00:00Hi Sadler's fans, I visited Essington earlier today where I spoke to Matt Sadler ahead of Walsall's away trip to Gillingham on Saturday.
00:12And to start with team news, as Sadler revealed after the opening day victory against Swindon Town, Harrison Burke will be available for selection.
00:22Obviously missed that opening game with an ankle injury, which he suffered in the final pre-season game in a 3-0 win over Forest Green Rovers.
00:32Sadler said that he'd been back in training and will be in contention, which obviously presents him with a selection headache after Rico Brown's impressive form in pre-season.
00:44And, you know, quit himself really well on his lead debut for the club.
00:46But elsewhere, obviously, Brandon Comley will serve a one-match suspension following his red card against the Robins.
00:57And yeah, sort of a couple of other topics was Harry Williams, obviously out of contract and expected to miss the whole of the 2025-26 campaign
01:08after rupturing his Achilles in the League 2 playoff final against Wimbledon back in May.
01:15And he has been at the training ground continuing his rehabilitation, seen him on crutches a couple of times and had a conversation with him.
01:23And, you know, he's absolutely devastated with the way things have panned out.
01:27Ben Sadler mentioned in the fans forum last month that the club had offered him a contract.
01:32It's one in which suits the club.
01:35Nothing about it being signed yet.
01:38So I kind of asked Matt Sadler for an update on that situation.
01:43And, you know, he said that the club are trying to sort something out.
01:48His injury isn't a straight line.
01:49You know, there's points where he could be at the training ground every day.
01:52There's points where he could be away from the training ground for a couple of weeks.
01:55And, yeah, he just sort of said, you know, I want to say it out loud.
02:00These are kind of the quotes that he mentioned to me that the club want to support Harry.
02:06But they also want him to be here for the long term.
02:11And, you know, he said there's work going on in the background and he's hopeful that sort of an opportunity will sort itself out in the coming weeks.
02:19In terms of new signings, he said, you know, hopefully there could be a couple more through the door, but he's not looking to rush anything.
02:26He's happy with his squad.
02:27And, you know, I said in the podcast that it feels like he's done the bulk of his business now.
02:31And Sadler sort of echoed that really, but said, you know, if there are opportunities that come up, he will be hopefully looking to add a couple more.
02:40But he said if there is no business done, then, you know, he's happy with the options that he's got.
02:44And then moving on to the contract situation.
02:46Obviously, last year there was 13 players out of contract at the end of the season.
02:50And we've seen a fair few go, you know, looking at the start and line up in the win over Swindon.
02:57And only Jamie Jealous in that start in 11 started at Wembley in that playoff final.
03:03So, yeah, a summer of change at Walsall.
03:05And Walsall spoke, I mean, Ben Sadler spoke about it.
03:09Matt Sadler also mentioned it today in terms of the fact that they tried to get some contracts over the line in sort of October, November time last year.
03:17But Sadler said, you know, once it gets to September the 1st and Walsall kind of ironed out the fine details of the remainder of the transfer window,
03:25then, you know, they will be looking to sort of try and press ahead and get some contracts done early.
03:30And, yeah, I think that's kind of about it, to be honest.
03:34We spoke about, you know, he's pleased with the character the team showed in the win over Swindon.
03:41And, you know, when I asked him about his brutal reintroduction to life on the road with three away games coming up in the space of seven days,
03:49he said exciting times.
03:51So, yeah, that's pretty much it.
03:53Wrapped up from Matt Sadler's press conference.
03:55And, you know, there'll be plenty more coming out online on the Express and stuff.
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