Walsall FC to acquire Poundland Bescot Stadium

No i dont know what happened. Lee talked to Plymouth whilst Walsall manager was my understanding

I was actually, front row of Floors to Go lower. All hail the mercurial Uncle Jeff for getting us there, no one is doubting that.

A lot of it was down to us dropping extremely lucky with our appointment of Sir Ray and subsuquent promotion(s). Bonser was also to blame for us being relegated imo, as he sacked Lee and replaced him with Merson who had been in and out of rehab during that season. Lets not forget we went down on GD - if a more apt manager had been in charge, that GD would have been better than what is was.

Do you also forget the following seasons where we were eventually relegated to Div 3 due to the appointment of Broadhurst after eventually sacking Merson. Again, a good managerial appointment in Money brought us back up, but again the wheels fell off when Uncle Jeff pulled the plug, again.

Who knows where Trivela can/will take us, but I for one will enjoy the ride based on how we have faired since we were relegated.

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I remember that period in 2003 2004 very well. Yes we were on the edge of the play offs!!! Dreaming of the wembley trip in may and promotion to the Premier League!!!

Id retract that memory because people wont beleive you!!!

Football Academy :joy::joy::joy::joy:

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Finally youve had the brain transplant and given our jeff just a little bit of credit for that period

As has been said if Lee hadnt left that woukd have in all probability been 5 out of 6 seasons in the championship

Not bad really was it!!!

We were doing well by Boxing Day, CL asked for some money to spend in Jan to strengthen, Jeff said no, then the pair fell out.

Jeff gave Lee permission to speak to Plymouth, then used it as an excuse to pull the trigger, such was their relationship at that point.

Jeff was enamoured with Merson, and was blinded to the fact his personal demons and inability to organise himself would always mean he would never be a success, only a disaster.

Ultimately, no one other than Jeff can really take the blame for our relegation that season, end of debate - can we move back on to talking about our, hopefully, bright and happy medium-term future now please?

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When have I ever said otherwise? It is his conduct regarding the freehold, his denials and his total lack of care in the seasons since which rankle with many. Many on here will give him credit for the appointment of Graydon (although no one saw it going anywhere near as well as it did) and also having Taylor on the board.

It just doesn’t outweigh all of the negatives.

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He was a ruthless Financial businessman. He played games and looked after himself financially

But give the bloke some credit for ffs. He took us to within a whisper of having 5 seasons in the championship, had us 6th in the 0304 season and we humbled our west midlands rivals. Wolves away. Twice!!!

Do you seriously think that will ever be repeated. If you do. I think you are deluded tbh

Ditto :+1:t2:

Remember being 14 and doing two weeks work experience at an accountants in Walsall, so would have been around 1994. Anyhow, the bloke who was tasked with keeping an eye on me asked who I supported. I proudly declared Walsall to which his response was to ask what I thought of Bonsor. Quick as anything I responded he was a tight arse and never put his hand in his pocket.

It was my first lesson in office politics when he loudly declared why don’t you go and tell his niece over there who was the office Secretary :joy::see_no_evil:

I knew I was right though.

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At the expense of the club, even though he was our no1 fan. Like others have said, lets get this thread back on track and look forward to a (hopefully) more positive future.

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@Gensanx123 A few years after Colin Lee was sacked I had a ten minute private chat with Colin on the subject of his time and sacking and he was miffed about it as he did it in the correct way, told JB he wanted to have permission to speak to them, which was granted. As soon as he spoke to Plymouth he was promptly sacked for so called dis-loyalty. He also disclosed that JB didn’t want to pay a penny in compensation but he didn’t bet on how strong Colin’s legal team was and he had to pay him what he was owed ā€œAnd someā€ was the term Colin used.

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ā€œRuthless financial businessmanā€ or a failed bog handle maker who just happened to be about at the right time to chance his luck? :thinking:

Good riddance to the leech. :+1:

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Certainly did. How lucky we were Saint Jeff was around to buy the club and stadium, and then the land, when nobody else had a penny for all that time.

Tell us more about how much he knew about the builders of Bescot, and how the club lost everything to him…

Good riddance, Bonser. Never thought I’d see us free of him.

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He brought good things and he brought bad.
Under his tenure we had real highs and real lows.
The only constant was the rent,yes many clubs rent their ground but not from their chairman/owner/number 1 fan.
Its been a lead weight around the clubs neck for decades and whatever payment plan its been replaced with will have a fixed end date.
Perhaps we are too close to events now to evaluate,but i think history will judge Bonser poorly.
The say now ā€œif you want to be a millionaire,be a billionaire and buy a football clubā€
I’m pretty sure our ex owners life has changed dramatically pre and post ownership.
Thats quite unusual and telling for a club of our size.
#uts

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To me that was when he went into a prolonged sulk and lost interest. I think his primary concrrn was always servicing the low risk stream of income the freehold gave him ,but up until then he was interested, almost like a hobby, in the club doing well. After that ,he didn’t care as long as we could pay the rent. He’d done his homework on Money before the sulk started. After him, his managerial appointments were dire, with the exception of Smith, which was by accident, not design.

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Ill use the offical Uts title. Basicaly ā€˜the leech’ ā€˜boner’ lost interest and enthusiam. He felt treated badly by the fans particulary after the end of the 03 04 season where a survival would have meant 5 out of 6 seasons in the championship. Yes i know ive repeated it. He felt the fans expectaions ridiculous. Well they were realky werent they given were now happy to survive in the 4th teir

The rest is history

Just for the record, we were not 6th on Boxing Day 2003. We were 13th and 7 points off the play-offs.

We were looking good, but to bring a narrative that somehow we were destined for the Premier League is pushing it a lot. No way we should have been relegated from that position though.

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That post Christmas slump was alarming - remember home games against Watford and Burnley being particularly bad.

Just googled old articles on Bonser - this one is particularly laughable given that:

A. We subsequently appointed Mullen and;
B. He talks of clubs appointing managers based on playing record yet had appointed Merson 4 years prior.