Walsall Manager Kevan Broadhurst has revealed that he had a big advantage over most of his rivals for the job after Paul Merson’s sacking - insider knowledge.

Being out of the game and wanting to “keep in touch”, Broadhurst had asked Merson if he could attend Walsall training sessions when the former manager was still here.

“When Paul Merson was here, he and Mick Halsall [head of youth] used to let me come and watch the players train.

“I was out of the game and they let me come down here because I still wanted to be around football.

“So that gave me a little bit of a head start.”

Braodhurst feels that this insight has enabled him to “hit the ground running” and his change to a more intensive training regime does show that he has quickly identified one of the major faults in the squad.