The Consistently Inconsistent.

(A guide on how to not have a successful football season.)

At half time last Saturday I called my wife. “I’ll be outside at twenty to five”
“Why? What’s the matter?” came the response.
“That’s enough for me this season” was about all I could offer. And it was. The sooner this lousy season was over, then so much the better.

And it has been lousy.

We should have known what was coming relatively quickly last autumn, if only because the opening 10 games were a microcosm of the season that followed. We lost late at Tranmere after holding our own but were neither capable of carving out an opportunity to score or fit enough to withstand the home team’s late push. We then somehow conspired to lose at home to Doncaster, again unable to score or win a penalty shoot out that we were 2 goals up in. Forest Green gave us an object lesson in what L2 excellence looked like and an injury time equaliser punished us for being unable to put a dreadfully poor Scunthorpe to the sword. We hammered Mansfield out of nowhere. never turned up in Hartlepool and left Newport emptyhanded after failing to deal with a late set piece. And repeat, and repeat, and repeat.

My good friend and co-NNP writer @hallymk1 challenged me recently on whether this indeed was a missed opportunity of a season? Or could it only be judged as a missed opportunity if we’d had enough about us to challenge in the first place? Which he felt we hadn’t, and it’s a fair point. However, I can’t escape the feeling that the porosity of quality in League 2 this season provided a bona-fide opportunity for anyone capable of mixing a sprinkling of quality with a dose of consistency, organisation and fitness. Traits of which we fell well short of on all counts.

In both those opening ten games and the season that followed the running theme of our woes was a lack of goal threat. In 53 games this season, we failed to score more than once in 42 of them. Oldham & Colchester being the only teams we managed to score 2 or more against both home & away. The loss of Rory Holden understandably impacted upon creativity and goal threat but there were self-inflicted issues as well. Confusion reigned over Conor Wilkinson’s most effective position, Kieran Phillips was relentlessly played out of position, Matt Taylor’s vice like insistence on a lone front man with others behind or out wide, we signed a striker who was injured & never regained match sharpness and deployed a midfield that almost never broke the lines. All of which contributed to our inability to break down opponents.

George Miller did well, looking particularly sharp in front of goal early on. His game matured over the course of the season and whilst he didn’t score as many as those early weeks suggested he might, Miller finished the season as a robust leader of the line. Some will credibly point to missed chances that limited his haul to 12, and it’s difficult to argue too much apart from offering the counter-argument that we remember the misses purely because clear chances for strikers were so few and far between across winter and spring. Wherever he starts next season, and it seems increasing likely it won’t be in Walsall, he’ll be a far more rounded and deployable player than the player who started this one.

Elsewhere, Brendan Kiernan has offered occasional glimpses of threat and I’m sure he’d look far more dangerous in a team with more dimensions than the one from this season. I don’t think that he possesses the moment of magic capacity that Wes McDonald offered but he offers a far more consistent presence than Wes provided. After a change of manager, Conor Wilkinson showed what Jamie Fullarton and Matt Taylor were excited about once played down the middle with a partner. I sense that Keiron Phillips could have contributed much more than he did but his ability was utterly wasted out wide.

Finally, we usurped our traditional and annual dogs-dinner of a January transfer window by paying a fee for an injured Devante Rodney. Time will tell on Rodney’s Saddlers career but let’s not kid ourselves that it’s started well. In fairness, he absolutely deserves the benefit of the doubt given his lack of fitness on arrival, but this was a signing that did nothing for Taylor, Fullarton, Rodney, Pomlett or the team as a whole. Even by Walsall’s January standards, agreeing terms with a player who couldn’t play for weeks and wasn’t fit when he did was poor business.

