I don’t want to worry anyone but . . . writes Saddlers blogger Mark Jones.

* On Tuesday night the Saddlers blew a golden opportunity to put some real pressure on the top six with the defeat to Bristol Rovers; 

* Richard Money has publicly questioned the ambition of the club 

* And (unless I was dreaming) Tommy Mooney, our on-field leader and the only player with a double figure goal tally this season, announced on late night TV. that he’d be leaving at the end of the season.

Apart from that everything’s going just fine.

Dicky has come out and said that he has no intention of leaving the club but he obviously has plans for the future and needs to know that he has the backing of those ‘upstairs’.

I, for one, fully agree with him on this one. Walsall’s best managers have always been the ones who have a vision of where they can take the club and a pretty good idea how they can get us there.  

The trouble is that, in my experience, as soon as you advocate moving forward, somebody somewhere will try to brand you as irresponsible or unrealistic. I think we could learn a thing or two from Bristol Rovers on this one.

In September 2006 we won at the Memorial Ground to go top of the league. Two early goals (from Messrs. Dann and Fox no less) put us in control and we cantered to victory over a poor Rovers side languishing in around eighteenth position.

However the silver lining for our opponents that day was the introduction of their new £200,000 signing from Rochdale – Ricky Lambert. 

No disrespect to the ‘Dale but I can’t imagine it would have taken too much to have matched what they were paying at the time (and the salary cap in League Two would still have applied). 

Of course we all know that you also have to allow for the cost of things like signing-on fees when you calculate the real price of transfers. However, as he showed the other night, Lambert is a good lower division centre forward. To me the Gas got themselves a good deal, and probably for the price of less than a year’s rent.

Since then Rovers have reached a JP Trophy Final in Cardiff, had a thrilling climb up the table culminating in a Play-Off win over the Slop at Wembley, re-established themselves as a League One club and reached the Sixth Round of the F.A. Cup. And, if the worst came to the worst, they could probably double their money by selling their star striker.

It was obviously not all down to the signing of Lambert but by showing a modest amount of ambition and taking a calculated gamble they were well rewarded.

It didn’t break the bank, it didn’t leave them facing administration and it didn’t put the club’s future in jeopardy; and I reckon this is exactly the kind of thinking that DD wants to see going on at the Banks’s.

As for Mooney, the interview (I know using that word gives the dross that is Central Soccer Night more credence than it deserves) broadcast on Wednesday seemed to highlight the utter frustration in the dressing room that we could have achieved so much more this season. 

We all know how you feel mate.

I’ve gone on record before as saying that I think Tommy has more to offer next season, not necessarily as a 46 game a season man but both on and off the pitch his leadership skills will be sorely missed. 

Wherever he goes and whatever he does, it’ll be with the good wishes of all Saddlers fans. Bet he’d love to go out in a blaze of glory though … we can keep dreaming with him on that one for a couple of days at least.