Walsall boss Dean Keates’ horror at online abuse towards Saddlers

The Saddlers are currently on a poor run of form that seen them win just one of their last nine games.

But Keates believes the growth of social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook is helping to fuel aggressive fan behaviour towards players.

And after reading some of the comments, he feels his squad deserve credit for how they cope with online abuse.

“We are at a point now in football where everything gets dissected and a lot of things get written and said,” Keates said.

“There is that social media platform now and if I’m honest it’s horrific some of the things that have been said about the players.

“They have to cope with that and they have to manage that.

Options

“But every week they go out and give everything. They are an honest bunch, they always leave everything out there.”

Keates has been active in the transfer market this month as he looks to get his team back to winning games on a consistent basis.

Matt Jarvis and Omar Mussa have come in to bolster the attacking options.

Cameron Norman, Scott Laird and Dan Scarr have all arrived into improve the defence. While Keates is still working on signing a striker.

And the boss believes it was vital he gave himself more options all over the pitch this month.

“It’s an inexperienced squad and from the first-half of the season a lot of them are now in uncharted waters,” the boss added.

“Young Dobbo (George Dobson) as an example, he was outstanding in the first-half of the season.

“But maybe we are just at a point where he needs to step out and recharge his batteries.

“He will then have an impact again before the season finishes.

"We needed to freshen things up. And maybe we can add one or two more as well."