Walsall Match of My Life

Simon Turner

Description

Sixteen Walsall legends tell the stories behind their most memorable games for the club, enabling fans of all ages to relive these magic moments through the eyes and emotions of the men who were there. Stretching from Allan Clarke's memories of FA Cup glory to Adam Chambers's account of how Walsall finally reached Wembley after almost a century of trying, this unique collection covers some of the most enthralling encounters in the club's history. Along the way, Alan Buckley tells of how the mighty Saddlers conquered Manchester United, Peter Hart and Craig Shakespeare recall how Arsenal and Liverpool trembled as Walsall came within a hair's breadth of reaching the Milk Cup Final, David Kelly returns to the afternoon when his hat-trick won a play-off final, while Chris Marsh and Adi Viveash look back on the day Walsall pipped Manchester City to promotion. Spanning half a century of Saddlers history, Walsall Match of My Life captures the precious memories of the heroes who mean so much to the fans.

Sujets

• Midlands Occidentales
• West Midlands
• Warwickshire
• Midlands de l'Ouest

Informations

• Publié par: Pitch Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 10 août 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781785317378
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2020
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Simon Turner, 2020
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
Print ISBN 978 1 78531 645 6 eBook ISBN 978 1 78531 737 8
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Contents
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Introduction
Allan Clarke Stoke City v Walsall FA Cup Third Round, January 1966
Alan Buckley Walsall v Manchester United FA Cup Third Round, January 1975
Mick Kearns Chesterfield v Walsall FA Cup Second Round, December 1976
Colin Harrison Arsenal v Walsall FA Cup Fifth Round, February 1978
Peter Hart Arsenal v Walsall League Cup Fourth Round, November 1983
Craig Shakespeare Liverpool v Walsall League Cup Semi-Final, February 1984
Richard O Kelly Coventry City v Walsall League Cup Second Round, October 1984
David Kelly Walsall v Bristol City Football League Third Division Play-Off Final, May 1988
Martin O Connor Walsall v Leeds United FA Cup Third Round, January 1995
Scott Houghton Walsall v Torquay United FA Cup Second Round, December 1995
Chris Marsh and Adi Viveash Walsall v Oldham Athletic Football League Division Two, May 1999
Tom Bennett Walsall v Reading Football League Division Two Play-Off Final, May 2001
Darren Wrack Walsall v West Bromwich Albion Football League Division One, August 2003
Dean Keates Swindon Town v Walsall Football League Two, May 2007
Adam Chambers Walsall v Preston North End English Football League Trophy, Northern Area Final Second Leg, January 2015
This book is dedicated to Roger Turner father, friend and fellow fan
The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do
Walter Bagehot
Acknowledgements
Many endeavours rely on the kindness of strangers, and in putting this book together I have certainly been the recipient of much goodwill. Thanks, firstly, must go to Dan Briggs, whose assistance was vital to getting this project off the ground. I am also grateful to Steve Davies and Dave Evans for the help they provided. The Express and Star kindly offered me access to their photograph archive, and the time given to me by Alison Smith while I was there was greatly appreciated. Jane at Pitch Publishing has been as supportive as ever, and I shall remain forever thankful to her for agreeing to add a book on Walsall to their Match of My Life series. Duncan Olner, meanwhile, has produced yet another vibrant cover design. I also mustn t forget to mention my wife, who has shown incredible patience through the long days and nights I have devoted to writing this book. Val, you are truly the match of my life. There is, of course, one group of people to whom I owe more thanks than any other: the players. They were, without exception, generous with their time and their memories. Without them, there would have been no book, and more importantly, no great matches for Saddlers fans to remember.
Foreword
Fellows Park, the Hillary Street end. That s where it all started for me. I was only five years old when my father took me to my first Walsall match, back in 1962. I have some wonderful memories of games played at that famous old stadium, such as the FA Cup victory over Manchester United. Now, that was a night!
I ve been privileged to see some thrilling Saddlers matches over the last 50 years or so, several of which are featured in the pages that follow. I had forgotten much about these games, but this book reminds me of every detail and brings them back to life so vividly, even more so because we see them through the eyes of those that played in them. Learning more about the footballers and why these matches mattered so much to them is particularly enlightening.
We can, of course, still find highlights of some of these games on YouTube, but there is something special about reading the accounts of them given here. They stimulate the mind and trigger your own recollections of the matches as you saw them. To me, that means so much more.
This is an affectionate book, written by a Walsall supporter with a real eye for detail. It is a great read for any Saddlers fan, especially if, like me, you have been around a few years and can remember some, if not all, of the matches brought to life here. So, sit back and read and let your memories of those great games come flooding back.
Leigh Pomlett, 2020
Introduction
Whenever I tell people that I support Walsall, invariably their first question is: why? Given the club s rather conspicuous lack of success over recent years, I must admit that it is a fair challenge. The answer I usually give is that Walsall is where I am from. That is part of the reason, but not the whole truth. My reply explains why I started following the club in the first place, but not why I have kept faith with them over the years. So why have I stuck with the Saddlers? Like many other Walsall supporters, the club has somehow become part of me. I could no more switch my team now than I could change my DNA. For better or worse, being a Saddlers fan is simply part of who I am. And, for what it s worth, I wouldn t change that for the world.
It s fair to say that putting this book together has been a bit of an adventure. Tracking down the players, inviting them to be interviewed and then spending time with them has been a great thrill. When I was much younger, on the rare occasions that I managed to persuade a girl to go out with me, I would arrange to meet her by the Hippo on The Bridge. I would get there early and wait nervously, wondering if she would turn up or not, fearing all the time that she would have come to her senses and stayed at home. Meeting players for this book was a very similar experience. To their credit, not one of them let me down.
Some say that you should never meet your heroes, but I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with mine. Interviewing Alan Buckley, the man who scored the first goal I ever saw, was a special moment, whilst being in the company of other childhood idols such as David Kelly and Craig Shakespeare was not an experience I shall easily forget. As for wandering around a garden centre with Dean Keates as we tried to find a coffee shop that we could see but just couldn t reach, well, that s a story for another day
In creating this book, I have tried to cover as wide a span of Walsall history as possible. The matches that are recalled are spread across half a century and the players interviewed range from septuagenarians to those who have only recently hung up their boots. I hope, therefore, that my efforts will appeal to several generations of Saddlers fans. Within the pages that follow you will read of giant-killings, magnificent cup runs, heroic promotions and even a 12-goal thriller. If you enjoy reading this book only half as much as I have enjoyed writing it, then you re in for a treat. As the saying goes, it s been emotional.
Simon Turner, 2020

