Mat Sadler: Walsall sack head coach after Salford defeat

Unfortunately for Sadler, Walsall’s problems on the field in 2026 have been inevitably framed by the capitulation of their seemingly unassailable promotion challenge last season.

They raced into a 12-point lead at the top off the back of a club-record nine consecutive wins only for their form to collapse as a 13-game winless run left them scrambling to finish fourth.

Although they eventually made the League Two play-off final, the Saddlers lost at Wembley to AFC Wimbledon.

Sadler, though, consistently emphasized the irrelevance of that on his rebuilt squad this season as 15 players came in over the summer.

“We haven’t got over the line in the way we would have wanted to over the years, but that can’t be what frames our mindset going forward,” he said after the loss to Barnet in early February.

Before the trip to Grimsby Town in their next game, he again underscored that belief.

“Every year is tough. I’m certainly not looking back. I never will because this is a completely different group and team,” he said.

However, Walsall’s style under Sadler – making the most out of limited possession with chances at a relative premium – was always vulnerable to criticism when wins dried up.

Although ending Shrewsbury’s five-game winning run at the end of February stopped the immediate rot, a damaging past seven days that brought three more defeats, including another two at home, has seen Walsall looking for their first new boss since April 2023.