Its Monday morning and many are excited and ready for the new era as the managerial process begins again.
However some question whether the manager merry go round at Walsall is the main problem. The answer is both yes and no.
For the past four years, the club who pride themselves on having a plan have practically made it up as they went along just hoping something will stick like it did with Dean Smith.
The owner and board are still stuck in the late 90’s.
They continue trying to get through each season on a shoestring budget, hoping that Ray Graydon is still lurking the corridors of the Banks’s ready to clinch promotion ahead of Fulham and Man City….Football has moved on so much since 1998 but yet we are still stuck there and clubs who are a lot more creative, ambitious and football minded are passing us by.
We are not competing anymore, we are merely surviving.
From a footballing point of view the demise of Paul Merson, Kevan Broadhurst, Jimmy Mullen and Sean O’Driscoll were hard to stomach but not as hard as the demise of Jon Whitney and even more so Dean Keates.
I completely understand that we must live within our means and simply throwing money at it wont be the answer but we cannot continue to ruin reputations of stalwart Walsall players and staff along the way whilst those who are paid to make the bigger decisions are still exempt from criticism.
Messrs Dan Mole, Stefan Gamble, Roy Whalley, Nigel Bond, Richard Tisdale, Leigh Pomlett, Robert Bonser, Peter Gilman and Jeff Bonser – you need to have a good hard look at yourselves and at the role that you are failing in. Its clear to see the managers are the scapegoats but you are the real problem of this club.
The stadium is falling to pieces a simple lick of paint will not suffice. The club is on the decline and the customers are not happy. We could write forever of how us as fans are being neglected but for now its about the football side of the business.
For the new manager – go back to basics. Have the vigorous interview process that churned out the likes of Chris Nicholl, Ray Graydon and more recently Richard Money.
We have five games to save our season however we don’t need to rush this appointment – an appointment which is critical for the future of the club and what direction we go from here.
Yes we will replace Keates and yes the new manager will give us a lift for a short period but in two years time we will be at operation reset once more and the cycle will start all over again, whilst clubs like Salford and Fylde will probably pass us along the way.
Until we have new ownership at this football club nothing will change and the slow decline of Walsall FC is finally unravelling before our very eyes.
