CLARKE LEADS BY EXAMPLE
JAMES Clarke has never really thought of himself as captaincy material but with the Walsall armband thrust upon him, he’s certainly making his mark.
For a man who “fell into the role” this summer, the defender has certainly taken his responsibilities seriously – calling a ‘players only’ meeting last month that helped spark an upturn in form.
A run of six straight losses heading into November necessitated something drastic, especially after manager Darrell Clarke labelled the team mentally soft and weak-minded.
So, the skipper gathered the squad together – without the boss present – and a subsequent run of three wins and two draws in all competitions signifies steady improvement.
“A few home truths were said amongst us,” said the defender. “It livened a few of us up – we got back to basics and played to our strengths, not our weaknesses.
“We managed to grind out a few decent results from it. It has to come from within us as players sometimes, it can’t always come from the manager.
“The gaffer was right – we have been soft. As I said to the lads, ‘we’ve got to try to change the gaffer’s opinion of us and the only way to do that is by winning games’.
“When we cross the white line at the weekend, it’s all down to the players, and that’s why we felt we needed to iron a few things out among ourselves.”
Clarke may have lacked previous captaincy experience, but he knows how the manager likes to run a club, having worked under him at Salisbury City and Bristol Rovers. And the 30-year-old is candid about why he left Rovers to drop down a division with Walsall over the summer.
“I was out of contract and I spoke to Darrell on the phone,” said Clarke. “He was the main reason I joined.
Build
“I’ve worked with him for years, I know what he wants, and he explained to me what he’s trying to build – it’s something I wanted to be a part of.
“I’d been at Bristol Rovers for a long time and didn’t really know if I was going to be starting. You’re never guaranteed a starting spot of course, but I wanted to make sure I was playing every week underneath someone who really rated me.”
Despite being in new surroundings, Clarke was handed the captain’s armband and immediately made an impact by scoring in the Saddlers’ opening-day 1-0 win over Northampton.
Tougher times followed and even with the recent upturn, Walsall are 22nd in the League Two table – not the position a team just relegated from the third tier might expect to be in entering December.
But Clarke is adamant that a potentially tricky job as a first-time skipper has been made easy by his colleagues.
“I’ve never been one of the oldest at a team before, but the gaffer has built a young squad with a few older additions,” he said.
Faith
“I kind of fell into that role of helping the younger lads out. The gaffer noticed, so that’s maybe why he felt I deserved the captaincy.
“I’ve never seen myself as a captain but I fell into the role and, luckily for me, it’s a good group of hard-working lads.
“We might not have had the best start to the season, but they are good, honest lads which makes things easier.”
And even if the league position isn’t what Walsall want just yet, the skipper is maintaining his faith that brighter times are just over the horizon.
“It’s a project of building, which is never done in the first few weeks of one season,” explained Clarke.
“I’ve seen it first-hand with the gaffer before and there’s no reason why he can’t do that again.”