Walsall blog: Positive meeting

Listening to the fans hasn’t always exactly been a strength of the Walsall board of directors, writes Walsall blogger Mark Jones.

So Monday night’s Focus group meeting at the Saddlers Club was a refreshing change.

For the first time ever more than one director was in attendance as Nigel Bond joined the ever-present Roy Whalley.

The club was also represented by Stadium Safety Officer Dave Storr who was on certainly on the ball and talked a lot of sense.

It was the first time I’d met Nigel Bond but his honesty, enthusiasm and passion for the club really shone through.

I was also pleased to see all three club officials making notes and taking on board ideas from fans.

Two of the most positive suggestions from the floor were the idea of running transport to home games and selling blocks of tickets covering three or four matches.

It appears that those within the club have also been discussing ways of bringing more fans through the turnstiles.

This can only be good and even if some ideas don’t immediately bring rewards then it doesn’t mean they’re not worth persisting with.

Obviously the issue of Scott Dann’s transfer and Walsall’s recruitment policy were discussed.

This has been reported in the media in the last couple of days and probably prompted the war of words between our chairman and the Coventry boss.

We all know Jeff doesn’t like arguing about money and things are always likely to turn ugly where Iain Dowie’s concerned.

It does look like our promotion push will have to be enhanced by out of contract players and loan signings; and, with the maximum 93-day rule for loans kicking in, there might be no new faces until the end of the month. Wembley here we come then.

Another encouraging part of the meeting was number of fans attending for the first time. This created a good mix of supporters from a variety of backgrounds.

It was a real pity then that the Supporters Trust couldn’t make more of a contribution.

Some of the really big questions regarding the rent, loans from directors and future ownership of the club were only touched on.

These issues won’t go away though and we have been promised a regular four meetings per year with one more before the end of the season.

This is exactly how football clubs should be treating their supporters, I hope they keep it up. 

Of course there will always be some topics to lighten the mood. Allegations of ball tampering are commonplace in cricket but in the half-time hit the bar contest? 

There was also a concern about dog owners letting their pets crap on the new training ground.

Let’s just hope our Football Consultant doesn’t provide any more manure when we move in at Essington.

Walsall fans, what do you think? Have your say below