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Sleepless nights for Walsall boss Darrell Clarke

Walsall manager Darrell Clarke insists he is still enjoying the job, despite having ‘sleepless nights’ during his side’s poor run of form.

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The Saddlers have lost five games on the bounce and Clarke has admitted recently that he often stays up into the early hours of the morning watching the game back after a defeat.

Despite this, the 41-year-old says he will continuing to work on improving the team.

“I’m really enjoying my job, albeit a lot of sleepless nights,” he said.

“It’s disappointing to say where we are, I want to be winning.

“I don’t do it for myself, I do it for the fans, the board, the good people that work here, the office staff.

“Winning for a manager lasts two minutes, you move on to the next thing and it’s important we get this club on the right path.

“When I joined the club in the summer people saw my track record and thought ‘well he’s bounced back there, back-to-back promotions’ and they think it’s going to be an automatic fix.

“But I knew that wasn’t going to be the case.

“The reason why I put myself in this position was to build something that’s going to be sustainable and something that’s going to lead to success so we’ll stick to the right path.

“We’re on a big low at the minute, we have experience with myself and my staff with how we work.

“The demands have always been set high of the players.

“Sometimes people think I’m a bit harsh or critical of my players but you have to put them under a bit of pressure because we’re in a pressure environment.

“We’ve got an opportunity coming up to the window, we’re doing a lot of work in the background of where we need to be heading, strengthening in areas of the pitch.

“But players have an opportunity to turn their form around and show me that they can handle the mental side as well.”

Players at the club have said in recent interviews that the training schedule is tough but Clarke insists that the players can’t sidestep responsibility during their losing run.

“I think professional footballers are fortunate although they’re not the highest paid professional footballers out there,” he added.

“At times you’ve got to work extra hard and there’s no shirking that here – that’s the principles we put in place.

“I think the lads are professional and have been since day dot.

“I just need more from them physically and mentally and make sure we’re all fighting that corner.”