When the teams take to the field at Griffin Park on Saturday, the appearance of one player in particular will mark an historic achievement. James Barry Walker, or Super Jimmy Walker, as he is affectionately known by Saddlers fans will make his 530th appearance for the club - breaking the record held by Colin Harrison since 1981.
As the cliché goes, records are there to be broken, but with the transfer merry-go-round of the modern game, it seems almost impossible that the new record set by Mr. Walker will ever be broken.
Whilst the new record is a monumental achievement in itself, few Walsall players, past or present can lay a claim to Walker's level of achievement for the Saddlers. since making his debut alongside current manager, Dean Smith as a chubby 20 year old in 1993.
Since then, Walker has gone on to win promotion from Division Two/League One twice and establish himself as one of the best 'keepers in English football's second tier. Walker's trophy cabinet is littered with player of the season accolades - no more impressive than that he achieved in 1998-99, beating off competition from the awesome Andy Rammell and Darren Wrack as we finished second in the league, behind the wealth of Fulham and ahead of Man. City.
I'm sure Walsall fans will each have their own special memory of an inspired performance from 'Super Jim' - be it his triple save against West Ham's Cole, Lampard & Camara in the League Cup in 2001 (my personal favourite) or any one of a dozen performances in the 2003/4 season. Although relegation ultimately came our way in dramatic fashion, we may well have been dead and buried by April had it not been for some inspired performances. Even West Ham fans fondly remember his penalty save from a certain Frank Lampard - a save which stands him as a cult hero in Hammers folklore. This string of achievements is made all the more impressive by the fact that he stands at a 'pint-sized' 5ft 9in.
Walker's career has not passed without the odd occurrence of the red mist however. Giving Dennis Wise a slap around the chops at Millwall in 2003 probably wasn't his finest hour, not least because of the emergence of everyone's favourite (ahem!) second choice goalkeeper, Andy Peterson, who conspired to ship no fewer than ten goals in Jimmy's three match absence. And George Ndah has a combination of Walker air-shot and bobbly Bescot pitch to thank for his winning goal for the Wolves back in the same season. Yet as much as some would have liked to lay a heap of blame at Walker's door for either incident, a guy like Jimmy who performs as consistently and as honestly as he does deserves to be cut some slack.
Having 'only' supported the mighty Saddlers since 1995, any Walsall side without Jimmy Walker between the sticks doesn't look right. It wasn't until Walker left for pastures new at Upton park in 2004 that we started to realise that goalkeepers of his calibre are worth their weight in gold.
So here's to Walsall's number 1. Jimmy Walker, on a record-breaking 530 matches as a Saddler. Hero to many, legend to all.
By: Rob Jones