Walsall squad breakup was always 'inevitable' in 2016 - James O'Connor

Burton Albion had pipped Walsall to automatic promotion in League One on the final day of the 2015-16 season, before Jon Whitney's charges bowed out in the play-off semi-finals. 

Walsall were beaten 6-1 over two legs by Barnsley, and the core of the squad vacated Bescot that summer to mark the end of a cycle. 

No fewer than 12 players left the club, including key men such as Paul Downing, Romaine Sawyers, Tom Bradshaw and Rico Henry. 

For O'Connor, it was expected.

'The downside of not going up'

"You have a successful season in the fact that you finish high in the league and get a lot of plaudits, but then ultimately don't go up. You're inevitably going to lose players," O'Connor reflected. 

"And that's what happened and that was a credit to the team because a lot of those players needed to move on and develop their careers. 

"That's great and we knew that was the downside of not going up in the play-offs."

O'Connor, who eventually left in 2017, was among those who decided to stay alongside the likes of Neil Etheridge and Adam Chambers. 

The arrivals of Erhun Oztumer and Joe Edwards offered fresh hope, although the club record signing of Andreas Makris proved underwhelming.

The Saddlers finished 14th in League One at the end of the following campaign and would not record a top half finish again, before eventually succumbing to relegation in 2019. 

Staying on at Walsall

And O'Connor admits it was tough to deal with the transition phase, but felt the older heads in the dressing room gave it every chance to be a success.

"For the players that did stay on, it would've been nice to have kept a few more together if possible," he added. 

"But players like myself, Adam Chambers and Neil Etheridge - we were the older, more experienced pros. 

"I think we really pulled together and we had a lot of meetings where we said: 'Right, that's gone now, it's about the next group and they deserve our full respect'. 

"For that next season, we did OK. I don't think the group was as strong but we worked for each other and helped integrate other players coming into the group. 

"We gave it every chance to make the transition work from a players; point of view."