When Walsall had arguably the greatest period in their history the Chairman openly admitted he knew nothing about football - players or tactics - and left it to the people he’d appointed who did.
1 Like
None of us support Walsall for the guarantee of glory.
We’ll all have our own reasons but we all want something to be proud of.
First step in giving us back something to be proud of this is.
5 Likes
100%.
I thought that too…it is clearly the start of a new era which I think we all welcome. We don’t know how successful it will be but if everyone pulls in the same direction it could be very exciting. Board, support staff, players and fans all on the same side trying to build a really successful club is something I have dream’t about for over a decade now. Lets get to it!!
3 Likes
Yes exactly that 300k for Adeybayo doesn’t seem like good business does it as I was saying in another thread.
Yeah we are the only club effected by Covid. Forgot about that. And Pomlett didn’t seem to think Covid should prevent a play off push considering he was talking about it as recently as February. So yes, it really is that simple.
As for the pedantry of the rest of your post, he will have been by next season, which is what is being discussed 
Not what I said, but keep on reframing everything in your relentless pursuit of lastwordism.
2 Likes
Certainly seems to be punching above his weight and must be delighted to get a job in the EFL.
ah that old chestnut 
If that wasn’t what you were saying I don’t see why it’s relevant 
He has hardly set the world alight with his managerial skills so I would imagine the coach will have final say. I think he is here to sort out recruitment and implement the style of football the club wants across all teams, academy etc. What is the club’s footballing philosophy? Isn’t this what happened at Villa last season, the players were not Smith’s choice then the bloke got sacked?
I’d like us to go up next season but my satisfaction with how things are going don’t hang on it.
I’ve said before about our trajectory since May 2016. The extrapolation of that line ends up in non league in the next year or two.
So for me, the first thing is to be satisfied that we’ve put that trajectory into some kind of reverse and that a new trajectory is built upon something tangible and solid rather than any upward tick being a blip with the downward trajectory continuing to be the underlying trend.
Say we finish tenth next season. Perry and Leak over 30 starts each, Osadebe and Holden with seven or eight goals each behind a centre forward who has notched 15. All five of those contracted to the next season at least. I’d take that. Not overly exciting and not the ultimate goal but at least some solid tangible progress and our best season for three years. Doesn’t mean I’m “not bothered”. Doesn’t mean I’m happy with the diabolical management of our football club that got us here. But it would at least comfort me that we had a potentially turned a corner and that the future was brighter than it had been for some time.
22 Likes
Anything less than the title then it’s dales lane for me.
Nah I completely agree Pt.
I’ll take my line of expectation from what comes out of the club. We can’t talk about wanting more communication only to simply dismiss it as bluster when we get it. They have a blank page.
If they come out and say “look, we’re not in the position we thought we would be, we are building towards something, we will consolidate that next year” fine. I’d say mid to top half.
If they come out and talk about top ten budgets and play offs, fine. That’s what I’ll expect to see in terms of decision making. It may or may not happen. But If you’re telling me it’s a goal I don’t want to see bailing out in January again or selling our best players and not replacing them. It’s the exact same issue I had under Bonser with the ridiculous talk of the Championship but with no tangible evidence we we’re trying to get there. I thought it was poor when he did that for years and to me Pomlett has done the same for at least the second half of this season.
But like I say it’s a blank start, if you’re going to state ambitions, show some general means of achieving them.
3 Likes
Divided opinions amongst the Shaymen
His strengths are in youth development. Lets give credit where it is due, if you want someone to whip up your academy and to get players well drilled into “doing the right thing” in terms of formations and tactics, then his OTT, almost autistic in nature approach to detail is spot on. He can spot a talent for sure. He also did help build the off field in terms of where we trained and getting equipment in after the manager before him sacked off every off field operation we had.
Sadly, there is a huge gap between youth football and senior mens. What works in developing youth players doesn’t work when it comes to first teamers. You can’t play the same rigid way, with every throw in, goal kick, corner and free kick over-rehearsed. It is no exaggeration to say that after half a dozen games everyone knew what tactics we were going with - we all knew where every throw in, every corner and every free kick was going. The problem with that is that if as fans we knew it, so did the opposition. And he was so stubborn he would never change it, even when it was clear it wasn’t working. Setting up a team not to lose is not attractive. Playing for a 0-0 and viewing that as a success is not attractive.
