Football Season Review

After delivering the great escape with Walsall after being appointed manager in January 2011, Dean Smith was expected to do one better and lead his side to at least a comfortable midtable position this term. A lot of fears were present about the club's failure to bring in a striker over the summer, and such fears proved justified after only a few rounds. The Saddlers did well in the opening five rounds, but their inability to score goals then started to get exposed badly; they won only one of their next nine home games, and although the side were extremely difficult to break down away from home, it was obvious that something needed to be done in order for the scoring problems to stop. Dean Smith was pretty open about his efforts to bring in a striker on loan, and although this never materialized, Smith eventually managed to save the side by bringing in creative and scoring players in midfield - such as Sam Manton, Florent Cuverlier and Emmanuel Ledesma. All of these players played very important part in the run the Saddlers had between mid February and early March, during which they lost only one out of the twelve games they played. They struggled a bit in the closing rounds, but their 1-1 home draw against Huddersfield was eventually enough for them to secure another season in League One. The priority over the summer will certainly be to bring in some flair players, and the Saddlers will surely be set for another season of struggle if they once again fail to do anything regarding their scoring problems. The Saddlers' Player of the Season is Andy Butler, who marshaled a defence who's quality and statistics were far above what one would expect from a side battling against the drop.

Player of the Season: Andy Butler