Walsall sack Sean O'Driscoll - Whitney the replacement.

[JoeJoeJoeJoe]

Lol

 

[JJH]

Brilliant

 

[CCFC_Charlie]

Good decision by Walsall, it clearly wasn't working and their season was being to fall apart a bit.

 

[Geosaddler]

Yeehaaaa. Thank christ for that. Now lets get back to basics, get the 3 amigos in charge and move on.

 

[StagsForLife]

Wow what an overreaction

 

[JJH]

Wow what an overreaction

Not really, he's a useless dour old bastard. He's extinct, his philosophies and methods don't fit hand in hand with the modern game.

Stevey Cotterill, save their season my friend.

 

[StagsForLife]

Not really, he's a useless dour old bastard. He's extinct, his philosophies and methods don't fit hand in hand with the modern game.

Stevey Cotterill, save their season my friend.

They're 4th in the league and I'm pretty sure they weren't expecting promotion. With not much left in the season it's a bit daft.

 

[Geosaddler]

Stags, its not an overreaction its perfectly proactive by the club. I cannot begin to tell you how much o'driscoll had ruined a very good team in a short space of time. As JJH says, the man is a total dinosaur.

 

[Westbars_Spireite]

Weird on a number of levels. The previous guy Smith seemed to be given loads of leeway before when things weren't going well.

 

[JJH]

They're 4th in the league and I'm pretty sure they weren't expecting promotion. With not much left in the season it's a bit daft.

He's un-done all of Smith's good work and has taken them backwards. I'd love to see a points to game ratio pre-O'Driscoll and during O'Driscoll's reign.

 

[Geosaddler]

^^^ well said that man!!

 

[RavenBish]

Nice to see that some clubs are pro-active and admit their mistakes...

 

[SaddlerJonny]

Thank fuck for that, we now have at least a small chance of staying in the play-offs.

 

[StagsForLife]

Stags, its not an overreaction its perfectly proactive by the club. I cannot begin to tell you how much o'driscoll had ruined a very good team in a short space of time. As JJH says, the man is a total dinosaur.

Fair play mate, I'm just on the outside looking in mate and obviously don't know what is going on.

 

[Hooped Wizard]

Still arguably our best ever manager but he's not done a great job at Walsall.

I wish we'd be a bit more proactive - fucking Walsall showing us up.

 

[Bobbin']

Assume they know who they're after, surely can't afford to waste too much time searching for a replacement.

 

[SpireLine]

Nooooooo ... too soon

 

[SaddlerJonny]

Assume they know who they're after, surely can't afford to waste too much time searching for a replacement.

We won't go after anyone, we will stick with the 3 coaches who have been with us since before SOD. Jon Whitney, Neil Cutler and John Ward.

 

[TimeyWimey]

I'm joining the "Respect to Walsall for showing some ambition whilst my club sleepwalks into oblivion" club that seems to be forming in this thread.

 

[blade1889]

Didn't seem a great appointment at the time Imo, pretty sure wherever he's been he's needed time to get it right. With the position Walsall were in they shouldn't have gone after someone like that. Still seems quite surprising he'd be sacked so soon though.

Good luck in the play-offs though, you go up and Colchester down and I think that's us as the longest serving L1 team. One for the trophy cabinet.

 

[Bobbin']

Didn't seem a great appointment at the time Imo, pretty sure wherever he's been he's needed time to get it right. With the position Walsall were in they shouldn't have gone after someone like that. Still seems quite surprising he'd be sacked so soon though.

Good luck in the play-offs though, you go up and Colchester down and I think that's us as the longest serving L1 team. One for the trophy cabinet.

Oldham.

 

[Hooped Wizard]

Didn't seem a great appointment at the time Imo, pretty sure wherever he's been he's needed time to get it right. With the position Walsall were in they shouldn't have gone after someone like that. Still seems quite surprising he'd be sacked so soon though.

Good luck in the play-offs though, you go up and Colchester down and I think that's us as the longest serving L1 team. One for the trophy cabinet.

How could you forget Oldham?

 

[SpireiteDan]

Always thought it was a myth that he was a good manager, there were a fair few CFC fans who wanted him to be be appointed after we got rid of Deanosaur.

But FFS Walsall, couldn't you have just waited another week?

 

[blade1889]

How could you forget Oldham?

My bad, thought there might have been another hence the 'think' but i couldnt be bothered checking or really thinking about ut tbh. we cant even have a longest league one medal then. Never mind. Unless they go down too obviously...which is looking quite possible....so still...go us.

 

[Dale4ever]

Disgusting decision. You're in the playoffs!

