Probably because we’ve given opposition teams that opportunity regularly throughout the season and conceded goals.
The amount of times our defenders just head it to the edge of the box and tee it up for opposition players to take potshots is infuriating.
3 Likes
I genuinely don’t get it either. I believe the stats show we are the 2nd least successful club in the country i.e. the least amount of promotions in the last 20 years. Whenever I see another of the ‘unfortunates’ have a good season then I am happy for their fans as we know what it is like.
I also felt like there was some sort of camaraderie amongst lower league fans but the hate, bile and gloating that has emanated from the majority of our competitors has put them in a whole different light. Yes we screwed it up, yes we are the biggest bottle jobs ever, yes our manager is clueless but as fans we don’t deserve what happened.
I have actually removed myself from all football related social media as I am sick of reading the abuse from fans of other clubs and whilst I know its not representative of their entire fanbases I wish them nothing but abject failure in the future. I guess everything is very raw at the moment but I cannot wait for some of them to come unstuck, especially Bradford City, I have a new found loathing for that scum hole of a club.
7 Likes
Partway through the long journey back up north and plenty of time to mull over the events of yesterday. Can’t say I’m really too disappointed - the result is pretty much what I feared was coming - and my overriding emotion is one of relief. Relief that the heartache is over, relief that I can forget about football for a few weeks, relief that our season has finally been put out of its misery.
I’d lost hope during the depths of our poor spell - I though the writing was on the wall when we were dropping points against Accrington, Gillingham, Swindon etc. As much as I tried to suppress it, hope did come when we were going into injury time winning at Crewe and in third place - but a deflected, offside goal 6 minutes into injury time stamped on that. The Chesterfield performances raised a glimmer of hope again - but like many I was concerned as to exactly what Walsall would turn up at Wembley - and as we all saw, it was the limp, timid, fearful Walsall that came out.
I don’t think the players ever stopped putting the effort in, but they changed once Port Vale took the lead - I think you could see the fear on their eyes that they’d blown it and their race was run. Well done for motivating them for Chesterfield - but from the position we were in, the second half of the season has been simply inexcusable. The non-performances we put in against some mediocre teams should have seen the owners step in and do something, but like our strike force, they simply lacked the ruthlessness needed when it was time to act.
The only thing that comes out of this sorry mess with any scrap of dignity are the Walsall fans themselves - we should all be mightily proud of our performance this year - we’ve showed up, we’ve put a shift in, and we’ve done everything we could be expected to do - and more, so much more.
Sadler, Boycott, Pom-frite and the blokes running round on the pitch aren’t Walsall FC - you and me are, our children are, our families are, our now-passed and long gone parents and grandparents who introduced us to this are - we are Walsall FC, and we’ll keep going, and we’ll come again, and we’ll carry these memories in our hearts because that’s what we do. WE ARE WALSALL.
33 Likes
Love it. A very 21st Century curse.
4 Likes
Agree with almost every word here to be fair.
I’d be surprised if we can get any of Asiimwe, Chang or Simkin back next year honestly, but would take all 3. I won’t even mention Hall in that because there’s absolutely no chance now, he’s a level (or even 2) above and probably can’t wait to get back to playing with better players.
Yes, we’m Worsul, aye we?!! WE are the club, not the owners, coaches or the players, many who will now pss off. I think Sadler has to take some of the blame for what has happened, but he did get the team to over-achieve in getting to the top of the league: we haven’t got the best players in this division, it’s not true! Just look at the strikers we had available for yesterday’s game: Matt (crocked), Amantchi as raw as red meat, Flush, more bookings than goals, and a half-fit DJ (was Harrison available? No matter if he was!) No wonder we don’t score many goals. At the start of the season we had Lowe and Reyes Cleary - don’t try telling me, Ben Sadler, that we came out of the January transfer window stronger - that’s where we missed out on promotion!
Not just from poor clearances, I feel like I’ve watched teams work a short corner/FK to the edge of the box and create good chances in like 90% of games this year and we’ve conceded several goals from it too, yet absolutely zero change in our setup to stop it all year long. Really is infuriating.
2 Likes
Its because we do not have a good coach. It is that simple. A good coach weeds out mistakes week after week so that as the season progresses you stop making them. That does not happen with Sadler. We dont block crosses (e.g. Liam Gordon first goal v Barrow away). We leave the back post exposed (e.g. Port Vale at home). We do not clear our lines (every week). We do not block shots. We leave the edge of the box exposed (e.g. today).
