Patience is the key for Hutchings

Walsall correspondent Nick Mashiter looks at Chris Hutchings' first year at Walsall.

Time waits for no man – especially a football manager.

It is the commodity on which they are judged, ticking away waiting for the opportune moment to remove them from service.

And today, Walsall boss Chris Hutchings marks his one year anniversary in charge of the Saddlers.

After being given five months in charge of Bradford and six at Wigan, Hutchings has more cause than most to gripe about the lack of time afforded to managers.

He is on a mission to achieve at the Saddlers and with previous disappointments behind him, this is his project. It has to be.

During his 365 days at the Banks's helm Hutchings has seen a 17 player turnaround with eight leaving and nine arriving – hardly an advert for a stable working environment.

He has won 17 but lost 18 of his 49 games, a trait of the inconsistency he inherited and is trying to shake.

But the stats don't tell the whole story. So much change has gone unnoticed by the fan fixated on the short term.

He is bringing stability to a club which is desperate to reap the rewards of consistency.

One year contracts have become two and training regimes changed. It's not an overnight job. It's all part of the project.

"It's not a one year fix," said Hutchings, who was joined at the Banks's Stadium by assistant Martin O'Connor. "It's about being at a club for three to five years and then being judged on how far you've progressed.

"Managers have gone after 10 games, 15 games or five games and you think 'what's all that about'? If someone shows faith in you to give you the job, you need a certain amount of time to do it how you want to unless it's catastrophic. It's not a quick fix.

"It's not only about the manager and players, it's about the staff as well. Managers take all their staff with them and that includes the press officers these days, it seems to be a job lot.

"All of a sudden someone else comes in and they might not have that back up to bring to the club. There's no consistency whatsoever."

With one of the lowest budgets in League One and average crowds smaller than six teams from the division below the Saddlers are punching above their weight.

But fans still demand success and while general Walsall punters rank as some of the most apathetic in the country they still want progress.

It is difficult to see how they demand change yet sit idly by when their attendance is key and the boss notes just "20, 50 or 100 make a big difference."

Hutchings knows the pressure placed on him and while he shares to their desire he's not greedy.

"Fans are blinkered because they want to come and see success, I understand that. I do and everyone at the football clubs does," he said.

"But most people assume, because the chairman (Jeff Bonser) has been here a long time and players have come and gone, we aren't reinvesting but there's so many things which need to be dealt with.

"The training ground is a £1m project and if you re-do the artificial pitch it's not £5,000 it's a lot of money. It's always on going, a lot of people don't see that.

"Sometimes you have to be realistic and say we're not doing too badly, but we want better. We can say Wolves aren't doing too badly but they don't want to be where they are.

"If you look at where we are, on paper we're doing bloody well with gates of 3,400. I was talking to one of Brighton's directors on Saturday and he said 'you're doing brilliantly' because he knows all the budgets.

"Not that I'm happy to settle for that, I want better but the resources aren't there, that's how we are. We have to keep getting the best out of what we have."

But the Winchester born 52-year-old isn't blind to the fact his team need to perform to entice some absentees back. It's a vicious cycle.

"It's only success which does it," he mused. "If you get a review of a film and it's rubbish you don't go and see it. If someone says 'you've got to go and see that film' and you see it but think it wasn't as good as people made out, you've still gone and spent your money.

"We have four big clubs and we're on the door step, it's going to be difficult but I want that success to get 5,000-6000 in the ground but we'll only get that by being in the top half of the league."

Hutchings marks his 50th game with the visit of Norwich on Saturday/Tuesday with the Saddlers desperately striving to keep in touch with the top six this season.

Everyone wants success but it comes down to one thing. Time.

"We all expect and all our fans expect but this football club has never been established in the Championship," said Hutchings.

"Can we get there? We're striving to get there and that's got to be our next step but fans expect and not everyone can have it.

"Only time will tell."