First County Visit:	Saturday 12th January 1991
Competition:	Barclays League Division 4 – (Tier 4)
Result:	Walsall 0 – 2 Stockport County
Attendance:	4,364
Away Trip:	50
Away Day:	201
County Line-up	1 Paul Cooper; 2 Malcolm Brown; 3 Steve Bullock; 4 David Frain; 5 Bill Williams; 6 Tony Barras; 7 Jim Gannon; 8 Darren Knowles; 9 Paul A Williams; 10 Chris Beaumont; 11 Andy Kilner
Scorer:	Paul A Williams (2)
Manager:	Danny Bergara
County Visits:	9

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OH LOOK, THE BESCOT – PASSED ON EVERY TRIP DOWN SOUTH

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By the time came for the first visit we had passed it on the way to Cardiff and Hereford earlier in the season.  No one who has crawled from Hilton Park Services down to the junction of the M6 and M5 will have failed to spot it, and that was before the largest display sign in Europe was erected.  These days as I return from trips to see Rob in Solihull the advertisement sign is a beacon for miles around. 

From the slow lane of the M6 southbound it looked to be the usual type of stadium construction.  Little character; boring uniformity and little different from the first of its genre at Glanford Park.  The extension, (in 2002/03), to the Gilbert Alsop stand at the far end from the motorway has at least added a little bit of individuality.

My first trip was in January 1991, in the company of Arthur Brotherton, not only enabled a ‘new’ ground to be chalked up but also a visit to the recently vacated, but sadly unloved and lying semi-derelict, Fellows Park. 

We arrived fairly early, and the designated route took us off the M6 took us along Bescot Lane onto Wallows Lane, and there on the left was Fellows Park.  With time in hand, we pulled up, availed ourselves of a local chippy, and then walked across the road.  I’d never been to Fellows Park, (with County’s last visit there being in the late 70’s), but Arthur had been a couple of times.  Strangely for a team we faced pretty frequently throughout the 90’s there had been only six games between us at Fellows Park since the end of the war. 

Interested in just wandering around the outside, and given that the site was derelict, it came as a surprise that there was no security and access to the ground was open.  I found it amazing that the ground had last staged a league game there on 1^st May 1990.  257 days had passed since then, but on what unfolded before us it could have been 257 weeks.  The grass was getting on for knee high; there had been significant vandalism to the stands, and the concrete terracing was starting to crumble. 

It truly was a sorry sight – almost unbelievable that a stadium which had been Walsall’s home since 1896 was literally falling down before our eyes.  It was 4 years before I was to return.  By then, much akin to the Old Show Ground, a supermarket stood there.  Not a vestige that it had seen 94 years of senior football.

I was glad I had seen it, albeit in that state.  Back to the car, and the shortest of drives, (just over half a mile), onto Bescot Crescent, delivered us onto the car park at the new stadium.  And the name of the thoroughfare tells us that it had been built without due thought to entrance and egress.  A crescent which looped around the ground with both ends joining Broadway.  It was, and remained on my last visit in November 2009, a nightmare to leave and get back to the M6.

Elsewhere on this site I have bemoaned the disappearance of traditional stadia and their replacement by a one size fit all design.  The first new ground built in Britain since Roots Hall was opened in 1955 was Glanford Park.  In my scribblings about Scunthorpe’s new ground I reflected on its lack of character, and uniformity, and resemblance to an out of town warehouse.  The tale of Walsall’s move to the Bescot is far too long to recount here.  Suffice it to say that it involved property developers; ownership shenanigans; and a move from ownership of the ground to tenancy.  All the normal constituents of a recipe for profit for developers and penury for the football club. 

It was announced that the design would be based on Glanford Park.  As Simon Inglis, (Football Grounds of Britain 1996), puts it: “It was a bit like saying to the owner of a run down, but cherished Victorian town house, ‘I’ve sold that old home of yours, but don’t worry, you can rent this nice prefab I’ve built with the proceeds instead”.

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The pictures comparing the Bescot with Glanford Park tell it all. But the Bescot seemed even worse.  Cantilevered stands had been the norm for years, yet the covers, (extending only for about a dozen steps), were propped up by supports, (28 of them round the ground), rendering a broken view.  Absolutely hopeless design.  Now, it could well be that the economics of the project demanded a cheap build.  Fair enough if that was the case.  The stadium cost £4.5m, hardly small change but interestingly £2m more than Glanford Park and £1m more than Huish Park, (which opened at the same time).  Somebody made a killing on this deal, one which led Walsall into significant financial stress.  A fable for football in the modern era.

In penning these memories of grounds that have featured on my travels I normally spend time to reflect on how they looked from the inside.  Not much point here.  Refer to Glanford Park!!  Of course, the extension to the Gilbert Alsop Stand in 2002, added something and took away some of the blandness.  I’ve always thought that the top deck must afford a decent view of the pitch, and when the football isn’t up to much the passing traffic on the M6 at the rear of the William Sharp Stand.

