That’s the thing I find galling Trivela . What are they bringing to the party exactly. A 25 Yr loan.
There’s also a period in our history which never gets discussed in comparison with what might be considered our most successful, namely 83/84 - 87/88. During that time we went further in both domestic major cup competitions than ever before - semi-final of the league cup, and a second replay in the fifth round of the FA cup, we also won promotion to the second tier. We scored over 100 goals in all competitions for two years running, beat several top flight opposition teams in cups including away wins at Arsenal, Coventry, and Charlton, and an away draw at Liverpool who were the best team in Europe and arguably the world, and this was in a era when top flight clubs played their first team in cup matches. That period was made all the more remarkable by the fact that in 82/83 and earlier we often struggled to top 3k gates. There were a huge number of home grown players that had been brought through our reserves having been recruited locally at youth and non-league level, many of whom went on to better things after making history with us along the way.
I think there is a natural disconnect between the Buckley and Coakley eras, but for me as a fan that didn’t miss a game home or away for the entire period mentioned, it was a seamless golden era that rivals anything since including Graydon/lee.
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Coventry sold Highfield Road for £5 million, spend £2 million of that on getting planning permission for the Ricoh, could not afford to build a big stadium so ended up paying £1.3 million a year in rent. They thought that in the Premier League they would be able to afford it.
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Pomlett had so much goodwill at the start. With Clarke looking a very clever managerial appointment it looked very hard to fail…
Three inexplicable years later…
Said it in the other thread but think time is right to cut the umbilical cord and let Gamble and Mole loose in the big bad corporate world.
Mole was giving it the big 'un during the DS era of “the Walsall way” so if he’s happy to be associated with the relative good times he has to accept responsibility for the awful times like now, I’m sure he can work at Poms in Lichfield or something…
Gamble I’m pretty sure has connections at FA so might wind up there or another club in admin role. At least he fronted up for that S*n article a few years ago even if he was painfully toeing the Bonser line.
I don’t like demanding long serving club employees just get sacked but it’s really time for fresh voices and direction from those running club on daily basis, I’m sure Trivela are doing diligence behind the scenes as we speak.
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All those players you mention would be fringe players if we had a fully fit squad. You seem to think all 26 players should be seasoned professionals who will seamlessly fit into our team. There isn’t a team in the bottom 2 divisions with a squad like that.
All squads are a mixture and it is good that they are else you would never see players emerging. I posted before I think we are seeing a new way for Walsall of working . We are signing a number of untried or previously tried youngsters in the hope of finding a gem. Maddox , Makuna and Abraham fit into that category. Some will fail but hopefully some will turn out to be what we need . Bytheway to write off a 17 year old is a bit premature !!
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