James O'Connor reveals how Walsall saved him from his 'lowest point'
"My confidence was on the floor and my self belief was quite low."
James O'Connor needed a new home and he found one in the form of Dean Smith and Walsall in the summer of 2014.
The former Aston Villa academy product had enjoyed six successful seasons with Doncaster Rovers, but saw his career dwindle at Derby County due to injuries.
Walsall decided to take a gamble on him and that faith did not go unnoticed by O'Connor.
"I joined Walsall on the back of dropping down a league. I'd come from Derby but I was in a really low place at the time," he recalled.
"I'd been injured for 11 months, I'd been out for a season. I was struggling and I came into the right environment at Walsall. I just found a new home.
"It wasn't about the money at the time, I knew I needed to be around good people in a good environment. I got that with Dean, Rich and the supporters took to me."
O'Connor had made his professional debut alongside Smith while on loan at Port Vale a decade earlier and the young Saddlers boss had been an early impression on O'Connor.
"Dean was at the end of his career and I was at the start, but even back then you could see he was a top bloke," he revealed.
"Good values, good morals. So it always stuck with me and as soon as I got the call when I was at Derby, I knew that it was the right place for me to go to be around those types of people.
Another key factor behind his decision to join Walsall was that Richard O'Kelly was Smith's right-hand man.
O'Kelly had coached O'Connor at Bournemouth and Doncaster, and the defender was only too willing to reunite with his former mentor.
"With Rich, as a person, a proper brilliant human being that you trust and would do anything for you," he remarked.
"He'll do anything for anyone who shows the same respect that he shows to people.
"Honestly one of the best people I've met in football. I don't want to do him a disservice by playing down how he saw the game and things like that because his on-field stuff and his match analysis were brilliant as well."
O'Connor spent the next three seasons with Walsall, remaining at the club amid a mass exodus in 2016 following their failure to achieve promotion from League One.
Nine years on, O'Connor is still held in high regard by the Bescot faithful and feels he found a second footballing home at WS1.
"I had some great memories at Walsall," he concluded.
"Different things spring to mind but scoring a goal against the champions at the time, nearly getting promoted. I loved my time at Walsall, I really did. I made some good friends there for life, some really good people there, and I think that's why I'm held in good esteem by people around the club.
"And I'm proud of that. When I went into coaching, I always said it's important for players to have a home at the end of their career.
"I'm fortunate I've got two in Doncaster and Walsall."
