Football Season Guide

Year after year, Walsall enter the summer transfer window with drama surrounding their best players, with the ultimate outcome being that their key men end up leaving. This summer was no exception to that rule, as the Saddlers lost both Andy Butler, who rejected several contract offers before leaving to join Sheffield United, and Craig Westcarr, who joined Portsmouth. The departures of Westcarr and Troy Hewitt left Walsall without senior strikers in the squad, and Smith opted to bring in Ashley Grimes and Tom Bradshaw, who will be competing for a place at the tip of the Saddlers' attack. However, neither of these two men is a prolific-enough scorer to be a main attacking option for a midtable League One club, with Grimes's recent scoring form being a particularly big concern, as the forward failed to net in 15 games for Bury last season. Walsall struggled for goals in pre-season as well: Dean Smith claimed in a recent interview that he was not worried by this, but the Saddlers' boss is probably looking to bring in more strikers, either on loan or permanently, behing the scenes. When it comes to replacing Butler - the player who will be expected to compensate for the skipper's departure is James O'Connor, a former Derby man, who missed the majority of the previous campaign due to an injury. Jordan Cook is another new arrival who will be expected to get significant playing time.