Are we as Walsall fans changing?

By Admin
March 19 2005

Walsall fans living in the past? Never! Not until now... Has the last six years changed us in to numbskulls with no patience?

 

^{When you  look at the fans of our Black Country rivals you can’t help but think they live in the past. They harp on about their former glories and become disgruntled with their current situation.} 

^{Wolves want to dominate the English game, Albion and Blues want to play in the top flight of English football while the Villa want to be European Champions.  It’s a crude description but one we can all relate to}

^{What about tiny Walsall? We once beat the mighty Arsenal side of the Thirties We had a decent side in the early sixties. Then there’s the Milk Cup run of the early nineteen eighties. Apart from that we haven’t done much.}

^{For most of the 1900’s we languished in the lower regions of the Football League. We didn’t have one of those golden eras to harp on about. There is a long list of clubs whose infatuation with the past inhibits in progress within the present.}

^{The question we now have to ask is : Have we joined that sad list of Clubs?}

^{Statistically speaking we have been one of the football leagues top 50 clubs for the last 6 years .How often had this happened in the 30 years before Ray Graydon? Just think about The Millennium Stadium, the Molinuex victory, Brammall Lane survival and that amazing 4-1 win against the Albion. These memories make it hard to stomach a gutless 2-0 defeat away to Port Vale.}

^{We now have a serious decision to make. Do we go down the Dingle route and cry like babies on Radio WM?  Do we follow the Villa route of searching for a new manager every time it isn’t working? Do we sling good money after good money at it until it comes to fruition like it did at St Andrews? Or do we stick it out?}

^{Are we going to judge Paul Merson by Ray Graydon’s yard stick? One look at the table below will tell you not to bother. Merson has a different footballing policy and committed himself to using our youth system. This is a vision that we all brought in to.}

SQUAD COMPOSITION FROM 3 SEASONS  COMPARISON
AGE GROUPS	MERSON 04-05	GRAYDON 98-99	GRAYDON 00-01
Under 21	45%	12%	20%
22-25	15%	29%	14%
26-30	18%	23%	28%
30-34	18%	33%	35%
35 +	4%	3%	3%%
FOREIGN PLAYERS	17%	27%	28%

^{Football is not a game of the past. What we achieved in the past means nothing at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon. This team has to be judged on it’s own merits. We have a young team led by a young manager.}  

^{Let us remember the final day of last season when Merson wore his heart on his sleeve and did his best to lead us to safety. He is still showing those admirable qualities today. Let us not forget them and his commitment to our Club.}

 ^{Should we decide to sack the manager and bring in a new squad of players this summer then something about our club will die.  When will the chopping and changing end? Will we go through manager after manager until he takes us back to the Championship? I sincerely hope not.}