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.
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