By Neil Ravenscroft
September 20 2004

While the story about Bonser in the Express and Star tonight was important, there was an interesting article in the Evening Mail too. There was an interview with the Chesterfield manager about his experiences of being a player manager and his reaction to our performance. He said that the squad was well capable of climbing the table:-

"It is a tough challenge, but there is enough quality in Walsall's squad to turn the situation round. Today they came out fighting, took over the game and could easily have gone away with something".

His comments about being a player manger were interesting as well, though:

"I know the challenge Paul is facing. It's a difficult job being player-manager. At Bradford I started off playing in all the games then as the season went on and I got a squad around me I started picking which games to play in. Then I could come on and give the side a lift at times. Maybe Paul can do that - what a player to have coming off the bench!"

After hearing that Merson had questioned his own future, McFarland insisted that Walsall's affairs were not his business, but he did reflect interestingly on his own early days in management and pinpointed two crucial areas of support: the boardroom and the backroom.

"I had a good chairman and board who stuck with me," he said. "And the staff behind me were a great bunch who would sort things out from the dugout when I was on the pitch. It's very important to have the right people around you."

I still think the backroom has been Merson's biggest weakness. It's not too late for him to swallow his pride, take McFarland's advice and do something about it.