match days and the Walsall crest was clearly visible.
I said I didn’t mind but I didn’t see how it would make any difference as I was clearly a Saddler even with the badge covered. She asked me why that was - “Well have a look around - I’m the only one in here with a smile on my face while everyone else is crying into their beer!”
I went to the game, and one of my wolves mates rang me for a bit of banter as he was in the pub near to the ground.
Halfway through the call he said “i’ve got to go because there is a load of you lot walking towards us with a load of Albion fans”
I didn’t hear from him again for a few weeks
I think so. If my memory serves me well, which it doesn’t always these days, Debs moved from the BCA to the Lych Gate in August 2012. I do remember my son was over here from Australia when we went on her last weekend there. Debs and her partner Rich were brilliant at running the place. They picked that place up and turned it into an award winning pub.
Couple of pictures from that game.
I remember walking back to my brothers car after the game in 1999 and couldn’t wait to hear the dingles crying on wm, only to get there and discover they had smashed the windows and nicked his radio. He had to drive home to Surrey the following day with his car like that.
