Bring Back Terraces

By Mister Happy
April 30 2004

Both the footballing authorities and the football club are responsible for wiping out generations of footballing values. The fans are now a secondary thought and there is no true relationship between the fans and the club. Bring back the terraces....

The current state of any football club can be traced to significant events that occurred at some point in the clubs history.

Currently, we play our football at Bescot Stadium and by and large it is a rather depressing place to be. The atmosphere at the club on match days is not one that would inspire any team to victory and certainly not one that would encourage first time youngsters to come back again as a supporter in years to come.

There have been a few exceptions to this rule. The play off game against the Potters and the Forest League Cup 2nd leg immediately spring to mind. Those two matches apart, the memories of excitement and belonging are very few and far between.

The need to vacate dear old Fellows Park was obvious. That particular time in recent history was an opportunity for the club to seriously show what its ambitions and hopes for the future were. They were not taken.

We were unfortunate in that the timing of our relocation was a few years too early. As we were one of the first clubs to start the trend of upgrading/moving stadia there was no real role model to follow which resulted in a carbon copy of the Glanford Park “experience” being built in the Midlands.

Bescot Stadium was described by John Aizlewood (Author of Playing at Home – excellent read by the way) as “a horrendous, breeze-blocked place with less soul than a Michael Bolton Christmas record and all the atmosphere of a vacuum cleaner”. He also goes on to say “opened in 1990, everything is wrong about Walsall FC’s Bescot Stadium. The so called stadium resembles nothing more than a minor branch of Iceland and its 9000 capacity shows just how far Walsall’s board think their team might one day go”.

How absolutely right he is. When the opportunity for a serious blue print for the future was afforded, we turned it down in favour of a cheaper option. For a few extra pennies a stadium could have been built with supporters in mind. We could and should have had a stanchion free zone. You can see that even then, the football club does what it wants without the inclusion of the fans. We are an after thought, a nasty disease that unfortunately has to be accommodated.


Long gone are the days when football matches were a joy to attend. Long gone are the days when you could wake up on a Saturday morning and decide, on the spur of the moment, to attend the Saddlers match. This opportunity has been taken away and it is the club that are responsible. It is extremely difficult for a gang of 5 or 6 mates to get together and go to the local footy match. It now has to be a pre-planned operation with tickets purchased in advance and the likelihood that you won’t all be able to sit together anyway. This obviously dissuades a number of casual fans from attending.

Should you decide to pre-purchase a ticket however, the degree of your enjoyment is now determined by a gum chewing, spotty female with hormone difficulties as she invariably issues you with a ticket next to a foul mouthed tub of lard with bad breath. Thanks a lot.
Why is it so difficult for the club to operate cash turnstiles? Once again, the fans are a secondary thought to the main objective which is of course, cash. The club should realise that both go hand in hand. Make the match day experience better and you get more punters. You get more punters, you get more cash. Simple logic.

Following on, the footballing authorities then deemed it necessary to make football stadia all seated. Finally, in 2002 Bescot Stadium finally bowed to the laws of the land and our last piece of togetherness was taken away. In came the horrendous plastic seats and with it, the atmosphere died.

Going to a football game used to be more than simply attending a game. It used to be about friendship, comradeship, call it what you want. Those concrete terraces were a place where friendships were forged and acquaintances made. Where else would you be able to talk openly and freely chat to someone you had never previously met. People of all generations would bond, sing and embrace.

This, of course, is not just limited to Walsall. Our friends at the far end of the A454 still speak fondly of times gone by when 30,000 people would cram together on the Southbank on a Tuesday night watching Uefa cup football.

The entire footballing values of generations have now been destroyed and the club are just as guilty as the authorities.

Should our fight against relegation prove to be unsuccessful there is one heart warming thought that still exists amongst the current depression. I believe that Edgeley Park, home of Stockport, still has a standing terrace for visiting supporters (I sincerely hope so anyway) and I for one will happily stand there in the pouring rain – and enjoy.

This opportunity for standing may soon disappear completely. Make the most of it while you can before you turn into a mute, depressed pre-programmed robot that is controlled entirely by the club and the authorities.

BRING BACK THE TERRACE.