Football Season Guide

Walsall spent the majority of the previous season inside the automatic promotion places, and their fans could have been forgiven for thinking that their side was about to have its breakthrough season, following years of false dawns. However, the Saddlers gradually got worse and worse over time, never managing to truly recapture their stellar form under Dean Smith, and eventually had to settle for the play-offs, where they were humiliated by Barnsley, who crushed them with a 6:1 aggregate scoreline. The inability to achieve promotion has caused a true exodus of players, as the Saddlers have lost two standout performers in Tom Bradshaw and Romaine Sawyers, as well as regular players in Jason Demtriou, Paul Downing, Sam Mantom and Anthony Forde. Andy Taylor has also left, but the emergence of Rico Henry means that his departure can hardly be seen as a major blow. Now, there is obviously a sense of disappointment surrounding the club following all these departures, and expectations are low. The Saddlers have had a summer window that is underwhelming at first glance, as they have signed several unproven youngsters, as well as League One players who have not been at the top of their games recently. However, Flo Cuvelier, who is set for his second spell for the club, Simeon Jackson, Erhun Oztumer and Franck Moussa are all players of potentially star-quality at League One level, and can all prove to be excellent additions, providing that Jon Whitney manages to get the best out of them. However, Whitney, who was somewhat surprisingly been given the reigns after failing to win promotion last season, has hardly proven himself as a stellar manager in the short time that he had with the Saddlers late in the previous season and will have it all to prove going into the new campaign.