Walsall open new training complex

Walsall have opened their £1m training complex – as they were boosted by the news that boss Jimmy Mullen has signed Doncaster centre half Steve Roberts.

Another deal is close with an unnamed striker arriving at the Banks’s Stadium for a medical this afternoon.

Chief executive Roy Whalley declaring the new complex a landmark for the club.

The training site in Broad Lane, Essington will be used by the players for the first time tomorrow when they return for pre-season training.

Building work on the site, for which Essington Parish Council will receive £8,500 a year in rent, has taken around six months to complete.

Whalley believes that it will be a big boost for the club to have a permanent base.

He said: “We regard this as being very much a landmark day in the story of Walsall Football Club.

“We have never had our own training ground and we have always felt that was something that was missing.

“It is very much a state-of-the-art facility. I think it will be a great thing for Walsall FC.”

Saddlers boss Jimmy Mullen and Parish Council chairman David Clifft were on hand to cut the ribbon to declare the complex open.