It seems that Paul Merson lost the last of the goodwill he had with the fans after the poor performance at Swindon in the week. One can only assume now that he has lost the players too, as this afternoon’s pathetic performance at Brentford must surely end his tenure at Bescot.

With 44 players used and all of the promises of promotion broken, this was a pathetic shambles of a performance, the sort which led to his resignation, rejected at the time, after the Colchester game last season.

If he doesn’t resign after this, then the Chairman must act and hand him his P45.

For the record, the final score was 5 - 0 and we hardly had an attack, never mind a shot.

Upthesaddlers.com has no hesitation in calling for a change of Manager, before we end up in the bottom tier of the League.

wfc-2uk has been unable to make contact from the ground, so this is a summary of the WM point of view.

We did start 4 4 2, but with Atieno on the right wing and James up front. Whatever Merson’s intentions with this, it didn’t work, as Brentford went two up within ten minutes.

The rest of the half was completely dominated by Brentford, who could have had more goals, with Oakes, at fault for the first goal, from Rankine, making one great save.

The Saddlers have had no possesion in midfield and have created nothing. Brentford right winger Tabb is having a field day as first Fox, then Smith who move to full back when Fox had to take over from the injured Westwood, got nowhere near him.

Unless we put things right at half time, this could get embarrassing.

Walsall will line up

Oakes, Pead, Gerrard, Westwood, Fox, James, Leary, Keates, Smith, Atieno, Barrowman.

Subs: Nicholls, Bradley, Osborn, Wright and Tilt.

So, out of the 16 completely go Rene Gilmartin, Mads Timm and James Constable, no sign of Ishmel Demontagnac and Roper is still injured. Bradley is, presumably, the only defensive cover, so let’s hope nothing happens to Gerrard or Westwood. Atieno gets a start after being told he wasn’t good enough a couple of weeks ago.

We have just received details of a “Ron Jukes” evening. Ron, for the younger readers, was the man who scouted many of Walsall’s greatest players of the past couple of decades and is a legend amongst older Saddlers.

It is a ‘Pre-book launch’ to be held on Wednesday 15th February at 8.pm to announce Rons book which has been written in conjunction with Walsall FC historian Geoff Allman.

Entry is £3 on the door which includes a drink and ‘nibbles’. Both Ron and Geoff will be doing a talk and taking questions and a selection of the players Ron discovered have been invited.

It will be held at Rushall Parish Church Hall, Leigh Road, Walsall. (Accessed via either the Mellish Road or Harpur Road)

England Honours For Bishop

Meanwhile, one ex Saddler not discovered by Ron Jukes has had an England call up, for the “England National Game” (non league) squad for a European Trphy game at Cambridge on the same night, the 15th February. Congratulations to Andy.

Well, off we go to Griffin Park tomorrow before we finally get to see what Bescot looks like again the week after. The question is, will the Manager still be in charge by then, as he has himself told the Express and Star that he doesn’t know whether he’ll still be in a job come the Scunthorpe game?

Walsall even have problems for tomorrow. Westwood is doubtful with a groin strain picked up on Tuesday night and we still don’t know if Roper will be fit, although the club are expecting he might have recovered from his injury. Scott Dann has recovered from his illness and is available, but defensive options do look very limited.

In midfield, Merson and Wrack are still out, of course, and Devlin is rated as only 50/50, but old “new” boy Dean Keates will be raring to go.

Up front, all of our admittedly limited resources are available, so expect Barrowman to play some part.

I’d expect a 4 5 1, along the lines of:

Oakes, Pead, Gerrard, Roper or Dann or Westwood, Fox, Wright or James, Leary, Smith, Demontagnac or Nicholls, James or Barrowman or Constable.

The bench is likely to be Keates, Barrowman or Constable, Gilmartin, Osborn (or Dann, if Westwood makes it), Standing or Nicholls, if (Ishy plays).

Really, the line up is almost anyone’s guess, though, as all the iffs and buts above show, as with a lack of defensive cover and the embarrassment of riches in central midfield it means that, quite frankly, no one knows what our best line up is.

What of Brentford?

Well, they’ve lost DJ Harvey (yes, I know it’s Campbell really) to Blues, but let’s face it, he only came on against us at home as a sub and they’d been giving us enough trouble without him.

