Upthesaddlers.com has received a phone call from Radio WM, asking for a comment on tomorrow’s breakfast programme.

They say that the club has said that they will be making a full press statement in the morning, but are NOT denying the truth of the reports.

Dramatic developments at Bescot this evening with the news Paul Merson has been sacked by Jeff Bonser - news that first emerged on this site’s message board before being confirmed by Sky Sports within the last hour.

Correspondent Magic Man Fan posted the news at 7.13 that Merson was in the Swan in Stonnall - and that Merson had told drinkers he had been sacked by the chairman at 5.30pm, and that Bonser was in the process of getting a new man in.

The information was then confirmed to other UptheSaddlers regulars via contacts.

At 8.10 Sky Sports News reported the departure as a news flash.

As of 9.05, the time of writing, the official site is still reporting on the main events at Bescot - the virtual trial available at the soccer academy, the man of the match text vote, and the Bank’s goal of the month…

Note to all UTS visitors: we are experiencing exceptional traffic levels so you may find the site slower than usual.

The Evening Mail is reporting that Walsall Chairman Jeff Bonser is backing under fire manager Paul Merson and refusing to bow to pressure from the fans to sack him.

Bonser is quoted as saying to the supporters who spent much of the 5-0 mauling at Brentford on Saturday chanting for Merson to go. “Please just get behind the team and help salvage this season”

“We’ve got a lot of genuine supporters who have like me supported the club for a long time, I would ask them to really pull together now”

“We all need to get behind Paul and the team, if you want to shout names, shout at me. Don’t get at Paul and the players, they are doing there best”

“I’m still immensely supportive of Paul. I know how hard he works and we need to pull together at the moment so that we can go forward again next year”

However, Merson has already said himself that he will resign if Walsall lose their next home game against Scunthorpe.

The anger of the fans is now likely to be turned on the Chairman as well as the Manager.