Saddlers losing popularity contest

I guess it was just frustration, well I hope it was anyway,

.

The fact that things weren't going right and we were on the wrong side of another disappointing score line wouldn't have helped matters either.

But when one of the players in a Walsall shirt reacted to a barbed comment from the away supporters section at Exeter on Saturday by suggesting that the culprit, erm, went forth and multiplied you get the sense that the irritation at current performances doesn't start and end with paying customers.

And whilst there can be few, if any excuses, for players spitting the dummy in this kind of way I have to say it was at least encouraging that the player in question at least cared enough to react. Unlike a number of his current dressing room mates, I don't think that this particular Saddlers player is yet coasting towards a summer break in Marbella .

I suspect that I'm far from the only one who suspects that there is a level of friction and apathy in the camp at present.

Troy Deeney's verbal rocket from a couple of weeks back exploded any myths that there wasn't and despite the steady procession of senior players and management attempting to allude to harmony and collective responsibility I think you'd need to be either blind or extremely foolish to buy into such sentiment.

What can never be acceptable however is players who have given up.

Whether that be giving in on the season, the team, their manager or even their career any player failing to give their all should be ashamed of themselves. Quite how many of Hutchings current squad have given up is open to discussion and debate. What isn't however is the fact that some clearly have.

Like so many long suffering Saddlers fans I've long become used, if not immune, to the disappointment of defeat. Winning is great, the thrill of the chase can be fantastic whilst falling short and being disappointed becomes part of the life of a Saddlers fan. It still hurts though.

The only thing I expect of our on pitch representatives is 100%. Give everything you have, make the most of what you were born with, refuse to accept defeat and you'll get more than a fair deal from those with Saddlers persuasions.

Names like Dean Keates, Charlie Ntamark and even Ian Roper immediately spring to mind as players of recent times who became huge favourites by blending maximum effort with the talent they were born with.

Maybe I go back too often to that great first Graydon side but if you want living proof about what can be achieved by applying effort, belief and togetherness with a bit of talent and organisation then look no further.

They were the only team I've ever seen better on grass than they ever were on paper. They proved that substance and team work can overcome the largest of budgets and after taking us to the Promised Land used the same ethos to almost pull off an even greater miracle in surviving.

They were also the most popular Walsall side I can ever remember – and that is another title this current Saddlers side won't be challenging for.