Football For A Fiver At Walsall

With the final international break of 2019 soon upon us Walsall FC are looking to get a healthy crowd through the turnstiles of the Banks's Stadium with all tickets for the League Two game at home to Cambridge on Saturday 16th priced at £5.

The lengthy reign of Jeff Bonser as owner of the club was ended in the summer when Leigh Pomlett completed a takeover and also assumed the chairman’s role.

With former Bristol Rovers boss Darrell Clarke taking over after relegation that meant a new start for the Saddlers, one that hasn’t quite gone according to plan as yet as they currently sit in the bottom four of the table.

But the new chairman has been looking to build bridges with supporters, attending a recent fans forum and targeting an average attendance of 5,000.

Interestingly, fans on the UpTheSaddlers forum, when discussing the 5,000 figure, focused less on prices than on the matchday experience at the stadium and improving waiting times for food and drink in particular.

In the West Midlands, the old Sports Argus on a Saturday used to give a brief summary of the day’s games for the ‘Big Six’ on its front page with match reports and club news inside.

Walsall were one of the six (as were my own Sky Blues although we had our own Pink as well) and although always smaller than West Brom or Wolves they were part of the fabric of football in the area.

The landscape is changing fast as the bigger clubs take a bigger share of the money and attention while a plentiful local football scene offers cheap admission and beer on the terraces.

An ambitious outfit such as Solihull Moors have designs on getting into the Football League and competing further for floating fans.

But Walsall FC are still very much alive and kicking and, perhaps using a phrase we’ll hear a bit over the next six weeks, looking to get out their core vote.

Next Saturday’s FA Cup tie against Darlington has a £15 family ticket available and there is also an FA Youth Cup game at the stadium this Tuesday against Fleetwood for which entry is priced at £5/£2.