He will come out with so much bull too. “Football is a pyramid of emotions” is I think his most famous one with us. Don’t listen to a word he says, just wait to see what those that have to deal with him say. Within a week of being at our club he had told our top goalscorer he wouldn’t play again - and wouldn’t even say hello to him for the rest of his time at the club. Simply ignored him in training and in the corridors. He played the same 11 players for 4 games in a row in the space of a week (Played Sat-Tue-Thu-Sat) and ran them into the ground when we had a bench of fit players not able to get on the pitch etc…
His people skills are diabolical however. He is the most dour and miserable person imaginable and this is reflected in his negative boring football. He will freeze people out for no reason. He will alienate people for no reason. He will be down right rude and insulting towards staff, belittling them. He will refuse to be interviewed occasionally, and will become abusive towards those that ask him questions. He forced out a few from our media team due to his down right nasty and aggressive manner. I know of two people who left because of him and another who was scared - SCARED - to interview him as he was so nasty.
Also, dont expect any relationship with him as fans. He won’t engage the fans at all. Even before or at the end of games in the arse end of the country - he wont even look towards you, never mind clap you. You won’t get to know a thing about who may be playing, or his thoughts on anything. He won’t even tell you if he had a good trip on the way to the game - basically he won’t interact with you in any way.
Then we have the players too. 90% of them seem to have a very negative view on him. I’ve never known a manager get slammed so much by players, as often you get a token “everything is ok” or a no comment at best when things are bad. I’ve never known team spirit and moral around the entire club be as low as when JF was here - and we have been through liquidations and relegations enough over the years!
He also appears to have zero friends or contacts in the game. Every player we got were ones from his academies or where he had worked before. No one seemed to want to do him a favour and help him and he didn’t seem to know anything about any other players out there other than the ones he had coached. He promised a wealth of footballing knowledge and a dossier of information on thousands of players, with contacts all over the place - and non of that ever appeared.
And if you think this review is overly negative, trust me, theres several things I can’t disclose which would make him worse. Oh, and if you were to ask Notts County fans what they think of him, they would have my post here pinned as probably the most positive reply about him. If you think he has a negative rep with us, it is nothing to what they think of him. He also left Bolton under a cloud too - not too sure they think much of him there either.
Good luck though.
What an absolute load of xxxxx! Sour grapes or what. I’ll judge for myself thanks. So will other saddlers fans!
1 Like
Errrrrr… so will I
I’m not exactly a fan of the role but it is true that there is literally no point comparing it to the performance of a manager. It’s about as relevant as judging somebodies Architecture skills by how well they run a pub.
There could be numerous reasons why it didn’t work for him as a manager. Lack of coaching ability, motivational, tactical skills, man management, none of which are relevant to a director of football. It’s about ensuring continuity, judging talent and performance, negotiation skills, and linking the board to the football side. Other clubs views of him as a manager are completely irrelevant.
2 Likes
If you were a Vale fan reading this board, then you’d believe DC was a mass murderer… look how that worked out.
1 Like
There was no guarantee that we’d have done that with Adebayo.
Yep. Was just thinking last night when Kieron Morris came on. Him out wide, Cook upfront, Joe Edwards in central midfield and a decent full back and with few injuries even this squad would be very close to top 7 as it obviously lacks a reliable goalscorer, decent wide man and also a midfielder who can chip in with goals.
Not advocating those three coming back as it will not happen for various reasons but it’s up to Pomlett to give whoever is head coach and Fullerton the actual budget to get three of those types in for next season.
Less need to splash out on defenders as this season has shown you can use the loan market more, hopefully someone like Melbourne can be signed full time end of the season as he’s made a difference at the back.
I see the recruitment part in two parts really. Budget must be given for those 3-4 who can come in and make real difference to first 11. Then underneath that Fullerton is tasked with finding Adebayo types who’ve perhaps lost their way a bit being released from prem clubs and they can be more 18 month development types. With running the academy in Spain he should have plenty of options there.
Pre season going to be pretty crowded at Essington I think.
2 Likes