Dean Smith, manager of Walsall, will be at Wembley this afternoon for the Trophy Final but nearly 21 years ago he had to move to Edgar Street to keep the Saddlers in business.
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| Photo Copyright BBC |
Smith made 142 appearances for Walsall and would have made more if the £75,000 move to Hereford hadn't happened.
“The chairman still references it to this day," Smith told the Express and Star.
"He always tells
me, ‘selling you helped save the club!’ I think I am still Hereford’s
record ever transfer fee.
“I remember the conversation, (manager) Kenny Hibbitt phoned me up and told me there is a chance to go but I told him no, I don’t want to leave.
“I was happy at Walsall, I was captain of the club, living at home. Then I went to speak to Hereford and they offered me an unbelievable deal.
“But I was still umming and ahing before I sat down with Jeff and Barry Blower and it was almost a case of, if you don’t go, the club could go bust.”
Smith spent three years at Edgar Street before moving onto Leyton Orient where he stayed for six years.