Defensively, we fluctuated from occasionally promising to uncohesive to bordering on ridiculous with not much in between. Backs to the wall, ugly but deserved, clean sheets at Sutton, Forest Green Rovers and Port Vale were too often undermined by shockers at Hartlepool, Newport and Stevenage. Then there was the horror show at Swindon, an awful defensive giveaway at home to Barrow and the less said about Leyton Orient’s Banks’s visit the better. The only consistent defensive factors were inconsistency and collective frailty. We conceded far too many from set pieces, far too many late goals and far too many of the avoidable variety. Away from home, our inability to pierce the opponent’s resistance was regularly compounded by conceding at the first hint of pressure, al-la Salford. Similarly, our uncanny ability to quickly turn attack into concession was never better highlighted than Rochdale’s help-yourself-to-it winner.

In terms of personnel, Ash Taylor’s on field performance was in direct contrast to the excitement at his capture. Pedestrian and laboured, Taylor carried the can for the Hartlepool horror show and blessedly made for the exit at the first opportunity. This move was a real bonus, as the pain in carrying him for a further 18 months of substitute appearances and reserve football would’ve been significant, particularly with Joss Labadie and Conor Wilkinson now sidelined for an extended period.

Rollin Menayese’s fabulous first few months justified the deal he was offered but that form deserted him literally from the moment the ink had dried. Rollin would have hoped that his evening in Swindon was as bad as it’d get but a 17th minute withdrawal against Orient and the sparsity of opportunity since threatens his Walsall future. Menayese has proved he has the game within him but it’s clear that Flynn has doubts and it’ll be a significant rescue act if he’s to rebuild his career at Walsall.

Pick of the defensive bunch was Manny Monthe. At times he has been a giant amongst men and boy did we miss him in January. If he did what he was accused of then he fully deserved the suspension that he got. However, I’m a touch uncomfortable about the FA punishing a player (and club that wasn’t involved in the incident) with such a significant ban based upon “on the balance of probability”. Out of all of our early summer headline captures, Monthe had the strongest impact over the course of 2021/22, however his zero goal return for his height and physical presence is a real set-piece head scratcher.

The back three system Flynn deploys, incorporating Monthe, Hayden White and Donervon Daniels, looked like they had a plan at times and is probably our best bet for next season. With Flynn having all of pre-season to work on defensive solidity and a settled back line in place I’m expecting us to be much tighter next season. Which, to be fair, shouldn’t be overly difficult.

A couple of new full backs will help that process and they should be easier to source than a new goalkeeper to replace the sublime Carl Rushworth. The Brighton stopper arrived with a highly regarded reputation and 46 games later departed with that reputation bolstered. I’m not a great fan of loan deals but this was a mutually beneficial season that saw Rushworth, his employers and Walsall all benefitting from him joining us. Rushworth looks to have all the tools to go a long way in the game and will take some replacing.

Possibly the only loser in the Rushworth deal was Jack Rose. After shifting Liam Roberts from first choice, the arrival of Rushworth must have been a hammer blow and his lack of opportunity in the final year of his contract probably ensured a parting of the ways. When he did play, he never let us down and I hope he finds a first team chance elsewhere.

And so to midfield, where Jack Earing, Liam Kinsella and Joss Labadie have been selection mainstays all season, despite our midfield never really dominating games or winning us matches. Earing often looks wasted playing so deep, the defensive midfielder who isn’t really a defender makes little sense. The experience gleaned from a full season of league football will be invaluable and I expect Earing to progress strongly again next season. Similarly, I would anticipate Flynn finding ways to increase Earing’s output.

Joss Labadie frequently kicked everything that moved and occasionally things that didn’t. At Vale Park, Labadie delivered a full midfield master class, going through his repertoire of dark arts in an hour and a half of grit, determination, sheer bloody mindedness and point-blank refusal to accept anything but midfield control. He was immense but frustratingly, apart from that one dominating performance, I don’t think we ever saw the player that Taylor and Fullarton thought they’d nicked from Newport. The breaking of dressing room sanctum in Matt Taylor’s “I pleaded with him to not get another yellow” in the aftermath of the Scunthorpe shambles probably best encapsulates the frustration of Labadie’s season.

