Football Season Guide

Walsall were among the League One sides with most momentum at the end of the previous season, but the horrid run of form they had between October and January left them with too much to do, and they ended up failing to finish inside the top six. Dean Smith was delighted with his players at the end of the season and talked about a Play-off push next time around, but the Saddlers became the victims of their own success and ended up losing their best players during the summer transfer window. The attacking trio that made Walsall so lively last season, Will Grigg, Febian Brandy and Jamie paterson, have all left the Banks Stadium to join bigger clubs, and Walsall failed to properly replace them, with the new attacking signings being the unimpressive Troy Hewitt and Milan Lalkovic, who signs on loan from Chelsea, and is a complete unknown at this level. Romaine Sawyers, who had a successful loan stay with the club last season, has joined them on another loan, while they are likely to have to dip into the loan market if Richard O'Donnell gets injured or suspended, as he is the only senior keeper they have in the squad. All in all, it's quite safe to say that Walsall should not be expected to repeat their heroics from the first half of the calender year, as three of their most dangerous players have left, and they simply don't have the resources to replace them with equal quality.