Coventry City (A) Apr 22nd, 3pm

[Cowshed]

Disappointed with the attitude of players today and lack of motivation given the number of fans travelling

Whitney apologised for this but it really is unforgivable

Hope he learns from robins who seems to have reorganised and motivated a poor Coventry side with little quality and only pride to play for

Watched the players leave the coach today Whitney signed a few programmes and so did ozthumer but most of the others just walked past without comment or acknowledgment and didn't remove the earplugs and someone next to me said that Graydon would never have allowed that to happen. It's the small things like this that a good manager would do to bring the club together staff players and fans. There is a big problem in that the manager has managed to divide the fans and judging by the people around me today it seemed about 80 /20 against him. This could be due to the poor away record and this ratio is common at away games but it is more like 50/50 at home. I would rather he succeed as he is a good clubman and I think many agree with this but there is a distrust of his management ability through lack of experience and this is going to turn into a battle of wills again between the fans and the board- interesting times

[SoccerHQ]

It's been said, but that was awful. A halftime double substitution demonstrates that it was so bad even Whitney saw it. Though I'd have hooked Baka rather than Makris.

Such a contrast with our last away game of last season. We knew that this year wouldn't be the same but Whitney's took us so far back, if he continues this backwards momentum we're in real trouble next year. We've played two fourth division teams this week and if I'm being really generous we might just be on a par with them.

Would that logic not apply the other way PT. Previous two games were 1-1 at Sloppies and largely being the better team. They beat play off chasing Sarfend today. 1-1 v Oxford who went and smashed play off chasing Millwall in their own backyard today.

From what I've seen of this division there's 4 good teams this year (top 4 and maybe Scunny but they massively dipped second half of season) and then from 6th to 16th it's much of a muchness.

You can't say Bristol Rovers and Posh for example are that much superior because Walsall beat both comfortably enough at home and indeed took 4 points from both in the games.

[PT]

It's been said, but that was awful. A halftime double substitution demonstrates that it was so bad even Whitney saw it. Though I'd have hooked Baka rather than Makris.

Such a contrast with our last away game of last season. We knew that this year wouldn't be the same but Whitney's took us so far back, if he continues this backwards momentum we're in real trouble next year. We've played two fourth division teams this week and if I'm being really generous we might just be on a par with them.

Would that logic not apply the other way PT. Previous two games were 1-1 at Sloppies and largely being the better team. They beat play off chasing Sarfend today. 1-1 v Oxford who went and smashed play off chasing Millwall in their own backyard today.

From what I've seen of this division there's 4 good teams this year (top 4 and maybe Scunny but they massively dipped second half of season) and then from 6th to 16th it's much of a muchness.

You can't say Bristol Rovers and Posh for example are that much superior because Walsall beat both comfortably enough at home and indeed took 4 points from both in the games.

And we did the double over Sheffield United which must mean we could hold our own in The Championship. And lost against Macclesfield which means we'd struggle in the Conference. Weird eh?

But for my money the last two games were fourth division at best. I can't work out our tactics, our formation or how we plan to break down pretty ordinary teams. We've played really well in three or four games this season, we've been distinctly third division for most of the time but latterly it feels as though we've slipped beneath that level. Hence my point. If this was a season where we were supposed to be building some new foundations to "go again" then far from seeing some steady progress with us honing a "Whitney way" I'm struggling to see anything resembing a solid platform, methodology or philosophy if you will and in fact can only see regression.

Whitney apologised for today. Which in many ways is laudably honest. I hope that's not the last of the honesty pills he's taken.

[coop63]

It's been said, but that was awful. A halftime double substitution demonstrates that it was so bad even Whitney saw it. Though I'd have hooked Baka rather than Makris.

Such a contrast with our last away game of last season. We knew that this year wouldn't be the same but Whitney's took us so far back, if he continues this backwards momentum we're in real trouble next year. We've played two fourth division teams this week and if I'm being really generous we might just be on a par with them.

Would that logic not apply the other way PT. Previous two games were 1-1 at Sloppies and largely being the better team. They beat play off chasing Sarfend today. 1-1 v Oxford who went and smashed play off chasing Millwall in their own backyard today.

