Life has caught up with The Gilbert Alsop in the last couple of weeks. He has fallen in love and been burning the candle at both ends, which means he has had to cancel the trip to Scunthorpe tomorrow. Thank the Lord for ‘Alan Buckley’s 3 Striped Adidas Shirt’ who has kept this blog in stories. This is another one from him and it shows us that us Walsall fans have been badly treated all our miserable, down-trodden lives and not just thanks to Jeff Bonser. Over to you, AB3SAS….
Saddlers fans in recent years have bemoaned the sale of their best young players like Scott Dann, Ant Gerrard, Danny Fox and Matty Fryatt but those of us from watching Walsall in the mid-sixties still recall and regret the sale of young striker Allan Clarke in March 1966 who was sold -or rather given away- to Fulham for a transfer fee of around £37,500.
As ever down their history, Walsall were strapped for cash and despite the lad from Willenhall banging in 46 goals in 82 games and showing such promise, it was inevitable that at some point he would be destined for bigger and better things but it was the size of the fee that was disappointing for the lad latter nicknamed ‘Sniffer’ by his Leeds United manager Don Revie, who went onto score a career total of 275 goals over a 17 year career including 10 goals in 19 games for England.
Spotted by wonder scout Ron Jukes, the lanky lad joined the Fellows Park staff from school in 1962 turning professional a year later. After a few games in 1963/64 he really came into his own the following season, scoring 23 league goals in 43 games including a hat trick against Reading. 1965/66 saw him bag 18 goals from 24 Division Three games- what a record that was- plus 4 in the FA Cup run which included the winner at Stoke, not forgetting the winner from the penalty spot against QPR in the League Cup which set up a mouth-watering clash with West Brom in the next round. His partnership with big George Kirby at Fellows Park was really something else as they delighted the home fans with their combination up front.
Two years from his Walsall exit, Allan Clarke was sold by Fulham to Leicester City for a £150,000 fee and following his appearance in the 1969 FA Cup final, he was snapped up by Leeds United for a fee reported to be £165,000. Both these moves were British transfer records for cash deals at the time which demonstrated just what a giveaway he was from Walsall. He won so many honours as a player at Leeds and was one of the country’s best marksmen in those days. After his playing days were over he managed a few clubs including a two year stint in the hot seat at Elland Road. He was linked with the Walsall job on a couple of occasions but his employment by Walsall FC was destined to be that short stint as a teenager at Fellows Park doing what he did best-sticking the ball in the back of the net. He was one of five footballing brothers from the Clarke household with Derek, Kelvin and Wayne also playing for The Saddlers. Just elder brother Frank slipped the net.
