Exclusive: Don Goodman issues "tough" Walsall verdict ahead of 2025-26 League Two season | OneFootball

Don Goodman believes Walsall can contend for promotion again this season, depending on one key factor

There is no denying that the 2024-25 season was a tough one for Walsall from January onwards.

Back at the start of 2025, the Saddlers were flying high with a substantial lead over the rest of the pack, but the wheels fell off, and all they were able to salvage was a fourth-placed finish and a spot in the play-offs.

They made it to the showpiece final at Wembley but, crushingly, they were edged out in the capital by AFC Wimbledon, meaning that it is another season in League Two for the Midlands outfit.

Ahead of the 2025-26 season, we asked Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman whether he feels they’ll be promotion contenders once more this season, or whether their experience last term will have taken too much out of them.

Speaking exclusively to Football League World, Goodman said: “There's no doubt about it, they're going to be hurting, even now, Walsall, having A: blown such a lead and B: losing a play-off final.

“It's tough. It's going to be tough for them to get over.

“You throw into the mix, some of the key players that they've lost or are going to lose, Taylor Allen springs to mind, as does Liam Gordon.

“So the answer to the question is - it all depends on the recruitment.

“It depends on which players they lose and which players they can replace them with, and how they are mentally.

“Hopefully, they'll be able to go again.”

Walsall have big questions to answer after mid-season collapse following Nathan Lowe's exit

In Walsall’s equation for the upcoming campaign, it is difficult to remove the input of Nathan Lowe last term from the equation.

The Saddlers signed the striker from Stoke City on a season-long loan last year, and the agreement could not have gone much better, with the teenager hitting 15 goals in 22 fourth-tier appearances before being recalled by his parent club in January.

It won’t have escaped anyone’s notice that this is around the same time that their season fell apart, serving as a stark reminder, were it necessary, that Lowe’s impact will need replacing this summer if they’re going to be up there again next term.

That need is further evidenced by the fact that Lowe ended the season as the club’s top scorer, despite only making 22 appearances, and the club’s third-top scorer, Allen, has already departed.

Lowe himself is unlikely to be available to Walsall, or any League Two club, for that matter, on account of his blistering form for the side last term, so they will need to look for a new face.

As Goodman states, the Saddlers’ chances rest heavily on recruitment.

If they can get that recruitment right, and put their incredibly painful drop off last term behind them, then there’s no reason they can’t be up there again- but that is easier said than done.

First things first, as Goodman says, is ensuring they have a good season of recruitment to put them on the best possible footing for the task at hand.