No firesale must be welcomed

So to everyone's blessed relief – apart from Sky Sports News obviously - the transfer window creaked closed without a hint of movement in the Bescot dressing room,

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Clearly the fact that we've managed to see the whole month out without trading our most precious home grown assets at Sunday market prices is great news for the rest of this season at least.

It also closes, albeit temporarily, off any distractions that the young and ambitious talents in Chris Hutchings squad may have and allows everyone in the home dressing room to concentrate on ensuring that the recent slip in results, form and league position doesn't descend into a dramatic slide of 2006 proportions.

Clearly the pre-deadline gloom that came out of Bescot regarding losses of revenue over the festive period and the putting of contract talks on hold suggested that there was never likely to be movement into the club without some significant movement out but it was still disappointing to see former hero and Walsall boy Dean Keates end his post Peterborough exile by agreeing terms with Wycombe. Personally I reckon he could have done more than a decent job for us over the final throws of this season and into next.

However, if finances dictate that he was out of our reach than in the current climate I guess we have to understand and accept the situation. I would be disappointed however if he was available and the manager declined the opportunity to resign him.

In the smoke and mirrors world of football we may never get to know the real reason he ended up down the M40 but I have no doubt that he could have improved Hutchings somewhat hit and miss midfield.

Similarly the current situation regarding Alex Nicholls also continues to baffle and disappoint. Nicholls' somewhat thinly veiled swipe at the manager last week regarding a lack of opportunity smacked of either a desperate late bid to engineer a decent chance in a Walsall shirt or provide a platform from which to take his undoubted talents elsewhere.

I like Alex Nicholls, he has pace to burn, can finish when put in front of goal and like Troy Deeney was and is absolutely wasted when farmed out on the right hand side of midfield. Six starts in 2009/10 isn't enough for a player of his abilities and Hutchings continued reliance on his first choice pairing and almost equally sparing use of Nicholls from the bench isn't helping the situation however

Like Clive Platt and Karl Hawley in the not too distant past Nicholls is suffering from having another young prospect blocking his route into the first team and, as with Ricketts & Platt and Fryatt and Hawley, the impressive exploits of Troy Deeney may unfortunately force Nicholls to try his luck elsewhere. And if Hutchings isn't careful, when the players return for pre season training in July he might find himself without either the sought after Deeney or a disenchanted Nicholls to partner Darren Byfield up front.

Replacing strikers is an expensive business that the Bescot budget often struggles to comfortably overcome. I suspect that when the next season arrives at least one of either Deeney or Nicholls will be plying their trade elsewhere. To end up needing to replace both of them would be foolish at best.