 

[4froale]

Disgusting decision. You're in the playoffs!

They were in the automatic spots before he came in......

 

[JJH]

Disgusting decision. You're in the playoffs!

They wouldn't have been come the end of the season if they'd have stuck by him, they need a re-vitalisation and O'Driscoll is hardly a motivator.

 

[SpireiteDan]

Disgusting decision. You're in the playoffs!

That's easy to say looking in from the outside but those that have seen his team play week-in, week-out seem to have come to the conclusion he's not up to it and that's fair enough.

Better to hold your hands up and admit you got it wrong, than to dig your heels in and stubbornly hope that it might turn out ok in the end. Big chance for Walsall to go up this season, why not give themselves the best chance possible?

 

[Geosaddler]

Only until about the end of March with that dullard in charge!! Falling like a stone! Best proactive decision the board have made for years. Who knows,playoffs still may not happen but we've given ourselves the best chance possible with this decision.

 

[Saddlerrad]

Disgusting decision. You're in the playoffs!

You saw how we played in the game against you? We have won 2 in 10 and have slipped away from the race for the top 2..of which we were looking a favourite for until Christmas. We look like a relegation side. It's not even so much the results or league position, it's everything else that has come with it. He has completely de-valued the clubs playing assets. He has sapped all confidence from the team.

Sawyers - one of the best players in the division, to someone quite blatantly not playing for the manager, jeered off by his own fans yesterday. Bradshaw - a goal machine who single-handedly scores the goals to keep us moving forward, now an isolated 5 foot somthing target man. He has just excluded Rico Henry from the entire team? Why? He could be the clubs most lucrative sale ever, with virtually every big Premier League club interested. No explanation, no reasoning - nothing. Thorough arrogance. Bonser knows this is the clubs best chance to get promoted and will by for some years to come. He also knows if we don't go up, we in theory would have had good fees to play with for our players. Not anymore.

One of our 'in the know' posters on UTS has said that there has been a bad atmosphere behind the scenes for weeks. Bonser doesn't like SOD as a person. He treated our playing staff like shit, ignored the media/fans/players/staff in corridors and generally displayed an aura of arrogance and 'too good to be at the club'. Smith was given 5 years and lots of time through awful periods because the club could see that regardless of points, position or form that every single one of the vital playing staff were completely and totally behind him. He was a local bloke and treated everyone with respect - the complete opposite from SOD.

Then you have the transfers. We have loaned Bryn Morris from Boro - he hasn't played 1 minute of football since joining, despite being match fit. He has 3 loan players on the bench, doesn't start any of them. On Tuesday he tells the media we won't be bringing in another forward. A couple of days later he signs Hiwula, who had to be recommended to him by our physio come coach? Hiwula won't have come cheap for a club like us, Wigan wanted him back but he had turned them down to get more game time for us. Yet he comes and sits on the bench?

Then there is the strange match selection. Our early season form was based on playing wingbacks away from home, using Henry and Demetriou as attacking weapons down the flanks, providing enough energy with 3 in midfield to ensure we stayed strong defensively whilst offering Bradshaw and Sawyers who have been isolated in years and periods gone by enough to ensure we score enough goals. A remedy working perfectly? He played it twice and then binned it. The home formation with 2 attacking wingers in Lalkovic and Morris, finally bringing us width and goals from wide areas that we have craved for virtually all of the last 5 or so years under Smith. SOD doesn't even give Morris a chance as a winger and plays Forde intead - a player that whilst is a good technical player - isn't a winger in anyone's money. The exclusion of Rico Henry? The list is endless. I could rant on about it all night.

Then there is the media, who have had to interview on eggshells around SOD for weeks, with him coming up with completely bizarre interviews where he dribbled on about how the side had been unlucky, how the opposition were the new Barcelona, how we were over-achieving, how the players had been great in the face of frustration, how we played with a 'promotion spirit' - I mean, just wtf is a promotional spirit? We lost 3-1 you bellend and played like 11 confidence lacking idiots. Then the final straw yesterday, saying that the worst aspect of the entire day was the 'performance of the fans'. LOL. I mean fuck off, do you have a sack wish?

All in all, this is the correct decision in virtually every single aspect. It's proactive and shows the board is interested in taking this opportunity, whilst ensuring the atmosphere and togetherness that this entire squad was built around behind the scenes comes back to fruition. As it is, I fear this is too late and reforming confidence, form, the one touch exciting football that we saw pre-Christmas and pushing for a place in the top 2 has sailed down stream - this should at least, allow us to pick ourselves up and get some momentum under our wings for a potential run at the play-offs.

Great decision by the board.