In what was widely accepted as Walsall’s longest-running transfer saga, Anthony Gerrard is off to Cardiff, after agreeing personal terms and passing a medical.

Unsurprisingly, there’s no details of how much Cardiff’s offer was, although describing it as “just south of an undisclosed fee” is probably accurate.

Gerrard joined Paul Merson’s Walsall from Everton, after failing to cut the mustard at the top grade, signing in the Summer of 2005 along with Dan Fox. Including his loan spell he turned out for the Saddlers 172 times, netting 7 goals in the process and establishing himself in the heart of the defence.

He never quite recovered from feeling left behind when Scott Dann and Fox went to Coventry, and had been transfer listed for 12 months, since a bid from Southampton was rejected last Summer. Knowing this, the club’s had plenty of time to manage their expectations, establish a fair value and source a replacement. Knowing Walsall, none of this has been done.

There’s now 37 days till our first competitive match, with no firm signs of any signings beyond Wolves crock Lewis Gobern trialling with us. Whether this means Chris Hutchings is playing his cards close to his chest or has no cards to play with is moot. Increasingly, the signs are that our competitive budget (copyright Roy Whalley) is not so competitive after all. The money from Gerrard’s sale may be just what we need.

The club have issued a statement on the OS, saying that a written bid of £200,000 for Anthony Gerrard has been turned down. The bid was from Scunthorpe, but did not meet our valuation.

The sting in the tail is that the statement goes on to say that the player is attracting a lot of interest elsewhere. It seems that, far from expecting an immediate arrival, we may be getting an immediate departure.

Straight from the internet, more old guff about the club that never sleeps in the close season…

Preseason Starts Thursday
In a bold and innovative move, the Saddlers start preseason team training without a team. The UTS Friendly Crew from Wednesday night might want to wash their kit and turn up at Essington in case they’re needed to make up the numbers for a five-a-side.

Alternatively, those senior squad members who’re signed up might want to pop down to Goals on Wednesday night and reacquaint themselves with what a football looks like, and make up the numbers for a five-a-side.

New matchday routine
The club have announced that Mike Day will introduce a new era of matchday entertainment, interviewing players past and present, hosting quizzes and guiding autograph hunters at Bescot.

We think this is a great move, one which should see fans arriving a little earlier to meet their favourites and enjoy a pint and a pie (when available). It’s good to see the club give the fans the time of Day for a change.

Player supports Rotherham instead
Ian Breckin, former Notts Forest star, has turned down a move to Bescot, opting to go North instead of uprooting his lifestyle. Whilst it’s fair to say he could have done a job for us, we’re sure there’s plenty more opportunities and we’re glad Hutch hasn’t had to go Breckin the bank to land him.

Express and Star change headline: shock!
Gasps of amazement were heard across the planet as internet users logged in to the E&S transfer rumours page to view the now-familiar “Walsall – nothing to report” comment. Instead, they were greeted with “No news for Saddlers today”.

It’s fantastic that the Stir has seen fit to personalise it’s coverage of Walsall. Now all it has to do is find the news.

That’s about it for the moment. Remember – we’ll (probably not) be first with the transfer news. Will Billy put pen to paper? Is the Banks’s’s’s kitchen up to good Italian food, and can they find a reliable groundnut supplier? All might be revealed soon.

Meantime, discuss it all on the messageboard, where your message may be locked randomly according to the prevailing mod mood

As there’s been no news, nobody spotted that the round-up skipped betwen 6 and 8, so here’s the missing filler – it’s absolutely guaranteed to be chock-full of all the non-events we’ve missed so far.

Sansara for India?
It looks like the Indian FA fancy Sansara to solve the leftback issues which have caused them so many problems in the past, most recently in the UK in 2001 when they were dumped 2-0 by Walsall.

On the face of it that’s a great endorsement for young Netan, but it could be that India are taking a leaf out of the Franchise book, and signing a player from a team that’s beaten them.

We wish Sansara the best in whatever decision he makes, and trust the Norman Tebbitt effect will have no influence on the outcome.

As an aside, how embarrassing is the E&S “Netan’s Passage To India” headline? UTS thinks that the following, less patronising, options could be better:
“Virtual Soccer Khabbademy”
“Aloo Goalbi!”
“Some Mothers Do ‘Ave Em”

Express & Star in transfer rumour shock!
The Excrete and Shait has finally found a journalist whose access to the internet hasn’t been curtailed through visiting too many bongo sites. Through this office junior they’ve discovered that UTS has been talking about Ian Breckin for a few days and reported it as news.

