Walsall chairman Leigh Pomlett 'treading carefully' in search for investment

Pomlett has previously stated his desire to secure investment to 'sit alongside what I do and take us to the next level'.

He says there is no shortage of potential investors as well. Finding a suitable partner, however, is another matter.

He told the Express & Star about potential investment and, later down the line, selling the club: "There's no shortage of people wanting to invest in football clubs.

"Now, you can question their sanity, but there's no shortage. It's a question of having the right one.

"Plenty of people want to invest in football clubs, but you have to be very careful. You have to do a huge amount of due diligence.

"I could sell the football club very easily, and then regret it for the rest of my life.

"So, I think you've got to be very, very careful.

"I think we will attract new investment, my guess, within the next 12 months.

"We're in discussions, but the big unknown is what damage Covid will do to the markets, to banks and to football clubs.

"If the football club was valued at this before Covid, it's something different after Covid.

"It's very difficult and I ask people to appreciate that.

"But I've not changed direction in terms of reuniting with the freehold, getting us back into League One and finding new investors.

"Those are the three things I work on when I'm not watching us play."

Walsall continue to work on reuniting the club with the Banks's Stadium – the current arrangement seeing them pay rent to former owner Jeff Bonser.

On how the process is going and whether there is a specific time frame for sorting it out in mind, Pomlett said: "Stefan (Gamble, chief executive) and I are working on the freehold and we're making progress.

"Although, you make progress and you've got somewhere, and then Covid comes back.

"The banks get very, very nervous and investors get very, very nervous, so you take one step forward and another step back.

"All I can say is we're working very hard on it.

"My intention from the outset, when I walked in the door two and a half years ago, was to reunite the club with the freehold. And that intention is never going to go away.

"As I've said, though, Covid has spooked the markets and therefore, it's more difficult than it was before.

"We're working on it and looking at options and eventually, we will do it.

"It'd be foolish to put a time frame on it as we'll get rid of Omicron, and then God knows what will come next.

"But in the background, me and Stef are working on it, and we will find a conclusion to it.

"The timing is difficult because we don't know what the world is going to be like."

Pomlett, meanwhile, is 'reasonably confident' that something will be done with the rundown Saddlers Club, which irritates him every time he visits the stadium.

"It's part of a whole range of things we're looking at, in terms of investment into this football club. That's part of that investment we're looking at," he said.

"It irritates me every time I go to the stadium. I'll put an end to it.

"I want it to return to being the Saddlers Club. There are opportunities to turn it into something else.

"I'd like it to be the Saddlers Club. That's the direction we're heading in."

Pomlett added on possible outside investment: "If someone is going to invest in this club, I need to be satisfied it's the right person, irrespective of the fit and proper persons test.

"We've got to make sure I'm comfortable with it. And when I say that, I'm saying it from a fan's perspective.

"They need to be comfortable that whoever invests in the club is doing it for the right reasons.

"There is work going on. There is an appetite for investment in football clubs. But you've got to be very careful about it.

"I have lots of opportunities, but you've got to be very careful about it."