Walsall season review: Where did all the hope go for the Saddlers?
A season that began with ambitions of promotion for Saddlers ended in mid-table mediocrity.
Hopes for a push at the top end of League Two dwindled quickly in the new year and cost boss Michael Flynn his job.
Here we take a look back at the rights and wrongs of a disappointing season.
Season’s successes?
If it can be seen as a success, Walsall stabilised their league position, again finishing 16th in League Two, the same as the previous season and three places above the 2020-21 season.
They lost 15 games out of the 46, compared to 20 last season and only a long run of draws after Christmas, and a chronic lack of goals stopped them from finishing further up the table.
That dearth of goals came after Christmas when Danny Johnson returned to parent club Mansfield Town and they failed to replicate the 15 in the league he had scored.
An FA Cup run to the fourth round, for the first time in seven years, was a definite success and gave the supporters something to get excited about, with an epic win at Stockport County in the third round a particular highlight. That brought them a fourth-round tie with Leicester City and a sell-out crowd at the Bescot Stadium, with the associated build-up, TV and radio coverage which can only have improved the profile of the club.
Failures
