Name: Walsall
Manager: Jon Whitney
Ground + Capacity: Banks’s Stadium – 11,300
Sat Nav Post Code: WS1 4SA
Nearest Train Station: Bescot Stadium
Odds: 14/1
Last Meeting: Walsall 0-3 Millwall – 06/02/16
Club Website: www.saddlers.co.uk/
THE biggest news to come out of Banks’s Stadium in recent days has been regarding Tom Bradshaw.
The club’s star striker handed in a written transfer request on July 13 and with reluctance, the Saddlers have accepted. Bradshaw subsequently signed a three-year deal with League One play-off winners Barnsley and will boost their forward options in the Championship next season.
The striker’s departure may be the main news in WS1 this summer, but Walsall have not been short of transfer news in the close-season.
New manager Jon Whitney was stung by the news of a quadruple contract offer rejection in mid June, with Romaine Sawyers, Jason Demetriou, Paul Downing and Milan Lalkovic all choosing to leave the club.
Midfielder Anthony Forde also moved to Rotherham for an undisclosed fee, whilst Sam Mantom completed the exodus, joining Scunthorpe United.
However, Whitney swooped to sign Erhun Oztumer from Peterborough United, as well as re-signing Florent Cuvelier on a one-year deal.
Whitney has also brought former Colchester United defender Joe Edwards to the club, in addition to Theo Vassell and Franck Moussa.
The two clubs will meet at The Den on January 7, whilst the game in Walsall will take place on October 1.
The Lions will be hoping for a similar result there as last season; they easily dispatched the promotion-chasing Saddlers 3-0, on a day where a star was born in Mahlon Romeo.