Vinny Samways will remain a Saddler until the end of the season after sorting out his differences with manager Colin Lee. “The situation has been amicably resolved. Vinny and I have had long discussions over the past week. The upshot of those talks is that he will return to play for the club until the end of the season. He has apologised to me for his actions and would also like to do the same to the fans,” said Lee. Samways has consistently been one of the club’s best players this season and was sorely missed as the Saddlers were thumped 6-1 against Coventry.
Another of the club’s top performers - defender Paul Ritchie - has impressed Scotland coach Bertie Vogts and is set for a call up for the forthcoming friendly with Wales. Vogts said “I have been looking to strengthen my defence but did not know anything about Ritchie’s qualifications or career. No-one told me about him and it wasn’t until his name was mentioned a few weeks ago that I even knew he had scored for Scotland against the Czech Republic in 1999. I can’t understand how or why he was forgotten maybe it was because he was out injured for so long. But I immediately arranged to watch him in action against West Brom a fortnight ago and was very impressed. I will be calling him into the squad for the game with Wales and he has a great chance of being involved. He is strong, quick and very passionate and I like that in my players.” Ritchie has nine Scottish caps, the last of which came against Holland in 2000.
Finally, Colin Lee has hit out at Hearts after it appeared the Saddlers were losing the race to sign striker Gary Wales. “What’s preventing this happening at the moment is that we were told we would have to pay half his wages if we took him on. But he came down here on trial, people got wind of it, other clubs showed an interest and our gentlemen’s agreement seems no longer to be a gentlemen’s agreement. I find that very, very unacceptable because if you agree something then it’s done but unfortunately you come up against these things in football.” said Lee.