Walsall blogger Mark Jones recalls the visit to another ‘Pool 25 years to the day in the first of a two part-series.

First the good news – Walsall head of youth Mick Halsall is staying and not going to Stoke.

I’ll ignore the obvious fact that not being able to agree a compensation package with the Clayheads might have been the decisive factor in this one, because I think Mick would have been a difficult bloke to replace.

Next the bad news – Walsall 1 Leicester 4. We didn’t play anywhere near as well as we did against Leeds, not that it would have mattered as the Foxes are a different class, but it does highlight there’s still a lot for manager Chris Hutchings and assistant Martin O’Connor to do.

Now the self indulgent stuff, part one of ‘the Jubilee,’ Saddlers style: -

On 7 February 2009 we are scheduled to play Hartlepool away, co-incidentally a whole quarter of a century ago on 7 February 1984 we played ‘Pool away too. The similarities end there.

Twenty-five years ago and Walsall faced a Tuesday night trip to Anfield for the first leg of the semi-final of the league cup. To fully understand the magnitude of the task, Liverpool weren’t the perennial Premier League wannabes living on former glories that they have become nowadays.

The 1984 Reds were the best team in Europe, on their way to a third title in a row and a fourth European Cup in seven years.

They took this competition seriously too, as they had won the league cup for the previous three seasons. Admittedly they were without Kenny Dalglish and – for the first leg at least – Greame Souness, but they still had a formidable line up.

By contrast the mighty Saddlers had a first team squad that wouldn’t be big enough to fill a modern day subs bench. The classy but diminutive midfield trio of the late great David Preece, Craig Shakespeare and Gary Childs had an average age of 19.

Other homegrown players included Kenny Mower and the original Psycho Mark Rees, who seemed to have been around for years but were only in their early twenties.

We had players who’d come through the ranks via non-league football, such as Ron Green and Richard O’Kelly, and players we’d picked up for a snip from our local rivals in Childs, Colin Brazier, Kevin Summerfield, the injured Phil Hawker and the cup-tied Ian Handysides, also sadly also a victim of cancer at a far too young age.

Then there were the older heads. Brian Caswell – who seemingly played everywhere in his Walsall career – at right back, the reverend Peter Hart – captain and centre-half – and veteran striker Ally Brown, famous scorer of the winner at Highbury and again at Rotherham in the quarter final.

Alan Buckley’s Walsall side could play football though, passing the ball to feet and attempting to go forward at every available opportunity. We went into the game top of Division Three.

For the uninitiated we’d struggled past Blackpool in the first round, before taking Barnsley from Division Two apart over two legs in round two.

In a fantastic Fellows Park night, we had beaten Shrewsbury – also somehow in the top half of Division Two at the time – with a majestic Gary Childs winner in the third round.

Beating Arsenal 2-1 doing it in style, was a phenomenal achievement too. They weren’t quite the force they are now and Champagne Charlie Nicholas was totally anonymous, but it was still fantastic to see such a big club comprehensively outplayed on their own turf, especially as we’d been well and truly stuffed on our previous visit five years earlier.

At the end of the game legendary keeper Pat Jennings, who’d been overworked that night, came and shook every Walsall player’s hand and applauded the Saddlers fans. It was a ringing endorsement of a classy performance from a classy side.

Drawing Rotherham away in the quarter-final was a bit of a let down, as they were mid-table in division three but it turned out to be another memorable night.

There must have been 5,000 Walsall fans crammed into the away end at Millmoor, a ground which hasn’t changed much save for a few plastic seats and is currently in the hands of another unscrupulous landlord. But as it turned out, we couldn’t have planned it any better.

Rees scored after about five minutes and Richard O’Kelly made it two just before half-time with a close-range diving header just before half-time, celebrated in fine style from inside the back of the net.

There were no worries about 2-0 being a dangerous lead, as Ally Brown made it three with a back post header five minutes into the second half.

The Millers pulled one back a couple of minutes later before a stunning strike from Mark Rees – wonderfully described in the Walsall ‘Til I Die book – almost immediately settled the tie.

Ron Green had to pick the ball out of the net once more but it was academic, Walsall were in the semi-final of a major tournament.