From what I've seen of this division there's 4 good teams this year (top 4 and maybe Scunny but they massively dipped second half of season) and then from 6th to 16th it's much of a muchness.

You can't say Bristol Rovers and Posh for example are that much superior because Walsall beat both comfortably enough at home and indeed took 4 points from both in the games.

Can't agree with on this one HQ

Against a dead and buried Swindon we were lucky to scrape a win and today against clearly (imo) the worst side I've seen this season, we simply didn't turn up. It was a joke frankly..

The logic of equality against other teams just doesn't apply in football at our level and the fact that The Blades will probably finish the season on 100 points yet we've beaten them twice in the league and once in a cup game doesn't stack up as they are undeniably streets ahead of us in every dept..

Many of the teams around mid table are much of a muchness but our current standard of football and fitness is that of a doomed team - thank god the season is nearly over otherwise on current form we'd be staring down the barrel of a relegation scrap for sure

[coop63]

It's been said, but that was awful. A halftime double substitution demonstrates that it was so bad even Whitney saw it. Though I'd have hooked Baka rather than Makris.

Such a contrast with our last away game of last season. We knew that this year wouldn't be the same but Whitney's took us so far back, if he continues this backwards momentum we're in real trouble next year. We've played two fourth division teams this week and if I'm being really generous we might just be on a par with them.

Would that logic not apply the other way PT. Previous two games were 1-1 at Sloppies and largely being the better team. They beat play off chasing Sarfend today. 1-1 v Oxford who went and smashed play off chasing Millwall in their own backyard today.

From what I've seen of this division there's 4 good teams this year (top 4 and maybe Scunny but they massively dipped second half of season) and then from 6th to 16th it's much of a muchness.

You can't say Bristol Rovers and Posh for example are that much superior because Walsall beat both comfortably enough at home and indeed took 4 points from both in the games.

And we did the double over Sheffield United which must mean we could hold our own in The Championship. And lost against Macclesfield which means we'd struggle in the Conference. Weird eh?

But for my money the last two games were fourth division at best. I can't work out our tactics, our formation or how we plan to break down pretty ordinary teams. We've played really well in three or four games this season, we've been distinctly third division for most of the time but latterly it feels as though we've slipped beneath that level. Hence my point. If this was a season where we were supposed to be building some new foundations to "go again" then far from seeing some steady progress with us honing a "Whitney way" I'm struggling to see anything resembing a solid platform, methodology or philosophy if you will and in fact can only see regression.

Whitney apologised for today. Which in many ways is laudably honest. I hope that's not the last of the honesty pills he's taken.

Spot on - I think the players are starting to react very negatively to JW's regime.... there not a great feeling around our club at present and it's becoming clear things aren't right..

How can he say the first half was unacceptable and infer its down to others when our best threatening player is on the bench! He needs to take full responsibility for today's debacle - he could have changed it in the first half rather than clearly wait for it to maybe improve -

when Bradford played Sheffield Utd last week, they went 2-0 down and made a sub after just 16 mins as the formation clearly wasn't working for them... I know they still lost the game but clearly managers have options and some use them better than others..

[Whitters]

Disappointed with the attitude of players today and lack of motivation given the number of fans travelling
Watched the players leave the coach today Whitney signed a few programmes and so did ozthumer but most of the others just walked past without comment or acknowledgment and didn't remove the earplugs and someone next to me said that Graydon would never have allowed that to happen. It's the small things like this that a good manager would do to bring the club together staff players and fans.

This is shocking - totally agree with what you're saying.
Although I will say that the example comes from the top.
When did JB last present himself as a fan to the fans.
Everything, EVERYTHING, has to be right for success and there are things needing adjustment.

[Guest]

M6 No Clasico

https://youtu.be/H9n2lA6mJbA



A shame I missed it. :mrgreen:

[Gripper]

Disgusting away form. Some abolsutely dire games out of the 12 I got to this year on the road.

Wouldn't mind but the only win I did see (Port Vale) I thought we were lucky to win and given the pressure Vale put on us they deserved a goal.