Carry on, Dingle-lovers; you only have to ask and we’ll send you a daily update of site news so you can carry on collecting your salaries for doing nothing.

Budget woes
In an incredible feat of journalistic intelligence, the Brummie Mail has decided that a newsworthy story is that Chris Hutchings is working with the smallest budget of his managerial career. Amazing – his budget at Walsall, in League One, is smaller than the budget he had at Wigan or Bradford, both in the Premier League during Chris’s time with them.

Imagine that!

That’s all for now, folks.

It has to be said, the situation is starting to get a little worrying.

Of course, the majority of transfer deals at our level tend to happen post 30th June, when contracts expire, but there has been precious little sign of activity so far this closed season at the Banks’s.

With the departure of Michael Ricketts and with Sofiane Zaaboub still to sign, there is a distinct lack of creativity in the team. There has been a lot of concentration on whether the youngsters we have up front will be able to score the goals we will need, but there is also a major problem with how we will even create the chances for them to put away.

The only player we seem to be linked with who could supply some of that creativity is a 37 year old Italian!

Meanwhile, there are also rumours abounding that Hutchings is talking to 33 year old ex Forest central defender Ian Breckin, who he worked with at Wigan. While some experience at the back would be most welcome, there will be plenty of competition for Breckin’s signature and we do know what the likely outcome is if the Saddlers end up in a bidding war with just about anyone.

Lets’ hope for some good news soon, as, otherwise, it’s difficult to see the Hutchings revolution doing much else but fail at the first hurdle.

UptheSaddlers is pleased to announce today an advertising deal with Physiotherapy First Limited which sees the Hednesford firm gain a 12-month presence on the UTS home page, which receives 2,500 visits a day.

Physiotheraphy First offers a wide range of treatments for a broad range of conditions, including arthritic complaints, back pain, whiplash, and sports injuries. So anybody reading UptheSaddlers who needs treatment, please support our new sponsor!

Appointments are available weekdays from 4.30pm to 9pm, and on Saturdays from 8am to 11am. Visit the Physiotherapy First website for more details.

The annual rumour-mill has thrown up some surprises this year, notably Nuno Valente and Benito Carbone.

Closer to the truth, perhaps, are stories surrounding ex-players:

Darren Byfield is now out of contract, old enough for a recall, and has a hot missus. He’s also been a favourite with the fans since scoring the Millenium winner against Reading.

Perennial rumour subject Jimmy Walker is 36 in July and clubless. Would he be prepared to be third choice at Walsall though?

Junior is another oft-mentioned name. It was his birthday only a couple of days ago, and he’s now 33 too. The main problem here is a contract with FC Copenhagen which runs for another 12 months. Still, we’re sure his agent can sort him out.

With the excitement of the fixtures coming out we’ve almost forgotten to mention the other great event of June 17, namely that it’s Uncle Jeff’s 64th birthday.

Happy birthday Mr. Bonser!

Walsall will start the 2009 campaign away at Brighton, giving everyone the opportunity of a great seaside weekend to set us up for the rest of the season.

We’ll follow the long trip South with visits from Southend and dirty Leeds. After that there’s some of the makeweights from last year’s Championship so we’d better hope the team gels together fast, and, as Roy Whalley points out, is competitive.

Bring it on!

Nothing ever happens in the close season, so we thought we’d better document it…

The Taxman Cometh
League clubs have voted to approve a new rule for the coming season. If you fall behind in payments to Her Madge’s Revenue, you’ll be subject to a transfer embargo.

Pardon me for spotting the obvious, but with the transfer window only open mid-season, it’ll be pretty easy to splurge your war chest and speculate, then wait till May before settling up with the government. Still, better than nothing, and raises awareness I suppose.

Dann Windfall as Brum Pay Up
AS Dann moves from the Sky Blues to the, er, Blues, the Saddlers will get a slice of the cash from their sell-on clause. 18 months service to Coventry will have seen this drop back a few % but we’ll certainly have a nice little cheque coming our way.

Just in time to pay off the tax man so we can make some free transfers, eh?

Roberts Recovery Rumour
News is reaching UTS that Stephen Roberts may well be recovering from a severe case of knee-knack, compounded by bad back. No doubt he’ll be nearing fine by the pre-Season, and ready by Christmas, so he’s able to make his case for a new contract.

Good luck in recovering, Stephen.

We’ll bring you the transfer news as soon as we hear some. That’s all for now – Mrs. Exile wants the kitchen tidied.