Walsall Co-Chairman Benjamin Boycott has refused to confirm whether Head Coach Mat Sadler will remain in charge following the Saddlers' 1-0 Play-Off Final defeat to AFC Wimbledon on Monday afternoon.Sadler presided over a team that saw a twelve point top of the table lead disappear into what ultimately become a fourth-placed finish, as they endured a thirteen game winless streak during the second half of the campaign.
Speaking to ITV Sport reporter Dan Salisbury-Jones shortly after the match, Boycott said: "I am not going to get into any stuff about next year for now, we are still processing.
"At the end of the day, we are going to bed tonight and get up tomorrow and then go all-in for getting ready for next year. We are going to pick ourselves up and go again."
Going on to describe the feeling in the camp, Boycott continued: "We’re gutted.
"Everyone around the club will be. I have been in there with everyone for the last half-an-hour. Everyone, from supporters to players, all of us are absolutely gutted.
"What did I say to them? Honestly, nothing. I have put my arms round them and given them all a hug, but there is not much to say at a moment like this."
Struggling for the first five seasons since making the drop to the fourth tier, 2024/25 was the Saddlers' first real opportunity to make the jump back, and when asked whether the club had made progress year-on-year, Canada-born Boycott added: "We certainly have moved the club forward.
"I think that is undoubted. Clearly, we had a good lead in the mid-season and we lost some really good players.
"The only thing for me is can we recruit a bit better at times? But that is not very easy as well, and I am not going to go through all the things which happened in that January window, but that part was not to be.
"We certainly have moved the club forward, and I won’t be swayed at all with that. We have created many, many happy memories and good memories and put smiles on people’s faces.
"For me, they will be lifelong memories. We did not quite have enough to see the job through, but we will go again, and we will come back and go again next year."