Walsall board vow to support boss
Friday 26th November 2010, 12:55PM GMT.
Chief executive Stefan Gamble has branded Walsall’s season “unacceptable” but insisted boss Chris Hutchings still has the board’s backing.
The CEO has broken the club’s silence over the manager’s future and maintained Hutchings is their man, despite the Saddlers being bottom of League One.
They go to Torquay in the second round of the FA Cup tomorrow aiming to find a spark to ignite their season.
Defeat would see Hutchings’ position come under severe strain, but Gamble is adamant the board remain committed to the manager.
He said: “Chris has got our full support and we’ve shown that with investment.
“But the bottom line is results and they have got to improve, Chris will back that up and our position is unacceptable. We’re frustrated and disappointed.
“It’s devastatingly hard to see where we are in the league, no-one is more disappointed than the staff and board.”
Gamble also explained the club’s stance on the manager’s future.
Fans have been calling for Hutchings’ head but, until today, the Saddlers had remained quiet.
He said: “I don’t believe in playing a manager’s future out through the press.
“It wouldn’t be productive for either side but at the moment we’re all working hard.”
The club have allowed Hutchings to bring in several loans, including Barnsley’s Martin Devaney and Liam Dickinson, as they try to get out of trouble.
The duo’s deals expire within the next two weeks and Gamble, who replaced the long-serving Roy Whalley in July, declared the board will continue to support Hutchings with cash.
He said: “We have backed the manager and allowed him to add to the squad.
“If he wants to extend the loans he can do that, there are options which are up to him and we will do everything we can to back him.
“The position we are in has not been acceptable but there are some chinks of light.
“We got beaten 3-0 at Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday but that 3-0 defeat and the 3-0 loss at Bournemouth were poles apart, although we are under no illusions there are tough times ahead.
“There isn’t one thing you can put your finger on, but they are still the same management team who took us to our highest position in six years last season.”
UK Sport
Latest Blog — A week is a long time in football
This time last week we were staring down the barrel, third from bottom with a worse record than at the same stage last year, writes Saddlers blogger Mark Jones.
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I dont think a atom bomb would ignite this season..
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At least Burton Albion away will be a fun one next season.
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What! I give up.
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Well well well what a joke hutchings must be the luckiest manager going how many other managers have lost so many games and are still got there job
joke club come on walsall fans stop paying your hard earned money to a club that couldnt care less about you
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I hope that the above is the famous “backing of the manager” that is usually swiftly followed by his sacking.
If not, then it’s the parting of the ways for me and WFC as I CANNOT continue to hand over good money to a club that believes Hutchings can rescue our season.
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My big question around this is, what took so long to come out and say this? Is it 1) They really didn’t see it as an issue that warranted a comment or 2) Its taken them this long to decide to back him.
To be fair, while the board should have made an announcement like this weeks ago, now it has been made what else was it really going to say? The club aren’t going to say “CH has x games to save his job”, or “the board are split on the managers future”. At the end of the day I wouldn’t expect them to do anything other than offer full public backing. Even if it may not truly reflect what’s happening privately.
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This gets better and better…
I now have to ask who is more clueless the Board or CH.
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If CH had the brains he would have assembled a proper squad at the start of the season. There would be no need to bring in loan players who frankly do not care if we are relegated at the end of the season. Extremely poor management by both CH and the board!!
CH out!!!!
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Bye Bye then Tinned.
Over the years you have threatened that each season will be the last that you will pay admission (either by season ticket or at the turnstile)
Is this just another half-hearted threat or do you seriously mean that this is the end. If it is can you take the remaining doubters with you and leave the club to the true supporters who turn up week in week out, home and away.
Yes results have to improve but that can only come with more finance generated through actual fans coming to a game to enjoy the football, not to be depressed by the inane drivel coming out of the mouths of a very very small minority.
Good Bye, please come back when and if your attitude improves
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I wouldn’t call the 2,000 fans that have stopped going a “very very small minority”.
You keep blaming fellow fans for our mess and let the board off scott free if you want. Others will lay the blame where it really belongs.
Clap, clap xxx
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The nightmare continues, CH is the indeed the luckiest manager alive.
As a season ticket holder going to games is now such a chore and a bore. It is no longer an enjoyable experience as even the odd win here or there is just papering over the cracks and fails to make any difference as it means CH is at the helm for another week. I can understand why people don’t want to go anymore as the football is so boring. I find myself missing more games now as I have better things to do especially as the 250 mile round trip for home defeats is all the more painful when players just don’t seem to care.
With the players we have, we should be in a higher position and they should shoulder some of the blame. It is not all CH’s fault, but much of the burden falls on him, he bought in players that clearly are out of their depth. CH has lost the faith of the players and the fans, but sadly the board still believes the tripe he spouts.
If we lose tomorrow, I am sure CH will use one or all of his usual excuses:
1. We were unlucky and one mistake cost us
2. We had 19 shots to Torquay’s 1 and we just need a bit of luck for our season to turn around
3. We will go away look at the DVD, roll our sleeves up and stick together as a team
Come on CH, if we lose tomorrow, do the decent thing and go! If we win and we draw Chelsea away, I’m sure people like me will be quiet for a few weeks.
