The domestic season will conclude next weekend when the last promotion places from Coca-Cola Leagues One and Two are filled.
As far as the West Midlands is concerned, however, a dismal campaign has long since been over. In the words of Wolverhampton Wanderers chief executive Jez Moxey, what a 'complete disaster' it was. Ged Scott reports...
Who would possibly have thought, when they toasted the New Year at the Bescot Stadium, that the 2005-06 season would end as disastrously as it did?
A 2-0 home win over Blackpool earlier that day had sent Walsall soaring to 11th in the table. The League One playoffs were clearly in sight, the mood seemed bright. And the only blot on the horizon was the confirmation, following weeks of speculation, that the Saddlers were about to lose their prize asset.
That New Year's Eve victory did indeed prove to be Matty Fryatt's last game for the club. And when Jorge Leit?o was also allowed to return home to Portugal, making his farewell appearance just two days later, it triggered a second-half of the season landslide
Walsall lost not only their leading marksman, 14-goal Fryatt, but the next top scorer, too, in seven-goal Leitao. With no adequate replacement bought, no wonder the Saddlers struggled. Fryatt scored more in the first half of the season on his own than the entire team managed in their 21 league games in the second part of the campaign.
Two wins in their last 21 league games tells its own story. Not to mention a combined total of five managers - two of them in a 'caretaker' capacity only, admittedly.
And, once again, it is the poor, long suffering Saddlers fans who are left picking up the tab of failure.
But could it really have been predicted just how badly things at Bescot would turn following Fryatt's sale to Leicester City?
If Paul Merson is to be believed, then it was all down to money - or at least a lack of it. Which makes it all the more ironic that he should have been replaced come the end of the season by Money - or to be precise, new manager Richard Money. But does it really all come down simply to money?
What was more relevant perhaps was the way a side who proved they definitely could perform - the two games against Nottingham Forest being the most glaring examples - simply did not do what they were capable of on a consistent enough basis.
That must be down to bad management, which is why Merson has caught most of the flak. But a lack of pride in their performance from too many players could also be explained by a collective lack of motivation.
Perhaps the root cause was simply lack of belief once it had become clear, by Fryatt's own admission that he wanted to improve himself, that their star player would be going.
There was also the loss of another key man, which should not be taken lightly. The statistics show that Merson the player was missed more than Merson the manager.
Largely down to injury, Walsall's then player-manager only picked himself to start six league games, but the Saddlers did not lose any of them, earning 12 points out of a possible 18.
But Merson's own decline was down simply to anno domini catching up with him. And, since leaving the hot seat in early February, followed by Kevan Broadhurst's initially hopeful two-month stay in office, his exit has been followed by more of those players not fit to lace his boots.
A continued pruning has left a squad of just 15 players, now all the loan men have gone back. Not one of them is a senior goalkeeper.
This is quite a decline in numbers, considering that Walsall used a staggering 48 players over the season.
There are signs of hope. Anthony Gerrard may not be quite the same success story as his cousin Steven, but once all the votes for Fryatt had been discounted, he was still good enough to be Saddlers' player of the season.
What happens next depends on what money comes to manager Money. Walsall owner Jeff Bonser has said his side will be one of the top six wage-payers in next term's League Two and his latest manager will be equipped with "sufficient funds to mount a promotion drive".
But, given that promise came in the same 1,500-word review of Walsall's season from their chairman that omitted to even mention Broadhurst's name, are these the words of a man to be trusted?
Maybe it will get even worse before it gets better?
