Saddlers Legends

Darren Byfield- for most fans he is either a love or hate figure but for many Saddlers fans he will always be a Walsall legend for that one moment 110 minutes into the 2001 Division 1 playoff final.

Byfield started his career in 1994 at Aston Villa and after nearly 6 years of virtually no first team football and a number of loan spells, Byfield moved to the Bescot stadium.

Despite having a bit of a reputation as a player that many managers struggle to control, then Walsall boss Ray Graydon seemed to suit Byfield. And this despite the fact that of the just over 50 games he played in a Saddlers shirt, well over half were as a substitute.

In the 2 seasons Byfield spent with Walsall he scored 17 goals and some key ones at that. Apart from THAT goal in Cardiff Byfield had already hurt Reading once in the 2000/01 season scoring a beauty to wrap up a vital win at Bescot early in the season.

Byfield continued to play a role for Walsall during the next season but it wasn’t long before the lack of first team opportunities meant he was looking elsewhere.

Byfield left in 2002 to move to Rotherham. He has since played at Gillingham and is currently (at least at the time of writing!) at Millwall. As you may have seen on Vital Football there are talks about Byfield returning to Walsall after claims he was unhappy at the New Den.

The fact that one of his team mates has apparently signed up to a group called ‘Darren Byfield is a cad and a rotter for cheating on Jamelia’ on popular website Facebook suggests a move may be imminent!

Let us know your thoughts and memories about Byfield on our forum.