# 2019–20 Walsall F.C. season

The 2019–20 season was Walsall's 132nd season in their existence and first back in League Two following the club's relegation in the 2018-19 season. Along with competing in League Two, the club participated in the FA Cup, League Cup and EFL Trophy.
The season covers the period from 1 July 2019 indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

## Pre-season

The Saddlers announced pre-season fixtures against Alfreton Town, Leamington, Nuneaton Borough, Notts County, Aston Villa and Tranmere Rovers.

## Competitions
### League Two
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | PPG |
| 8 | Port Vale | 37 | 14 | 15 | 8 | 50 | 44 | +6 | 57 | 1.54 |
| 9 | Bradford City | 37 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 44 | 40 | +4 | 54 | 1.46 |
| 10 | Forest Green Rovers | 36 | 13 | 10 | 13 | 43 | 40 | +3 | 49 | 1.36 |
| 11 | Salford City | 37 | 13 | 11 | 13 | 49 | 46 | +3 | 50 | 1.35 |
| 12 | Walsall | 36 | 13 | 8 | 15 | 40 | 49 | −9 | 47 | 1.31 |
| 13 | Crawley Town | 37 | 11 | 15 | 11 | 51 | 47 | +4 | 48 | 1.30 |
| 14 | Newport County | 36 | 12 | 10 | 14 | 32 | 39 | −7 | 46 | 1.28 |
| 15 | Grimsby Town | 37 | 12 | 11 | 14 | 45 | 51 | −6 | 47 | 1.27 |
| 16 | Cambridge United | 37 | 12 | 9 | 16 | 40 | 48 | −8 | 45 | 1.22 |

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 7 March 2020. Source: BBC

#### Results by matchday

| Matchday | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 |
| Ground | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | H | H |
| Result | W | D | L | D | L | L | D | L | W | W | W | L | L | L | L | L | L | W | D | W | D | D | W | L | W | W | L | W | L | L | L | W | D | W | D | W |
| Position | 9 | 6 | 15 | 16 | 19 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 20 | 16 | 14 | 15 | 19 | 19 | 19 | 21 | 22 | 21 | 22 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 16 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 13 | 14 | 15 |

#### Matches

On Thursday, 20 June 2019, the EFL League Two fixtures were revealed.

### FA Cup

The first round draw was made on 21 October 2019. The second round draw was made live on 11 November from Chichester City's stadium, Oaklands Park.

### EFL Cup

The first round draw was made on 20 June.

### EFL Trophy

On 9 July 2019, the pre-determined group stage draw was announced with Invited clubs to be drawn on 12 July 2019. The draw for the second round was made on 16 November 2019 live on Sky Sports. The third round draw was confirmed on 5 December 2019.
| Pos | Div | Teamvte | Pld | W | PW | PL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | L2 | Walsall | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | +7 | 7 | Advance to Round 2 |
| 2 | L1 | Coventry City | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 6 | Advance to Round 2 |
| 3 | L2 | Forest Green Rovers | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 8 | −5 | 5 | |
| 4 | ACA | Southampton U21 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 7 | −3 | 0 | |

## Transfers
### Transfers in

| Date from | Position | Name | From | Fee |
| 1 July 2019 | CF | Elijah Adebayo | Fulham | Free transfer |
| 1 July 2019 | CB | James Clarke | Bristol Rovers | Free transfer |
| 1 July 2019 | AM | James Hardy | AFC Fylde | Free transfer |
| 1 July 2019 | CM | Jack Kiersey | Everton | Free transfer |
| 1 July 2019 | CM | Stuart Sinclair | Bristol Rovers | Free transfer |
| 2 July 2019 | RB | Shay Facey | Northampton Town | Free transfer |
| 11 July 2019 | CM | Danny Guthrie | Free agent | Free transfer |
| 11 July 2019 | CB | Mat Sadler | Shrewsbury Town | Free transfer |
| 11 July 2019 | RW | Wes McDonald | Free agent | Free transfer |
| 26 July 2019 | DM | Gary Liddle | Carlisle United | Free transfer |
| 26 July 2019 | CB | Zak Jules | Macclesfield Town | Undisclosed |
| 6 August 2019 | CF | Caolan Lavery | Sheffield United | Free transfer |
| 16 January 2020 | LW | Jack Nolan | Reading | Undisclosed |

### Loans in

| Date from | Position | Name | From | Date until |
| 3 July 2019 | LB | Cameron Pring | Bristol City | 30 June 2020 |
| 8 July 2019 | GK | Jack Rose | Southampton | 30 June 2020 |
| 26 July 2019 | CF | Rory Holden | Bristol City | 30 June 2020 |
| 31 August 2019 | CF | Rory Gaffney | Salford City | 24 February 2020 |
| 21 January 2020 | CB | Nathan Sheron | Fleetwood Town | 30 June 2020 |

