End of Season Review - A personal analysis

Crack open a bottle of beer, whack the kettle on and put your feet up because now you can finally relax after a season a of torture and turmoil curtesy of Walsall FC.
To say it has been a rollercoaster of a season would be an inaccurate analysis because for one - rollercoasters are exhilarating and secondly, this rollercoaster has been going up-hill since the start, only reaching the peak at the very end before a quick corkscrew to save us of any pending insanity.

But enough of metaphors and similies...In a nutshell, it's been a downer of a season only lightened by the heroic efforts of Dean Smith and co.
The feeling of survival has a similar feeling to that of promotion except with a massive quantity of relief thrown in for good measure.
The failure of the club to succeed proved to be a catalyst for attracting stay away fans. During the last few games of the season, Walsall saw home crowds of 5000-6500 and away followings of up to 2000, a welcome sight as opposed to the woeful average of around 3000.
Walsall stood united and came together as one at the distress signal sent out by the pityful performances on the pitch and slowly...the belief returned. And therein lies the deeper resounding nature of Walsall FC. Belief. Belief seems to be the fuel that spurs on the Saddlers (as it does with any club) and the second that banner went up on the floors to go stand...the players believed too.

You can only truly begin to appreciate the magnitude of the task by taking a look at our league position a few months prior to the 'great escape'. Dead bottom...about 10 points adrift...certain favourites to return to the basement of the English Football League. Yet here we are...contemplating our future in League One and beyond.

So what next for WFC?
The stadium ownership issue is still hanging in the balance, the Dean Smith era can now truly accelerate with a whole summer of plans and signings at his fingertips and Walsall can now concentrate on getting back to winnings ways.
As always, I look forward to the future and UTS all the way!


Here's to the failure of success and the success of failure!