Scott Dann: I owe Walsall FC for my success

Nov 9 2008 by Brian Halford, Sunday Mercury

SCOTT Dann revealed his debt of gratitude to Walsall - but has no doubts at all that when he departed the club last season, it was “the right time to go”.

Dann’s move to Coventry City, sealed at eight minutes to midnight on transfer deadline day last January, knocked the stuffing out of the Saddlers’ bid for promotion from League One.

When the central defender followed left-back Dan Fox down the road to the Ricoh Arena, Walsall supporters were dismayed.

The seeds were sown for the resignation of manager Richard Money, privately aghast at the board’s decision to cash in the player who was the biggest factor behind the team’s surprise promotion challenge. But, looking back, even the most partisan Saddlers supporter could not deny that, for Dann, a move up to the Championship was already due.

Ten months on, the Liverpool-born player has more than proved that, having graduated into the England Under-21s set up and been appointed the Sky Blues skipper.

“I think I have proved it was the right time to go,” Dann said. “Things have gone pretty well for me this year. I got into the England Under-21 squad and I think if I had stayed at Walsall, that might not have happened.

“Since coming to Coventry, I have become a better player and moved on to the next level. I was made club captain and that was a great honour.

‘‘It is a big achievement to be captain of any side and I am delighted with it. Now I just want to keep improving and see how far I can go.

“I am really enjoying it at Coventry and have settled at the club well but I am not getting carried away. I’m not that kind of person.

‘‘I don’t let anything get to me, whether it’s good or bad, I just keep a level head and work hard and try to perform the best I can in every game.

“It was the right time for me to leave Walsall but I owe the club and some of the people I worked with there a lot and will never forget that.”

Dann remains well aware that Walsall gave him his chance in professional football - and they smoothed the rough edges off a player who had his share of fitness and attitude problems as a youngster.

“I had Mick Halsall as a coach from when I was 16 and he kept my feet on the ground,” Dann said. “He was always on at me to do the right things and look after myself properly, on and off the field.

“Then, when I moved up to the first-team squad, I never really got a chance to play for the first year but things changed when Richard Money came in. He gave me a chance and I grabbed it with both hands and just thought to myself ‘I’m not going to let it go’. Richard Money and Mick Halsall were a big help to me and Mick Kearns, too,, who I stayed with.

‘‘When you move away from home at 16, you need someone to help you out. I moved in with Mick and his wife Elaine and that was the best thing for me.

“I never felt homesick once. They made me feel welcome and Mick was always on at me to keep doing this and keep doing that.

‘‘He has been there and done it in professional football and was always pointing me in the right direction and giving me good advice. Those are the things that you look back on when you have moved on. They got me to where I am.”