The unsponsored name is the Gilbert Alsop Stand. It's the newest development at Bescot Stadium. It's been known as the Purple Stand, the Floors-2-Go Stand and is now dubbed the Tile Choice Stand. Walsall seem to love changing the names on their stands on an annual basis and it really is completely confusing. Photo © 2005 Ciderspace

The Saddlers actually dropped out of the fledgling Football League with fairly monotonous regularity during their early years, always being re-elected immediately afterwards, until 1901 that is, when their fellow league clubs tired of their feckless ways. Walsall were left out in the cold until 1921, when they joined the newly-formed Division 3 North or was it South?. Actually it didn't matter, for the next 37 years they were put in either the North or South divisions depending on which other clubs were also promoted/relegated from those divisions. The procession of mediocrity followed until 1958 when Walsall finally left the Third Division - to join the newly formed 4th division, naturally.

This was a prelude to one of the Saddlers finest hours however, to date one of only major trophies the club has ever won - the Fourth Division Championship in 1960. Don't sneer Glovers fans - we're very proud to have won the modern-day equivalent, the League Two Championship, to put the achievement in perspective. The Walsall team put together at the time was obviously a formidable one as they went on to gain back-to back promotions, finishing runners-up the following in season in Division Three and then gaining what to date is still the best ever league position for the club, finishing 14th in the then Division Two (today's Championship).

It didn't last of course, and a couple of years later the Saddlers were back in Division Three (League One as we now know it) where they've stayed for the greater part of their history, brief flirtations with the other divisions excepted. They moved into the new Bescot Stadium in 1990 - look quickly and you might think you're at a version of Huish Park, until you notice the all-seated and covered away end and the new and impressive Purple Stand. Look longer and you'll also notice lots of pillars. Don't get stuck behind one. The overall red colour isn't very Huish Park-like either, come to think of it. Their recent history has included a couple of seasons back in the Championship, but they never finished better than 18th before coming back down to League One.

Was once the Txt64446 Health Stand, now the ABS Burton Main Stand - bad luck H.L. Fellows, who it used to be named after. Rather unimpressive as a main stand. The Bonser Suite conference centre and clubhouse, built in 1998, which can hold 500 and is far more impressive, is attached. Photo © 2005 Ciderspace

There aren't too many Glover/Saddler links that we're aware of (leather industries apart). In fact in recent times the only players that we can think of are Howard Pritchard, Paul Sanderson, Steve Winter, Andy Bishop, who we took on loan from the Saddlers for a month a few seasons back, Joe Broad who we had on a short loan from Plymouth Argle, and of course Dani Rodrigues, who had brief spells with both outfits.

There have been a number of meetings in the F.A. Cup. As a Non-league side the Glovers had a good record. In 1936-37 Yeovil & Petters United secured a 1-1 at The Saddlers then home of Fellows Park in Round Two before losing 0-1 in the replay at Huish. The next meeting, in 1960-61, saw Yeovil Town win away in Round One, Dave Taylor getting the solitary goal. By the time the clubs met again in 1991-92, also in Round One, Walsall had moved to the Bescot, and it was there, after a 1-1 at Yeovil's new home, Huish Park, that The Glovers knocked out the League side 0-1 with a winning header from Richard Cooper. In the first ever meeting between the clubs on equal terms in football's hierarchy on 10th September 2005 Yeovil Town emerged with a 2-1 victory. The meeting at the start of December 2005 in the F.A. Cup is probably best forgotten about.

. Used to be The Banks's Brewery Stand and then the West Bromwich Building Society Stand. It's now the Five Rivers Family Stand. Photo © 2005 Ciderspace

The Glovers and Walsall parted company at the end of the 2005-06 season, with Yeovil putting one of the nails in the Saddlers coffin in the form of a 2-0 win at the Bescot Stadium, in one of the oddest atmospheres we've ever experienced. Walsall fans abused their players throughout, their brand new manager, the man announcing the man of the match over the tannoy and pretty much anyone representing their own side. That sort of spleen-venting went on hold with Richard Money stabilising their club, and within a season they'd pushed themselves back up to League One, winning their second piece of silverware in the process as Champions. So after the briefest of absences here they were again. However Yeovil is not the only club that can make strange decisions. The relationship between Walsall and Money got tenser and tenser as he felt he was being starved of funds, and eventually he resigned in 2008. Jimmy Mullen took over for the last few games of the season but lasted a mere nine months, his position terminated in January 2009. Assistant John Schofield got one game as caretaker before he was hoofed out of the club, and in came Chris Hutchins, with fellow former Saddlers' skipper, Martin O'Connor, as assistant.

In 2007-08 and 2008-09 they were a solid mid-table League One outfit, finishing 12th and 13th respectively, whilst the 2009-10 season saw a small improvement to 10th place. The 2010-11 season though was decidedly more fraught, spending much of the campaign in the bottom four - a statistic that cost Chris Hutchings his job. He was replaced by Head of Youth and former Saddlers player Dean Smith, who was given the job permanently, after narrowly avoiding relegation at the end of the 2010-11 season. The 2011-12 season saw more of the same, with a 19th place finish. With crowds having drifted away badly, in part due to off the field friction between fans and supporters, and various other off the field distractions concerning the ownership of Walsall's ground, the Saddlers fall into a small group of clubs Yeovil need to stay above in order to maintain their own League One status.

