Walsall F C

                                         As if things weren't bad enough for the Saddlers....... !

My trip to SE7 today is my second part of sporting action this weekend. Last night I saw Northamtpon Saints play Cardiff.........well I say Cardiff but really it was Saints v Dan Parks as the unerring boot of the Scotsman produced all the points for the Blues. Dan did miss one kick but given that was about 10 metres inside his own half he could be forgiven for showing that he is human after all.

Walsall pitch up at the Valley today. Everything points to a home win against the team bottom of the league and a return to second place, one point behind The Seagulls. However, this is Charlton and we all know it probably won't be like that.

The match gives echoes of a home game against Swindon  a few years ago. I recall we lost 1-0 courtesy of a rare gaffe from Kiely following the only attack The Robins had all afternoon. Should the presence of another bird, a swift, on the club badge be seen as an omen I wonder.

The replay win over Luton was most welcome as is the match at White Hart Lane in terms of finance. That we are managing to win when not playing well is a good sign.......long may it continue. I don't think any of us cares about the manner of victories just that they keep coming. If as Steve Brown said on Thursday that without invesmtent and promotion we are in the words of Private Fraser " doomed " then that really is all that matters.

The probable return of Peter Varney has been most welcome news. The best cheif exec we've ever had in my view on a number levels. Highly regarded by many football folk this is a real shot in the arm. Hopefully there'll be no problems with the takeover. I've no idea if the group he's heading loads of cash or not......I'm not getting the impression that they have much. However, that's largely immaterial as it's more important that we have someone at the helm who can run the club in proper fashion and make the most of what we have.

Other clubs, dare I say, Millwall, have achieved promotion on leeser crowds and turnover than us so it's not an impossible task. We need to be prudently run and following all the cutbacks the club has seen in reason seasons then financial stability shouldn't prove beyond Varney's capabilites.

This has been quite a few days in the world of football.........just when you thought nothing could be more bizarre than the recent fiasco with both the 2018 and 2022 world cups, up pops Newcastle again ! Always good for laugh on the domestic front, they've surpassed even their own high comic standards. Shearer was always going to be a failure as a manger ( I never liked him as a player ) and so it proved but the Mags still wanted him to manage in the Championship. It was to their eternal good fortune that he said no and that they stumbled upon Hughton.

Getting rid of Hughton was one crass error and then appointing " Super Al " another............then going on to give him a five and half year contract, well words fail me ! That's going to cost them a pretty penny when he goes in 12 to 18 months time. We all know that Al likes the squeeze out the last drop of blood......." he'd take the drippings from your nose " as my mum used to say, an epxression that seems tailor made eh !

I love the fact that he was happy to take credit for the win yesterday against a poor Liverpool side. " We made a couple of changes "...............and got lucky he should have gone on to say !

The only good to come out of this sorry episode is that a decent bloke like Hughton will find his stock has never been higher and he should soon return to managment and that we can all enjoy Pardew making a real mess of things. Expect the call for another " Messiah " to echo round Sid James's Park very soon.

Come On You Reds !