Time for excuses is over at Walsall

Questions remain unanswered and promises yet to be delivered at Walsall – the time for excuses is over.

The Saddlers' plight has been one of their own making and no amount of apologies can justify their position.

Saturday's shocking 4-1 defeat to Tranmere left manager Chris Hutchings' job hanging by a thread with fans increasingly united in their belief he must go.

The team are in disarray on the pitch, a hotch-potch of a side who, on paper, should be well clear of danger.

Instead they are joint-bottom of League One as attendances continue to dwindle.

So what's gone wrong?

Walsall have lost seven of nine home games and have won just five points from the last 30 on offer.

A run of games against strugglers Hartlepool, Yeovil, Leyton Orient, Dagenham and Redbridge and Tranmere yielded just two points.

A win over Exeter proved a false dawn and the club slipped to new lows against Rovers.

The worry is now they play five of the top eight starting with Huddersfield on Saturday. The run of so-called 'easier' games is over.

The players are not sub-standard – believe it or not there are some good ones – but the Saddlers missed a big chance to make some serious signings in August.

Losing Troy Deeney on the eve of the season hasn't helped and the club deserve credit for squeezing upwards of £500,000 out of Watford.

But they have failed to invest wisely enough. In the summer signs were, after two-year contracts were penned, that Walsall were securing the future.

Yet the lack of permanent signings since then has sounded alarm bells and the Saddlers are now reliant on loanees who will be returned to sender.

Money was there to spend but, Jonathan Macken aside, permanent players were not snapped up and that has contributed to the decline.

Not for one minute can you say the loanees don't care but they have Premier League and Championship parent clubs to go back to.

Ryan McGivern aside, will they be fighting for Walsall's cause at the end of the season?

Martin Devaney and Andrew Davies are good players but won't be sticking around too long and David Davis has returned to Wolves.

Reuben Reid is here until January and has expressed a desire to stay, but he must fulfil his potential.

They joined a squad who have under-performed in every way. Individual errors cannot be legislated for, and sympathy lies with the manager there, but they can't be blamed every time.

Walsall – missing the influential Jamie Vincent – have kept just one clean sheet and while players wax-lyrical about training they don't show loyalty to the manger on the pitch.

But such is the nature of the game the finger of blame will be pointed at the manager.

There is no middle ground now, Saturday's defeat was a hammer blow to Hutchings.

The opening 15 games of the season have been an utter failure. That's not an outrageous statement, it's a fact. The team know this and the time for mollycoddling is over. Notts County's Craig Short was sacked on Sunday for a lot less.

The board have failed to back a management team chairman Jeff Bonser has described as the best of his 20-year tenure.

Worried about the connotations of a 'vote of confidence' – or perhaps a face-saving exercise over the previous declaration – Hutchings and his assistant Martin O'Connor have been left out to dry.

So Jeff, what's on your mind? It's been almost two years since you last spoke to the media en mass following Hutchings' appointment in January 2009.

We know you don't court the spotlight, and in many ways that's good, but not when the club is in this position.

The Express & Star has continually asked for an audience but things have gone too far for you to remain quiet.

You are the chairman and have a duty to the club and the fans to give them the answers they seek.

The club has been going for 122 years and the supporters have always been there – but the spirit has been squeezed out of them. You are losing them.

They deserve a lot more than silence from the man who holds the keys to the castle.

By Nick Mashiter