[ToeJoe Jnr]

Did Joe Edwards back track all he way home! I think Kieron Morris must have woken up last night and thought, I should have supported quicker given his reaction time was so slow.

That goal is ambarrassing but is typical of the goals we have conceded all season. Not stopping crosses, no one prepared to put their body on the line. Interestingly Whitney stated at the start of the season that the team needed leaders. There is nothing in this team to show that has been rectified. He talks about bringing in the right characters, perhaps leadership qualities is something he can add to the list in the preseason.

There is 180 minutes left of this pointless season and I for one can't wait for it to be over.

[scott_powell]

Remember when I was happy to eat humble pie on Whitney? Well now I've regurgitated it. Fudge rubbish. That away form is a disgrace. I along with many others were right! That decent spell was just luck. Whitney is clueless. HE ISNT A MANAGER!!!

[stourportsaddler]

Decided last minute to make the trip to the Ricoh......
What an absolute joke that was, I cant remember watching such an abject and embarrassing display from a Walsall team!
We were clueless couldn't pass to a team mate the only player putting any effort in was Chambers and the only player to have a shot in the first half was O'Connell!
In the first half JW was sat on the bench chatting to his sidekick and never seems to be in his technical area giving any instructions, he just sat there doing nothing!
Robins on the other half was out there encouraging and telling his player what he wants from them.....
Ah well rant over, that's my last game for this season as I'm not paying to watch someone out of his depth trying to Manage a football team..

[Fish]

I was reflecting on the 'to do' list that some say Whitney has for the close season and how Uncle Jeff might support him. The thing that Bonser should do is give the list to someone else.

Walsall have gone backwards this year and will continue to do so unless a change is made at the top. The football (with only a few exceptions) has been as dire as I remember, the system non existent, the writing has been on the wall for some time. It's sad that a good servant of the club has to go, but he is not a manager. Bonser needs to act now.

[Paulus68]

I'm sure football fans that like to take a punt on fixed odds coupons would have seen real value in backing Cov' yesterday. Mid table teams with nothing to play for regularly get turned over quite easily at the end of the season. No excuse but all rather predictable. I suppose the same could be said of Cov but Robins recent appointment hasn't worn off on them yet ( give it time) .

[WalsallMem]

The usual, boring whine-fest on Up The Saddlers from a bunch of supporters that have no idea what a proper crisis is. You lot need something to happen to this football club to realise how good we have it - I'm embarrassed that Coventry fans might come on here and look at this dirge. It might bring us all together more as well.

I was working in London on Friday and listened to a call from a heart broken Leyton Orient fan fighting back tears. Now, there's a bunch of fans that have something to moan, whinge and bitch about.

Oh yeah, while I'm here. It's been clear for a number of years that 99.9% of footballers dont give a cack about the supporters of any club these days. This is the modern footballer - get used to it. If your going to follow the game religiously and pump your weekly wages in to the club get used to this, it's not changing any time soon. Managers earn less than the players yet they have to instill discipline and motivation in a bunch of overpaid, mollycoddled pre-madonnas with zero loyalty. Yet the manager is the first to be fired. The football world has gone mad.

Whitney has been an amazing servant to this club and has done a decent job under the circumstances....one of the few guys that we could have got in that really does care for the club! Some of the characters on this forum are some of the direst, most miserable individuals :roll: no wonder a match thread rarely makes it into 3 pages. I almost hope Bonser does get rid of JW so we can get someone else in and hopefully we can go down - just to keep you lot with plenty of whining material to get off on

[m&m]

That's your opinion and your entitled to it.

My opinion is slightly different.

All I know is that I went to a football match yesterday afternoon with my two boys and it cost me the best part of £100 to witness my team put in zero effort to either win the game or even entertain us.

I think I'm entitled to be slightly miffed.

[Mazza01]

That's your opinion and your entitled to it.

My opinion is slightly different.

All I know is that I went to a football match yesterday afternoon with my two boys and it cost me the best part of £100 to witness my team put in zero effort to either win the game or even entertain us.

I think I'm entitled to be slightly miffed.

