Walsall's nosedive cost Michael Flynn top job at Bescot

The Welshman fell on his sword 14 months into his tenure at the Bescot Stadium after a 3-0 defeat at Harrogate Town on Tuesday night.

It meant the Saddlers have won just one of their last 20 League Two games – and only two since the turn of the year.

A season which had promised so much as recently as the last day in January has quickly nose-dived.

The Saddlers were 14th in the table, but within five points of teams in the play-off positions and holding games in hand.

They had just lost to Leicester City in the fourth round of the FA Cup in front of 10,000 at the Bescot. It was deadline day and one eye was on matters off the field.

The Saddlers were still battling until literally the last minute to keep on-loan striker Danny Johnson.

Once he returned to Mansfield, it effectively ended Walsall’s season because his replacements in Jamille Matt and Matty Stevens – 40 goals between them for Forest Green last season – have failed to fire, with only one each since then.

Flynn cut a frustrated figure as negotiations for 15-goal Johnson went right to the wire. It had already become a saga over the previous month as Mansfield played hard ball on a price for a striker who could only get on the Stags’ bench.

Since then, Walsall have scored 12 goals in 18 games – none in the last three – and recent results, performances, and a seemingly endless shuffling of the starting line-up, including some early substitutions, hint at Flynn running out of ideas on how to solve the problem.

After the Harrogate game, he called out some of his players publicly for ‘not caring enough’. It wasn’t the first time.

In his last interview, he said: “I won’t name names but there are a few and I know who they are.

“They will get found out and it won’t do them any good as they are professionals and that alone should mean they have pride in their performances.

“Not enough have, and I am at a loss what to do with them – we have tried everything.

“I have said before I have professional pride, I know I am a good manager I have proved it over five years, but I need people with me to prove it here.”

When Walsall were 3-1 up at basement boys Hartlepool in February and incredibly gave away two goals in added time to only draw, Flynn was visibly angry after the match and publicly blamed his players for what felt like a loss, saying he wouldn’t be afraid to change 18 players in the squad in the summer.

That Hartlepool draw felt like game over in many ways.

Walsall had gone on a worrying run after the Salford game – the Hartlepool match was their sixth draw in a row and at 3-1 it was in the bag.

For a team who had ambitions of making the play-offs, this was not good enough. And for a manager who had been backed recently in the transfer market, it was a worrying trend.

And it continued through March, with Walsall failing to impress at home with goals or wins and looking increasingly vulnerable on the road.

When it became obvious that certain players were seemingly going through the motions in recent weeks, it soon escalated to rumours and thoughts that they didn’t want to play for Flynn.

Whether that is true, the last two games at Crewe – who had just lost 4-0 to Colchester – and Harrogate did little to dispel them.

Flynn came into the job in February last year and guided the Saddlers to 16th place in League Two when at one point they were seemingly under threat of relegation.

Currently they are 15th, but it says something that on social media fans were pointing out that Walsall are now mathematically safe from relegation after Tuesday’s games.

Only recently Flynn was targeting a top-half finish, saying it would be progress for Walsall.

Given the fallout of the Johnson transfer and the fact he led them to the fourth round of the FA Cup – earning the club around £500,000 at the same time – it may have been classed a successful season.

But given Flynn picked up the manager-of-the-month award in October and the boost given by American majority owners Trivela coming in and signing the freehold on Bescot, people were expecting more.

The air of despair from Flynn at having to repeat himself about individual mistakes costing them at Harrogate, the same as at Crewe, suggests something is seriously wrong with certain members of the squad.

Walsall don’t have the biggest budget but the players are cosseted to an extent – overnight stays and pre-match meals have become the norm, with all their needs catered for at the club’s Essington training ground as well.

Some of them need to remember – and may well find out – that they are not in the Premier League and such treatment needs to be rewarded by the minimum of 90 minutes’ effort and respect for the club, whichever club they are at.

Flynn was direct, sergeant major like, but would always protect and look after his players.

The legacy of his reign will be not adequately replacing Johnson, but certain players have not helped – either not listening to him or not buying in to his passionate, work-hard, football philosophy.