The Saddlers Annual Review Part One

Walsall blogger Mark Jones brings you Part One of his annual review of 12 months following the Saddlers' adventures up and down the country.

Nearly 12 months ago, 2011 began with most Walsall fans thinking about the inevitability of a dayout in Morecambe.

Twelve months on and that trip might still be a possibility, but it's fair to say that the last year has had more than a few twists and turns and some memorable moments.

In January, the month can be divided into three parts. The first three days started it off, when we lost dismally to Notts County and Peterborough to herald the downfall of boss Chris Hutchings.

Then came the immediate post-Hutchings era, when performances picked up and a pride in the shirt seemed to return, before the last three days when we all basked in the glory of that stunning 6-1 against Bristol Rovers.

That month, first we were certs for an embarrassing bottom of the table finish, then we were still going down but at least you felt there might be a bit of a fight.

By the time Rovers came around - when they could have gone 10 points clear of us, lest we forget - there was a feeling of maybe, just maybe.

If January was the month when a chink of light suddenly appeared, then by the end of February we were halfway to recreating Blackpool Illuminations.

A win at Carlisle put us within touching distance of 20^th place, we won the massive six pointer against Dagenham & Redbridge and new manager Dean Smith was crowned 'the Ginger Mourinho' for the first time.

Then Plymouth's misfortune gave us a bit of a lift, after their 10 point deduction. Some moaners seem to think this was the only reason we stayed up but, obviously, it wasn't.

We had to ensure we were in pole position to be able to take advantage and nobody can say for certain how Argyle would have fared if they hadn't gone into administration.

By March, we knew the impossible wasn't just a dream. A cup-tie like win over Southampton kicked off the month, then there were two great points at Swindon and Yeovil.

Soon after came an astonishing 25 minute turnaround in the 5-2 win over Hartlepool, before we finished off with arguably our best footballing performance of the year against Milton Keynes Dons.

Clearly better than Gabriel Batistuta, the immensely talented Emanuel Ledesma was a fantastic addition to our squad. But in fairness to Dean Smith, he made pretty good use of the additional resources made available to him.

On loan came Matt Gill, Jordan Cook, Tom Williams, who all made very useful contributions, Marc Laird was solid enough and even Jason Price had his moments.

Something else changed too, the atmosphere at Stadium MK was tremendous and I haven't enjoyed an away-day as much as Swindon probably since our title win at the same ground in 2007.

We believed again and fans wanted to be part of it. To tie in with the prevailing mood this month, the landlord also put the freehold up for sale, giving everyone a tantalising glimpse of what might be.

Nothing's happened yet, but these fingers are still crossed.

To describe the penultimate month of the season, April, as tense would be a slight understatement.

There were some setbacks – Plymouth away, giveaways against Brentford, Ledesma's costly sending off and the last minute choker of an equaliser at Oldham.

However, we combined this with some real character to keep the points ticking over.

The euphoric relief as Julian Gray smashed home the clincher against Charlton - and always play well against them, don't we? - to keep our noses in front going into the last day was truly a moment to savour.

In my opinion, 'Deano' had a huge effect on the squad he inherited, Gray and Jon Macken were unrecognisable from the first half of the season, Jimmy Walker and Andy Butler were immense and the younger players responded to the challenge magnificently.

The last game of the season it was one game, one defeat, that's what we all dreamed of before the clash with Southampton – for the Daggers anyway.

They did the business, or rather the Posh did, and the total transformation of the season was complete.

I don't really need to go into the details of the events at St Mary's, everyone has their own memory but, suffice to say, it was a phenomenal day which we will all remember for a long time.

Come June, players went, the rumour mill went into overdrive about new additions to the squad and potential new landlords and, as usual, none of it came true.

But with the Greatest Escape still fresh in the mind the summer was pretty good and any Saddler travelling to Morecambe was doing it for pleasure only - if you know what I mean.