Tony Mowbray: Walsall might live to regret sacking Sean O'Driscoll

That's the view of former Albion boss Tony Mowbray, now in charge of Saddlers' League One promotion rivals Coventry City who says Saddlers could 'get what they deserve'.

Mowbray, who managed the Baggies from 2006-2009, said O'Driscoll looked to have been the perfect fit to take over at The Banks's after Dean Smith's decision to leave for Brentford shortly before Christmas.

Mowbray raised eyebrows at the decision to offload O'Driscoll, despite Walsall's recent poor run of results but said it is always difficult to replace a manager like Smith who has been at a club for a number of years.

"Most managers have stopped gawping at the decisions people in football make," said Mowbray.

"Sean O'Driscoll is a great football man and I thought it was a very clever appointment to be honest because they've got a really nice technical team at Walsall and Sean's always coached technical teams, getting them to play and pass.

"It seemed to be the right fit and yet, for whatever reason, their results have dipped.

"We're searching for answers here – at Walsall it might be something entirely different, something going on behind the scenes, I don't know, but sometimes it's difficult to follow a guy who's been at a football club for a long time.

"The previous manager was there for four or five years and I think the guys in suits who run clubs get used to the way somebody works – whether he's intense or laid-back, really attack-minded or defensive, so if results don't go the way they would like it's not what they're used to and they make changes.

"David Moyes proved he was a fantastic manager at Everton for 11 years but he followed Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and everybody knew how he worked and what he did so David lasted less than a year.

"I found that at Celtic after four years of Gordon Strachan. You don't quite do it the same way – you bring new players in, the training's slightly different – and if results don't quite measure up the people in charge think you must be wrong so they make changes.

"Sean's probably fallen into that but here's a team sitting fourth in the league changing their manager and people in my business would look and think 'let's see if they get what they deserve now.'

"Because that's the harsh world.

"If they find the right one to pick it up and finish strong, good luck to them; if they don't maybe they'll look back and regret their decision."