SADLER’S LOOKING FOR A NEW ROUTE
NEIL MOXLEY
MAT SADLER wants to shake off the notion that Walsall is that: “Nice club just off the motorway.”
Just for clarity – the boss of the League Two outfit that sits just adjacent to the M6 in the Black Country doesn’t want to close the doors to the prawn sandwich brigade.
Far from it.
But he wants to change the perception that it is a cosy rest-home for the unambitious.
Sadler (above) said: “I must say I want to take it away from that perception that it’s a warm club.
“I’m not talking about the level of hospitality, don’t get me wrong, I
WALSALL MORECAMBE
League Two: Today, 3pm want us to be the type of place where players come to be better.
“I want the kind of people who are relentless in their pursuit of being better.
“I don’t want players to come and eke out the last 18 months of their career. If they are going to do that, they’ve got to be the right experienced ones.
“As a football club, for a long time, probably my generation really, there has been a bit of a decline. The new owners are reversing that but it takes time.
“I want us to have an identity. Shake this mentality that it’s a nice club just off the motorway. I want us to have an identity of who we are and what we are.”
The Saddlers finished six points outside the play-offs last season and their 39-year-old manager thinks the margins could be tighter still this time round.
He said: “Four teams left the division and a couple of them were the highrollers last season so the margins are going to be even tighter.
“We need to be as competitive as we can be but I’m confident.”