Walsall vs Wimbledon preview: Daz and Gaz's big final pasts
In the dressing room at Wembley, Walsall will have someone who has quite literally been there and done it.
OK, it might have been at the Millennium Stadium, but there are very few, if any goals more fondly remembered in the club's history, than Darren Byfield's extra-time winner against Reading in the 2001 Second Division play-off final.
It immediately propelled him to legendary status among the fan base and he will be looking to add to that legend as a key part of Mat Sadler's backroom staff this season.
"Darren has a rich history with this football club and play-off games. Maybe his voice gets even louder at the moment because he has been talking about it for the two years that we've been working together," Sadler said.
"Now his voice gets a little bit louder and he gets his moment to reminisce on it. But again, it's part of the rich history of the football club. I think I read something from David Kelly and he spoke about going down in folklore and being remembered forever.
"After the home game the other night, I've wrote in my programme notes for Wembley that those things will go down as nights to be remembered forever. The group have got the opportunity to be that and to have that.
"We just want to be remembered as that together group and no individual is bigger than the team. Darren is not greater than the team [he jokes]. Those things, we share them, we speak about them. I'm a big believer in talking and not bottling it up, expressing it because everyone will have a view on it."
Sadler also has experience of playing on the big stage himself, but lost on both of his Wembley trips with Shrewsbury Town in 2018.
He will be looking to become the first manager in Walsall history to lead them to victory at the 'home of English football' against Wimbledon this afternoon.
His assistant Gary Waddock also enjoyed a distinguished career at the highest level, including most notably at Queens Park Rangers.
In 1982, Waddock was tasked with man-marking the great Glenn Hoddle in a gruelling affair against Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup final at the 'old' Wembley.
The first game ended 1-1 after Terrence Fenwick cancelled out Hoddle's 110th-minute opener, but QPR eventually succumbed to a 1-0 defeat in the replay.
Sadler himself conceded that he didn't know about Waddock's Wembley background, but added that is speaks measures of his humble nature that it has never been mentioned.
"I think Gary played at the Wembley before the last Wembley. Whatever that one was?," he jokes.
"For Gary, obviously he has had a tremendous coaching and playing career. I must admit I didn't know he played in an FA Cup final until a week or so ago. It's the mark of the man that he keeps that to himself.
"Obviously Darren doesn't, Gary does, but we'll all be leaning on some of those stories."