CH OUT!!
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Mike Ward….what an idiot. You obviously have too much money or live off the corporate pension.
A very, very small minority? Are you having a laugh!
Fans come to the game to enjoy football. YOU tell me what game you’ve enjoyed this season or last for that matter?
What game did you last see Walsall play when they beat the opposition for playing football!
What goals were scored against Carisle in open play?
This has gone beyond a joke now. If CH had assembled a decent team and has half a clue of how to organise a team – we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in now.
It has nothing to do with being a doubter – the majority of the fans know that he hasn’t got a clue.
So you thought Fleetwood was a good game of football then? If it wasn’t for Walker between the sticks we would have lost fair & square.
They haven’t got a clue and haven’t from day one, and the football will NEVER improve.
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Stefan,
How jolly good of you to stick your head above the parapet and decide to give us your views on how things are going.
I believe this is the very 1st comment from you since this debacle of a season became an utter farce.
Thank you, now go back to sleep !!
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We’ve been here before nearly 3 decades ago. Low crowds dropping by the game, bad attitude from some.
The football did improve then, it will improve in the future.
Sadly I guess we can’t say the same about your attitude Hawkins, Tinned you havn’t confirmed your earlier threat to stop attending. So is it another load of codswhallop.
I’ll be there tomorrow just like I was on Tuesday. I support my team, do you. sadly it seems that the new sport at WS1 is to slag off the owner and everything associated with him. Quietly forgetting that the same owner took us to our highest level of league football in our history
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Is this the “news” we were told was coming?
This is garbage.
The guy has got to go. I don’t think I was ever this angry under even Merson.
He’s been backed Stefan and done what exactly with it?! He’s been backed and yet cannot see the one thing that every supporter can see.
I thought Gamble had stayed quiet too long, now I wish he’d said nothing at all.
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At last the vote of confidence…a little late but at least we now know… defeat on Saturday means goodbye to muppets Hutch and O’Connor. I really want us to beat torquay, draw a big club away, and make loads of money. On the other hand I will be over the moon if the boards sacks goon1 and goon2.
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Mr Ward,
You seem to have a go at me for missing games and then if I do attend. Slightly mixed messages there don’t you think?
Like many other fans I have been going regularly for years (24 in my case) and don’t have to justify myself to anyone. Like many other fans I have become totally fed up of the way the club is run by the board. Going to games, with kids, is not a cheap pastime anymore and before I invest another £20+ I want to know I’m at the very least going to watch a club that is trying to improve. I don’t think that is the case at the moment and so handing over my hard earned isn’t (and shouldn’t be) taken for granted.
I always support the team on the pitch, it’s the losers higher up that annoy me.
I haven’t yet decided about the next home game. It depends on whether the club show signs of ambition.
Rest easy though, I will ensure I let you know of my decision beforehand.
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So according to you Mike, anyone who stops going isn’t a fan anymore? I’m sure there are plenty of supporters who have invested more time and money into the club than you have but have decided to stop going, so you by default are a truer fan? Yeah right. How about you drop down off your pedestal and hazard a thought as to why so many of your own kind have deserted Bescot instead of sniping them.
It’s your attitude to snipe at those who choose to do something other than what you do that has our fanbase so split. What right do you have to define who is a true supporter or decide just how other people should choose to support Walsall?
Fans who complain do so because what happens at the club affects them. Guess what that means.. THEY CARE! Telling people to get lost is obviously completely beneficial for us at the moment isn’t it? The people who no longer care are long gone and not coming back mate. The fact these guys are still here taking an interest proves the opposite.
How about questioning the club as to why these folk have stopped attending and why the club can’t seem to muster up more than a half baked effort to solve this issue instead of thinking that the fans owe the club even more of their time, effort and money, because at the current moment of time, the club doesn’t deserve it.
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The above dont hold your breathe..
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Don’t just stayaway, come and watch Rushall Olympic play!
The world’s oldest football club, Sheffield F.C. are at Dales Lane tomorrow, six quid in and well worth a visit.
Nothing will change at Walsall until the gates hit rock bottom, but if you prefer watching football to shopping on a Saturday afternoon get behind Walsall’s top non-league club!
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The bottom line is they can’t afford to sack them, it costs money!
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Mike Ward are you on the Walsall Board, great idea telling fans to keep away. I am one of these doubters you are telling to keep away along with eight others who went home and away for at least 30 years some over 50 years, who have given up attending games so are we not real fans.
I had free tickets for a home game a few weeks back and could not give them away, so would it not be better to find out why fans like myself no longer attend rather than telling us to keep away.
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To Mike ward, I live in Dartmouth and have been a Saddlers fan for 45 years, my first game was in 1965. I have been down here for 10 years and for the first time i have stopped going this season because of the management team as it costs me nearly £100 a home game with train travel,does this make me a doubter as well and not a true supporter.
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i would like to thank you to the club for showing the last remaining fans what a joke you really are this my friends is the begining of the end of the current board and management fingers crossed the gates will drop even more now.
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Still happily clapping Mr Ward?
I notice the posts and posts of support for your stance – not!
Only when all the fans say “Enough” will changes for the best of the club be made. Just sitting there happily clapping will only delay the changes so desperately needed.
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