Walsall

Here’s a funny stat that probably tells you a lot about Walsall Football Club and their place in the English game: At several points in its history, the Football League has reorganized itself and added new tiers; thus has Walsall managed to be founder members of the second, third and fourth tiers of the game!

During the 1980s, when two different owners tried to arrange groundshares with other Midlands clubs to save money, the club had one of its finest moments on the pitch, a run to the League Cup semifinals. They won at Arsenal on the way, and in the first leg of the semis got a 2-2 draw at Liverpool, then the Cup holders and reigning league champs. Alas, the Reds won, 2-0, at Walsall, thus returning the Saddlers to their off-field problems.

They spent the 1988–89 season in the second tier, but the owner went broke and they suffered two successive relegations. Since then, it’s been a story of occasionally popping up into the second tier, usually not surviving there, and occasionally dropping into the fourth, where they are now. New ownership arrived in summer 2022, and last season they made the promotion playoffs but lost to Chesterfield.

2024–25 SEASON: 4th in League Two (lost in promotion semifinals), 2nd Round FA Cup, 3rd Round League Cup

2025–26 SEASON: League Two (relegated in 2019)

Technically, any game between Wolverhampton, West Bromwich Albion and Walsall is a Black Country Derby, but Walsall have played in just 30 of those, and none since 2014. More in their league and neighborhood are Port Vale, Shrewsbury Town and Coventry City.

Walsall Women are in the West Midlands Regional Women’s Football League at tier 6. Check the club’s website for fixture information.

The teams come out to “Fanfare for the Common Man,” which honestly seems a bit overstated.

Bescot Stadium, officially known as Banks’s because a local brewery sponsors it, is largely a generic League Two stadium: three sides have supporting pillars in front of about 15 rows of plastic seats. But the fourth side, the Homeserve End behind a goal, is a big, modern, two-tiered thing that looks completely out of place. The away fans will be in the far end.

All of this is next to a hotel and a shopping center, and it’s known among groundhoppers for the short walk from the train station to the ground, which leads you under a highway and across a river, where pavers in the path include a poem.

Make sure you pop into the Supporters Club, not just for the friendly vibe that’s always in such places, but also for the really cool collection of old photos, badges, signs and other trinkets.

TOURS: None

GETTING THERE: As stated above, it’s just a few not-so-scenic minutes’ walk from the Bescot Stadium train station, which is reached by West Midlands Trains from Birmingham New Street. It’s a 30-minute trip.

PUBS: Locker is a sports bar at the ground. Otherwise, there’s really nothing around the ground except the bar in the Radisson Hotel, so just look for something in Birmingham before you head out.

GRUB: As with the pubs, there are no options other than the usual pies and so forth in the ground. 

AROUND TOWN: And … let’s continue the pattern! If you’re in Walsall – and we would like to know if you actually read this and go there – it will be for a game, as there is little else to do in town. There is a leather museum that’s open from 10 a.m. on Saturdays.