Departing skipper Tommy Mooney has issued a parting shot by claiming Walsall won’t get into the Championship for the foreseeable future.
Mooney signed off from his career in English football with his 208th goal in the 2-2 draw with Hartlepool on Saturday.
Before beginning his new career in Spain, the 36-year-old said a lack of investment and over-reliance on youngsters had cost Walsall their chance of promotion.
“This was the best opportunity they’ve had to get into the Championship for several years,” Mooney said.
“I don’t see them getting into the Championship after this unless they spend a lot of money and I can’t see that happening.”
The striker believes that one of the reasons for Saddlers’ failure to sustain their promotion bid was the amount of matches played by the club’s crop of talented young players.
“I think the fact that we had so many young players is part of the problem,” Mooney said. “We’ve developed some good players this season, but those players have had to do too much.
“I know how hard it is in your first and second seasons – they shouldn’t have had to play 25 or 30 games.
“They should have been able to come into the team, done as well as they did, then come back out, watched, and then hopefully gone back in, but we didn’t have the resources to do that.
“That’s why you saw the players that did come into the team flying at one point, then they had a lull.”
Mooney added that whoever Walsall appoint as their new boss will have their work cut out rebuilding a squad that is set to be trimmed further today when the retained list is due to be revealed.
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14 Comments
Bye bye Mooney.
You have done nothing since you wasnt offered a new contract and my god im glad the club havent, you have shown what a total idiot you are and the club will be so much better without you next season.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
This is stupid, Mooney seems to have forgotten that we only got promoted last season! Yes we could have pushed on and got into the play-offs where we ‘might’ have got promotion but in this league a lot depends just on the players you bring in. We have a fresh start next season, we still have many of the young players from this year and hopefully we will get a decent manager who will persuade some new experienced guys to come in. It could go either way next season but we certainly haven’t ‘lost our chance to get into the Championship’.
bye bye and good riddance. Can only remember mooney scoring two goals in 2008 and i remember him missing half a dozen chances rom 5 yards out.
No wonder we didnt offer you a new deal. At least now we can get deeney in the team who is twice the player u r
How can anyone disagree with what Mooney said? He could have added that as well as young players not playing as many as 25 to 30 matches the same applies to those of his age.
He was given far too much to do this season for a man of his advanced years. His performances got worse and worse as the season went on, especially when playing three games in 8 days. But the reason he and the youngsters, were overplayed was because the vast majority of the players Richard Money brought to the club were rubbish, so there was nobody else available.
You really helped alleviate the pressure on our youngsters with your post- xmas goal scoring exploits didn’t you Mr Mooney? The sycophantic grovelling to him on Saturday fair turned my stomach.
Can’t disagree with what Patrick Hadley said, but Mattsaddler, Deeney twice the player, get a grip.
Yes he is enthusiastic, but his first touch is awful and his pace is dreadful for a guy of his age. Part of Mooneys problem this year was the same as Butler last year, no consistent (or decent) strike partner, no creation from midfield,well no midfield in fact. I for one think he did a decent job for us, I think he just switched off when Fox and Dann went and their were no signs of any replacements.
Good luck in Spain Tommy, don’t forget the sun cream.
MOOOOOOOOONEEEEYYYY…..MOOOOOOONEEEEEYYYY! Deeney hasn’t got a goal in him…..EVER! Nichols (Rabbit caught in the headlights)will never score either!!! We need some QUALITY!
Agree with tommy mooney 100%
Oh how fickle we are both as players and as fans. From hero to zero in a few short weeks. I agree that in the last 3 months Mooney has done little but we all called his name earlier on when he showed some deft touches and his work rate was tremendous. let’s be magnanimous and wish him the best in Spain after a long career. Bonser is the one who deserves to be lambasted.
agree wiv absolutly everything Tommy has said!!
theyre a joke, a ruined club, lettin Wrack go was the final nail in an already buried coffin.
the walsall fc a knew has gone - seems 2 av bin replaced wiv ppl who quite frankly dont give a damn!
RIP WALSALL FC
mooney is right but if the chap coould finish he may have had 30 goals thi season so we wudda be in the playoofs
re 6 chase saddler. Deeney has only really played 1 game up front and he had a great game he lead the line well and set up 2 goals.
I believe if he plays up front every week his confience would iprove and i think he is only a goal away from being a decent player.
he iscertainly better than betsy who is just awful he has no end product and just terrible and i wonder why we signed him other than out of desperation.
bye bye bye bye waste of time since not offered a new deal where he should have been working harder to prove he deserved one? for someone who is supposed to be an experianced pro he rarely showed it after january with some of his media comments and lack of effort in matches! i also agree he missed some real howlers this season bring back darren byfield who may be let go from bristol city if they go up
I agree with patrick hadley- What Mooney has said is all correct! and for all the idiots that protested on saturday afta the game wer shouting rubbish- yeh get rid of Bonser wen we have sum1 to buy us!!!We have no1 interested at present so get rid of Bonser and have no club!!!wot do u moaning fans want? We have had a good season, Wrack is passe it and the others released is sensible apart from Bwon because we do seem to have wasted money on his wages since he neva played. Dont understand that one! Roper to go next i say then we need to start building for next year!We do hhave a chance of ggetting to the championship aslong as bonser gives us that 1.5Mill for players!! I think Gerrad is a gonner- he was watchd again by Glen Roeder saturday who was sitting 3 seats to the right of myself with this assistant. Understandable tho cus hes another championship player waiting to go!!