Entirely agree with you mate..

[SoccerHQ]

I was reflecting on the 'to do' list that some say Whitney has for the close season and how Uncle Jeff might support him. The thing that Bonser should do is give the list to someone else.

Walsall have gone backwards this year and will continue to do so unless a change is made at the top. The football (with only a few exceptions) has been as dire as I remember, the system non existent, the writing has been on the wall for some time. It's sad that a good servant of the club has to go, but he is not a manager. Bonser needs to act now.

Depends what the brief is though.

If he said to Whitney at start of season after seeing 3/4 of last years team leave get us mid table and miles clear of relegation trouble then Whitney has fulfilled that brief comfortably.

He did act quickly on S O'D but that was more he was messing up even finishing in the top 6.

I don't foresee a managerial chance at all this summer.

[WalsallMem]

There's no guarantee's with football. You part with your money and have no right to anything at all. That's not my opinion that's the way it is.

Like I have said the players don't give a fudge, their brief has been completed. Why not blame them instead of a bloke who has done okay, yet again calling for wholesale changes because we have lost a game.

Pathetic. Get a grip. There will be no change this summer, so deal with it.

[Sadsfan]

Shitney will be here for a while unless we're close to being relegated. I think that the board have in mind what happened with Smith where it took him a while to get things sorted. The. Difference being that you could see Smith's blueprint and can you see Shitney managing at a higher level?

[chunkster]

It's been said, but that was awful. A halftime double substitution demonstrates that it was so bad even Whitney saw it. Though I'd have hooked Baka rather than Makris.

Such a contrast with our last away game of last season. We knew that this year wouldn't be the same but Whitney's took us so far back, if he continues this backwards momentum we're in real trouble next year. We've played two fourth division teams this week and if I'm being really generous we might just be on a par with them.

Would that logic not apply the other way PT. Previous two games were 1-1 at Sloppies and largely being the better team. They beat play off chasing Sarfend today. 1-1 v Oxford who went and smashed play off chasing Millwall in their own backyard today.

From what I've seen of this division there's 4 good teams this year (top 4 and maybe Scunny but they massively dipped second half of season) and then from 6th to 16th it's much of a muchness.

You can't say Bristol Rovers and Posh for example are that much superior because Walsall beat both comfortably enough at home and indeed took 4 points from both in the games.

And we did the double over Sheffield United which must mean we could hold our own in The Championship. And lost against Macclesfield which means we'd struggle in the Conference. Weird eh?

But for my money the last two games were fourth division at best. I can't work out our tactics, our formation or how we plan to break down pretty ordinary teams. We've played really well in three or four games this season, we've been distinctly third division for most of the time but latterly it feels as though we've slipped beneath that level. Hence my point. If this was a season where we were supposed to be building some new foundations to "go again" then far from seeing some steady progress with us honing a "Whitney way" I'm struggling to see anything resembing a solid platform, methodology or philosophy if you will and in fact can only see regression.

Whitney apologised for today. Which in many ways is laudably honest. I hope that's not the last of the honesty pills he's taken.

Spot on - I think the players are starting to react very negatively to JW's regime.... there not a great feeling around our club at present and it's becoming clear things aren't right..

How can he say the first half was unacceptable and infer its down to others when our best threatening player is on the bench! He needs to take full responsibility for today's debacle - he could have changed it in the first half rather than clearly wait for it to maybe improve -

when Bradford played Sheffield Utd last week, they went 2-0 down and made a sub after just 16 mins as the formation clearly wasn't working for them... I know they still lost the game but clearly managers have options and some use them better than others..

Funny you should say that about the players reacting negatively to JW's regime, because i am sure i posted something along those lines earlier on in the season, and it also being the reason that some of our best players left :|

[WalsallMem]

Hate to piss on your parade, but heard an Oztumer interview yesterday on WM where he thanked Whitney and basically said its all down to him that he won the award. He virtually dedicated the award to 'the gaffer'. Also commented that is been a great season and they are all looking forward to next season where they will look to build and push on.

