Julian Gray's future plans are on ice

Julian Gray today insisted he has put his future plans on ice to focus on Walsall's relegation battle.

The in-form winger's contract expires at the end of the season but the Saddlers' survival fight is the only thing on his mind.

Captain Darren Byfield, Matt Richards and Clayton McDonald are just some of the stars who join Gray in playing for their Walsall careers.

He said: "It's not something I'm even thinking about. I'm just concentrating on keeping the club in this division - that's the most important thing right now. We need to keep Walsall in League One.

"If you do well as a squad and individually then the club will speak about it with you when the time comes.

"It's not the right time to be speaking about contracts because we just have to work hard and keep the club in the league."

Traditionally the Saddlers wait until the end of the season to enter contract talks, but broke ranks when they tied down Manny Smith and Troy Deeney early during 2009 and 2010.

But they are set to wait until the end this term before offering new deals with their League One future in the balance as they sit third from bottom.

Gray has been a key figure in their fight against the drop since Dean Smith's appointment after an indifferent campaign under ex-boss Chris Hutchings.

And the 31-year-old wants to forget the past and focus on the 17 games which will decide Walsall's fate.

He said: "We need to go forward so we can't look back about what was going on. It's all about the here and now.

"We're trying to move forward and get out of the position we're in. It doesn't matter what's happened in the past.

"Come the end of the season no-one is going to remember where we were as long as we stayed up."