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RECENT RESULTS

29/03/2013	Yeovil Town	Away	NPL1	D	0-0	5594
01/04/2013	Coventry City	Home	NPL1	W	4-0	7504		Paterson 33, 87, Westcarr 54, 74
06/04/2013	Sheffield United	Home	NPL1	D	1-1	7042		Westcarr 44
13/04/2013	Scunthorpe United	Away	NPL1	D	1-1	4049		Grigg 54
20/04/2013	Bury	Home	NPL1	D	1-1	4745		Brandy 22
27/04/2013	Crewe Alexandra	Away	NPL1	L	0-2	6547

FORTHCOMING FIXTURES

CLUB GOALSCORERS

Name	LGE	FAC	FAT	LGC	CC	Total
Will Grigg	19	0	0	1	0	20
Jamie Paterson	11	1	0	0	0	12
Febian Brandy	7	0	0	0	0	7
George Bowerman	6	1	0	0	0	7
Craig Westcarr	5	0	0	0	0	5
James Baxendale	4	0	0	0	0	4
Andy Butler	3	0	0	0	0	3
Florent Cuvelier	2	0	0	1	0	3
Dean Holden	2	0	0	0	0	2
Sam Mantom	2	0	0	0	0	2
Ashley Hemmings	1	0	0	1	0	2
Richard Taundry	0	1	0	0	0	1
Paul Downing	1	0	0	0	0	1
Own Goals	1	0	0	0	0	1

ATTENDANCE STATISTICS

Highest League Attendance: 7504, vs Coventry City, 01/04/2013
Lowest League Attendance: 2787, vs Scunthorpe United, 06/11/2012
Average League Attendance: 4232

CURRENT LEAGUE SEQUENCE STATISTICS

Games Without A Win:	4		Games Without A Home Win:	2
Games Without An Away Win:	5		Games Without Defeat:	0
Games Without A Home Defeat:	14		Games Without An Away Defeat:	0
Games Without A Draw:	1		Games Without A Score Draw:	1
Games Without A No-Score Draw:	5		Games Without Scoring:	1
Games Without Conceding:	0		Home Results Sequence:	WWDWDD
Away Results Sequence:	WDDDDL		Overall Results Sequence:	DWDDDL

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By Supporters Coaches

The Green and White Supporters Club are running coaches to the match for this 2012-13 season fixture as follows:

Coaches will depart Yeovil Bus Station from 9.15a.m. and from Huish Park at 9.30a.m. Cost of travel will be £21.00, with concessions available at £19.00. Non-GWSC members are welcomed and will pay two pounds extra compared with the above prices.

To place your booking, call Paul Hadlow on 07736 044570 or Rich Rendell on 01935 427072 (Evenings).

The away end, your home for the day. Officially The Sign Specialists Stand, but with utterly ludicrous rebranding of Walsall's stands on an annual basis, you may find this is more commonly referred to as the William Sharpe Stand. Photo © 2005 Ciderspace

By Rail

Bescot has its own Station a mere 2 minutes walk from the ground. Trains run from Birmingham New Street (destination Stafford) every fifteen minutes for Walsall at peak times, but if you want to go straight through to the Bescot (Banks's) Stadium stop you must choose the 'ALL STATIONS' service which runs at half hourly intervals. Journey time is around twenty minutes. If picking up the service in Walsall town centre it's three minutes from Walsall Station to Bescot Station. The station is the other side of the M6 from the ground.

You can train it from Pen Mill (change at Bristol Temple Meads) or Yeovil Junction (changes at Basingstoke and Reading), in time for a 3 o'clock kick off and back again on a Saturday, though you'll have to change trains several times at either Bristol Temple Meads or Basingstoke and Reading, depending on where you leave from/want to get back to - see www.nationalrail.co.uk for more details.

By Bus

Nos. 401 and 405 run every 15 minutes from Walsall town centre to Bescot Crescent. Alternatively, No. 404 runs every 8 minutes from the town centre and stops on the nearby West Bromwich Avenue.

By Taxi

A selection of Walsall taxi companies can be found here. The stadium is a couple of miles from the town centre. Expect to pay about £5.00 for that journey.

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The brewery in Walsall is Highgate. It produces Special Bitter, Davenports Bitter, Saddlers Best Bitter, Dark Mild and the seasonal (winter) Old Ale.

Half the Yeovil support seem to end up in the McDonalds on the trading estate the stadium is part of, not out of choice but because there is sod all else in the vicinity.