Liam Kinsella is the enigma for me. Player of the Season twice, deservedly I should add, without ever memorably dominating a game of football. Overflowing in energy, commitment and willing, Kinsella has run, tackled, passed and harried himself into rightly being the first name on the teamsheet and deep into the hearts of the fanbase. He genuinely is one of our own. But his partnerships with Labadie and Earing were no more effective than those formed with Alfie Bates, Danny Guthrie, Stuart Sinclair, Joe Edwards, Isaiah Osbourne and/or George Dobson. For all of the many great attributes Liam contributes, his lack of presence in the final third is an issue.

And then there is the near-criminally underused Sam Perry. His energetic performance in the heart of Neil McDonald’s 4-4-2 against Tranmere was really refreshing and reminded everyone that his first instinct was always forward. Similarly, Perry’s advance in between the strikers for the deadlock breaker against Port Vale highlighted what we’ve been missing all season (and before). That kind of late movement and opportunist run doesn’t happen with any of Earing, Kinsella or Labadie, all of whom prefer to sit in the pocket without ever genuinely dictating our in-possession play. Midfield needs to be a priority for Michael Flynn over this transfer window, not least because until we find a blend that includes creativity and control, any hopes of a top 3 or play off challenge will be slim.

Away from League 2 football we won two cup games – an EFL Trophy win over a U21s and a scratchy 1-0 win at Kings Lynn in the FA Cup – and were out of all competitions when Swindon knocked us out of the FA Cup on December 4th. That Swindon pulled Manchester City out of the hat in Round 3 and collected the financial riches that arrived courtesy of TV broadcasts and a massive home gate was as painful a kick in the teeth as it gets. Personally, I can’t recall being quite so irritated since Hereford pulled out Manchester United after we stole defeat from the jaws of victory at Edgar Street 32 years earlier. For a club on a limited budgets and only spending what we have this was a minimum £1/2m opportunity that would’ve put a completely different perspective on Flynn’s summer ‘22 shopping activities.

And then there was Scunthorpe away.

Scunthorpe have won once in 2022 and twice since Halloween. They lost seven straight games ahead of playing us and have squeezed in a further 12 defeats in 16 winless games since. That they beat us, deservedly, whilst playing for an hour with 10 men was a disgrace. Dress it up how you wish, hide behind injuries, suspensions formations and selections if you like, but there are no excuses that truly stand up. We were a shambles.

At any other club in the country, at any time of the season, that result, on the back of the 6 defeats that proceeded it, was a sacking result. And irrespective of how nice, charming, popular, hard-working, caring or willing Matt Taylor was, there was simply no escaping the inevitable. Looking back, the experiment with Matt Taylor simply didn’t work, despite it feeling like a really good fit at the time. Whilst he and Jamie Fullarton talked a really good game, the sparsity of their team actually delivering the aforementioned good game became an issue that neither could extract themselves from.

Their policy of early (relatively) high-profile recruitment didn’t bring anywhere near the anticipated level of expected success and the multi-week signing void and subsequent late crescendo of loan deals that followed suggested we’d done the bulk of our budget in week 1. For me, that chunky period with no signings unquestionably meant we started the season on the back foot. A starting position, that in truth, that we never fully recovered from. The only consistent theme being inconsistent performance.

In the end, Taylor’s loyalty to a system that plainly wasn’t working unquestionably did for him, but you also need to ask questions of his players who followed that shambolic evening and his departure with six points out of six against 2nd placed Tranmere and runaway leaders Forest Green Rovers. They undoubtedly contributed to Taylor losing his job.

There were positives, albeit fleeting ones. The win at Port Vale, where Taylor looked head and shoulders more of a manager and leader than his opposite number, was an incredible performance. As the Port Vale manager effectively threw his team under the bus with the now iconic “I’m embarrassed” post-game summary Taylor, by contrast, cut a mature, controlled and intelligent presence both on the touchline and in the press commitments that followed. In many ways, he looked an upgrade on Pomlett’s first (and second) manager. That he only lasted 11 weeks and 13 games after Vale Park was as much of a shock as it was unfortunate, but as discussed above, post-Scunthorpe Pomlett had little to no other option

I have a lot of time for Leigh Pomlett and more patience than many. Despite inheriting relative financial stability and control he took on a football club in absolute decline three years ago. Deservedly relegated at the time of purchase, a squad in disarray and wanting out and a fanbase overlooked for the best part of a generation in revolt, this wasn’t ever going to be a five-minute job or one season turnaround. That Covid interfered with his first season and a combination of needing to trade Elijah Adebayo and Burslem Carol’s Clarke chase killed the second shouldn’t be lost, but neither should they be an excuse. After all, Covid affected everyone and Carol really did do us a favour in facilitating a press of the re-set button.

