No reasons to be cheerful

I was determined to write a positive piece for the column this week, deliberately waiting until after last night's game to come up something a little more upbeat, writes Saddlers Sporting Star columnist Darren Fellows.

Indeed had the referee called a halt to proceedings after 75 minutes then maybe I could have let the latest claptrap to spill out of Bescot Crescent go over my head.

Sadly the snatched defeat from the jaws of victory ensured that any hopes of even a hint of positivism in my Saddlers thinking eroded rather quickly.

Now call me an old cynic if you like but I'm struggling to understand the latest excuse to emanate from Bescot this week. Apparently we've had to put all contract talks on hold because the finance bods are unsure of what the budget will be due to the recent spate of postponements.

Asked when he thought we would be able to recommence (!) contract talks manager Chris Hutchings' reply of "How long is a piece of string" came as no surprise to one somewhat cynical punter.

Especially when fans with a longer memory - i.e. 8 days - will recall our Chief Executive putting a precise value on the lost Christmas period. Quite how you can announce that you're £100k down on income one day and then be so unsure you can't start calculating a budget based on this publicly announced figure startles me.

Especially when we're such a well run club.

Indeed given that of late we've tended to hide behind the somewhat dull and straight batted answer of "no contract offers until we know what division we'll be in" I guess that an different excuse, however lame, at least adds a bit of interest and invention to this year's attempts draw out the renegotiation of contracts for as long as possible. What once was the annual fight against promotion now appears to be the annual stalling of contract negotiations.

Clearly the situation that Crystal Palace again find themselves in will provide the WFC hierarchy with a fresh target with which to poke their stick of righteousness towards. And yes, so long as we don't have to make a similar telephone call then Jeff and Roy will always retain both the moral high ground and the right to refer to the financial mess made at the likes of Rotherham and Luton. To be fair they do have a point, speculation in search of accumulation is without question a shortcut to disaster.

Sadly however the near complete turnover of the first team every summer that their business model appears to dictate also appears to be leading to somewhere close to a similar albeit more drawn out conclusion.

It was interesting therefore to see Hutchings refer to the word gamble twice in the E&S newspaper article. Now whilst it's possible that he may never have actually muttered the word and/or could have been misquoted I'd expect a full investigation to be taking place at WFC Hq. Gamble?

The manager of all people should know that this club is never likely to gamble under the current administration. No doubt someone will have a word and pull him into line.

Gamble. The word smacks of both ambition and desperation. Two very contrasting emotions. One of which is pretty evident at the football club at present whilst the other disappeared without trace years ago. Call me an old cynic if you like, but if only there was half as much ambition as there ever were excuses. If only.