UP THE SADDLERS
1 Like
Yep. A few months back when one of our fans made a remark about the Bradford fire he was rightly condemned by our supporters.
Yet you’ve now got fans of other clubs going past banter and giving out abuse and no comment from their fellow fans. One of our female supporters was getting bullied and called a prostitute by a gang of scummy Fail fans just last week.
2 Likes
A fine post.
1 Like
Several weeks ago I dreamt we lost 2-0 vs Wimbledon in the 1st leg of the playoff semis and the 2nd at Bescot was an increasingly miserable affair as we never looked like scoring and the game dribbled away until we were finally put out of our misery by the final whistle.
Everything but the exact score and location.
That’s exactly where I am.
It’s finally over. The hope and the pain over the long weeks and indeed months is ended. At least we know.
For me it’s not the playoff final no-show, I actually began laughing when big Dave spaffed the late shot, it reminded me of England v Iceland somehow. It’s not even the late Bradford goal - it’s the failure to win any of the gimme on paper 3 pointers. I knew we were done after Accrington.
5 Likes
Good to meet you on the train yesterday Hullsaddler. At least you now know there’s two peeved off Sadlers fans in Hull today. What an earth was that performance yesterday?
2 Likes
Your last point. Hyppolite , Wembley May 25. Omari Patrick, Tranmere August 24. Very similar goals which indicates to me that the coaching team have learned very little.
There’s a reason Sadler doesn’t stamp out mistakes such as teams repeatedly scoring from poorly closed down situations, its because Sadler thinks everything is alright. This is the problem with this happy clappy bullshit, it doesn’t problem solve, because to problem solve you’ve got to admit that there are problems in the first place, Sadler doesn’t do that. Its all just “we move on”…“we go again” “We stick together” blah blah.
That’s got nothing to do with football. Football is about tactics, its about enacting a plan, usually - pretty much forever - one that strikes a balance between defence and attack. Hoofing the ball to Matt, because he’s a “great bloke” might work if the opposition were in on it and let him score for free because well, he’s a “great bloke”.
Sadler runs the team like an under 7’s jolly up at the local scouts.
He’s got zero tactical awareness, and almost no desire to change things that arn’t working unless he’s absolutely forced into it by circumstances, and he’s been EXACTLY the same for 2 years. Anyone that thinks he’s going to learn, change or improve is delusional.
26 Likes
And here’s me thinking your last name was actually Fish.
Absolutely nailed it, what a superb post that is.
4 Likes
Liam Gordon says Walsall need ‘reset’ after League Two play-off final defeat - BBC Sport
… heard the word used before ?
1 Like
The further north I get (I’m now passing Stirling and the scenery is very calming), the more yesterday and the rest of the season, starts to fall into place.
To the non-supporter I’m not sure they ever really understand how it affects us. Mrs Orkney_saddler - and other ‘outsiders’ - know that we lost and that therefore I’m not happy, but what they’ll never truly grasp is that I wasn’t happy to even go to Wembley - and how I saw this as a symbol of failure rather than something to celebrate.
They never understand when they hear me say that I’m finished with WFC, that I’m not going back to them ever again - and then I do, and they’ll never grasp why my whole weekend can turn on a match result at 4:45 on a Saturday!
I don’t think non-supporters realises that following a football team isn’t easy - or isn’t always entertaining or fun, nor why we would keep doing it when it fails to make us happy! I don’t think they understand that we’re in a one-sided love affair with someone who doesn’t care about us, who takes us for granted, and who doesn’t really ever give us what we want or deserve!
My Dad understood all of this - because he felt the same way. We didn’t ever acknowledge that, or talk about it, but we both knew, and like many men, it was the only time we were ever openly emotional with each other. He passed away last year so I don’t have that channel any more, and this season has been especially bittersweet because there would have been SO much to talk about! We lived a long way apart, but he went to the match and I watched it online, and then we’d call each other for an in-depth debrief!
I enjoyed the day out yesterday - but I missed him terribly - as I knew I would. Even so, he always feels closet when I’m watching Walsall, so I suppose I’ll carry on putting up with them for a while longer!
Anyway, the sun’s out up here, and the countryside looks lovely, and I only have two hours on the train and 7 hours on the ferry before I can get home, put a brave face on and tell my wife I’m over it!
54 Likes