The same old story for the Saddlers

Walsall blogger Mark Jones believes another first-round cup exit to lower-league opposition paints a clear picture of where the club is currently at.

The Saddlers crashed out of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy on Tuesday evening and, for most of us, the result was as predictable as a Pakistan test match.

A decade ago, when the format was different, we didn't play our first game in the equivalent competition until January 30, when Wigan were the visitors.

With a televised top of the table clash the following Friday, the two teams agreed to play second string teams, yet over 3,000 still turned up to witness a 2-1 win for the Saddlers.

Last Tuesday around 1,500 Walsall fans were present in one of the lowest, if not the lowest, crowds ever for a first team game - and we don't even have a reserve team to put out these days.

In 2000/01 our reserves went out to a stronger Stoke side in the next round, but as we all know our first team more than made amends for that in the play-offs.

Sadly less than 12 months after that Wigan game, our owner Jeff Bonser had decided to dispose of the services of our greatest ever manager and, in my opinion, the club has never been right since.

Great work there Jeff.

For the record we have now lost SIX successive home cup ties, four of them to lower division opponents – although the old cliche about not being able to tell who were the League Two side was certainly applicable against Chesterfield. This is a truly shambolic and shameful stat.

We have been knocked out of two cup competitions before the end of August - surely some record - despite having been handed two winnable ties. And three home defeats out of four is a very poor return.

Before anyone starts moaning about being 'unrealistic' or that we shouldn't expect anything more, consider this – out of all the teams in our section, only Huddersfield and Sheffield Wednesday finished higher in the league last season. If the competition had been seeded we would be at number three.

Continual first round dismissals from this competition, when the club desperately needs something like a half-decent cup run to re-ignite supporter interest, are simply unacceptable.

At the start of the 2007/08 season there was a change in the domestic football calendar, which meant that the first round of the League Cup is played in the first midweek of the season and the first round of the JPT is played in the week before the early September Internationals.

Since the new arrangements kicked in we've lost seven out of seven ties. The only exception? The Trophy in 2008 - when we got a bye!

Is it a co-incidence that in every one of these seasons we've kicked off with a vastly different squad of players from the previous May?

The team that started against Chesterfield contained six new players and one - Julian Gray - who only joined in February.

Is this another example of how the club's policy on players' contracts is having an adverse effect on our chances on the pitch and therefore on our ability to generate revenue through the gate?

They say you reap what you sow.

Of course, not all of the blame for a shocking performance lies with the club hierarchy.

Worryingly the squad that has been assembled over the summer appears to be devoid of any natural leaders, in the key positions of midfield and defence at least.

I'm not the only one who has commented upon how our back four look like they've never even met before, let alone trained together.

In every game, even in the win against Plymouth, there has been a spell when opposing teams have carved our defence open almost at will.

Frustratingly, you don't see anyone in the team trying to organise, encourage or cajole. There's no shouting, bawling or banging heads together. You have to ask if these failings are hurting anybody in a red shirt badly enough?

This isn't necessarily a criticism of a very young defence, there's no-one in midfield to come back and do it either, while our goalkeeper Jonny Brain needs to learn, or be coached, to command his area quickly if he wants to become a proper League One goalkeeper.

One of the most disappointing aspects of the defeat at Brighton, after a reasonable first-half, was how they didn't have to work hard for their goals or their win and how fragile we looked as soon as we went behind.

Manager Chris Hutchings has had all summer to find the right players, and has supposedly had the Troy Deeney money available during the last few weeks.

Relying on loan signings is all well and good, there may well be some real quality deals waiting to be done, but those players are never going to be our own.

Equally mystifying is the ongoing failure to use three substitutes when we're behind. What on earth was there to lose the other night?

The big question to ask, of our manager, of our new chief executive Stef Gambl and of our owner is when is someone actually going to take responsibility for the continued failures at Walsall Football Club?

Some genuine answers would be nice.