The ‘Carefree’ campaign under Jan Sorensen that thrilled Walsall fans

And who can forget Roger Boli’s overhead kick from Jeff Peron’s pinpoint cross? The first of his famous treble against Southend United, ranked by many as the best goal ever witnessed at the Bescot.

If it was fun to watch then, it was a dream for those who played under him, as former Walsall man Chris Marsh recalled.

“It was a carefree era,” Marsh reflects. “His methods were different, compared to Chris Nicholl. We always used to go out and play.

“They were crazy times. It was a fun time and he was a big character, a lovely man.

“Even Sir Alex Ferguson said he loved how we went to Old Trafford and just played. We didn’t go there to defend and it sums Jan up.

“I remember the team talk. He said: ‘Lads, the Man United dressing room has got Solskjaer, Giggs, Beckham and Cole. Believe you me, right now they are s****** themselves!’

“Whether that was just to the break the tension, or whether he actually believed it, I don’t know.

“But it sums it up. The message was, ‘Let’s have a go at them’.”

And for those in the stands, it was something new and exciting too.

“Sorensen had a personality that was pretty infectious,” lifelong supporter Darren Fellows remembers.

“If you draw the line of (Chris) Nicholl, Sorensen and (Ray) Graydon, which is a really important line, then you probably needed the difference between Nicholl and Sorensen to enable Graydon to tighten stuff up.

“Graydon was Nicholl multiplied by two. I don’t think he’d have ever been able to walk into Nicholl’s dressing room and instil the discipline that Nicholl had. Sorensen was really important in that line but they were completely different to the Nicholl team. It was however many you score, we’re going to try and score more.

“He had the French pair, Boli and Peron, who were unreal. You don’t see players play for Walsall at that level very often.

“They were a catalyst for six months of stuff you don’t see as a Walsall supporter.”

As a thin squad was stretched ever further, Walsall collected just three wins from their last 20 games to finish the campaign in a lowly 19th as Sorensen was sacked.

Yet, despite its anticlimactic conclusion, club-record appearance holder Jimmy Walker ranks that season highly.

“That was one of the most enjoyable seasons I had. The squad was excellent, the lads were great,” he recalls. “We had a lot more freedom which we probably took too far at times. We petered out towards the end but we played 62 games, we didn’t have a massive squad and we were in every cup competition.

“I owe these guys (Nicholl, Sorensen and Graydon) so much because they were memorable nights, big crowds and incredible atmospheres.

“It was the perfect storm for me.”