Graydon: Why I almost quit

He masterminded one of Walsall's greatest successes but, on the tenth anniversary of that glorious promotion, Ray Graydon has revealed why he almost quit before it started.

Ten years ago a 3-1 win at home to Oldham – ironically tomorrow's visitors for the class of 2009 – saw the Saddlers go up from the old Division Two.

Their achievement in 1998/99 was extraordinary.

Runners-up to champions Fulham, boss Graydon's heroes held off the challenge of Manchester City to belie their tag of relegation favourites.

On that famous day at the Bescot, Darren Wrack, Chris Marsh and Sigurdar Eyjolfsson fired the Saddlers back into the second tier of English football for the first time in 10 years as Walsall achieved the impossible.

But it was almost over before it began.

Former Villa great Graydon succeeded Jan Sorensen in the summer of 1998 – his first managerial job – and weeks later the squad travelled to Scotland for a pre-season training camp.

It was while in the Highlands the Saddlers found out exactly what their new boss expected, in an episode which threatened their future success.

A group, including Marsh, Dean Keates and Jimmy Walker, narrowly missed Graydon's modest 10pm curfew after an evening out.

Hardly the crime of the century. But, for Graydon, a notorious disciplinarian, it would not be tolerated.

It was his chance to lay down his rules. His chance to underline his authority and he did the unthinkable. He sat the players down and offered to quit.

Graydon said: "It wasn't a threat, I was prepared to leave then and there, it wasn't about the money.

"It was not for anyone other than the players and I didn't say it to anyone else. When I pulled them together I said I expected a great deal from them but they had already begun to realise that.

"The broken curfew was a chance for them to find out about me. I said I would rather go and clean windows and be with a group of people who did not respond. I said I would quit.

"If they didn't want to win why were they there? If they didn't want to be successful why were they doing the job? It worked."

But Graydon, now a referee's assessor living in Southampton, soon realised the famous bond in the squad was too strong to curtail.

He admitted spirit got them through the season, which saw them win a staggering 13 games 1-0.

He said: "I was red hot on rules and regulations and wanted the players to arrive on time, dress smart and work hard – just be normal people.

"But I realised if I did not let them have a drink and let them out then it wouldn't work.

"I wasn't working with the cream of the crop, I was working with a group of people thrown together and I had to try and mould them."

The togetherness was the Saddlers' trademark under Graydon, who was fired in 2002. They entered the Oldham game knowing three points would send them up, Wrack and Marsh put them 2-0 ahead before Lee Duxbury pulled one back.

Eyjolfsson's 76th minute strike clinched it and Graydon, who won the League Cup twice with Villa, marks it as his best achievement.

The 61-year-old said: "I was very nervous but it didn't come across. I remember making a point to Paul Taylor saying 'we'll treat it as any other game,' I was always very keen for the players to know what they had to do.

"Once the final whistle went it was the best feeling in the world, better than anything I had done as a player.

"I remember when I was young and people say 'you can't do that' I thought, 'I'll show you' that drove me on."