New Walsall boss Mat Sadler: 'I will do it my way'

Sadler, who was confirmed as Michael Flynn’s permanent replacement on Thursday, believes his prior knowledge of the Saddlers puts him better placed than anyone to begin reversing years of on-field decline.

The 38-year-old former defender made more than 100 appearances in two spells as a player at Bescot and has been part of the club’s coaching staff for the past three seasons, taking caretaker charge of the team following Flynn’s dismissal last month.

Now given the job full-time after a lengthy interview process, Sadler says his first task will be establishing a culture which changes perceptions of the club both internally and externally.

He said: “I think the unique perspective I came from and which I wanted to make clear during the process, is I feel I know the club better than anyone else.

“I know where it has been, what made it what it was at the times we’ve had success. I also see where we are now, as an inside observer and part of where it has got to. I feel I have the unique perspective of knowing what I want to do to reverse that and move us forward.

“I spoke to the owners at length about this but I want to create an identity the club hasn’t had for a good number of years now.

“I am fully aware of where I want this club to be, how I want it to be viewed from the outside and how I want to attract players to it.

“I’ll use some of the experiences I’ve had working under some fantastic managers in the past. But I’ll do it my way, that is the main thing.”

Sadler made the first big call of his managerial career on Friday by deciding which members of the current squad will be offered new deals and expects a busy summer.

He said: “I’m determined to make sure the culture and environment is one player are desperate to come to work, desperate to come and improve. That is the most important thing for me.

“I want that to feed into every other aspect of the club and I want it to be viewed from the outside as a place of real togetherness. It starts from the environment I create at the training ground. I want it to ooze out from there.

“I care about players. I care about everyone at the club and I understand people. That is a conscious trait of me as a person.

“The best managers I worked for were extremely authentic on a human level. I would like to think the lads will know I care about them deeply. The teams I was successful with, togetherness was everything.”

“I want players to come to me. I want players to feel they can talk to me about anything in their lives. The hope and the desire and thought for any of that is it then goes and becomes something powerful out there on the training pitch, every day, which is what it is all about.

“Together, we have to make something powerful.”