It's just the start for the Saddlers

Walsall blogger Mark Jones believes the club has a long way to go on and off the pitch as the Saddlers hit the road to play Hartlepool.

Firstly, I must congratulate the club for organising the Family Fun Day for the Swindon game, there was clearly thought and effort put in and it was good to see more bodies in the Family Stand on Saturday.

Now for the bad news.

Despite those taking the advantage of the decent Family Ticket offer and the large, vociferous following up from the West Country, we still had the third lowest crowd of the day in League One.

There were four higher crowds in the division below and Luton against Wimbledon, a non-league game, was watched by over 7,000 on Friday night.

A similar event for a League Two game against Hartlepool at the start of 2006/07, just after relegation, attracted over 5,500 with only a couple of hundred away fans.

We were getting significantly higher crowds than Saturday's even in the woeful Paul Merson and Kevan Broadhurst season - the last time we dropped out of this division - five years ago.

None of the above is meant to be negative or moaning for the sake of it.

They are, however, extremely worrying facts which the powers-that-be need to be reminded of.

Regular readers of this blog will know that I have been extremely concerned about attendances for the last two seasons.

The uninformed will talk about the four other local teams being in the Premier League as an issue, but for me that's a red herring. That particular threat - for want of a better word - has always been there.

In 2002, Villa were in the top-flight and the other three finished in the top six of what is now the Championship, all averaging well over 20,000 without affecting our crowds, because Saddlers fans were focussed on what we were achieving at the time.

Are there actually any examples out there of genuine Walsall fans, as opposed to casual fans, who have switched allegiance to one of our local rivals?

I know of none, but if there are any at all then I would say they are in single figures only.

The state of the economy, with the public schoolboys now desperately trying to recreate the despair of the 1980's, has clearly had some adverse effect, but we seem to be suffering more than other clubs.

Is this because when times are hard and your team is doing well and you feel appreciated by your club you make the effort to try and afford to go?

But when your team are struggling - or even standing still - and you don't feel loved or wanted, they become an expense you do without?

The solutions are more difficult. As I said at the outset, there are worthy initiatives but they currently amount to plasters being put over numerous axe wounds that have gone untreated for far too long.

I applaud the club's efforts but we need so much more. They have recently spoken to representatives of both the Saddlers Club and the Trust.

They need to do a lot more of this, they need to listen and take the fully merited criticisms from their customers - the ones who are still there and their former ones - on the chin.

And they need to accept that people like me put a lot of hard-earned cash into the club, without asking for anything financial in return, so we are entitled to our views.

Time for a Focus Group meeting gentlemen?

I've deliberately tried to focus on matters off the pitch this week, simply because I'm trying not to think about it.

Lose any of the upcoming six pointers and I won't be so lenient.