I had a very nice time with Claire in Walsall this weekend, but am now back home in Bath. While up there, we went to see Walsall FC play Yeovil Town at the Bescot Stadium.

As a regular watcher of non-league football, I was surprised by the quality of both sets of players. Besides strength and a little more speed, I saw no difference between Walsall and Yeovil than the likes of Bath City. Skill-wise, it was nothing special at all. Maybe I caught them on an off day. If I watch them again, they may be like Barcelona.

What did amaze me was everyone’s favourite football donkey, Michael Ricketts. I last saw Ricketts play live a few years ago for Leeds United. He was dire. A fan behind me described his performance perfectly – “He’s wandering around the pitch like he’s shit himself!”

Yesterday, however, Ricketts was a transformed player. Although he didn’t score (only Jesus can perform miracles), his performance was actually pretty good. I guess he has found ‘his level’ at League One.

The other thing that surprised me was the amount of Yeovil fans, or lack of, who made the trip. There can’t have been more than 100 who made the trip from Somerset. Non-league Bath City have better away support than them! This obviously affected the overall attendance which was under 4,000!

The sooner Leeds United get out of his small tin-pot club league, the better!

The home of Walsall FC

The mascot

Yeovil fans. The whole village came along