There is no doubt the club is in a bad away off the pitch and that is reflected in the shabby facilities/infastructure we see on match days.
By all means put more pressure on Bonser and the board to justify their decisions next season through more meetings/media investigations etc.
At least however a competant manager has been appointed, it’s a small step that deserves praise.
Many disfunctional clubs can turn a blind eye to money issues, look at Bury going up despite struggling to pay the bills in last few months. Bolton got promoted from league 1 despite money issues which have gobbled them up in the championship.
I want Bonser out. That dosen’t mean I want the club to be rubbish in league 2 and get relegated to god knows what midlands combination league in five years time just so that might force Bonser out.
I’d rather still be a league club when the time comes and it will come in the next decade.
I’m going to take issue with that. “The club”, has never been broken, fundamentally or otherwise. Because we, and the generations of Walsall fans that went before us are “the club” and always will be. What the club has, and is being subjected to is systematic abuse for purposes other than those that it was set up for. The ground, ie Fellows Park, gifted to the Walsall community by HL Fellows, and stolen from the Walsall community during the move to Bescot being the most obvious example. Read the articles of association of Walsall FC ltd to see what the Ltd company of Walsall FC was incoporated to stand for. It certainly wasn’t to further the financial wealth of one failed local businessman and his family and hangers on. Walsall Football Club isn’t thriving, because it has become involved with a parasitic entity, but parasites don’t break their hosts, they bleed them. So by definition we are not yet fundamentally broken as you say.
I see where you are coming from and your stance was my exact position last year when keates was appointed.
But for deserving praise?..
Do you realise how much rent he has trousered since we were relegated?
If he dropped the rent or rebated then I would consider it a positive but he gets no praise from me for recruiting A bloke who hasn’t been tied to a club since Christmas.
The fundamentals have to change first before the matter of who is manager becomes relevant otherwise the circle goes on and on.
I’m not taken in one bit by this latest gesture otherwise I may become part o& the problem
Good appointment for me i mentioned him a few times when Keates was sacked bit surprised at the negativity from some fans online specifically a certain facebook page that gets mentioned on here mainly.Give the guy a chance he has a very good record and could be just what we need.
This is the only way for WFC to start to recover from the disjointed, rudderless, unkept, empty husk of a once proud local football club that a greedy shyster and his chinless wonder cronies have reduced it to.
It is propofoundly gratilifying that my thoughts and contributions to this spledidflofoforous site is apprecliciated from far offing who flung dung corners of the worldanglick.
Many thankings effendi, off to wash my Turban now.
Quite simply when we played at Fellows Park. It was a bit of a dump, but it was our dump. You could get an atmosphere going with 2,500 in. Great cup-runs, nobody from the leagues above wanted Walsall away, some great attacking football played 100+ goals scored 3 seasons running in the 80’s. A team largely populated by local talent, and certainly with the likes of Ron Jukes one with a reputation for scouting local players and launching their careers from our club. A great club to support, and one that was completely distinct from the other clubs in the area.
This with knobs on Manchester and to add into the mix the club was a club with a fantastic loyal unstinting support and a strong connection between fans from all sides of the ground and the players.
Shame you either wasn`t there or did not appreciate or pick up on this as right up to this day recalling such heady days for little old Worsul still fills me with a lot of pride and pleasure.
Yes - I remember Fellow’s Park really well - and what you say may be true to a certain extent.
I think a lot of fans of other clubs feel the same way, remembering the good old days. We’ve seen a lot of clubs struggle in recent year and the one big issue, the one huge factor in my opinion, is the rise of the Premier League, the amount of money that is being poured into the top tier at the expense of the lower leagues.
The top clubs are bigger and stronger these days so it is far more difficult to go on a decent cup run, like the amazing run to the League Cup semi-finals.
Players are no longer loyal, players are overpaid and more money is required to keep a club like Walsall afloat.
Yes I see your point but I don’t think that the blame lies entirely with Bonser; the changes in recent years are at least partly to blame to.
I agree again to a certain extent and I look back on the days when I used to go to every home game and the odd away game. Bescot doesn’t have the same atmosphere but as I said above, I feel this is the same with a lot more clubs than just ours.
As a football generalisation you put valid points but the fact some clubs of similar size to WFC are doing well and looking to a bright future because of investment from owners who are either club or football fans and not looking at it solely as a vehicle for personal gain first and foremost, and at the expense of all else, i think the complete discord and detatchment, shocking club/fan relationship, run down dump of a stadium etc, can be put firmly at Scrooge Bonsers door.
Bonser is certainly not wealthy enough, and certainly not the inclination to plough the millions needed into the club that he has spent extracting from it over the years so if he is our No.1 fan you would think he would recognise that he has took enough out, sort out the mess he has created, recognise his time is over, and put the club as a whole up for sale at a sensible price.
And for every one doing well there is one doing badly - admittedly due to bad owners most of the time. I think we kind of agree and surely now Bonser should start asking himself questions. It is well known that we have a tiny budget compared to some clubs and the relegation should be the kick up the arse he deserves.
Will that happen?
I doubt it - but you never know.
I think he is under more pressure now than he has been for some time with a lot of people asking a lots of questions about his methods and his practices, particularly as we now seem to be going backwards.
Ultimately he’s a businessman and as such I don’t think he cares about anything other than making money - just like others like him. As soon as it starts to hit him in the pocket he will think again - and I think that may well start happening now.
Agreed, the pressure is building, what has happened is very real and undeniably directly linked to him, his methods and way of running the club. Hope your right, but with the appointment of DC, which i think is excellent, i think he has just done what he always does, no real/extra investment, just a fudging, moving, switching of funds and is going nowhere soon.
I haven’t swallowed anything. You are right, our board couldn’t build a fan base. But could any? Football at this level is dying on its arse.
But firstly lets take away 500k a year rent. Even if that isn’t an issue, we still wont compete with Bradford and the likes, as someone else mentioned they bring in 3/4 times more fans than we do, and are willing to loosen purse strings. This is basic maths. It was a point about cash, not competing on a football pitch. I expect us to push for top 6.
This is why appointing a manger who can coach players and get the best out of them is essential for Walsall. Which was my point.
Errrrr using your own example; Bradford City. Used to get 3k & 4k until they rode the footballing wave, using their momentum to build a huge club from pretty small foundations! Football isn’t dying on its arse (yet), the last 15 years it has been more popular than its ever been at every level. There are too many clubs to list here that have gone on to work with the community and a marketing team to build a bigger following, while we have gone backwards with archaic ticketing that hasn’t been reviewed for effectiveness since 1996.
We are the only Midlands club to have lost fans in a direct comparison with 30 years ago. Far, far too many people believing Bonsers bullshine about the support - it doesn’t just happen regardless of success on the field. Even the sheepies have overtaken us!!