Very sorry about that :roll:

Also to call a great servant of the club 'Shitney' - have a word with yourself Mr Intelligent.

[Walsallone]

Have to agree with your last point WALSALLMEM....to describe our Manager in such a way shows a complete lack of respect to a bloke who has given the Club great service. It was a risk appointing him but understandable after he did well at the end of last season. This Summer is going to be crucial for JW...he needs to find 3/4 good players who can add some attacking flair to the team .Last year he identified Oztumer early on as the man to build his team around but he has lacked support from his fellow forwards. I wish him luck and hope he can find the players we need.

[PT]

The usual, boring whine-fest on Up The Saddlers from a bunch of supporters that have no idea what a proper crisis is. You lot need something to happen to this football club to realise how good we have it - I'm embarrassed that Coventry fans might come on here and look at this dirge. It might bring us all together more as well.

I was working in London on Friday and listened to a call from a heart broken Leyton Orient fan fighting back tears. Now, there's a bunch of fans that have something to moan, whinge and bitch about.

Oh yeah, while I'm here. It's been clear for a number of years that 99.9% of footballers dont give a cack about the supporters of any club these days. This is the modern footballer - get used to it. If your going to follow the game religiously and pump your weekly wages in to the club get used to this, it's not changing any time soon. Managers earn less than the players yet they have to instill discipline and motivation in a bunch of overpaid, mollycoddled pre-madonnas with zero loyalty. Yet the manager is the first to be fired. The football world has gone mad.

Whitney has been an amazing servant to this club and has done a decent job under the circumstances....one of the few guys that we could have got in that really does care for the club! Some of the characters on this forum are some of the direst, most miserable individuals :roll: no wonder a match thread rarely makes it into 3 pages. I almost hope Bonser does get rid of JW so we can get someone else in and hopefully we can go down - just to keep you lot with plenty of whining material to get off on

Why do you visit and contribute to a virtual environment you obviously dislike? But thank you for bringing the levity, lightheartedness and fun we need

How did you see yesterday's game? Did it represent progress from the games you saw in the first half of the season? I see a regression and I think a lot of that is to do with the manager. We don't seem to have a plan or any direction. Things that need to come from the manager rather than the players. Yesterday was the first time a lot of the headless chickens, for whatever reason, decided to stop running manically around and that just exposed our lack of default shape, structure and method even more.

It's apt that you mention Orient and Coventry. Their supporters wouldn't point to much this season that has contributed to their downfall. They would all point to decisions made years ago as being the moments when "the rot" set in. There have been significant signs of rot around our place this season. The question is whether we can treat it before it's effects are irreversible.

Anyway, forget all that here's a joke:-

Q.What do you get when you make a line of rabbits step backwards?

A. A receding "hare" line.

Here all week.

[PT]

Have to agree with your last point WALSALLMEM....to describe our Manager in such a way shows a complete lack of respect to a bloke who has given the Club great service. It was a risk appointing him but understandable after he did well at the end of last season. This Summer is going to be crucial for JW...he needs to find 3/4 good players who can add some attacking flair to the team .Last year he identified Oztumer early on as the man to build his team around but he has lacked support from his fellow forwards. I wish him luck and hope he can find the players we need.

I agree with all of that.

[leics_saddler]

OK, if it's perspective about the manager you want...

Jon Whitney almost got us promoted last season, in spite of a really dire manager in O'Dismal.
In his first full season in charge, he had to build a new side on little resources.

(Whether we had money to spare from the transfers is probably academic, as we owe our biggest fan first.
I'm sure he generously waived the interest in the interest of his pension fund though.)

Anyway, leaving that aside...
Some of the signings have been excellent, some haven't worked out so well.
It's the same situation with the loans (ahem, Toner)*
Consequently, the play has been similarly variable.

The positives are that we have some excellent young players, a number of whom are under contract.
Oztumer, who is widely regarded as the star player, is still only 25 and under contract.
The Blunts have got promoted and are always good value for overspending on our players.

The negatives are the manager's complete absence of tactical nous coming to the fore far too often.
He also keeps too much faith with certain senior players with little interest, despite the promising youngsters mentioned above.
We have a total inability to defend as a unit, especially on high crosses and set pieces.
We probably have some work to do in the summer to re-establish the spine of the team.

