Walsall midfielder Liam Kinsella out to banish a ‘ruined’ summer

But now the midfielder is hoping to play a key role in what he believes will be a new and successful era at the Banks’s Stadium.

The Saddlers saw a 12-year stay in League One come to an end when they were relegated on the final day of the 2018/19 campaign.

Since then, Darrell Clarke has been appointed manager, while 13 players have left and 11 have arrived.

Kinsella also had clubs chasing his signature in the summer, but he said his heart was set on staying as soon as he spoke to the new boss.

“Relegation is not nice – it ruined my summer,” the midfielder said.

“I spoke with the gaffer before I went away on holiday and as soon as I had that conversation I knew I was going to sign when I got back.

“When you get relegated, you want to bounce back straight away. The gaffer has come in and he is a winner, you can see that from his CV.

“And he wants to make us a winning team.

“He wants us to go into every game believing we can win it. It’s enjoyable and I’m really enjoying working under him.”

Kinsella was part of the Walsall squad that enjoyed a pre-season trip to Poland.

The Saddlers beat I Liga side Odra Oploe in a friendly on Tuesday.

And the 23-year-old believes the trip helped with team bonding ahead of the new campaign.

“I think everyone can see we are bonding on and off the pitch, we are really enjoying our football,” Kinsella added. “Poland has been really important. We have spent four days together, it gives you that extra opportunity to get to know each other and that is what we did.

“Everyone has enjoyed it. We got the win against Odra Opole, we’ve won the last two friendlies now.

“We have got that winning feeling and that is what we want in the camp.

“Each game we are going into feeling like we have a great chance of winning and that is the mentality we want next season.”