Football Season Review

Walsall have been the "nearly" side of League One for years, with the thing making this season particularly frustrating to their fans being the fact that the Saddlers came so close to achieving promotion, only to eventually fail after suffering a heavy play-off defeat against Barnsley. It all looked so good for the Saddlers initially - Tom Bradhsaw and Romaine Sawyers were playing the football of their lives, Rico Henry has emerged as one of the league's brightest talents, while Adam Chambers and the fit-again Sam Mantom were effortlessly pulling the strings in midfield. Lead by their long-serving boss Dean Smith, the Saddlers spent the majority of the first half of the season inside the automatic promotion places, but Smith's departure midway through the season was a blow that the Saddlers would ultimately fail to recover from. Their decision to appoint Sean O'Driscoll initially filled the fans with hope, with O'Driscoll being an experienced manager who likes his team to play a style similar to the one that Walsall have played under Smith, but the Saddlers badly struggled to perform at the Bescot under their new boss, with O'Driscoll eventually paying the price for his side's poor form with his job. The Saddlers opted to name their new manager from within, as Jon Whitney took over. He managed to improve the side's home form, but the Saddlers suddenly started to struggle on their travels under him and eventually finished just short of automatic promotion, as second-placed Burton finished a point ahead of them, with an inferior goal-difference. Then came the play-offs and a hugely disappointing 6:1 aggregate defeat to Barnsley, which was hardly a big surprise, with the Tykes certainly being the more in-form side of the two late in the season. Ultimately, it was another "nearly" season for the Saddlers, who enter the summer sweating on the futures of Sawyers and Bradshaw and with a decision to make regarding who their next manager will be.

Player of the Season: Romaine Sawyers