Hopefully, he'll have learned a few things:
It's rarely a good idea to play a load of old carthorses three times in a week in April.
In a similar vein, his motivational skills are probably exhausted by then as well.
If we have talented youngsters of our own, there's no point signing 18yo Premier fodder on loan.
We need more than one default formation and the same three substitutions every match.
A tight eight may work away against good teams, but most sides are average or poor and there for the taking.

Next season is the one where we will learn the most about him.
It starts with a good close season the transfer market and pre-season, which ought to be his speciality.

*having said that Toner played well in a terrible defensive display at home to Bury and his pass to Oztumer at Swindon is the sort of pass that only two or three players at the club are capable of now

[SoccerHQ]

End of season games where there's little to play for is always a lottery in terms of performance.

Remember the 8-2 defeat to Bristol City. That manager was clueless wasn't he....

I just don't see how Whitney will get sacked in the summer.

However if he starts next season as unconvincing as this year then he will come under big pressure.

[PT]

End of season games where there's little to play for is always a lottery in terms of performance.

Remember the 8-2 defeat to Bristol City. That manager was clueless wasn't he....

I just don't see how Whitney will get sacked in the summer.

However if he starts next season as unconvincing as this year then he will come under big pressure.

I agree that he won't get sacked in the summer, so wish him well in his endeavours.

The 8-2 reference at Bristol is a good point. Three of that back four never kicked a ball for the club again. I'd argue two of them were effectively sacked after 68 minutes of that game. Using dead rubber games to try stuff, learn stuff and decide stuff that made us better (Purkiss out Demetriou in and investing in Rico and letting Benning go both improved us. Realising Craig Mcgilvery wasn't ready and signing Etheridge was also an important learning). If Whitney can take such clear thinking, learning and subsequent improvement out of yesterday's game then it might have just been worth it. Not holding my breath but like I say, I wish him well.

Just in case anyone thinks that's a bit miserable, here's another joke.

Bloke at work accused me of stinking like sour milk and cheese last week.

How dairy.

[killers left foot]

anyone who thinks that cack yesterday was good enough must be mad and deluded.time for him to go hes clueless had long enough and learnt fudge all tbh

[coop63]

I can't understand how anyone can realistically take a longer and more positive view on the current situation - yes of course we've had a few purple patches this season (very few in reality) but all talk of how well JW has done is quite simply ludicrous in my opinion..

Yes he took over from a dismal predecessor with a fresh approach and belief but he was here at the start of the season (not half way through it as you would guess from some of the comments on this forum!) The way we capitulated in a few of the run in games last season was the writing on the wall for me because that was with a much superior squad, some of whom were very talented players.. Sheffield UTD away and Bradford away were games where a point would have been excellent results but we were set up wrong and we caved in with no fight at all (ring any bells) and of course there's no need to mention the playoff fiasco is there? anyway that's history and no longer relevant but it does carry over to the current situation in terms of approach and failings in tactics etc

With a different approach we could and should have done much better this season in what I honestly believe is a poor division.. if things don't change then god help us next time around as there will be plenty of bigger spenders in the mix..

I'm not a doom and gloom merchant in general but I honestly fear we are seeing a club level negativity being accepted from the board and the management and I don't like it as it's this sort of thing that when it gathers momentum is unstoppable..

I know many will say this view is over the top but I think there's too many similarities between how last season ended and this one has developed to its latter stages especially - how long do we need to wait to see how bad it can get???

[Whitters]

Managers earn less than the players yet they have to instill discipline and motivation in a bunch of overpaid, mollycoddled pre-madonnas with zero loyalty.

When do the players become full-madonnas?

Oh, and if JW can't motivate this lot to perform then he needs to go because that's his key role.
Above anything else.
Whether he's a long term or short term servant he's of no use to anyone if, as the manager, he can't get the players up for a game.
For EVERY game.

If these players can't be motivated then they need to be shipped out pronto so they can earn their money under false pretenses at someone else's expense.