Whalley To Retire In May

It was confirmed last night at the Bescot Quiz, that former Walsall chief executive Roy Whalley will retire from his position as Commercial Director in May, but will continue on the board.

Whalley has served as Chief Executive,secretary and commercial director during his 26 years with the club.

Whalley joined the Saddlers in 1986, after being part of the 'Save Walsall' action group which stopped the club relocating to Birmingham.

He quit his job as a teacher at Manor High School to move to Fellows Park as club secretary, after being asked by former chairman Barrie Blower.

Whalley spoke to Birmingham Evening Mail in 2008 and had this to say over the move 'Then I joined the Vice-presidents Club and, as my involvement grew, I had a good relationship with Ken but it all changed in 1982 when he tried to buy the Wolves. They wanted Walsall to play at Molineux and I was against that so that ruined our relationship'

'Barrie Blower set up his 'Save Walsall' action group and, although the Wolves idea fell through, we knew the issue would rear its ugly head again.

'It did in 1986. Ken had bought Birmingham, who were deep in debt, and left his mate Jack Harris as chairman of Walsall and they concocted this idea that Walsall would buy St Andrew's. That would get Birmingham out of debt and we would go and play over there with Birmingham City as Walsall's tenants.

In April 2010 Roy Whalley came under severe pressure from the Walsall fans following his outburst and banning orders after unrest broke out which led to protests from the Walsall faithful. In April 2010 Whalley said 'The people who were involved will not be coming in to the match on Saturday. They will be banned until further notice. It's against ground regulations and we're not prepared to sit back and allow it to happen. We have pictures of those who were involved'. 'They will not be allowed in. That type of behaviour is inciteful and is against ground regulations.'

Later in 2010 it was announced that Roy would step down as chief executive and would continue working for the club in other capacities.

We have had our ups and downs with Roy over the years but he did help save the club and its reputation when others tried to diminish it. Despite the arguments in 2010 we can atleast thank Roy for that.

Roy has been a great servant to the club over the years and we send him with our best wishes.

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