Darrell Clarke hails Walsall link with Bristol City

Clarke, who previously spent four years as Bristol Rovers manager, still has close ties to the south west and has utilised them during his time as Saddlers boss.

Last season, Cameron Pring and Rory Holden spent the season on loan at the Banks’s Stadium from City and this season George Nurse has made a temporary switch while Holden rejoined permanently.

Now, Clarke says the relationship has worked due to the ‘good attitude’ of the youngsters City produce.

“We’ve had Cameron Pring, done the deal with Rory Holden and now we have George Nurse,” Clarke said.

“I deal with Brian Tinnion a lot at Bristol City and he’s someone I respect very well.

“I believe they do it very right as a football club with the younger players, real good lads with good attitudes.

“When they tick those two boxes it gives those players an opportunity. Obviously they have ability, but they do a lot of things right down there.

“George has come in and done very well. He’s not had many minutes and he’s been injured in pre-season, but he came in for his debut and did well.”

Meanwhile, Clarke insists his side can be ‘unplayable at times’ when they hit form.

It has been a largely positive start for Walsall, with two good cup performances and an unbeaten start to League Two – winning and drawing one apiece.

Although Clarke believes the division will be tight, he believes Walsall has as good a chance as anyone.

“I think the division is so competitive and it will be very competitive this year,” he added.

“I believe when we’re on our game, we can be unplayable at times. We’ve shown glimpses of that and it’s been a real positive four games of the season with the cup games.

“There’s a lot of positives out there but we want to keep improving and keep working hard.

“It’s early days and in 10, 12 games we’ll know. We know the different challenges we’re going to get in this division.

“We have to keep moving forward, keep trying to improve. I think we’ll be competitive in every single game we play.

“We have got good competition for places and we’ve got to crash that into a nine-month season. We’ve got good young lads which helps.

“When you’ve got the likes of Alfie Bates, Joe Willis, Sam Perry and Tom Leak, good younger pros who are potentially ready for first team football as well.

“We haven’t got the biggest squad in the world but it’s a similar sort of size to last year.”