Saddlers Legends

Ok, I have to confess this is another one of my Saddlers heroes but who cares, he’s a legend!

Pedro Matias joined Walsall from Tranmere in October 1999 and if people are honest, very few had even heard of him. All that most knew was that this pacy winger had been on Real Madrid’s books until earlier that year.

It took Matias a bit of time to settle into life at Bescot but within a couple of months he was quickly becoming a fans’ favourite.

He set up numerous goals during our 1999/2000 season and although we were relegated at the end of it, Pedro stayed at the club- and boy are we gla he did!

With the arrival of fellow Spaniard Zigor Aranalde at the Bescot, Pedro was in his element. Between them they made the Walsall left hand side a very healthy source of goals and with the likes of Jorge Leitao in the middle to finish them off it was no surprise that the season ended in promotion.

Despite his numerous assists, Pedro also had a not too shabby goalscoring record. Just short of 30 goals in around 150 appearances wasn’t a bad return.

Possibly his best moment came in the second leg of the 1999/2000 playoff semi-final against Stoke where an awesome performance and two goals saw us through to Cardiff.

Pedro stayed with the club until 2004 when, after a loan spell at Blackpool, he was signed by Bristol Rovers. In 2005 he left England and is currently playing in the lower leagues in Spain- apparently!

What are your memories of Pedro? Let us know on our forum.