Too soon to judge the Blue Sky deal
In his latest “One Vale View” column, Rob Fielding says he thinks fans should not be judging the Blue Sky deal on the strength of a solitary press release.
Rob doesn’t expect 100% approval for this latest opinion piece, far from it, but he stands by his claim that it is still too early to pass judgement on the Blue Sky deal.
I am surprised that some Vale fans appear to have made up their minds about the Blue Sky investment deal after a single press release and a lot of internet speculation.
Many people have already commented on what benefits (or not) this deal brings, but are they really in position to know the facts or is it all mainly guesswork? I personally have stayed away from the debate because I want to read the club’s answers to fans’ questions before commenting.
It seems the fans are split once again. Some appear determined to slam anything the club announces, until the entire board goes. This seems somewhat different from the stated aims of the Black and Gold (B&G) pro-change organisation who say on their website’s frontpage: “our aim is not to create diversion, aggression or negativity”. It seems to me that many fans disagree with B&G’s aims, judging by the air of overt negativity about this deal.
You can’t give the board a chance to change if you don’t give them a fair hearing and a chance to put across their plans without every suggestion being condemned almost as soon as it is uttered.
And this intransigence works both ways. I fail to comprehend how some fans, armed with the bare minimum of facts, have rushed to embrace this deal as “brilliant” and so on… Is fatigue at protests or blind faith in a headline figure of £8m? I don’t know, but I think it is too soon to pass judgement – both for and against the deal.
So, I won’t be rushing to buy a season ticket just yet, but I won’t be condemning the board either.
What I will be doing is allowing the club to answer the fans’ questions and then once they’ve had a chance to do so, I will judge for myself whether they are embracing the fans’ desire for change, truthfulness and openess and I’ll also hope that I have a clearer idea of whether this deal is good for the club or not.
I’m not saying I’m sold on the deal yet. I may be critical of the deal next week, but at least if I am, I’ll be doing it after allowing the board the chance to convince me of their intentions.
And I hope that you do the same too.
About the author: Rob Fielding has been a Port Vale fan for thirty years. He founded the award-winning onevalefan.co.uk website in 1996. These are his personal views and he welcomes your comments on them.