It's time to settle the Saddlers' ship

Walsall blogger Mark Jones is hoping to avoid another round of 'Guess the Saddlers' for 2010/11 - especially just as a backbone is starting to form.

In amongst the focus on pension funds, Cyprus flags, bans and general Orwellian behaviour, there's also been a bit of an outbreak of football in recent weeks at the Banks's Stadium.

After the dismal run of form a month ago which ranged from luckless against Exeter to gutless against Southend to clueless against Stockport, we have put together a few wins with some half-decent performances, not forgetting a stirring comeback in the unlucky defeat at Huddersfield.

One of the main reasons for this in my view has been the quality of the performances coming through the spine of the team.

Top scorer Troy Deeney is firmly establishing himself as our number one striker more than capable of causing panic among opposition defences, as his one-man assault on the Huddersfield back four amply demonstrated.

Manny Smith and Clayton McDonald, finally paired after numerous injuries and suspensions, have started to look like a decent partnership with plenty of potential to improve. It would be a real pity to see it broken up.

The real star has been our very own Richard Taundry though. Richard has thrived since being given the extra responsibility of a role in the centre of midfield, and is becoming increasingly influential with every game. This was highlighted with the superb game-clinching finish to a move he had initiated himself against Hartlepool.

Taundry is one of a fairly large number of players who is out of contract in just a few days time.

Traditionally Walsall wait until the season has finished before offering players new contracts, so if a deal and an improved one at that isn't ready and waiting for Rich aafter the final whistle against of the last game on May 8, then we will have yet another indication that there is something seriously wrong with our club.

Reading between the lines of the recent quote from Chris Hutchings regarding 'quality not quantity', I suspect that there won't be too many others using up the precious ink in the Bescot biros though.

This feeling has been backed up by Rhys Weston's trial up at Motherwell this week.

The problem as I see it is that a few of the players likely to be shown the door such as Rhys and goalkeeper Clayton Ince are ones who we could do with keeping, whilst some of those still in contract are in need of a one-way ticket to Blue Squaresville.

I strongly suspect that we are once more destined to enter yet another close season round of 'Guess the Saddlers' and that this will do nothing to fill supporters - whether they are stayaways or not - with any optimism for 2010/11.

As a fan you always want your team to win as many matches and finish as high in the table as possible, but most of us know that the final league table will have little bearing on how confident we will feel about the future of our club.

We will get predictable platitudes about sub-3,500 crowds and how they will inhibit the manager's hand in attempting to strengthen the squad, usually from those who ignore the fact that this figure does not reflect those fans who have been driven away.

We hear a lot about being the 23rd best supported team in the third tier, but it would be interesting to see if anyone could actually do a bit of research and point out when was the last time this happened - if it has ever happened at all. This is not and should not be the norm for the club.

Ambition and hope, a sense of optimism, radical and creative thinking about getting people back through the turnstiles and some empathy regarding the issues that have lead to so much mistrust of the powers-that-be would all be a welcome change.

Begin to address these areas and there's a chance there'll be more football to discuss next season and our final league placing will have a far greater significance than it does now.

Fail to do so and I've a feeling there'll be even more talk of Pension Funds, Cyprus flags and plenty more protesting going on.