Walsall boss Darrell Clarke: My toughest time as a manager
Saddlers manager Darrell Clarke has admitted that Walsall's current run of bad form has been the toughest time in his managerial career - but he insists his side can't feel sorry for themselves.
His team have lost the last four games in a row and sit in 19th in League Two.
A tough start has seen many fans become frustrated and Clarke says his team have to take the criticism coming their way.
"It is (my toughest time as a manager)," he said.
"But you don't get out of these spells by feeling sorry for yourself.
"You have to take your flack and stick.
"I'm a rubbish manager at the minute, that's what I am.
"What you have to do is turn yourself into a better manager.
"I expect massive questions to be asked of me, I understand it.
"There's no excuses from me or my players.
"All I'm going to do is keep working hard to be a better manager for Walsall.
"Give up? There's nothing to give up on.
"I've been in the job and we've had 12 weeks of competitive football.
"Are we doing rubbish, yes we are.
"I'm not giving up until we get the club back where we should be, end of."
Clarke has been outspoken in recent weeks about his players and their mental strength and while he sticks by that, he says his players are behind his vision for the club.
"Don't give me this old 'player power', it's a load of rubbish," Clarke added.
"My players are fully behind what we're trying to do here, make no bones about that.
"They have to be better, I'm not going to cuddle them, they know that.
"I'm not a cuddling manager.
"If they're going to struggle in the modern world with confidence, they go on social media, their Twitter, they read newspaper articles.
"The criticism is there and if they can't handle the criticism out there and from a manager when they're not doing well, then they shouldn't be footballers should they.
"Go and stack shelves at Asda.
"I'm not having it, there's no player's feeling 'oh it's not fair', they need to be working doubly hard to make sure we turn it around.
"If they don't like that, there's the door, get out the door.
"Soft players don't win you promotions, soft players don't get their careers where they need to be.
"If my players need me to be nice and soft and say everything is going to be ok, I think they need to get another manager in.
"It's not going to happen, they need to do better.
"Staff need to do better, I've got to do a lot better, everybody at the football club has got to do a lot better.
"If they can't handle that, they'll be on their way, trust me."