Brian Dutton: Walsall part company with head coach

Brian Dutton spent two seasons at Walsall in all as assistant and then interim head coach

League Two side Walsall have parted company with head coach Brian Dutton.

The 36-year-old had been assistant boss but took charge in February when former Saddlers manager Darrell Clarke left to take over at Port Vale.

Dutton led the Saddlers to a 19th-placed finish and his short-term deal as boss was due to expire this summer.

Walsall chairman Leigh Pomlett has tasked technical director Jamie Fullarton with finding a new head coach "as quickly as possible".

"Brian stepped up to the plate when he didn't need to, when Darrell left, and pretty much achieved a lot of the things I wanted him to achieve," Pomlett said.

"But I also made it clear when I appointed Brian, and he knows this as well as anybody, that winning football matches is what head coaches have to do.

"Not through lack of effort or application, which has absolutely been there, we finished 19th in League Two which by any stretch of the imagination is not acceptable."