A tribute to two real football men

Walsall blogger Mark Jones pays his own tribute after a minute's silence impeccably observed for two great footballing men at the Banks's Stadium.

Some positives, early promise, a stupid mistake, plenty of character in adversity before being undone by a bit of quality - and the Millwall game was no different!

Last Saturday was our season in a nutshell and what frustrates me is that there was enough evidence to suggest that, on our day, we can compete with teams like Millwall.

A progressive, long-sighted group of people running the club for the benefit of the fans and not their own self-interest would sense the possibility that it wouldn't take much more to be on the fringe of the play-offs and seize this opportunity to break the cycle of despair. We can all dream.

Millwall supporters get a rough deal in the media and I'm not going to pretend that they've always been angelic but I've got a lot of time for their genuine fans.

Supporting an 'unfashionable' club without an illustrious history but with plenty of 'big' rivals around, they have developed a sense of community and an 'us against the world' mentality. I like that.

Tthey know their football. Saturday's game was preceded by a minute's silence, a mark of respect for Keith Alexander and our own Tony Richards.

Not a minute's applause which can drown out the antics of one or two jokers, but a minute's silence. And that silent 60 seconds, a moving and emotive event at any time but somehow seemingly magnified when conducted in a football ground with thousands of people on their feet, was impeccably observed.

Not something your average lazy journo would want to comment on, but worth a mention in my book.

Walsall and Keith Alexander never crossed swords a great deal during his time as a player or a boss, yet he was part of Alan Buckley's first post-Saddlers Grimsby team, but he was always a manager who you were aware of.

To die suddenly at the far too young age of 53 is a tragic loss to his family and to the football family. Our family.

Keith was a pioneer for black coaches but, as many have pointed out in the last week or so, this was much too narrow a definition for him. He always struck me as a decent, honest guy working tirelessly for whatever lower-league club he was representing with no complaints, no histrionics, no whinging. In short a real football bloke.

Those Premier League prima donnas could learn a lot from him so it was appropriate that, in a rare outbreak of common sense, the FA took the decision for the England team to don black armbands for the Egypt game in his memory.

Keith had already shown great character in overcoming serious illness once, it seems so unfair that he didn't get the chance for some extra time. Rest in peace Keith Alexander – a real football legend.

I can't really add a lot to the fine tributes already paid to Tony Richards by Saddlers fans. Suffice to say that if you are a Walsall fan of a certain age you were lucky enough to see him and partner-in-crime Colin Taylor terrorising defences in Bill Moore's back-to-back promotion teams almost half a century ago.

While if you are a Walsall fan of my age, you were brought up on stories of that team, in the same way that my sons know the importance of the names Alan Buckley, Sir Ray Graydon and Andy Rammell in our history.

Many a time as a kid the return journey from Fellows Park would involve me marvelling at the Buck's magnificent goalscoring exploits, only to hear how many times Richards or Taylor had notched in their day.

Similarly a spectacular long range screamer from a Peter Lorimer, or Charlie George, or some other long-haired and big sideburned 1970's maverick on Match of the Day or Star Soccer would be greeted with the usual response - "That's nothing, Tony Richards used to head 'em in from further out than that."

And even today there's a part of me that refuses to believe that this was anything other than a very slight over-exaggeration.

At the History of Walsall FC book launch some years back I got the signature of the great man and he was genuinely humbled when I told him that he was my dad's all-time favourite player.

RIP Tony Richards - a real Walsall legend.