Paul Merson finally came out in his true colours last night, with what can only be called an extraordinary attack on Walsall fans.

He came out with lines such as:

“Walsall have spent all their years, bar a handful, in the third tier and that’s where their natural position is”.

In case he hadn’t noticed, we were in the second tier when he took over and he PROMISED automatic promotion in his first season and the play offs in his second. Who was he deluding, himself or the fans?

“Some fans are deluding themselves in expecting, demanding more than that, the sort of fans who think they know everything and yet know absolutely nothing”.

Criticising people for believing the lies you told them then, eh Paul? It was YOU who said we were too good for the Division.

“I’ve never known supporters like it at Walsall. If it had not been for the five idiots behind the goal at Brentford who couldn’t wait to get out their ‘Merson Out’ banners, I would have had another week in the job and I think there’s a good chance I would not have got the sack”.

I thought that it might have had more to do with the five goals we shipped than the fans behind the goal, Paul, not to mention the overall spineless performance that day.

“I made mistakes, of course I did. I got it wrong tactically away from home, for example. I got the sack after five away games in a row against decent teams. But at home? At home, I would have backed us against anyone and who knows how things might have turned out with that extra week”.

I always thought the season consisted of 23 home games and 23 away games and never realised you were allowed to pick and choose which results counted, Paul. We have been relegated because of our record over the whole season, the vast majority of which you were in charge.

“I was told that the club was fearing a riot if they kept me in the job for another week. A riot? They don’t have enough people for a riot at Bescot”.

Petty insults, even.

“If Walsall had to play Barnsley at Bescott on the last day of the season and needed to win to stay up, you would get 8,000 there. But where are they the rest of the time?”

I might believe you cared about this club if you actually knew how to spell the name of the ground.

“But without those crowds they are always going to be fighting an uphill battle. Without those crowds, a Matty Fryatt will always have to be sold.
He’s scored goals in the Championship so how many would he have got for us. Goalscorers are the lifeblood of any team - if Arsenal sell Thierry Henry tomorrow they won’t win the Champions League. Simple as that”.

I couldn’t agree more! So who was the man who valued Fryatt in December at 250,000, as he didn’t have enough pace? Who told the Chairman we would only get 350,000 at most for him? I’ll spell it out: P. . A . . U . .L . . M . . E . . R . .S . . O . . N.

“But without more than 3,000 or 4,000 coming through the Bescot turnstiles, club such as Walsall will always have to survive by producing and then selling players. That’s the blunt truth”.

Too true. It’s just a pity that two years of you in charge reduced gates from 6,000, then isn’t it? It might be also prudent to remember what two decent managers, in the shape of Chris Nicholl and Ray Graydon, managed on those sorts of gates that you are complaining about. But, then again, they knew what they were doing, didn’t they and certainly didn’t waste the budget on 50 players in one season.

It’s about time that Mr Merson stopped trying to justify the two years he spent ruining a perfectly good little football club with his mis-management and admitted the huge contribution he’s made to its demise. But that would reflect badly on his new job of being on the tele, telling his betters how to do their jobs, wouldn’t it?