Walsall blogger Mark Jones has been following the Saddlers as long as most. Here he hopes into the tardis all the way back to the 1996/97 season in the next instalment of the series.
With the current uncertainty surrounding the Walsall Supporters Society/Trust, it seems like an apt time to give a personal insight into the early days of the organisation that preceded it – the Independent Saddlers Supporters Association (ISSA).
After gathering together an ad hoc group of individuals whose common link was a love of the Saddlers, along with a frustration that no-one seemed to care too much about our opinions, a public meeting was held at the now-defunct Free Trade Inn in Pelsall in October 1996.
In those pre-message board days, the meeting was advertised by leafleting home matches and through word of mouth. Whilst we didn’t exactly have permission for the leaflets, no-one actually told us we couldn’t.
This might seem a primitive method of getting the message across but it was proactive, you knew you’d actually given people something tangible that they could choose to act upon if they wanted to and it gave a public face to the organisation.
ISSA’s stated aims included the ownership of shares and an elected supporters’ representative on the club Board. As we wanted ISSA to be seen to be a ‘proper’ organisation that could be taken seriously, there was a proposed constitution, nominations for elected officers and all meetings were minuted.
This drew criticism that it was ‘just another committee’ from some who wanted more militant action against Jeff and co.
Nevertheless over 200 fans signed up, a committee was formed, the press were contacted and we wrote to the club to request a meeting.
That could well have been end of story but amazingly on November 11 (Armistice Day), Jeff Bonser and Roy Whalley had a three hour meeting with the officers of the ISSA committee in the hallowed surroundings of the Walsall boardroom.
We had been asked to submit written questions in advance, presumably as a bit of a safety net for the club. Our opener asked if the club would recognise ISSA as a proper kosher organisation, to which the reply was a categorical yes, no problem (Store this fact for future reference).
Ihave to say that Jeff and Roy were courteous if slightly wary of us (no chocolate biscuits though). They had obviously got the prepared answers about the sale of Martin O’Connor and where the transfer fee had gone.
If my memory serves me correctly the phrase ‘there’s no such thing as a free transfer’ may have been aired one or 15 times. It might not surprise regular readers to hear that I was never entirely convinced about what we were being told, but at least we were in there getting the chance to ask questions.
My initial impression of Mr Bonser was that he didn’t seem to understand what the fans’ problem was, that the Sunday Market and the at the time unnamed Function Suite should be things to get excited about, as if what happened on the pitch didn’t seem to matter.
He also had difficulty with actual concept of ISSA, referring to ‘your supporters club’ more than once. I did wonder if he thought we wanted to build an alternative Saddlers Club somewhere. Jeff also refused to let us use a dictaphone in the meeting (I suppose we should have used our fingers really.)
The first big crisis faced by ISSA came in the wake of meeting Jeff and Roy. We had called a public meeting to report back what had been said, but of course the committee became the messengers who could only supply the limited answers we’d been given ourselves.
That was not what everybody wanted to hear, which lead to some quite heated discussion.
Offering watered down apologies for the club satisfied nobody and was not what ISSA was about. From that point on, how we tried to present ourselves became an important consideration.
ISSA representatives met officials of the club at least three more times in 1997 and 1998. In an attempt to try and build some bridges in a non-threatening way, we suggested that ISSA could do a survey to canvass supporter’s views on the following season’s away kit.
You know, the standard thing- colour, style, design etc.
We even put the offer in terms that we thought the club would understand, the most popular choice will probably be the best selling and therefore make the most money etc.
What could possibly be wrong with letting us do that?
Well obviously everything! We got 101 reasons why this wasn’t possible.
We got: ‘people won’t agree’ (which wasn’t the point and anyway you don’t know if you don’t ask), ‘the manufacturers won’t like it’ (why they wouldn’t was never made clear, it was free market research after all).
And finally, my absolute all-time favourite – ‘you have to think about the sponsor’s logo, you couldn’t have a white shirt with Banks’s on it.’
At that time in 1996/97, we had a third kit that was white, the next season we had a white away kit and there were at least three more white Banks’s kits after that.
Horse? Sheep? Pig? No it was definite BS.
With hindsight the club were just paying lip service to supporters’ views.
By 1998, they had kissed and made up with the Saddlers Club, were making constant references to ‘official’ supporters groups and Jeff had had his strop and put the club up for sale.
Ironically this co-incided with ISSA’s most productive period. There was a very well attended meeting in the huge function room at the Saddlers Club to discuss ways of raising funds for a fans’ co-operative.
There were now in excess of 400 ISSA members, new Press Officer Steve ‘Cardigan’ Stuart was getting us loads of media coverage and we decided to spread the word even wider with the launch of a new fanzine ‘One Step Beyond’.
If there ever had been a honeymoon period, ISSA and WFC were now heading for the divorce courts.
The next instalment will recount the end of the 1990’s, when some long awaited success on the pitch courtesy of Sir Ray Graydon contrasted with a war of attrition off it.
One Comment
mmmmm…the Wool Master.