### Loans out

| Date from | Position | Name | To | Date until |
| 13 September 2019 | CF | Mitchel Candlin | Nuneaton Borough | 7 January 2020 |
| 10 October 2019 | CB | Tom Leak | Salisbury | November 2019 |
| 25 October 2019 | RB | Luke Little | Tamworth | 25 November 2019 |
| 29 November 2019 | CB | Tom Leak | Salisbury | March 2020 |
| 19 December 2019 | DM | Gary Liddle | Hartlepool United | 30 June 2020 |
| 13 February 2020 | MF | Joe Willis | Salisbury | March 2020 |

### Transfers out

| Date from | Position | Name | To | Fee |
| 1 July 2019 | CF | Andy Cook | Mansfield Town | Undisclosed |
| 1 July 2019 | RB | Nicky Devlin | Livingston | Free transfer |
| 1 July 2019 | GK | Chris Dunn | Maidenhead United | Released |
| 1 July 2019 | CM | Joe Edwards | Plymouth Argyle | Released |
| 1 July 2019 | CB | Jon Guthrie | Livingston | Released |
| 1 July 2019 | MF | Tobias Hayles-Docherty | Free agent | Released |
| 1 July 2019 | RM | Zeli Ismail | Bradford City | Released |
| 1 July 2019 | LB | Luke Leahy | Bristol Rovers | Released |
| 1 July 2019 | LW | Kieron Morris | Tranmere Rovers | Released |
| 1 July 2019 | AM | Omar Mussa | Free agent | Released |
| 1 July 2019 | DM | Isaiah Osbourne | Nuneaton Borough | Released |
| 1 July 2019 | FW | Cameron Peters | Bromsgrove Sporting | Released |
| 1 July 2019 | MF | Jordan Sangha | Evesham United | Released |
| 25 July 2019 | DM | George Dobson | Sunderland | Undisclosed |
| 1 August 2019 | CF | Morgan Ferrier | Tranmere Rovers | Undisclosed |
| 8 September 2019 | GK | Joe Slinn | Atherton Collieries | Free transfer |
| 1 January 2020 | RB | Luke Little | Tamworth | Free transfer |

## Player statistics
### Appearances and goals

    As of 28 May 2020
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | League Two | League Two | FA Cup | FA Cup | EFL Cup | EFL Cup | EFL Trophy | EFL Trophy |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | ENG | Liam Roberts | 39 | 0 | 32 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | ENG | Cameron Norman | 24 | 1 | 12+6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3+1 | 1 |
| 3 | DF | ENG | Cameron Pring | 24 | 0 | 20+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | ENG | Mat Sadler | 32 | 2 | 24+3 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | ENG | James Clarke | 32 | 3 | 27 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | ENG | Dan Scarr | 40 | 2 | 32+1 | 0 | 1+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| 7 | MF | ENG | Stuart Sinclair | 27 | 2 | 22+4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | IRL | Liam Kinsella | 40 | 1 | 28+3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
| 9 | FW | NIR | Caolan Lavery | 34 | 10 | 22+5 | 4 | 2+1 | 2 | 0+1 | 2 | 2+1 | 2 |
| 10 | FW | ENG | Josh Gordon | 40 | 12 | 26+8 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 11 | FW | ENG | Elijah Adebayo | 37 | 8 | 15+15 | 8 | 1+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2+2 | 0 |
| 13 | GK | ENG | Jack Rose | 6 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 14 | DF | ENG | Kory Roberts | 4 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 15 | FW | NIR | Rory Holden | 36 | 2 | 23+6 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 16 | MF | ENG | Danny Guthrie | 28 | 1 | 17+8 | 1 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 17 | MF | ENG | James Hardy | 16 | 1 | 2+9 | 1 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | ENG | Jack Kiersey | 3 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 19 | FW | ENG | Mitchel Candlin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | MF | ENG | Alfie Bates | 21 | 2 | 9+4 | 1 | 2+1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 |
| 21 | DF | IRL | Callum Cockerill-Mollett | 15 | 0 | 6+3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | ENG | Luke Little | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | ENG | Joe Foulkes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | DF | ENG | Tom Leak | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | DF | ENG | Shay Facey | 17 | 0 | 12+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 25 | MF | ENG | Wes McDonald | 35 | 7 | 21+7 | 5 | 1+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 2+2 | 2 |
| 26 | MF | ENG | Gary Liddle | 16 | 0 | 10+2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 27 | MF | ENG | Joe Willis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 28 | FW | ENG | Luke Pearce | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 | MF | ENG | Jack Nolan | 4 | 0 | 0+4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 | FW | IRL | Rory Gaffney | 22 | 1 | 11+4 | 1 | 2+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 |
| 31 | GK | ENG | Dominic Rogerson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | MF | ENG | Sam Perry | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 33 | DF | SCO | Zak Jules | 22 | 0 | 13+4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 34 | MF | ENG | Nathan Sheron | 7 | 0 | 6+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* Source: