The opponent: Walsall
Off to the Black Country we go in search of 3 points towards our quest for promotion/likely relegation battle, depending on who you believe. The Saddlers (named after the famous local leather industries saddles that are produced for Royal bottoms), were formed in 1888 after the amalgamation of 2 local teams, The Town and The Swifts, and with a bit of imagination, were known as The Walsall Town Swifts. Walsall are one of only a handful of teams that never appeared at the old Wembley Stadium. However, they appeared at the Millennium Stadium in the first year that the finals were played there instead of Wembley in 2001. The name Walsall is thought to have derived from the words "Walh halh", meaning "valley of the Welsh speakers", so perhaps a trip to Cardiff felt like something of a homecoming for the 10’000 that made the journey to see Walsall win 3-2 against a Reading team that included ex Town players, Jamie Cureton, Ade Viveash, Ady Williams, and Sammy Igoe.
One of the surprising things about Walsall is the size of the place, the town itself having a population of nearly 175’000, and The Metropolitan Borough of Walsall itself numbering just over a quarter of a million! Walsall is quite an ethnically diverse area, with some 15% being of a non white origin. Back in September, the much ridiculed English Defence League organised a demonstration to “reclaim the streets”, they promised that thousands would turn up, Facebook was buzzing and they planned to make a real impact. In the end, a lowly 150 skinheads turned up to get a good battering off the Old Bill then scared shitless by 400 Muslims that had decided to meet up with them. So, all Town fans having a few pre match beers in the town, avoid joining in any marches through the streets.
Walsall has a decent line up of celebrities from the world of sport and television. Recent Paralympic swimming sensation, Ellie Simmonds, Slade front man, Noddy Holder, Drum ‘n’ Bass bad ass, Goldie, Sue Nicholls, better known as Miss Popov in Rentaghost and more recently Audrey Roberts in Coronation Street and every Nan’s favourite singer, Connie Talbot, who won the hearts of millions of people when she was in the finals of Britain’s Got Talent back in 2007.
What are they saying about us? – “We're going to get arse raped”
http://www.footballforums.net/forums/showthread.php/292745-Walsall-vs-SwindonThe liveliest Walsall site is
http://www.upthesaddlers.com/bb/ but at the time of writing, refreshingly, none of them seemed to give a shit about us.
Walsall Last 6 – LDDLDL (Walsall are currently 16th in League 1 on 19 points)
Head to Head at Walsall - Played 43, Won 11, Drawn 12, Lost 20.
The Threat – George Bowerman, a product of the Walsall youth academy, 21 year old Bowerman is leading the way with 7 goals so far this season. Much travelled striker, Febian Brandy, is also now on the books with The Saddlers.
The irrelevant stats – After a decent start to the season, Walsall have suffered something of a collapse, having not won a single league match since September 22nd. In the last 6 games at The Banks Stadium, they have conceded 13 goals, 4 of which came in their last league outing against Scunthorpe. Walsall have some strange statistics, one for example is their record against teams in the top half of the table and the bottom half. Top Half – W4 D1 L3 Bottom Half – W1 D3 L4, so it looks like another team that like to raise their game against supposedly better opposition.
The Odds – Swindon
23/20 Draw
9/4 Walsall
9/4 (Paddy Power) Coral are currently offering very generous odds of
33/1 on Alessandro Cibocchi to score the first goal! Personally I will be sidestepping that one and lumping on Andy Williams to score first at
15/2 in several outlets or go back to Coral and chance a few bob on Simon Ferry at
25/1. If you are looking for better odds on a Town victory then a Swindon/Swindon HT/FT may be worth a shout, as believe it or not, we have scored more goals in the 1st half than any other league 1 team so far this season (14 goals). Most places are offering around
9/4 on this.
Sid Says – The Phasmatodeon one took a while to get going today, I think old age is setting in, but eventually he shuffled towards a 2-0 defeat (18/1 on SkyBet)
The Prediction – With our current away form being better than average and Walsall’s home form being positively abysmal, I can see us winning this 3-1, with a Williams double and a late header from Troy securing the 3 points in front of 4’110 fans, with nearly a quarter of those being Town fans.
And Finally – One of Walsall’s most famous landmarks is a concrete hippo in the middle of its town centre. It is around 4ft long and has attracted interest from The BBC, The Independent, and many other worldwide media outlets. The hippo has its own facebook page with 2000+ members. When the Hippo was moved a few years back there was public outcry from the folk of Walsall, as it was feared “George” may get damaged, although thankfully he managed to survive the journey and is still a meeting point for many people, much like the fabulous Millennium Clock in the middle of Swindon Town Centre, oh, wait a minute.............
