Official - our worst ever season ( as league 2 )

Some talk Swindon will get points deduction so they could be Southend type situation although I imagine their playing squad will still be better if they hatch a plan and get rid of the rotten eggs…

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That’s one team lower than us next season then :rofl: that’s if the points deduction is trigger next season I’m guessing it makes sense from a punishment angle to do so.

Does this mean Brain is the Messiah? :laughing:

Michael Standing may contribute more to our final league position next season than he did when he was a player if this is the case! :joy:

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Our league position is shocking. I’ve been a supporter since 1969 and always considered the Kenny Hibbett era as the worst in my Walsall history, and now we are worse!

Notts Co (last season) and Southend (this season) are warnings that we haven’t quite hit rock bottom yet, but the warning signs are there! These pages have debated the whys, so let’s look forward and learn the lessons from this season and our last 2 ventures in the 4th tier.

We previously got ourselves back into the 3rd tier with Chris Nichol and Richard Money in charge. What I can remember is that both managers and their teams were well organised; there was no “in-game” management, we played to our strengths and let the opposition worry about us rather than setup to counter their style.

We need round pegs in round holes.

  • James Clarke is a right sided centre back, don’t play him on the left.
  • You only need one holding midfield player, don’t try to fit Kinsella and Bates into the same team.
  • Lavery can’t play up front on his own, he isn’t mobile enough.
  • You can’t play wing backs and wingers in the same team.

Choose a style, stick with it, sign players to play the style, and coach the youngsters to play the same style.

So the starting point for Fullerton is what style, what formation.
Then choose a coach who he can work with.
Release everyone who doesn’t fit in or isn’t good enough, but we won’t win promotion without experience and character.

The 1994-95 squad had Wilson, Lightbourne, O’Connor, Watkiss, Woods.
The 2006-07 squad had Ince, Roper, Westwood, Keates, Wrack, Butler

As has been said before, we need a strong spine.
We need a new keeper, to keep James Clarke, hope that Perry and Holden can provide the creativity and we need a striker like Stockton / Henderson who can lead the line.

We also need character and leadership. I can see that in Clarke and Sadler but it is lacking elsewhere.

Looking forward to what the pre-season will bring starting with a very small retained list and a new head coach.

Also waiting on LP’s strategic vision / plan.

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Football is a game of sensationalist claims, but I don’t think it’s overstating the importance of the situation to say that next season is by far the most important since I started supporting in 1991, maybe even in the modern history, of the football club.

It’s going to go one of two ways folks. I hope all those placing their faith in some of those vey same people that have brought us here are correct in thinking they can get us back out of this mess. I wonder if Fullarton knows the full pressure and importance of his role - as usual I’m sure he will wrongly take the full brunt if doesn’t work out.

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That would make a great Morrissey lyric!

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Possibly ever mate been going for 37 years and never seen us this low.

Sorry about continuing the egg puns but we have got White in the team. I just hope we can shell out on a few egg-ceptional players in the summer and stop Port Fail poaching our best players.

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eggsemplary that mate

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I’ve got 58 years in, this is the worst of them. We’ve had seasons where several games were dire, this season we can count on one hand the good games we’ve played.
The real demise of this football club began in Whitney’s first full year, one could begin to see the slide. I’m not blaming Whitney entirely, he was a fantastic servant to the club and the transition from physiotherapist to manager is no easy task. His work was really cut out for him when the entire first team decided to jump ship at the end of his interim spell. To his credit he brought in some decent players, but it wasn’t meant to be. More ineptness followed with the DK, DC and BD appointment which is where we find ourselves now.
JB, LP and the board have greatly contributed to our downfall by their complete failure to act, they have totally abandoned a sinking ship…one that was very close to being submerged.
I hope this season is a massive wake up call to those that call the shots at this club, they should be very grateful that fans were not allowed in the stadium this season, they would have been skinned alive!

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Some people on this thread may want to write a strongly worded letter to the E and S…

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I didn’t realise that re-election stuff was actually in the league above this. How are people arguing that is a worse finish than this season?! :joy: :joy: :joy:

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Because to say it’s the league above this is disingenuous at best.

There was me thinking the third tier is higher than the fourth. Silly me.

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So we finished above all the teams in division 3 north in the 1952-53 season did we?

Why were we not promoted to division 2 ahead of the division 3 north winners then?

Nope, but you cant go “well we could have finished lower than we have this season” based on the fact we finished 60 odd in a different pyramid. All we know is we finished 60 odd that season.

This season we have finished lower than that. Dutton seems to have accepted it, Journalists seem to. It’s really not difficult this.

And ■■■■ it, worst season in 60 odd years is still pretty damning :man_shrugging:

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No! You are making the assumption we finished above all the teams in division 3 north.

You’re welcome to do that. But then it’s a subjective assessment, not an ‘official’ one.

Please let me know how our application for re-election goes this summer.

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:joy: :joy: :joy: Yeah I am the one making an assumption, by using where we actually finished in a table not supposing where we did. Rather than, say, supposing we would have finished below all the other teams in the other division as well. Christ what a load of apologist BS. Like I said:

People just cannot understand that in the fifties we finished bottom of the football league a number of times jointly with the team who finished bottom of Division 3 (North). You could not finish lower!!! This season ,bad as it has been, we could have finished lower!!!

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