One of my first memories supporting Walsall, Man United beat West Ham 5-3 on that day and it kept flashing up with the goals every couple of minutes 
2 Likes
I remember going with my dad , must have been the 50s.
At half time they used to put some big cards with numbers on round the perimeter of the pitch, I think they attached smaller numbers that would indicate the scores.
Come to think of it , why didn’t they just announce them over the speakers.
I have been banging the drum regarding the ageing fan base and the ridiculous ineptitude of our marketing for 6 years, especially when it comes to attracting the main football fan demographic - older teenagers and young adults.
Look how many of those choosing to walk away are younger fans! I always say the majority will not see the real results of a decline until its too late, and its being borne out.
Its painful to watch
7 Likes
This! Still doing the same things the same way as we’ve done for the last 30 years and can’t see that the footballing world has moved on and that it’s a different ball game (pun intended). The board (current one or a new one) need to change their mindset and drag themselves into the 21st Century.
3 Likes
Think it was epitomised a few seasons back when someone on here said they asked Gamble about revamping the ticket structure and having more offers to attract fans in. His response was apparently along the lines of “We do a few offers a season already, what more can we do?” 
Yep, closed mind.
There is always plenty more you can do in all areas. In fact, fans do put forward some very good ideas but they are always rejected. Too busy being on the defensive all the time instead of thinking outside the box a little and trying to improve.
6 Likes
Good post…I expect me and your old man would have got on well. I just don’t see the point of berating the club on here on every issue. Of course I want the club to be better and do better but the the real issue is that LP does not have the financial clout that some chairman have and is lumbered with an ever increasing rent bill which will go much higher as inflation becomes an issue once more.
We badly need new investment and our chances of getting that would be enhanced if we owned the freehold. LP knows this and his one chance of getting his money back is if he can bring that about. Anyway I am done for now. I have still got the problem of pages jumping on here on this site…I think it must be all the anger that is being produced 
3 Likes
Probably because we are staring non league in the face and nothing ever changes for a start.
I wonder how many times it has to be pointed out that loads of teams in our division also pay rent before people stop using that as an excuse for everything, including stuff that isn’t even financial, like spouting bullshit constantly or not being able to work a plunger.
10 Likes
Reference half time entertainment theres nothing anymore. Remember the old days with Sumo and the penalty shoot outs? They had fans on the pitch shooting at the goal or the crossbar even one year shooting at the boot of a car. They dont even do the pizza anymore. Has this all stopped because of covid? Wouldnt mind knowing if thats the reason why the half time pitch entertainment has ceased.
3 Likes
Listening to The Boreham Wood owner on the wireless this morning. Been chairman for 23 years following in the footsteps of his old man. Played for them in the 80’s and had to remortgage his house to keep afloat during the pandemic.
He told the interviewer that if you wanted to make a small fortune in this game then you better have a large fortune to start with - the complete opposite to our number 1 fan.
2 Likes
Of course they do and some more than us it’s no excuse it isn’t helpful but it’s not the be all and end all some think it is.
1 Like
Great post mate. Pity the great wise men on the Board don’t care, they know best 
1 Like
Absolutely. Owning our own ground Bescot/Banks’s or elsewhere) doesn’t automatically guarantee we’ll suddenly come good.
Loads of good memories on the Nostalgia thread - but there were plenty of bad ones from those times too (6 defeats on the bounce? Try 15!) AND we owned our ground then.
Maybe it’s expectations that need managing? I have ambitions of us getting promoted out of this league and maybe even becoming an established Championship club. But 47 years of watching, and a knowledge of our 134 year history, means these are not expectations - so I’m not planning going ballistic if we don’t.
BTW What are everyone else’s long term ambitions - back to L1 where we’ve spent most of our history? Avoiding relegation in the Championship for more than 3 seasons? Or loftier still and maybe even reach the EPL? Would you be happy if we did suddenly start getting 20,000+ and were being treated even more as an irrelevant income stream (compared to the TV money) and the club and players become even more distant from us ordinary fans?
2 Likes
I don’t think anyone should give up on the club. The team are in a bad position but Walsall have been on their knees many times in the past and bounced back. Like WalsallOne and Blazing_Saddler’s dad, we should – to quote Blazing_Saddler – ‘stick with it’. Maybe it won’t work out, but that’s what it is. Else we’d all be supporting Man City/Chelsea or at least Wolves/Villa/Whoever and all their billions/millions. Surely the main problem is on the pitch and with coaching/tactics etc. Walsall’s most successful chairman admitted he knew nothing about football and said that the manager ‘could pick the groundsman as centre-forward and it would be all right with me.’ – although maybe Alsop was the groundsman at the time, so he might have known more about football than he was letting on.
1 Like
Seeing some decent governance emanate from the board and not be treated like something scrapped off the bottom of a shoe as a fan.
Fairly low expectations really so amazes me that the club can’t meet them. Also says something that it is probably a long term ambition for me to see it change!
3 Likes
Personally I think being a yo-yo club between League 1 and the Championship would be a worthy ideal for a club like us. I guess we could lower expectations and make that between league 2 and league 1. Promotions are always fun and give memories that last forever.
Being an established Championship side would offer bigger gates better players and football, but a yearly battle to finish at best as also-rans can become tedious after a while. Not that I wouldn’t take that.
Not fussed about the Premier League. I wouldn’t mind it for a year or two but I really do like football at 3pm on a Saturday. I guess the only plus side to it is we could possibly gain a lot more long term supporters.
5 Likes
Fully agree with you mate. What have a non-Big 6 EPL established club like Crystal Palace got to look forward to except avoiding the drop in lower mid-table every year? They aren’t going to win the league or make Europe so it’s even more boring than being down here with the dead men.
I’d be happy to see us get to yoyoing between L1 and the Championship every 5-6 years (for every relegation there’d be a promotion!)
1 Like
I think we’re all well within our rights to expect us to be at the other end of League Two, especially when our chairman is feeding us bullshit about giving it a good go.
9 Likes
More apologist claptrap mate.
If you want to be really harsh you could argue it’s part of the reason why we find ourselves in this god awful predicament.
Adding another name to the SLO’s rounds (per the WPM thread) is just more empty, substanceless garbage that we are expected to swallow hole.
Remove the remnants of Bonser or expect to be here again next seaaon - or non league. Whalley, Mole, Gamble, Gilman, Tisdale - I will take a £50 bet now that until these are gone we are resigned to our current position, if not lower. Not a progressive brain cell between the lot of them.
‘Manage expectations’ after the extra support this club has recieved, especially in comparison to what other league 2 clubs could call on - what a total crock of sh1t 
5 Likes
Great post.
My ambitions are certainly for us to be back up in league one and then, have a good season or two, and you’re looking at getting close to the championship.
Realistically? Football has changed a lot and, unless we get a rich owner, expectations are possibly only to be challenging at the right end of this league for now. For sure, if Wrexham, Stockport or Chesterfield come up this season, they will all be “bigger” clubs than us.