Walsall blog: More Ray memories

Tuesday 22nd January – the exact anniversary of one of the darker days in Walsall FC’s history, writes Walsall blogger Mark Jones.

It’s been six years since the sacking of Ray Graydon and I’m dedicating both pieces this week to the man.

Part 2

After vowing to bounce back from the disappointment of losing our hard-earned place in Division One there were strange goings-on for Ray Graydon at the old Bescot in the Summer of 2000.

We actually spent a bit of money on strengthening the squad, admittedly after Bolton had done what I hope the 2008 vintage can do soon and snapped up Michael Ricketts.

Having seen none of the pre-season friendlies, I travelled to Rothrum on that blisteringly hot opening day unsure about how the Graydon Promotion Campaign Mark Two would pan out.

Click here to read part one of

After the initial shock of finding ourselves 2-0 down, despite dominating the game, and the even bigger shock of seeing the obnoxious Mark Robins actually score in a one on one, we stormed back in style to win 3-2 and I was confident we could go up.

I also have fond memories of getting home from a fine 2-0 win in a six pointer against Wigan and seeing Jeff Stelling talking about our 100% record and being ‘runaway leaders’- and that was on the first Saturday in September. 

Ray had got a great balance in the team. In front of Jimmy were the experienced and formidable pair of Tillson and No Frills Barrass, Ian Brightwell was a fantastic professional and captain Tom Bennett was here, there and every … where. 

The team had goals, loads of them. Loads from £150,000 Jorge in his best ever season, double figures from Brett Angell and the raw talent of Darren Byfield, loads from whoever out of Wracky, Pedro or Paul Hall were playing out wide and plenty from midfield and defence.

And when we needed a little bit extra (up front and in the hair department) along came Super Don Goodman.

Granted we couldn’t quite maintain our fantastic start and we didn’t match the achievements of 98/99 in terms of automatic promotion, but we did spend the whole of the season in the top four when there was some tough competition. 

The aforementioned Rotherham seemed to have read the Graydon manual on teamwork and togetherness and went up with 91 points, and they were still someway behind Millwall, one of the best teams I’ve seen in 35 years of watching third tier football.

To have had a chance of making the top two we would have needed to have won our last 12 games.

Maybe we’d been spoiled two years earlier but to be able to follow a Walsall team that could challenge at that level after the dark days of the early 90’s was a pleasure.

Personally I always give the credit for this first and foremost to Sir Ray. 

There were some parallels with the previous promotion season, especially as we always managed to pull out a result when we most needed to … and, of course, we always managed to put the smalltown boys from Stoke in their place. 

To see the Saddlers play in a proper final at a top venue like the Millennium Stadium was the stuff of dreams, topped only by the drama of the game itself.

It was a typically Graydonesque thing to do in making the bold move of a triple substitution during extra time and famously two of those subs, the sadly missed Matt Gadsby and Darren Byfield, combined to score one of the most memorable goals in our history.

As Ray paraded the trophy in front of an adoring public during those never to be forgotten post-match celebrations, it was almost impossible to imagine that he’d already completed his final full season as Walsall boss. 

I had hoped that the mistakes of 1999 would have been heeded second time around but no, the Summer preparations for a second crack at the second tier were just as badly thought out as before.

This time the Director of Football opted for quantity not quality as a succession of (mostly forgettable) foreign players came to (mostly) clog up our reserves.

You didn’t have to be Nostradamus to work out this was going to lead to a season of struggle.

One major lesson learned from 99/00 was that we won our fair share of six pointers (Stockport, Rotherham, Grimsby and Crewe) but you got the impression that Graydon was never comfortable with the way things were. 

He tinkered with the team, brought back Chris Nicholl for no obvious reason and even deviated from the trusted 4-4-2.

It worked for him at Norwich on New Year’s Day but backfired in a televised derby at Albion in the very next away game.   

And then it was all over, a victim of his own success, sacked without a second chance to try and keep us up and barely a thanks for everything he’d achieved.He deserved better.

Ray Graydon, to me, can always hold his head up and say he left the club in a better position than when he’d arrived.

His predecessor could never have said that.

His successor, a man who benefited enormously from everything that Ray achieved and yet was to prove completely and utterly incapable of building on anything he inherited from Graydon, could never ever say it (not with any credibility anyway).

His successor’s two successors would certainly not be able to say it either.

I think Ray Graydon will go down in Walsall’s history as a truly great manager, on a par with the legendary Bill Moore and as revered as Alan Buckley.

We’ll never know how things would have turned out if the club had given him more time but, in this part of WS1 anyway, he’ll always be remembered with affection. 

Good on ya Ray, thanks for everything!

(ps There’s always more room for managerial legends, I know quite a promising one named Richard. Let’s hope he gets given all the time he needs.)

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