Express & Star

Blog: Wembley can't come round quickly enough

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For the first time in 92 years our national stadium will be opening its doors to the Mighty Saddlers and a staggering 28,000 plus followers...writes blogger Mark Jones

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Ignoring the fact that you could only play there if you got to the FA Cup Final until the mid-60s and that the equivalent of the JPT (the Associate Members Cup) only got a Wembley final 30 years ago; it has still been a long wait, with a few near misses and sob stories.

For Wembley. It could've hosted us in 1984, 1988, 1993, 1995, 1998 and 1999 (twice) but we kept it waiting for us, 'cause we're worth it.

In 1984 it took the (then) best team in Europe to stop us getting to a major final there.

The two-legged and replayed play-off final against our JPT rivals Bristol City in 1988 was an astonishing rollercoaster of a tie that would definitely have graced the old Twin Towers in a one-off clash, had it not been two years too early.

[breakout title="Counting down to the big day" align="right"][/breakout]

The devastating loss to Crewe (which remains our only ever defeat in a play-off tie) in 1993 came despite finishing above them and beating them home and away in the final month of the season.

In 1995 and 1999 we were victims of our own success in a way, going into the end of season run-ins just outside the automatic promotion places and holding our nerve while our rivals bottled it.

While I'd never have swopped the outcomes of those campaigns for the lottery of the play-offs, it did grate a little seeing Chesterfield and Man City climbing the 39 steps to lift a trophy when they'd not been as good as us over a whole season.

In typical Walsall fashion, our two previous Area Final appearances in this trophy in 98 and 99 were single goal defeats that tantalised and frustrated in equal measures.

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And of course it was sod's law that we'd reach another play-off final in 2001, the same season as the bulldozers went in at the old Wembley. Again the Millennium Stadium was a wonderful experience that I wouldn't have changed for anything but it has been one hell of a wait.

Wembley can't come round quickly enough; let's hope the boys get a good send off.