Match report: http://upthesaddlers.com/wp/archives/2005/09/28/walsall-vs-brentford-report/

Injury victims Darren Prattley and Alex Rhodes are now back fully fit for the Bees and Manager Martin Allen has said that it’s like getting two new players in for them Their only injuries are long term ones to defender Oli Skulason and midfielder Junior Lewis.

With Campbell having left for pastures new, their main danger will probably be the “big man, little man” partnership of the dangerous Isiah Rankin and one time Saddlers target Lloyd Owusu. Let’s hope Roper is fit to help deal with the 6 foot 2 inch, 14 stone Owusu. It may, of course, be even more problematical if they decide to play new signing from Posh, the 6 feet 1 inch Callum Willock as well!

Predictions? Well, Brentford are sixth in the table at the moment (and, of course, our target if we were to reach the play offs!) with 48 points (13 more than us), with a game in hand. Their home record isn’t that brilliant, however, considering their position, being only very slightly better than ours:

Played 15 Won 7 Drawn 5 Lost 3 Goals For 22 Goals Against 22 Points 26

After the frankly poor performance on Tuesday night, this looks like an absolutely nailed on home banker. However, this is Walsall and we will probably go and get a most improbable away win. Mind you, if we do lose, this is one of the teams I don’t mind losing to, as they are, sensibly, run by their supporters trust.

Paul Merson has given an interview with the Official web site in which he says he quite understands the frustration the fans are feeling over his tenure as manager.

He said: “We were simply not good enough at Swindon. The two biggest attributes in football are heart and enthusiasm and the players did not show of this on Tuesday evening.

I blame myself for that. The fans were right to criticise me; they’re not silly, they can see things and I totally understand and accept their frustration. They want to see passion and hard work but this has been lacking all too often.

The players that we have here now are good enough to get us away from danger and we are working hard to put things right. I accept that players can’t play well every week, but in our case too many of them seem to have an off-day at the same time.

The most interesting part of the interview was the last statement: “I have had a long meeting with the Chairman and know exactly what is expected of me in these forthcoming games, so we will all pull together and look to move away from danger.”

There are many ways this might be interpreted, but the most likely is that he has been told that we must pull away from the relegation zone quickly or else. Dare I say it, but this sounds like the dreaded “vote of confidence” from the Chairman.

We shouldn’t really be encouraging fans to drink in the present circumstances, should we? Still, here goes:-

Here we go again, the grass will be two feet long at Bescot by now.

Rising like a mirage at the end of the joyless desert of five successive away games is Griffin Park, a stadium named after a brewery, with a pub at each of its corners, the legendary Brentford Four.

It’s best to start with the Royal Oak on New Road (to the right of the home end as you approach from the away end or to the left from Brentford station). This Courage House is the smallest of the four and tends not to let anyone in after about 2pm and is a mighty fine hostelry, although a little small for a pre-match pub and somewhat home orientated.

Moving round the ground anti-clockwise from the away end you have the more spacious oddly shaped “Griffin” which is a Fullers house boasting several real ales, and then heading back up the other side of the ground to Ealing Road the Princess Royal that also serves Fullers. The latter was closed last year having been bought by the Bees and refurbished but is now thankfully back in business.

Finally back on New Road there is the pick of the bunch for away fans, that being the New Inn. This is another that treats its patrons to an excellent pint of Directors, but importantly the staff are superb, the sarnies gargantuan, and it’s the kind of pub that sends one off to a freezing open terrace temporarily numb with contentment, and a feeling that maybe today will be Walsall’s day.

Then the match starts.

The New Inn also does B and B for those who fall totally in love with the place, and with a great juke-box, pool-table, and outlandishly flirtatious barmaids it’s on my list of retirement homes.

There are some pubs on Brentford High St. None of which are necessary in the context of a trip to Griffin Park, although for anyone arriving at Brentford station the Kings Arms is adjacent if you need a piddle and a pint of London Pride, although on my last visit there seemed little distinction between the two.

It looks as if Walsall will have to manage with what we have up front for the rest of the season.

The Express and Star is reporting today that Paul Merson has dropped his interest in signing former Cameroon International Patrick Suffo.

The ex Sheffield United and Coventry player (amongst many other clubs), did not turn up for training yesterday.