Walsall v Doncaster - Match preview

Sadler doesn’t know or isn’t giving away what will happen with the managerial situation, but said all thoughts of that will be put to one side when they take on Doncaster today in the final game.

He said: “We are 17th in the table and that is not good enough for anyone here – be it the fans, the coaches or the owners who are ambitious to do a lot better.

“All of the people who own or run the club from Ben (Boycott), to Matt (Jordan) and Leigh (Pomlett) are extremely focused people who are not happy with that and are desperate for us to do better next season.

“All we can do in the final game is put on a good performance for the fans who have backed us all season and I believe are going to turn out in good numbers.

“They deserve a performance, the owners deserve one and it is important to go into the break on a positive note and to finish as high as possible in the table.”

When Walsall beat Doncaster 2-0 away in the corresponding fixture in early December they were on a high, having been unbeaten in nine games and in the third round of the FA Cup.

Now they are on a slump of one win in 22 games since January and Sadler admits the second half of the season has cost them.

He said: “Since losing to Leicester in the cup, the results have been poor and we find ourselves where we are without a permanent manager probably as a result.

“I can’t really put my finger on why that is, we have been close in games but we probably haven’t scored enough goals at times even though we have been generally pretty solid in games, certainly at home.

“At Crawley there were plenty of positives, I thought our shape was good and we pushed them at times but ultimately it was a goalless draw again. There’s nothing we can do about that now other than try to put it right in the final game and then plan ahead to next season.”

Sadler indicated a definite timeline for an appointment of a new manager or head coach, but wouldn’t be drawn on names or whether he had applied.

He said: “Conversations with a number of parties have been ongoing and I would expect it to be fairly soon after the final game of the season when an appointment is made.

“It’s been a clean end to the season in that I have took charge for the last three games and that has been a smooth process.

“My role in it is that I and a number of other people have been having those conversations over the last couple of days.

“I have already said the chairman is ambitious for the club and in that respect he will want to make sure the right person is appointed in the right role.

“But all I will say is that is likely to be very soon as planning for next season needs to be put in place fairly quickly.”