The same old questions for Walsall

As very few others seemed to want to give us any credit for the FA Cup first round win at Stourbridge, I thought I'd pay tribute to the Walsall boys for a very professional job done last Saturday.

We treated the non-league side with the respect they deserved, got our heads down and grafted when we had to, then showed that we did indeed have that little bit extra class when we needed it.

Short of the floodgate-opening second goal, it was a textbook performance. What a shame it was 'rewarded' with such a crappy second round draw.

Stourbridge to should be congratulated for their efforts on the day. Clearly a lot of hard work had gone on behind the scenes in terms of organisation, the players put in a shift that was a credit to them, and the genuine Glassboys fans - as opposed to the local residents who turned up attired in hastily purchased on the day scarves to complement their stale-urine coloured tops - were superb.

The only downer being the petulant whinging of home manager Gary Hackett. This guy played at a decent standard for some decent clubs in his career - and played for Shrewsbury - so he really should know better.

Anyway penalties aren't usually awarded for players heading the ball whatever level you're at. If Mr Hackett carries on like this, he'll be in the running for the Crewe hotseat in no time.

Our manager Chris Hutchings was quite rightly full of praise for Stourbridge after the match. At the end of the game, the Saddlers travelling contingent also showed our respect for the hosts by applauding the home team off the pitch. It would have been nice to have got a little bit in return from some quarters.

Probably of greater long-term significance on Saturday however was the publication of the Annual Report for Shareholders, written by someone who commands very little respect and deserves frankly bugger all credit.

And here is what we 'learned' afterwards: -

Apparently now our debts have been reduced to £2.66million - I had never realised they were actually bigger than that last year. We now pay £392,000 per annum in rent. OK our training ground in Essington is now included in this figure, but this is still a staggering amount of money for the club to find each year.

We did make a £25,000 profit, but Jeff had to loan us over £450,000 - loose change he found lying around no doubt - to help us achieve this. Which I think pretty much renders the whole word 'profit' meaningless.

Gate receipts dropped by £322,000, which wasn't exactly a surprise, but interestingly turnover as a whole was down by a significantly larger £798,000. Which makes chief executive Roy Whalley's 'downscaling our ambitions' rant even more preposterous. Even if crowds were slightly up we'd still be heavily in the red.

Staff costs, including players' wages, were also cut. And, at the end of it all, the club now owes Jeff £1.39million.

This raises some very serious questions, although none of them are anything new. How can the club ever move forward when our debts are so high?

How has the owner of such a well-run club got in a situation where over half of our huge debt is owed to himself?

How can there any justification for a rent bill 500 per cent larger than it was when we moved in 20 years ago?

If the figures are so bad even after selling our best players, what chance has any manager ever got of building a team that people will want to come and watch?

I hope that some shareholders get the chance to put Mr Bonser on the spot and I'd love to hear the answers given if they do, but I'm not holding my breath.

The most upbeat response to these figures has come from Jeffery himself, who talks about foundations for the future and the benefits of talented local youngsters, as opposed to the cheap foreign tat regularly brought in by our Football Consultant in days gone by.

Seemingly he has no worries that the man largely responsible for bringing through so many good young players in recent times, Mick Halsall, was lured over to the dark side with Wolves last summer.

Neither does he appear to be bothered that there might come a time when no-one decides to snap up our young talent, even at bottom dollar prices. What happens then?

The huge drop in numbers through the gates seems to have passed him by too. Surely these are not the opinions of a man in denial are they?

We are in the same old viscous circle that we've been in for the last 18 years. No-one appears to want to buy the club and still pay rent, least of all to Bonser, especially given the £2.66 million debt that would also need to be paid off.

If the land ever gets sold off, the club is still in exactly the same financial position it's in now. While the cost of buying the whole package, club and land together, is too prohibitive even for your average multi-millionaire.

Fans are deserting in droves - and I don't blame a single one for doing so - disillusioned by the lack of investment, but we can't attract any investment because of the alarming state of the club's finances. But those responsible for the club's finances can't sell the club because of the reasons stated above.

I'm no accountant, but I've given our situation some considerable thought over a lengthy period of time. I've poured over these figures long and hard, I've tried to think through a number of scenarios in my head, I've played devil's advocate and genuinely attempted to be objective about the whole situation too, before reaching my conclusion.

My conclusion, which incidentally is mirrored by everyone else I've spoken to, is that we are in big trouble. Not only that but we were in it last season and we've been in deep **** for some time, but now its getting even deeper.

No wonder our old boss Richard Money thought Luton in the Conference was a better option. You have to respect him for that.