I also fully recognise the fact that this is a big ship to turn around on relatively meagre resources and that he absolutely needs time for the good work he’s already done to take effect. Rome wasn’t built on a couple of transfer windows. He deserves a lot of kudos for the way he has recognised the importance in communicating to supporters and adding a personal feel back into the club. Without Pomlett, surviving Covid might well have been a even greater challenge. That said this season hasn’t reflected all that well on Pomlett. The fact we’re on our fourth manager in 18 months is both damning and damaging, bringing into focus how we identify serious candidates and do our research around them.

Similarly, the strategic implementation of a Director of Football, a correct pathway in my opinion, was abandoned long before any mid or long term benefit could be measured. A position introduced to bring football nous and knowledge into the boardroom of a professional football club (just have a think about that statement for a moment) and long-term stability, unapologetically abandoned inside a year. Pomlett’s comments on this in his recent Walsall Fan TV interview were confusing and had a feeling of contradiction. One moment praising the impact the DoF had “he did some really good stuff” then almost simultaneously thinking we needed a change “it ran out of runway”. His suggestion that we bought in “considerably more experience” than we previously had expects us to overlook Neil McDonald’s quarter of a century of post playing experience, less than a minute after listing Flynn, Wilkinson & Earing as Fullarton contact successes. Pomlett must have known that this question was coming, not least because the club have sidestepped it themselves, but the inconsistency in the response just doesn’t stack up in my head.

It was reassuring however that he will revisit this position at a point in the future.

Irrespective of why Fullarton departed however, the fact he said goodbye so quickly raises questions. If Fullarton quit in search of another opportunity, what does that say about us? If Fullarton was pushed what does that say about our pre-employment diligence – for both the role and person? And if we decided the role wasn’t right or the scope was wrong (“the role definition needs to be thought out”), what does that say about our thinking or role creation? In any instance, we come out of it poorly.

Pomlett is no fool however, his business history, experience and success simply won’t have been built upon 6-month vanity projects and a hire ‘em, fire ‘em mentality, but what we’ve seen at Walsall is inescapable. I have absolute faith that he’ll get this right and lead the club back to League 1, but there need to be glimpses of light soon. There’s only so long the patience will hold when struggling in a league below our natural home.

The protests in February were a clear indication of patience being stretched and evidence that the post-Bonser honeymoon is well and truly over. Pomlett’s rabbit-out-of-the-hat capture of Michael Flynn will buy him and the club time, but he has a lot invested in Flynn just now. We enter season 4 of League 2 football without even mounting the remotest challenge at getting out in a positive direction so far, despite the frequent rhetoric around us expecting more. This needs to change and his eggs are almost exclusively housed in Flynn’s basket. If this manager fails and 2022/23 goes badly, which I genuinely doubt for what it’s worth, we’ll all be in choppy waters.

Inevitably there’s a lot riding on Flynn and a decent summer transfer window is essential. The 16th place finish we’ve just achieved officially ends the half decade long year on year deterioration in finishing position, but only just. There has been progress but it’s not exactly much to write home about and this has to change.

In the end, a season that never really got going, faded out without leaving much in terms of memories. We spent over 250 days of a 274-day season in the bottom half and spent as much time in the L2 relegation zone as we did in the top half. It would be wrong to suggest that it couldn’t have been worse, because Scunthorpe and Oldham will confirm it can. That said, adding in the consideration of retaining our league status when determining how successful a season has been is a major indication of just how far we’ve fallen.

It’s a long way back home from here.