Lee Grant backs himself to end Walsall’s eight-year promotion wait

Lee Grant believes he can be the man to lead Walsall towards their ultimate goal of promotion.

Grant spoke to the media for the first time this afternoon (May 21), a week after being unveiled as Walsall’s new head coach.

After the club battled for promotion but disappointingly missed out over the past two seasons - notably fading away during the recent campaign - the 43-year-old has backed himself to be the man to end the Saddlers’ eight-year wait for promotion to League One.

“I believe it is the short answer,” he told the Express & Star.

“If I didn’t feel like we had an opportunity for success this year, I think I would have made a different decision.

“Given the time, perhaps, other opportunities arise, but for me this felt naturally really, really exciting, I have to say.

“The opportunity for success is here. We know there is a lot of work that is going to have to go in towards achieving that.

“But if I didn’t believe that goal was achievable, I would have made a different decision.

“We are all aligned in that fact - and that is the exciting bit. We have a lot of work to do to make sure that we can achieve it.”

Grant arrives after an eight-month spell in charge of Huddersfield Town. He was dismissed with the Terriers sitting sixth in League One, although they ultimately dropped to ninth.

The Walsall job marks the former Manchester United goalkeeper’s second role as a head coach. He previously worked as a coach at Ipswich Town, where he helped Kieran McKenna guide the club to back-to-back promotions and a place in the Premier League.

He added: “I am really proud, really excited. Incredibly honoured to be given the opportunity, it is a wonderful football club.

“I have been here a short time and can already tell there are lots of good people inside working hard to push the club forward.

“There has been change over the last few months in particular. A lot of good people doing good work before me as well, which is one of the things that encouraged me to be here in the first place.

“The club, under the Trivela Group, has taken good steps forward. From a playing perspective alone, what the group has done over the past couple of years has been encouraging and gives us a platform to hopefully build on and take that next step.”