Express & Star

Walsall boss Darrell Clarke backs Shay Facey to find a new club

Walsall manager Darrell Clarke has revealed the decision to let Shay Facey leave the club was both a football and financial one.

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The right-back struggled with injuries at times during the 2019/20 campaign, but impressed when he got his chance on the field.

Fellow right-back Cameron Norman is still under contract, while Facey’s is up on June 30, and after the club announced his deal was not being renewed, Clarke confirmed that two factors came into his decision.

“I thought Shay was playing very well towards the back end of the season when he got himself fit,” Clarke said. “He had a bit of a stop-start.

“He’s a great lad with a great attitude and it was a little bit of a mixture of both to be honest (a football and financial decision).

“He’ll probably have no trouble finding a club and we wish him all the best.”

Meanwhile, Mitch Candlin and Kory Roberts will also depart at the of their contracts with Clarke citing a lack of expected game time as the reason.

“They’re great lads with great attitudes but they’ve been at the club a long time and sometimes you get to the stage when you’re not playing regularly and the change does the players good,” he added.

“As well as being good lads, they wouldn’t have played as many games as they would have liked to have played. Kory was coming back from a serious injury and we wish him all the best.

“Hopefully they both find new clubs.”