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Panorama taken from the Gilbert Alsop End, with the Main Stand on the right and the away section, (and Europe’s largest advertising board) at the far end

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The latter is where the County fans have been stationed on each of my 9 visits.  A standing terrace at first, it was converted to seating only 2 years after the place opened, and as ever that transformation has not been for the better. It enabled us to see Paul A Williams score a brace in a 2-0 win.  He was in a rich vein of scoring, (7 in the previous month or so), and 5 more in the following weeks led to his move to West Brom a couple of months later.  The background to that move is described in the Watling Street piece – not bad business from Bergara though.  Two thirds of a season and £250,000 profit!!

It was four and a half years before I returned, this time in the company of Jeff Lawrenson.  Arthur was due to be there, but travelling under his own steam, and we’d made arrangements to meet up outside the ground.  It was the opening day of the season, and a sunny hot day. 

The expectation of the new campaign had led to a more than decent away following, and about 30 minutes before the start, with no sign of Arthur and queues forming at the turnstiles we decided to go in and hopefully find him there.  Looking down the pitch from the right-hand side of the stand, we suddenly spotted him.  Not in the William Sharp Stand but emerging from the tunnel into the Highgate Stand.  He was one of three or four with a hand on the wheelchair of a disabled guy, and after pushing the chair into the designated space, headed off into the body of the stand.  Neither Jeff or I had a mobile at that time so no chance to get hold of him until the following day. 

I called him and the conversation went as follows. “Who was that guy you were pushing into the disabled section – I didn’t know you were caring for someone?”.  “No idea”, came the reply.  “I’m definitely not his carer – all I care about is not paying!!  I got there late and the queue for the away end was huge, so I went round the corner and saw a group of people waiting to be admitted into the disabled enclosure.  I just put my hand on the handle and went with the flow.  Happy days!!”.  Arthur has always had a keen eye for these kind of opportunities…

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All in all, I’ve seen County at this temple of architectural mediocrity nine times. It was a happy hunting ground until the turn of the Millennium – thereafter 5 games; 5 defeats and not a goal in sight. 

I did make one non-County visit.  Not for football, but it cost me another new ground.  On Monday 19^th November 2007 we were scheduled to play at Staines in an FA Cup replay.  Although it was on Sky Sports it was a new ground, and therefore a visit was essential.  Jeff and I set out in mid afternoon for the M6 drag; then the M40.  Somewhere just south of the Oxford turnoff the taps were turned on and a biblical scale downpour made driving hazardous at best and downright dangerous at worst. 

It never stopped, and after weaving our way off the M25 and locating Wheatsheaf Park we parked up.  The rain had eased, and the floodlights shone brightly as we sat in the car and turned the radio on with maybe 45 minutes to kick-off.  10 minutes later the news came over the airwaves that the game had been postponed.  We never even got out of the car. A 406-mile round trip all for nothing.  Shades of a trip to Plainmoor 18 months previously.

The following day came news that the replay was to be on the Thursday evening.  Which caused a problem.  I was booked to give a presentation on “Financial Inclusion in the context of social housing rents”, or some such title at a National Housing Federation conference.  It was at 4.30 on the same Thursday evening, and in one of the function suites at the Bescot Stadium.  All sorts of calculations went on in my head.  My own principles ruled out absenting myself from the conference.  I did quite a bit of that kind of stuff; enjoyed it and was recognised as someone with something meaningful to say. 

So, thoughts turned to getting from Walsall to Staines.  124 miles; a fastest driving time of just over 2 hours then allow 10 minutes to park up and get in.  I’d have to get away by 5.15 at the earliest, and then hope that the rush hour traffic around Birmingham treated me kindly.  My presentation lasted an hour then time had to be allowed for Q&A’s.  No chance of a departure before 5.45, and therefore little chance of seeing the first half hour of the game.  The sad decision was taken to head north, rather than south, after the conference.

Jeff came to my house and I arrived back home around quarter of an hour before the start.  We watched events unfold; a struggle which went into extra time and then an exit on penalties.  One part of me was relieved that I hadn’t made a stressful trip to see that outcome.  On the other hand, it broke a proud personal record of seeing the Hatter on every ground they had played in competitive first team action since August Bank Holiday Monday in 1987.  In that period, we had played on 108 grounds.  Little did we know that the next decade would bring another 72 venues!!

June 2020

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VISITS

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Day	Date	Competition	Tier / Round	Opponents	Res	F	A	Crowd	Away Day
Sat	12/01/91	Barclays League Division 4	Tier 4	Walsall	W	2	0	4,364	201
Sat	12/08/95 (Highlights)	Endsleigh League Division 2	Tier 3	Walsall	W	2	0	4,884	302
Sat	26/10/96 (Highlights)	Nationwide Football League – Division 2	Tier 3	Walsall	D	1	1	3,767	335
Sat	02/10/99 (Highlights)	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Walsall	W	2	1	5,492	411
Sat	06/04/02	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Walsall	L	0	1	6,322	463
Sat	07/05/05	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1	Tier 3	Walsall	L	0	3	6,971	530
Tues	08/08/06	Coca-Cola Football League – League 2	Tier 4	Walsall	L	0	2	4,877	556
Fri	26/12/08	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1	Tier 3	Walsall	L	0	1	5,496	621
Sat	14/11/09 (Highlights)	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1	Tier 3	Walsall	L	0	2	4,143	643

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ON MY JOURNEY WITH COUNTY AROUND 180 GROUNDS

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Previously – NINIAN PARK Next stop – WATLING STREET