Northern Saddler

I am going to start off this week by saying how Walsall will not be relegated next season, as many people seem to think so. I have spoken to many football fans about the extremely important issue of the Saddlers chances of doing well next season, and many seem to think that there will not be a back-to-back promotion (which is obvious) or a mid-table finish. Personally, I think 10th place would be acceptable because there seems to be an imbalance in the midfield area. Danny Sonner and Michael Dobson were hardly ever going to have a relationship similar to that of a burning semi-detached in Bescot Crescent. There is no attacking presence with that partnership and I can safely say that Dean Keates scored more goals last season than both of them put together. I would put in a case for Darren Wrack, who has been impressing at full-back recently, but I see him as a more creative attack minded middle-man who could score goals – League One`s equivalent of Paul Scholes if you will. On the other hand, we have Danny Fox waiting in the blue corner to take that kind of role within the midfield, instead of being used in an unorthodox winger role, which he does not do as much justice to unlike Demontagnac. If that fails, another dip in the foreign market for another midfielder wouldn`t go a miss. There is bound to be another Eddy Sonko somewhere – we just need to find him.

Now for a quick word on the white look for the Saddlers. I said from day one, when the new club badge was unveiled along with the new look strip, that the new kit may not be as glamorous as the previous kits made by Nike, but it takes the club back to an older traditional kit style. In the 1970s, the Saddlers would regularly run out in white shirts and red shorts, so I can see why a new white look would signal a new era for the club. It is a new era, and from what I`ve seen of the kit, it looks great. I chatted to one Walsall fan who said it looked like a kit a conference, or Blue Square Premier Division as it is now, club would where that was manufactured for 12p. I don`t think it does, the away kit, however, looks remarkably like we nicked a kit idea from down the road in Shropshire and then got bladdered in a wine bar before finalising the idea in the morning. Anyway, hopefully the new kit will bring a new era and a successful one at that. With DD in charge, anything could happen next season. We have got just over a week to wait.