Exclusive: Clarke quits Walsall for new job
Darrell Clarke is quitting Walsall to take another job, Football Insider can exclusively reveal.
The League Two side’s 43-year-old manager wasn’t at the club’s training ground today as he prepares to leave.
A Walsall source has told Football Insider that chairman Leigh Pomlett is addressing the players this afternoon about Clarke’s exit.
The Saddlers are 11th in League Two after a run of games which has yielded just one win in seven.
The club’s defensive record has been of particular concern – Walsall have conceded in their last 17 consecutive games across all competitions – they have not kept a clean sheet since 3 November.
A 1-1 draw at home to 14th-placed Mansfield last time out infuriated Clarke.
Speaking after the match, the Englishman lamented “ridiculous” individual errors and said his side’s defending was “not good enough”.
The draw, for now at least, was Clarke’s final game in charge at Bescot Stadium.
Clarke took charge of his boyhood in May 2019 after 244 games in charge of Bristol Rovers between 2014 and 2018.
He led the Saddlers to a 12th-placed finish in his first full season as manager and he was on course to better that this year.
His 78 games in charge of Walsall yielded 26 wins, 21 draws and 29 losses.
The League Two side welcome promotion hopefuls Cheltenham Town to Bescot Stadium on Tuesday night.
The visitors are unbeaten in their last seven league matches.
In other news, Harry Kane has made his position on Jose Mourinho’s future clear to his friends as pressure grows on the Tottenham boss this week.