Graydon support for Walsall protege Dean Keates

The 70-year-old will forever be remembered as one of the greatest managers in Saddlers history after he twice won promotion to what is now the Championship.

Keates also played a major part in that success with the midfielder a regular under Graydon's stewardship.

Now he is the one in the dugout after Walsall agreed a compensation package with Wrexham for him to become their new boss.

And while he has inherited a side in the thick of a relegation battle, Graydon believes his former player will keep the Saddlers in League One.

"I hadn't spoken to Dean for a while but I rang him around three weeks ago to say well done because I had been watching what he had done at Wrexham," he said.

"I was so pleased because he had really made a go of it at a non-league club and that is not easy.

"Then I saw he was Walsall's new manager and I was absolutely delighted.

"He has got a tough job on his hands. But he is intelligent and has a wonderful enthusiasm for the game.

"Because of that, I think he's going to be a success.

"He is a very hard working lad, a local lad, and he will give this everything he has got.

"He knows the amount of work that is required and what has to be done to improve the team."

Wrexham had registered a club record 20 clean sheets in the National League this season before Keates' departure.

And it's that work that most impressed Graydon.

"Things like that don't just happen," Walsall's former boss continued.

"When you are a manager in the lower leagues, you do a lot more work than those in the top flight.

"You don't have the same amount of staff, probably only one or two, so Dean will have done an awful lot of work getting that defence at Wrexham organised.

"Now I'm sure he will get Walsall's players together – whether they are a team of good players or not.

"He did it at Wrexham so I'm sure he'll do it at Walsall."