From Zulu Pride to Saddlers’ Soul, Two Books That Tell the Midlands Story

I will raise a pint to the Blues for 150 years, to Keith “Cuddles” Batchelor for showing what redemption looks like, and to the Saddlers for still flying the flag for honesty in football.

There’s something about a proper football book at Christmas. It is more than nostalgia. It is belonging, community, and the quiet poetry of loyalty. Two titles stand out for me this year. One celebrates the rough-edged romance of Birmingham City, and another promises to unearth the working heart of Walsall. Together they tell the story of who we are in the Midlands: proud, flawed, and unbreakably connected by football.

Keith Dixon’s Birmingham City: 150 Years of a Remarkable Football Club is an absolute gem. It is not just a club history. It is a portrait of the city itself. The tone is pure Birmingham, tough, warm, and straight-talking. And right at the heart of it is a remarkable feature on Keith “Cuddles” Batchelor, the man who once led the Zulus.

Cuddles’ story cuts through all the clichés. Born in Birmingham in the 1960s, a young Black lad finding his way through a city full of tension and pride, he grew up when terrace culture was at its rawest. But what comes through is not violence or vanity. It is transformation. Here is a man who took that same fierce energy and turned it into something good.

He says it himself: “I’m not a villain, all I am is a football lad who was part of the culture at the time. I grew up with good morals and I might have done bad things, but I’ve done more good to people than bad.”

That humility runs right through his reflections. He talks with pride about stamping racism out of the Blues, about being there for his community, about helping kids who might never otherwise get to see a football match. And when he speaks about his family, that is where the real emotion lies. He is proud that his daughter graduated from Cambridge University and that his son is now a company director. That is not just pride in them. That is redemption through legacy. That is what making good on your life really looks like.

Dixon gives Cuddles the space to tell his story properly. Not as some reformed headline act, but as a man who found meaning through football, family, and community. The Blues have always been about that blend of grit and grace, and this book captures it perfectly.

And then there is the other book I have my eye on for Christmas, The Birth of the Saddlers by Mike Bradbury. If Santa is listening, that is the one I want. I am not a lifelong Walsall supporter. I came to the Saddlers after hanging up my rugby boots about fifteen years ago, but since then I have poured more time, money, and motorway miles into them than I care to admit.

Bradbury’s book promises to tell the story of how Walsall, once an industrial town built on leather, locks, and hard graft, carved its own footballing identity. It goes back to the late nineteenth century, when Walsall Town and Walsall Swifts were rivals. Town refused to join the local FA for years because they did not want to “associate with teams of a lower class.” Proper Walsall, that. Proud, stubborn, and utterly themselves.

When they finally merged in 1888, it was an uneasy marriage, but it birthed something special. A club with its roots in real people, not privilege. The Saddlers were founder members of the Football League’s second division just four years later. And through all the ups and downs that followed, the lost grounds, the hard seasons, the small but fiercely loyal crowds, they have stayed true to their working-class heart.

That is what drew me in. Supporting Walsall is not about glory. It is about truth. It is about the shared laughter in the stands, the post-match pints, and the long drives home from places like Grimsby, Swindon, and Cheltenham. The so-called “sexy towns” that only lower-league football can make you love.

Every trip has its own kind of beauty. A new ground, a new story, another reminder that this game, at its core, still belongs to the people.

So yes, I will raise a pint to the Blues for 150 years, to Keith “Cuddles” Batchelor for showing what redemption looks like, and to the Saddlers for still flying the flag for honesty in football.

Different scarves, same soul.

Here is to Christmas, Cuddles, and the Saddlers.