And so it ends!

All About Walsall
1

The worst season that virtually all of us can remember is finally & thankfully over! With predictably a boring goalless draw that sums up the season, the clubs lack of ambition and our continued decline.

The only positive that I can find from this dismal season is that we have gotten through the pandemic and remain a solvent football club. Rather than dwell and dissect the season, I now hope and expect a decent summer off the pitch, that sees change and vision, that generates hope, that supports realistic expectation.

A run at the playoffs, whether we get in them or not, should be our minimum expectation next season; although I fear another lower mid table/relegation battle unless there is wholesale change and reasonable investment made.

This starts with the board, goes through the DoF/Coach, the players, the ticket office, the club shop, the atmosphere, the toilets, the catering etc… Being frank I just want to believe in the club, my club again!

I want to see goals, I want us to be hard to beat, I want to go into games expecting us to have a chance of winning, not apparently setting up for another draw, we had twenty of those this season. Blimey.

To achieve this we need change, real change and that doesn’t start in July, scraping round for players it starts NOW! Leigh you’ve have had long enough to think about this now, now is the time to make the difference, to pick this club of ours up from the bottom and drive it forward. We just want to see a glimpse of hope, ambition, professionalism and progress, deliver on this and we’ll back you and to be clear no-one is expecting miracles. We just want to enjoy being Walsall fans again.

But this has start NOW! Up the Saddlers! See you in August :crossed_fingers:

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2

Dutton out. Today.

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Couldn’t agree more that it has to start now,today no messing around we don’t have that long before we start again.The sooner we release the dead wood and the manager the sooner we can implement the changes needed the last thing I want is delay and taking an age to sort this out.

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If we are to make sweeping changes to the team and management it needs to be done sooner rather than later , the days of taking the dregs when every other team has had it’s pick must end and must end now if you want to maintain and even grow our fan base .

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What the club do in the next few days/weeks/months will define us for a long time, i just hope they get it right this time.

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His 20 games says it all, bottom of the league in his tenure.
There is no reason to delay, if Pomlett wants attendances over 2k next season we need a change of manager next week as a starting point.
The rebuild if they are serious should start on Monday. I accept that Pomlett cannot do anything about the Covid impact, over and above that his tenure so far has taken us backwards.

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We will sack Dutton the day before season tickets go on sale in the vein hope it’ll make some kind of difference to how many we sell , It’s too late for that in my opinion, record low Gates next season, I honestly think even a top 3 finish we’d struggle to get over 4,500 Gates next season people are fed up plus everybody is out of the habit of going, if we are as bad as this season I think we’ll be getting sub 3000 gates absolutely soil destroying for everyone involved

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It is the replacement that counts, that needs to happen quickly.

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The only time in my life that I have watched every minute of every League game, and I know that I never will again (assuming no future pandemics). It was just so bitterly disappointing that this coincided with such a miserable, awful season. It will be odd going back to ifollow radio commentary ( I should have cancelled my annual subscription for this season to the audio but a bit late for that now) but I am looking forward to the likes of going to Bradford, Rochdale and Oldham again… and Harrogate for the first time.plus an annual trip to WS1. I just hope that we can serve up something worth watching because apart from the odd aberration like Tranmere away, this season has been truly dire.

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Well,the season started with a little bit of hope (not much) and it’s ended like a damp firework. I know a lot of people on here are hoping for big changes for next season but realistically even if the add-on from Brentford comes, IF they get through the playoffs I still can’t see there being any great spending spree. But I say to those who insist on top to toe changes at the club show me your workings, show me realistically where the money is coming from,no guesses just facts.

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According to Dutton’s interview on WM he still doesn’t know but is sure he’ll be told in the next week or two latest. Terrible.
I only hope that they’re busy talking to their number one target and will bin Dutton off once the new man has agreed to come in.

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Sid I’m not expecting miracles, just sensible changes and investments. Change at manager, change on the board, investment in key positions on the pitch, a club shop that’s open and ticketing that’s easy.

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Fans have been falling off for years, nothing has been done to attract youngsters or new blood. I’ve said it time and again. I also said people wouldn’t realise until it was far too late. The new chairman’s arrival was a missed chance of a lifetime, and what has happened since will have done irreparable damage. Bar a miraculous upturn in capabilities from the very same failing staff from the previous regime who inexplicably remain in executive roles, and have significantly contributed to dragging this club into this position in the first place, my forecasts for the future are not positive.

I have seen absolutely nothing from the new chairman to suggest there are the necessary capabilities and ruthlessness to turn this debacle around - covid is not an excuse - there was a full season before this came into play. Even the treatment of Dutton, irrespective of his performance, has not been good enough.

I will not be getting on anyone’s back or applying any further pressure. I hope to be proved very, very wrong. Eating humble pie over these predictions would be the sweetest humble pie ever, but I just don’t see it :frowning:

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A long time ago, when we took Sheffield Wednesday to penalties in the first round of the League Cup, I optimistically forecast meeting them again next season. Wednesday fulfilled their promise; sadly, we failed.

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I’ve never wanted a season to end ever in over 50 years of following Saddlers till this awful campaign. Never known us so toothless in attack. Got to hope for better times ahead.

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16

I agree with some of your points, but that one is untrue. “Free” season tickets as an example

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It didn’t work though mate. Did they monitor the effectiveness?

Kids and young adults don’t want to be tied down to a season-long commitment - at first anyway. Simply that system doesn’t work when attracting new blood - and this is the problem, they don’t seem to monitor or review initiatives that are clearly failing.

That particular offer targets such a small demographic of supporter that it is never going to add substantial numbers on to our gates. We need critical thinking not rolling out 20 year old ideas.

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It’s a fair point, but I think the club admitted that not many of these were continuing to buy season tickets when they reached 18.

I don’t think it is just a problem at Walsall, attracting young fans that will become life long fans is more challenging these days. I loved it from the off, I just wanted to go with my Dad and be like my Dad. The alternative was staying at home with my Mom with not a lot to do. Kids would rather stay at home and play their X-Box these days and can watch football virtually any day of the week on TV.

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Modern kids will not sign up for a season long commitment, simple as that.

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I never got the logic behind making youngsters pay for the season ticket and then reimbursing them for each match they attended.

If you’re happy for this demographic to come for free, why add an upfront cost that will undoubtedly deter some people from taking the offer up? Just seemed to make a good idea needlessly complex.

It will be very interesting to see how many fans return when the stadium is open once more.

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