A warning to those who do choose to drink prior to entering the Bescot Stadium - a group of our supporters were refused admission by stewards at the Bescot Stadium during the 2008-09 season, after they exited the Saddlers Club (see below) because they were 'drunk'. This came as a slight surprise to them, as they'd only had two or three drinks, and one of them (the driver) had been on coca cola throughout his stay in the club. Despite pointing this out, the stewards insisted he was too drunk to enter the stadium. Police were called (by the supporters) and whilst they sympathised with the supporters' views, they said they had no powers to intervene. We were told at the time that this was not the first occasion when heavy-handed stewarding had been employed at the Bescot Stadium, so bear that in mind when you approach the turnstiles.

Club Bar :

The Saddlers Club generally allows away fans admission before and after games, with an entrance charge of £2.00. It's a good club house dating from 1998, part of the very impressive Bonser Suite facilities, with a wide range of keg, though oddly when we were last there no Banks's beers which, given they are the team's main sponsors and the ground carries their name too, is weird. However with so few alternatives near the stadium it soon fills up, at which point they stop new entrants, so you have to get there early pre-match. We have seen more recently reports that they're also serving beer inside the stadium to away fans, although we've not personally seen this yet to know what it is.

A major asset, and income earner - the clubhouse. Photo © 2005 Ciderspace

Local Pubs :

Home of one of the great beers. © Beacon Hotel: Included more for information than as a realistic option, with Walsall the closest we're likely to get in the near future. Sedgley is seven miles away from Walsall but the Beacon Hotel is one of the great pubs in the country, both for its Victorian authenticity and, more importantly, because it is the brewery tap for some of the best beers you'll ever drink. The brewery started in 1860 but was bought by Sarah Hughes in 1921. It was she who began brewing Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby, a 6% beer which whilst technically an ale has many characteristics of a very strong mild. Whatever it is it's wonderful. After Sarah shuffled off this mortal coil the brewery was defunct for nearly forty years until her grandson John Hughes resurrected her genious and stable of beers in the late Eighties. The Beacon is the only tied pub and stocks the full range : Dark Ruby, Pale Amber, Sedgley Surprise and the seasonal (winter) Snow Flake at a scary 8%. Two guests are also carried, though why anyone one would drink them, whatever they are.........? The pub has four rooms, each served through hatchways from a tiny central bar, one of which is the family room and allows children. Has its own parking. Opening 12.00 noon - 2.30 p.m. weekdays (3.00 p.m. Saturdays), 5.30 p.m. (6.00 p.m. Saturdays) - 10.45 p.m. weekdays (11.00 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 7.00 p.m. - 10.30 p.m. Sundays. Beacon Hotel, 129, Bilston Street, Sedgley, West Midlands, DY3 1JE. Tel: 01902 883380. Map: Click Here.

On one of the routes in to the stadium. © Bell Inn: If you are coming in off Junction 7 of the M6 on the A34 you'll go past this pub; in fact it's on the corner where you turn into Walstead Road. The stadium is just over two miles further on. Banks's outlet, Cask Marque accredited, which is worth something though not necessarily a lot. Opening 11.00 a.m. - 11.00 p.m. A pleasant enough 'lounge' style pub. No character whatsoever, but did everything it did in terms of food and drink to a reasonable mainstream like standard. Bell Inn, 450, Birmingham Road, Great Barr, Walsall, West Midlands, WS5 3JP. Tel: 0121 3577461. Map: Click Here.

King George V: A few years back we gave this place an absolute slating. It was the worst pub we'd been in for many a year. The whole experience was thoroughly unpleasant and we walked out after one drink never, ever, to return. As we've stuck to that vow we can't speak from personal experience, but various reports suggest significant improvement recently with a change of management. There are two changing real ales on. As the closest pub to the ground, just off the junction of Wallows Lane and Bescot Road, expect it to get busy. Opening is 11 a.m. - 11.00 p.m. If you do land in there, let us know if it has changed since our experience. King George V, Wallows Lane, Walsall, West Midlands, WS2 9BZ. Tel: 01922 626130. Map: Click Here.

The Tiger Inn: Mile and a half from the stadium eastwards along the Walstead Road. More a home for West Brom supporters than Walsall ones. The Tiger Inn, Walstead Road, Walsall, West Midlands, WS5 4DP. Tel: 01922 724828. Map: Click Here.

White Lion: Closest outlet specialising in real ale to the ground we can find, and that's at a somewhat inconvenient 1.4 miles. Large back street local with a L-shaped bar, lounge and pool room with two tables. Does food, but not on a Monday or Tuesday. Has Adnams Bitter, Highgate Dark Mild, Greene King Abbot and IPA, Sharp's Doom Bar and a rotating guest as the real ales, and Thatchers Medium Scrumpy cider. A small walled garden provides for smokers. Opening is 12.00 noon - 11.00 p.m. Sunday to Wednesday, noon - midnight Thursday to Saturday. White Lion, 150, Sandwell Street, Walsall, West Midlands, WS1 3EQ. Tel: 01922 628542. Map: Click Here.

Likelihood the Natives Will Understand You :

Half the world and his brother lives in and around Birmingham, they should have no problem with our rustic burr. Whether we'll understand them is something else entirely.

Top-Tip :

We may be missing something, but so far we've found nothing really likeable about Walsall at all. So our top tip is: be grateful you don't live there - er, unless you do that is.

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