why not start with the question of why wont jb sell the club lock stock and barrel after all he,s in his 60′s surely getting out all together would be better. he’s got enough to retire on so why does he still need an income from walsall also your comment on the size of the crowds isnt fair either wimbeldon spent a few seasons at top level with less attendance than we get. ambition will increase crowds. and is it just me mr swain or are you turning into mr bonser or at least visiting the same stylist lol

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I’ve always admired the work Mr Bonser has done and I hold no grudge for selling Fox and Dann. A club our size shouldn’t hinder the careers of players, they used us as much as we used them and we received fair payment. After 21 years following Walsall home and away, I have decided not to return to Bescot. Last season we were in an excellent position for a play-off spot with an excellent manager, all that was required was 1 or 2 quality loan signings, Mr Money found the job untenable we had funds available from Dann and Fox and no effort was made to sustain a challenge for that play-off spot, why was this?

Who knows when such a chance will arise again, this is why Mr Bonser is considered by most to lack ambition, when Gerrard is sold in January, what is preventing me from believing that the result will be any different from last season. The credit crunch has hit but I would have found a way to get to the game as I have before, it’s not the first time this town has been skint and I’m sure not the last, I have no incentive to return and will not until change occurs.

Good luck to Mr Mullen and the team.

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Ok…I can see that you sympathise with Mr Bonser Martin. How’s about doing some research to actually find out why Walsall fans aren’t happy. Its not that Bonser is just the Walsall fans ‘hate’ figure, it goes far deeper than that. There are specific questions that need to be answered and have needed answering for years yet he continues to dodge them. This will never get anywhere I feel so I dont even know why i’m posting!!

A journalists job is to get both sides of the argument, or all angles should I say. I suggest before defending Bonser you bother to ask us the fans what we think and why people who have been going down there for 30-40 years simply have stopped going

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What a load of rubbish! Whoever thinks it’s just the young supporters at Walsall who have had enough obviously can’t be bothered to do any research, lazy journalism!! for the record there are many who have held season tickets for 20+ years/been supporters for 40+ years who no longer go. Blows the assumption that the internet message boards are full of 18/19 year old kids spouting off.
When Jeff tells us to batten down the hatches because of the credit crunch does that mean he will waiver the clubs rent on the ground should things get tough? or will he carry on taking the money US SUPPORTERS have put into the club? Don’t bother I already know the answer to that one!

Just for the record I’m one of the people you called “Scallywags” from the Sack Jimmy Mullen facbook group.Walsall supporter for 30+ years!

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Martin, it seems to me that you have either not researched the reasons why we are all staying away, hence you asking what those questions are, or you are taking a leaf out of Mr Bonsers book, and pretending that those questions do not exist. For the umpteenth time, our gripe is the fact that the freehold is owned by the pension fund, when it should be owned by Walsall FC. Why is this? I doubt we will get an answer!

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Nobody is questioning the legality of the rent or any other financial subject.

What we are questioning is why Bonser decided to buy the freehold for himself and not allow the club to but it. We would now be over £350k a year better off if he had’ve done.

That is the question we want answering, and it’s the one that has never been answered.

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1) Could JWB explain how despite making a profit of £400k this year, our debt levels increased by £500k.

2) Could JWB explain why despite being such a well run club we have debts of £2.7m?

3) Could JWB explain how many clubs, without the commercial revenue we have, manage to out-muscle us financially?

4) Could JWB name his price for the sale of the club INCLUDING the freehold?

5) Could JWB explain how at the start of his tenure, we went from a club in debt with our own ground, to now being a club in debt without any ground or assets?

6) Could JWB explain why he chose to buy the club for a pension fund of which he is a trustee, as opposed to lending the club the money to buy it?

7) The club have paid over £3m in rent over the years, however if JWB had lent the club the money to buy the land, we would have paid nowhere near this much by the time interest was repaid and we would own our own ground and be financially better off.

8) Could JWB explain his contradictory comments on Jimmy Mullen being the “best man for the job”, despite taking 2/3 months to decide that?

9) Expanding on the above, could JWB explain why Jimmy Mullen is the best man for the job, despite it being pretty much public knowledge that David Kelly was offered the job first?

10) Could JWB explain why we have a “Football Consultant” in Paul Taylor, who deals with all our transfers, contract negotiations etc, who is apparently on the banned list of agents from the FA?

11) Could JWB explain why managers are repeatedly leaving the club, some not of their own choosing, yet Paul Taylor (Football Consultant) seems to constantly retain his position?

12. Will JWB explain why is never prepared to answer many of the above questions, instead indicating that he wishes to embrace the fans but only if they ask ‘nice’ questions?

13. Will JWB please explain why he feels the current younger generation are those getting disenchanted, when a quick sweep of the message boards for WFC will show him that it is actually his hard-core loyal fan-base over the last 20/30/40 years that have finally had enough?

There we go for starters Mr Swain. I presume you’ll share the answers in the follow up interview?

Thanks

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I cannot believe how little a so called “journalist” knows abot his subject area. What a load of pap that interview was. Please refer to the questions asked above and do what you should be doing. Find a way of getting an appropriate response from JWB.

Fat chance.

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Are you Bonser! are you Bonser! are you Bonser in disguise!

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Previously a season ticket holder having spent many, many years watching my beloved team home and away i have never at any time felt so low and disillusioned as i do now.
The last straw was against Scunthorpe in the league, where having spent the best part of £50 to take the missus and kids to see us struggle to beat 9 men i now would rather take the family to the cinema and save myself a few bob too.
the club needs a fresh start (new chairman with real ambitions) until that happens this club is going to continue into freefall

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Zoff, I think the “we’re not Wolves” comment is irrelevant to the argument to be honest, but it is certainly fair to say that Wolves fans deserted the club in their droves during the dark days of the early to mid Eighties.

JB could engender a lot of goodwill by gifting the freehold of the ground to the club when he finally retires and starts drawing on his pension fund which the ground has funded so handsomely.

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