The Saddlers Annual Review Part Two

Walsall blogger Mark Jones brings you Part Two of his annual review of 12 months following the Saddlers' adventures up and down the country.

For Walsall, 2011 began with most Walsall fans thinking about the inevitability of a dayout in Morecambe.

Twelve months on and that trip is still very much a possibility, but it's fair to say that the last year has had more than a few twists and turns and some memorable moments, early on at least.

Last time I looked at the real Great Escape of 2011, now it's time for the recent past.

July, if my memory serves me correctly everyone, was the month where everyone was happy.

People were optimistic about the new season, there was a trip to pre-season Scotland and a well-attended, positive focus meeting.

Beneath the surface, though, it was apparent that, yet again, we would be kicking off a season with half a new team.

We knew that Emmanuel Ledesma was long gone and that Julian Gray had taken up a better offer in Cyprus.

A few people were disappointed about the departure of Matt Richards too, proving the old adage that it takes all sorts.

Worse still was Walsall Council's rejection of a proposal to look into the possibility of buying the Bescot freehold.

Not wanting to get too political, the Tories - allegedly including two who are season ticket holders - blocked it, with the Lib Dems sitting on the fence. Hopefully, things will change come next May.

Looking back, life was a riot in August. Although we got knocked out of the League Cup by a pretty impressive Middlesborough, our league record was two wins, two draws and just one loss, to Sheffield United.

And that was a narrow, unfortunate defeat despite a confident performance at Bramall Lane. Averaging 1.6 points per game is a decent return, the kind we are gonna need in 2012.

There was also the double shocker of getting awarded three whole penalties and the rarity of having a poor refereeing decision overturned, when Andy Butler's red card at Hartlepool was rescinded.

Matt Richards then showed us exactly what we were missing, as we dumped Shrewsbury out of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy.

For the time being at least, we can still clap hands, click fingers and take comfort in the fact that we are superior to the Shrews.

Unfortunately, as a barometer for the rest of the season, September has proved to be more accurate.

No wins, one point and the reality that we were miles behind the likes of Brentford and the increasingly unlikeable Notts County. It wasn't good and, sadly, it wasn't about to get any better.

Almost everything yo have come to expect following Walsall occurred in October.

A bloke lashes in a once-in-a-career 30 yard free kick to deny us three points, we lose a penalty shoot out, we have to see out a rare win with 10 men and a team who haven't scored away all season go and score two stunners.

Then an eagle-eyed linesman wrecks a game by judging our goalkeeper has handled outside the box, when endless television freeze-frames make it look marginal at worst.

Yet the same linesman can't spot that the subsequent free kick is taken from the wrong place or a blatant offside 10 minutes later. Typical.

Incidentally, although we haven't won a game in normal time since October, we have actually only lost once in normal time since then too. Weird.

We start with the negatives in November - Bury was embarrassing and symbolic of the decline of the club over the last decade. We still couldn't win and struggled to score or hang on to a lead.

On the plus side, we picked up useful points at then-unbeaten Huddersfield and Stevenage, with a clean sheet in the latter to boot.

Jamie Paterson and George Bowerman notched their first, hopefully of many goals for the club, Paterson announcing himself with that stunning equaliser at the Galpharm Stadium.

Loanee Mark Wilson beefed up our otherwise-vegetarian midfield no end and we finally managed to shake off Exeter in the FA Cup .

We had mercilessly brushed them aside 4-0, pretty much in second gear, at the same stage in 2000.

In December, we end the year seemingly going round in circles. Slugging it out toe-to-toe with the league leaders, then failing abysmally against the bottom team in the entire Football League to go out of the FA Cup.

Prior to the final two games of 2011, we find ourselves in the bottom four desperately needing to match our points tally from the second half of last season to be in with a shout of stopping up.

The squad desperately needs strengthening and crowds are still worryingly low. In reality, the job manager Dean Smith faces is ridiculously harder now than it was when he took over last January.

There's no Troy Deeney money to supplement the playing budget and 'the Ginger Mourinho' honeymoon period is well and truly over.

Just in case anyone could forget, the football club had to pay out something in the region of £440,000 in rent this year, almost £8,500 per week or over £1,200 per day.

We are no nearer to the desired regime change than we were when the land was put up for sale in March.

Happy New Year everyone - does anyone know the way to Morecambe?