Walsall Football Club - The Saddlers

Walsall FC - Club History

2006-07 Season

1st, Champions of League Two
League Cup: 2nd round; Bolton Wanderers h. 1-3
FA Cup: 1st round replay; Macclesfield Town h. 0-1
JP Trophy: 1st round; Swansea City h. lost 4-3 on penalties.

Highlight:
5-0 win over Peterborough United, 12/9/06

Low Spot:
0-1 home defeat to Macclesfield Town in the FA Cup 1st round replay, 21/11/06

Good:
Dean Keates
Probably the most influential midfielder in the section. Combative, constructive and scored 13 goals. Pretty much everything you would want from a midfielder.
Scott Dan
Young centre half who played in just over half the clubs' games but made a massive impression and looks a real prospect for the future. One to watch.

In Brief:
The Saddlers collected 13 points from their first 5 games and maintained steady progress throughout the campaign.
The only real blip was three straight defeats in February but four wins in a row from the end of March made up for this and when Dean Keates lashed in a late equaliser at Swindon on the final day the club had clinched the championship.
Although the club will have to do without the departed Keates in League One next season they look to be strong enough to stay clear of trouble.

Walsall Football Club was formed in 1888 when two clubs, Walsall Town and Walsall Swifts, amalgamated and became known as Walsall Town Swifts.

In 1892 the club were elected to Division Two of the Football League but after three seasons failed in their bid to be re-elected.

It was at this time, 1895, that the club became known as simply Walsall and one year later they regained their place in Division Two.

Again their stay in the league was only brief. In 1901 they once more failed in their bid for re-election and would not return to the Football League until 1921 when they became original members of Division Three North.

The club would remain in this tier of football until 1958 when Divisions Three and Four were introduced, taking up station in Division Four.

The club had, because of their geographical position however, frequently alternated between the north and south sections of the old third division.

The Saddlers then enjoyed two promotions in successive seasons to claim a second division place in 1961.

This status was only held for two seasons before the club dropped back down to the third division.

Walsall remained almost static at this level until the late 1980's when the club began to change divisions with some regularity.

From 1999 the Saddlers spent four seasons out of five in the second tier of English football, albeit struggling, but now find themselves back in Football League One under Paul Merson's control.

Walsall have reached the FA Cup fifth round on six occassions, most recently in 2002 and 2003.

In 1984 they won through to the semi finals of the League Cup and gave a magnificent performance in drawing 2-2 at Anfield against Liverpool in the first leg.

Unfortunately the second leg at Fellows Park went more according to script and dreams of Wembley were shattered, along with a barrier containing the visiting fans.

In 1990 the club moved from their original home to the new 11,200 capacity Bescott Stadium.

Two players share the record for league goals scored for the Saddlers, both Tony Richards and Colin Taylor managing 184.

Taylor, predominantly a winger, had three spells with the club broken by stays with Newcastle United and Crystal Palace.

Ten behind on 174 is Walsall legend Alan Buckley who also managed the club for seven years and remains the man the club paid the most money for, £175,000 in June 1979 to bring him home from Birmingham City.

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