Walsall chairman Jeff Bonser says the Saddlers will never gamble with their future after announcing a trading profit of £408,000.

It is the third successive year the club have made a profit but the League One side’s net debt has risen from £2.2 million in 2007 to £2.7 million for the year ending May 31, 2008.

The Saddlers, who host Hartlepool in League One tomorrow, made a trading profit of £6,000 last year, and Bonser says their stance of prudence with ambition is working.

Bonser said: “We live within our means. That does not mean that we lack ambition. We are constantly striving to develop new income streams, and to develop an infrastructure that will enable us to return to the Championship, and be able to compete at that level.”

Bonser, who was repaid £225,000 of the money he loaned the club, says the Saddlers have watched other clubs, such as Luton and Bournemouth suffer due to overspending and that they are finally clear of the financial turmoil which was caused by the collapse of ITV Digital in 2003.

He said: “We have now put the traumas bought about by the demise of ITV Digital firmly behind us.”

The Saddlers’ turnover increased from £5.4 million to £6.7m after the sales of Scott Dann and Dan Fox to Coventry for over £1 million.