By KJ
July 29 2003

Tomorrow is the last chance for Harriers fans to see the lads at home before the big kick off against Mansfield. The visitors are Walsall who will hopefully include, new signing Paul Merson.

SADDLERS NEXT

Merse, signed with Bookies pen?

Tomorrow night (30th July) sees Harriers final home pre season friendly against Division One Walsall. Kick off is at 7.30 pm. The game will see a few big names playing for Walsall, with the biggest being former Arsenal and England favourite Paul Merson. Merson will be one of the biggest names in next seasons division one and has been described by Saddlers boss Colin Lee as possibly the clubs biggest ever signing.

so its all credit to Walsall in getting one of the biggest transfer coups of the summer, at any level. Merson is a quality performer and in my view was the main reason for his former club, Portsmouth’s automatic promotion. Last season I was lucky enough to watch Wolves v Pompey at Molineux (corporate job). Obviously Pompey were not a one man team over the season, but that night they were. Everything went through Merson, very time they had possession they were looking for him. He took all the corners and free kicks and in fact scored from one. Of course Merse does come with a bit of baggage, with his much publicised gambling and drinking problems, in fact the joke was, he signed for the Saddlers with a bookies pen.

With this addition it is quite possible for the Saddlers to achieve the play offs this coming year. Along with Merson, they have also signed Vinny Samways. The former Spurs and Everton man has now signed permanently after a loan spell last season and helped secure their 1st division survival. So all in it should be an interesting evening. The last time the clubs met it was for real, in the then known Worthington Cup in our debut league season. We managed a fantastic 1-1 draw at Bescot before losing the 2nd leg at home to a Darren Byfield goal. Walsall, then under Ray Graydon, were in the 2nd division have now made even greater strides under former Wolves boss Colin Lee, who replaced Graydon. Personally I have a soft spot for Walsall and it’s my hope we can be a lot like them. Any Saddlers reading this, please take it as a compliment and not me predicting Harriers above their station. I’m not just talking about on the field, but also off it. Walsall, like ourselves are a very well run club and never go into debt. They like us are in the shadows of the bigger clubs and have managed to get where they are with hard work. So come on Kiddy, lets copy em.

Colin Lee, rates Merson as Walsall biggest ever signing

Now on to a bit of Harriers news. The club were rocked this week by the news that new signing Matt Gadesby will miss the start of the season. The former Walsall and Mansfield man will miss the chance to play his former sides and could be out for up to 5 weeks with a knee injury. This was sustained in the 6-1 win at Boldmere. Other injury news sees reserve keeper John Danby still out for a couple of weeks, while triallist John Williams has done some training this week. So another chance for our many trial players to impress.

LATE NEWS, according to official site, Harriers have released trialists Nerada and Craig Wilding, more to follow

Next game, away Sat 2nd Aug Hereford Utd.

finally a bit of Jumpjet Journal news, I have now added a links page.

Walsall sportnwk site official site