Not Jamie Patterson ( a senior moment on my behalf ) - I mean players perhaps like Gary Birch, who look like they might go on to really good things, but don’t develop past a lower leagues / semi-professional level.
At 18 / 19 you just don’t know what you’re getting - certainly not at our level - so offering 3 year contracts, just in case they come good, just wouldn’t work.
Yes it doesn’t work as a principal full stop. That’s how Bankruptcy can occur, a disproportionate amount of fixed costs that you cannot then reduce.
I think this is where we are really starting to lose it as a football club, and some of the opinions above, although valid as they are opinions - really need putting in perspective.
The Adebeyo and Jules deals were as good as Walsall FC could reasonably do in the circumstances. Both their careers were going nowhere when they signed for us. Mention Jules to a Vale or Chesterfield fan and they will laugh at you if you suggest he could be a decent player.
Ade was likely on the brink of NL football before he signed for us having had a couple of poor loan spells in L2, the latter of which was ended because he couldn’t even turn up for training on time. Walsall took a chance on them, and they’ve moved on for decent money.
In the recent past we’ve improved the likes of Sawyers, Etheridge, Oztumer, etc all of whom contributed football wise but not financially. Again, other club’s players that we took on and gave a career boost to, and them a boost to us.
Personally I have absolutely no problem with either scenario, of which you could put Bradshaw in the first. Its what comes next that lets the club down. When we sold Dann and Fox we apologetically signed a couple of loan players and the season went tits up, and here we are all those years later doing the exact same thing but now at the level below. IF we got 350k for Ade, or whatever, why arn’t we going to the best centre-forward in the NL, or to a smaller club in L2 and bidding 150k for their prized asset?? Just for the sake of an example someone like Kabongo Tshimanga that we’ve previously been linked with. That’s what the Peterborough’s of this world do. Likewise why do we never sign an experienced centre-forward? There are players out there like Chris Porter at Crewe that you know what you are going to get when you sign them. Jamille Matt’s another who left Newport this summer and joined FGR on a 1 year deal. Whenever we’ve been successful at this level we’ve always had experienced “do a job” forwards in the squad. Its part of a proven recipe for success that we have long since abandoned for no reason whatsoever. These types of players if carefully blended with our own prospects under a manager that knows what he’s doing would far more likely lead to success than what we do.
As referred to above as the “Crewe model”. But we don’t, because there isn’t a “Walsall model” anymore. We just lurch and react, and our various generations of board members carp and woeify about the fans when all we actually want is some positive leadership, an identity, some vaguely tangible whiff of progress, and a bit of entertainment.
Surely not too much to ask??
Well said I got laughed at for mentioning Chris Porter in the past but he scores goals that’s all that matters in a striker for me.
I’ve listened to what he actually said again and he must have used the term sustainability three or four times as justification for the sales. I accept that he did not specifically say that we had to sell to survive, but the undercurrent is that we had to sell based on the financial projections for the upcoming months. Perhaps our situation isn’t as bad as I think he made it sound, but I’m not convinced.
Lifted from the minutes of the last Working Party Meeting:
SG reiterated that, as a Board, we had to act responsibly as to not put the football club’s future under any threat and that those sales enabled us to plan strategically for the future given a loss of revenue in other areas of the football club.
Did Dutton give a reason for Vincent being left out yet
I was disappointed to not see him in the XI
I still can’t get my head around why he wasn’t in the Squad
It’s all got a sense of the Whitney’s for me.
Trying to make left field tactical choices and decisions to look different.
I believe that the manager was overheard singing Don McLean songs and in particular it inspired him to consider leaving him out on mental health grounds. For example:
“Now, I think I know what you tried to say to me
How you suffered for your sanity
How you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they’re not listening still
Perhaps they never will”
Geordiesaddler
I think this is where we are really starting to lose it as a football club, and some of the opinions above, although valid as they are opinions - really need putting in perspective.
Geordie,
I agree with a lot that you say on this forum.
Your posts are well thought out and constructed and your points are clear and precise.
I believe the reason LP didn’t buy the strikers you mentioned, from the sale of Eli and Jules, is he needed that money to keep the club afloat.
I think the club is experiencing a financial hardship that it’s never faced before in our entire existence.
The pandemic has obviously contributed greatly to this, but the club really needed the proceeds to keep it going until fans are allowed to return.
Osei was a panic decision to appease the fans, he certainly hasn’t pulled up any trees since his arrival. We can and should have done better.
The most important thing now is to stay in this league, relegation would finish this club as we know it, it upsets me to even think the possibility. This slide we’re having could be disastrous if we don’t correct it.
I hate being negative, but the reality is if we continue out of form and others below us capture it…well, we know what can happen.
Who would you like to see as the next manager?
He contributed two goals in three starts and did OK…and he gets dropped again. That’s not the way to allow players to build confidence and form. Ditto Norman, ditto Vincent, by the way.
I think Dutton must have been learning at Clarke’s knee. It’s the; ‘If they have a good game - leave them out’, tactic. Presumably it’s the way that these ‘top managers’ can show just how clever they are - seeing things that no one else can, especially thick supporters who know nothing about football.
I agree. Maybe Lavery and Adebayo weren’t a good fit. He played well in the last two games and his attitude and work rate is first class
Lavery was just starting to show a bit of promise and the ghost of DC reared his ugly head 
A paragraph that sums up how we all feel, on other threads posters are sniping at each other, ill feeling abounding. Because we are all miserable at how bad our beloved football team has become. We are going into two away matches against Exeter & Cambridge feeling that we will be trounced by both, Fourth Division clubs that we used to look down upon, now we fear them…the shame we feel is inconsolable.
Totally agree with both of the above comments.
I don’t think anybody believes we will get anything from the next 2 games.
We have seen all but one of our games so far this season on ifollow. My son has asked NOT to watch tomorrow.
We will probably tune into Gillette soccer special instead and just watch Exeter’s goals.
Same. I can’t be arsed.
Tell him only if he is good and does all his chores and homework 
For the first time in years I paid absolutely no attention to a Walsall game. I didn’t check the result until 8pm and that was only because my misses reminded me we played.
Even if I’m not watching on iFollow I at least check my phone every few minutes to keep updated on the score.
I’m done with Walsall FC for now. It’s not worth my time or energy anymore. It’s sad. Really sad.
Thank you gents for your responses.
I’ve never questioned the work ethic of any of our players, but we need to quality to go along with the hard work. We have strikers who run their behinds off but rarely score.
Those who will not watch the game today I don’t blame them. It’s times like this the club really needs our support.
I’m over the Bradford defeat and will watch the game…I just can’t keep away.