Lee Grant sees "positive" early signs from new-look Walsall

Lee Grant feels that the “early signs” with his new Walsall squad have been “positive” during the first fortnight of pre-season training.

Walsall have bedded in five new signings to the squad, as they gear up for their pre-season opener at non-league Leamington on Saturday.

Andrew Dallas, Lewis Simper and Sven Sprangler had been signed before the squad reported for pre-season training last week and were soon joined by former Crewe Alexandra defender James Connolly.

Coventry City loanee Isaac Moore became the latest summer recruit on Tuesday, after previous loan spells with Forest Green Rovers and Solihull Moors in the National League last term.

Grant has been pleased with the Saddlers’ early business and feels the team spirit is blossoming in the early stages of his reign.

Grant pleased with “positive” early signs

“I’ve been really pleased with the work that we’ve done. There’s been a lot of hard work going on behind-the-scenes to unearth and discover the players that we think can be a benefit to the squad,” he told the club.

“From a technical perspective and to help the team achieve its goals, but also what is going to improve the culture and environment around this club day-to-day?

“That’s been one of the standout things for me in terms of how those new guys have settled in.

“It’s also a credit to the boys that we’ve retained. They seem to be close, working hard together and that spirit looks to be developing already.

“Early signs are positive in that. A long way to go for sure, but certainly when you talk about those five news signings, we’ve added some character.”

Walsall will also host Aston Villa on July 21 and Notts County on August 1 - while travelling to AFC Telford United on July 25.

Grant reveals behind-closed-doors friendly

But Grant has also revealed that the squad played a 60-minute behind-closed-doors friendly against Birmingham City under-21s last week.

He added: “We fielded two teams. It was an under-21s fixture, which suited us in terms of where we were at because we were five or six days into this environment.

“We had three or four academy players dropped into our group and that helped us make up the two teams of 11.

“And we played half an hour each with both teams. The academy fulfilled the last 30 minutes themselves and it was a really good exercise with lots of positive outcomes.

“We scored a really good goal and lots of the pictures that we’d worked on throughout the week came out.”