I can just about deal with that. When he started to announce how many points clear we were after home wins during the nine game run that irked me. Classless and asking for trouble.
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I had everyone at work, and friends telling me Walsall were promoted for sure, Iāve supported this club long enough to not count my chickens before theyāve hatched and told them so ā¦Didnāt gloat or shout my mouth off because I new there was a good chance the wheels would come off, low and behold ā¦
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To be fair, the fans didnāt gloat and think it was a foregone conclusion. I liked the humour when we got to 56 points and the fans started to sing; āWe are staying upā! I never felt confident after we lost to Bradford and Fleetwood in back-to-back games! It wasnāt so much that weād lost, itās the fact that weād been poor in both games- the decline was palpable.
Confidence and the absence of confidence is not a switch.
I think that the Crewe performance and the Chesterfield play off games showed that we were capable of turning it around, but, ultimately, we couldnāt reverse the tailspin.
It was never a lack of effort but when youāre losing, in any sport, you stop making the risky pass for fear of making a mistake.
Fingers crossed that we can use the experience positively next season. To be fair to Leeds United, their capitulation the season before last helped them to get over the line last season, under Daniel Farke. Both he and Sadler strike me as āsoftā new style managers rather than old school ātoughā managers like Flynn, Alexander and others.
We definitely need a new contract offer for Taylor Allen OR a big strong experienced centre half captain to lead the troops into battle.
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Ironically the game where I think we lost the plot and never recovered.
As for the announcer, I think the touch line ban went to his head a bit. Didnāt he then do some announcing whilst stood amongst fans in the lower?
Yep. It was like watching Raw.
Itāll be a life sentence for me.Iāll never ever forget this one.
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The thing is, we find it hard to forget so that we donāt make the same mistakes againā¦
Those involved should learn from their mistakes, of course, but not dwell on the negatives of the past.
The fans didnāt make any mistakes.
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But the main culprit is still there. Makes it difficult for fans to move on.
Indeed, but it appears that he is in a better place mentally, than many of our fans.
Not sure denial is a better place.
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Yeah, thatās fair enough.
I made some mistakes, I let it all take over. I wanted it so much for the kids, and they are already on to next season. The innocence of youth eh 
To take some positive from it all, those cruel final moments at Crewe, I never want to see pain like that on my kidsā faces, but there was also something about that moment that was special. At such a young age they just get it. We lived it and got through it together. Sticking together is what following Walsall is all about to me. We canāt control what happens on the pitch but the way they dealt with it made me very proud.
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How do you know he is in denial?
He could well be reflecting on last season in order to learn from it for next season. If heās going to be here(which he is), then Iād rather him be outwardly confident than defeatist, as that would rub off on the players / make it difficult to bring new players into the club.
Iād rather him have gone btw.
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I can only go by his public pronouncements. He has never publicly identified the problem which has caused the anger correctly . Not that form wasnāt maintained, but that it nosedived. As far as he has , heās admitted mistakes were made in the January window ,but not the worse mistakes he made with the options that window gave him. You canāt blame fans for fearing a repeat when the main architect is still in place and has given them nothing to suggest heās learnt.
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Pyscology?
BTW, where did I blame fans?
To be fair Belph, I think thereās an ample body of evidence that the whole club is in denial. The fact that last seasonās collapse was similar to the one the season before, only worse, and for many of the same footballing reasons. The comments which eminate in response to fans voicing criticism, Boycott, Sadler (continually), Byfield at Barrow, even frigging NoFo. Its a consistent narrative, and there isnāt a shread of āletās do things differentlyā its all about āgo againā, more of the same only this time it will work better.
There is also no explanation within any of that as to the plain baffling team selections, especially those surrounding DJ and the January signings. If that isnāt denial, then I musnāt understand the meaning of the word. Its 100% obvious to me that even with his limitations as a manager, the unspoken elephant in the room at WS1 is Sadlerās use of his squad post January. DJ, Williams, Asiimwe, Chang, Lipsiuc??? Nobody at the club has even mentioned it, and Iāll bet my bottom dollar at the fans forum it will all be deflection and swept away with Mat picks the teamā¦and of course Mat wonāt be there.
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I think the biggest problem is everyone is waiting for him to fail. That doesnāt mean they want him to fail, cos that means Walsall are failing. First little sign things arenāt going well, and the Sadler out cries will start. It is going to be extremely difficult for him to turn this around now.
Iām not saying it is right, it is just how it is.
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