George Bennett sat down with Jonny Drury to discuss Douglas James-Taylor's loan move to Drogheda United.
The forward has moved to the Irish side - which was taken over by the Trivela Group, which own the Saddlers, last season.
It follows on from the Saddlers signing Evan Weir from the club and then loaning him back.
Jonny and George discuss the move and whether future moves for Walsall players could be on the cards.
The forward has moved to the Irish side - which was taken over by the Trivela Group, which own the Saddlers, last season.
It follows on from the Saddlers signing Evan Weir from the club and then loaning him back.
Jonny and George discuss the move and whether future moves for Walsall players could be on the cards.
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00:00 George, been a few goings on down at the Poundland Beskott Stadium over the summer. I'm going
00:13 to talk just on this video about a sort of a bit of a strange move, one we maybe weren't
00:17 expecting. Douglas James Taylor has gone to Drogheda United in Ireland, obviously the
00:21 club that the Travella group bought last season. Has that move surprised you a little bit?
00:31 Is it a case of just sort of where can we move him on to? Oh, I know we've got a club
00:35 up the road. What's your thoughts around that move?
00:39 Yeah, I think it's an interesting one. I mean, when Douglas James Taylor was offered the
00:47 new contract, it very much felt like this is a make or break year for him. Now it's
00:52 been two seasons, an initial one on loan from Stoke and then he signed permanently, five
00:58 goals across all competitions and two in the league last season. So, you know, there's
01:05 been glimpses of his quality, but we've not seen it on a consistent basis. I mean, before
01:11 we kind of get onto the move itself, those glimpses came in a really short period of
01:16 time really. I mean, where he started the game on New Year's Day against Grimsby Town
01:22 and a fantastic goal which prompted a comeback and then he set up the next goal which put
01:29 Walsall ahead before they went on that 6-1 moulding on New Year's Day and a fantastic
01:34 run down the left-hand side and a great finish for his goal. He was then rewarded with another
01:39 start the following week against Stockport, scored again in a 3-1 defeat. And then he
01:45 started the next home game against Sutton and was subbed off at half-time and hasn't
01:51 started since in the league. So, you know, it's been a difficult two seasons for him
01:57 and clearly Matt Sadler sees something in him to have offered him another year. And
02:02 I mean, it was a strange one, but with the fact that, you know, Drogheda are under the
02:09 Traveller umbrella and they've talked about collaborations and it worked in both ways.
02:14 This is clearly an example of it working both ways.
02:17 George, in terms of that partnership you just mentioned before, are we expecting it to just
02:24 be for young players? Obviously Evan Weir went back there after signing last season.
02:28 Or are we going to see, I know Douglas James Taylor is still quite young, but are you expecting
02:33 more senior fringe players to be sent out for game time if they aren't playing for Matt
02:38 Sadler's team?
02:40 Well, yeah, I mean, Traveller have previously spoken for the moment that they took over
02:47 Drogheda, that there was going to be room for collaborations both ways and Douglas James
02:51 Taylor is clearly an example of it working both ways. And I mean, Evan Weir, I spoke
02:59 to Ben Boycott just in the post-season and he spoke about Evan Weir being out of contract
03:05 at Drogheda and there were clubs in Ireland looking at him, but his dream was to always
03:10 go to England. Obviously they could offer that opportunity with Walsall, but they wanted
03:16 to kind of continue his development at Drogheda and give them a player who was clearly going
03:20 to be beneficial for him for the next six months before he joined up with Walsall in
03:24 pre-season. So that's one sign of collaboration. And obviously Douglas James Taylor is a very
03:29 different example. You know, we previously mentioned the fact that there's been two seasons
03:34 now at Walsall and this is an opportunity for him to get a fresh start really. Away
03:41 from Walsall, wasn't getting the game time that he would have wanted towards the end
03:45 of the campaign or to be honest throughout his two years at the club. So this is a great
03:49 opportunity for him now to kind of have a fresh chapter and try and revive his first
03:56 team aspirations at Walsall essentially. But yeah, I think it's an interesting one because
04:02 it may be something that we see in the future now that those fringe players that maybe aren't
04:07 quite going to be guaranteed the game time at Walsall, then they have an opportunity
04:10 to prove themselves elsewhere and still be on Walsall's books. So there's an opportunity
04:14 for them to prove themselves and work their way back in. So yeah, definitely, definitely
04:18 the benefit there of Drogheda being under Trevella's ownership.