HAVING missed our opener against MK Dons, due to a family wedding abroad and not wanting to spoil anyone's day by mulling over our midweek cup exit to Tranmere, I thought I would go off on a bit of a tangent for my second fan blog by talking about the unexpected joy I stumbled upon on September 1st 2009.

But, wait... isn't that the day we went out of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy to Bury last season? And didn't you say that you weren't going to talk about our cup exits? Well...yes! And yes! But this was also the day I introduced my little boy to The Saddlers.

At the time, I was merely taking advantage of Walsall's generous ticket pricing for that particular game as a bit of an experiment. My son wasn't quite three years old and I would have counted myself fortunate if we had even made it to half-time before I was carrying a restless toddler back to the car, whilst cursing my stupidity for bringing him along at such a young age. Little did I know that day, that I was actually creating a monster! A cute, little Walsall monster who from that day onwards, would foster an obsession with football, penalty shoot-outs, Darren Byfield, Swifty and Walsall Football Club.

He didn't care that the game finished goalless and he didn't care that we lost on penalties in the end. He just didn't stop talking about the whole thing for the rest of the week, and then some.

We attended a further nine games last season before the inevitable happened and we signed up for season tickets for 2010/11. I want to add here that I think it is an absolute credit to the club that my son's season-ticket cost absolutely nothing (and this continues to be the case until he is eight!). He's now a fully fledged 'Mini Saddler', complete with his own season-ticket book and a photo ID card, which in his eyes makes him Special Agent WS1.

Now, I must admit that my matchday experience is a little different to what it once was and now consists of approximately fifteen hundred questions per game, relating to every person, object and incident that appears or occurs from the minute we step into the stadium to the minute I finally manage to drag him out of there long after the final whistle.

I appreciate that this might not sound like everyone's cup of tea, but if you have young children, I urge you to try bringing them to a game at least once, just to see what happens. It makes you look at things from a different perspective and notice things you may not have even thought about before. Above all though, for the first time ever since supporting Walsall, I go home laughing even when we lose.

The obsession with Walsall can also be used as parental currency in various ways. I once steered my son away from a £40 pair of trainers he wanted (for a three year old!!! And for the sole reason that they were red!!!) and directed him towards a much more reasonably priced pair, simply by telling him that Darren Byfield owned a pair of the cheaper ones. Cruel? Perhaps! But forty quid is forty quid!

I'll close by sharing with you, for your amusement, a few of the classic conversations that have taken place since this obsession took hold

After the first ever League game he went to that ended in a draw:

Jack - "Who won that match, Daddy?"

Me - "It was a draw Jack"

Jack - "What does that mean?"

Me - "Well nobody won really"

Jack - "Huh?"

Me - "Well, ok then, both teams won".

Jack - "What?"

Me - "Ok Jack, Walsall won if you like".

Jack - "Yeahhhhhhh!!!!! Come on Saddlers!".

A random conversation at home:

Mom - "Jack, who do you love most in the world?".

Jack (without hesitation) - "Darren Byfield and Swifty".

Mom - "What?????? What about Mommy and Daddy".

Jack - "You're rubbish at football".

And my personal favourite took place in McDonalds one Sunday afternoon:

Me - "Jack do you want to try some of this sauce (offering him some sweet curry sauce)"

Jack - "No thanks Daddy, Darren Byfield doesn't like that sauce".

Me - "Erm...Ok,. why?"

Jack - "He only likes ketchup, because it's red, like Walsall. Your sauce is orange, like Wolves".

Me - "Right.... ok."

I hope this light-hearted blog inspires even one or two of you to help us build the next generation of Saddlers by bringing your little ones to a game.

Thanks for reading....

Chris Freeman