Head to Head: Walsall

By Paul Holmes
August 6 2002

With the season approaching fast we have given the fans of Division 1 teams the chance to let us know their feelings on the coming season. Up first is Walsall fan Dave Hawkes.

Who are you playing on Saturday(10th)?

Ipswich Town, at home, live on Sky.

What result are you expecting?

Depends, we have a pretty new side whilst Ipswich could go straight back up, or do a Coventry, so a draw would be a decent start.

Who should we look out for in your team this season?

David Zdrilic, scored 8 goals in one game for Australia, depends how well he adapts to the English game, hopefully he will link well with Jorge Leitao and Steve Corica. Matt Carbon did well last season, and might attract interest from the bigger teams.

Any youngsters expected to break through?

Definatley. We have a squad of 23, 7 of which are young players. Gary Birch must make a breakthrough soon, and he could be a decent little striker, as could Karl Hawley. Dani Rodrigues, signed from Southampton, is still young and could make an impact.

Are you happy with your manager?

Yes. Saved us from relegation last season and has assembled a decent looking squad, in the wake of the ITV Bust crisis.

Will he do a good enough job, in your opinion?

Depends. If he can continue to motivate the team like he did in March and April last year then will we stay up. Only has a small squad, many of which are new to the club and recovering from lay-offs. Just lost his assistant, which may hamper him.

Who are you looking forward to be playing and why?

Obviously we love to play the Wolves, but Ipswich will be interesting, big names and a desire to go back up. Brighton and Bobby Zamora are also tempting. Leicester and Derby have decent grounds and are pretty local too, as well as recently relegated.

Finally, where will you finish?

Hopefully, we will stay up. We really shouldn't go down. We don't fear any clubs out there. Our highest ever league finish is 14th in this division (division two as it was years ago) so to beat that would be a massive improvement.

A huge thanks to Dave Hawkes over at the Walsall site