Clearly not a WM radio phone in, as they never discuss Walsall if they can help it…
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I reckon if we win again on Saturday we’ll go on and win the league, and he’ll be a Walsall hero.
If we lose though, he should be sacked, as we’ll definitely end up getting relegated!!
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The sad thing is that if we do lose on Saturday, there will be people who can’t wait to jump in and go mad. Fair enough if we lose 7-0, but a bit of perspective is needed.
I’m certainly not thinking 2 wins make a summer, but it’s a good response to what came before.
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See this is why I was interested of making this thread…
Lose and budding Alex Fergusons are on here to say how bad Clarke is, we win a couple of games and everyone is like “yeah its ok but have played two of the worst sides in the division”
A sense of perspective is needed and given what mess this club was in when he arrived he has done so much in such a short space of time and should be applauded, not jumped upon when we have a few bad results.
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How many people have ‘jumped’ on dc and said he should be sacked? Just curious.
Just “doing stuff” isn’t to be applauded. Yes he’s replaced a whole team. But bringing in a new team that is no improvement on the last one isn’t to be celebrated. I’m not saying he has done that, I’m not saying that this team is as bad as the last one, I’m not saying the bloke should be hung drawn and quartered before the usual suspects jump on. We probably won’t know the answer to that one until the end of the season.
But saying “well that was ■■■■” after getting beaten at home again was entirely fair at the time. Just like the credit he is getting for the last two wins is entirely fair.
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ALOT MATE. Especially if you go on walsall fans have your say, some of the “fans” on there are just embarrassing
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Ok. Sorry but what do you mean by ‘a lot’? Ten, three thousand? I ask because I dont know one single fan that wants him out and I like to think I know a fair few.
I think people need a sense of perspective. The decline this football club is due to YEARS of poor management from top down. Sustainably rebuilding this club will take time - which also requires patience.
People on here have differing expectations on how quickly it will take to right the wrongs of the past. I am within a cohort which understands that success may not happen this season, or next.
I would be prepared to wait 3/4 years if it meant that we can:
a) rebuild sustainably and improve year on year
b) bring the heart and soul of the club back to the town
With DC and LP there is at least a vision with a plan - which is something I have not seen from anyone since Dean Smith.
I am fully behind this project and believe the club is in safe hands - we will be back where we belong (eventually).
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I basically agree. Certainly it will take some time to rebuild the club, possibly it will take a big shift in English football for us to compete again. Still, we should be looking to be competitive for the top half of this league.
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If you can’t build a football team to compete for promotion in this league within 3/4 years with the correct budget then you are not the man for the job. That’s an absurd amount of time to wait. We’re not asking him to get into Europe here, he’s trying to be better than Crawley and Grimsby.
I’m not sure why people are acting like asking for more than this is unreasonable considering the noises that have come out of the club it’s self since the take over. The crowd won’t stick around forever and before you know it you are a league two club for the foreseeable.
I dont think 3/4 years is unrealistic given the mammoth task at hand.
He is practically rebuilding a football club from scratch which will need time and patience. It took Smith three years to get a squad capable of challenging for promotion from League 1 - this league isn’t as easy as people make it out to be.
Year 1 - get rid of everyone start to build a new team/youth team - mid table
Year 2 - add two or three quality rather than quantity, blood a few youth players - play-offs
Year 3 - youth more experienced, add a bit more quality - if fail via play-offs previous go up automatic.
I’ll wait and see what figures he’s been given to work with before I decide what is unrealistic and what isn’t. I don’t think we can afford to stagnate for 4 years. 3 years is an absolute minimum.
I think this statement is clouding your judgment somewhat.
You have used it as justification a number of times.
Whitney had a much bigger rebuilding job to do, in my view following the exodus of players at the end of his first season, yet was being hounded out the club after a few months. Apart from being a novice manager, he was also trying to compete in the division above.
Clarke comes in with all the right badges, experience and promotion from this level, yet is somehow afforded a few years to get us out of the basement decision.
Double standards in operation methinks.
PS I support the manager, as i have in the past.
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A justification for what?
The difference mate, is that it was obvious Whitney was way out of his depth, and from the stuff I know about that period… I am not surprised his sacking didn’t come sooner. The bloke was deranged.
Clarke comes with 4 promotions, actual coaching qualifications, and evidence that he knows what he’s doing.
Whitney didn’t have a clue, and thank god we ended it. The problem is that we then appointed the same type of person - and it got much worse.
I agree that Whitney was out of his depth, but using that logic, this should be a paddling pool for someone like Clarke.
Edit - and Smith was derided by many, including yow in a previous life, and look where he is now.