Allan Clarke
Striker, 1963-66

Ashington may have produced the Charlton brothers and Bury may have given us the Nevilles, but those towns have got nothing on Short Heath. The Clarke family produced no less than five footballing brothers, four of whom played for the mighty Saddlers. Allan, the second eldest of the five, had easily the most successful career in the game. Nicknamed Sniffer due to his ability to scent even the slimmest of chances, he was a born goalscorer.
Clarke joined Walsall at the tender age of 15 and soon made his way into the first team. Within a couple of years, his goals almost single-handedly saved the club from relegation. That may have proved a heavy burden for some, but Clarke s young shoulders were more than capable of bearing the strain. The goals continued to flow and even the most optimistic of Saddlers fans knew it was too good to last. Early in 1966, Clarke left for the bright lights of Fulham, aged still only 19.
Before the decade was out, Clarke was twice the subject of British record transfer fees, with Leicester City splashing the cash to acquire him in 1968 and Leeds United doing likewise in 1969. It was with the West Yorkshire club that Clarke reached the pinnacle of his career. In the space of six seasons he won a league title, an FA Cup and a Fairs Cup (the spiritual predecessor of the UEFA Cup and Europa League). During that spell Leeds also finished second in the league on three occasions, twice lost the FA Cup Final and were runners-up in the European Cup.
Unsurprisingly, international honours also came Clarke s way. He made his debut in the 1970 World Cup finals, coolly converting a penalty to give England a victory over Czechoslovakia. He went on to score a total of ten goals in 19 appearances for his country, a better ratio than Wayne Rooney, Bobby Charlton or Michael Owen ever managed. Allan Clarke was, indeed, the Harry Kane of his day. Over half a century has elapsed since Walsall produced a striker of his calibre, and goodness knows how many more decades will have to pass before Saddlers fans get to glimpse a young talent like his again.

I ONLY had one aim in life when I was young, and that was to be a footballer. Nothing else mattered. When I was 12 and 13 years old, I used to play for the South East Staffordshire District team on a Saturday morning and my father would give me a rub down the night before the game. I remember him saying to me once while he did this, Do you wa