I think Mick Cullerton was spot on with his comments…
The BBC Radio Stoke summariser pulled no punches in his reappearance on the station and this Vale fan agrees with his sentiments about the selling price and declining attendances.
Rob Fielding writes…
Mick Cullerton returned to the airwaves on Saturday and in my view it was a welcome return. I didn’t hear his actual comments but I did read a summary of them in the Sentinel newspaper and I do think it’s hard to disagree with any of them.
Cullerton on Norman Smurthwaite…
If he got £2m for the club all told, he is a very lucky man in my view…
Cullerton argues that Norman Smurthwaite should come up with a realistic selling price (something OVF raised in this opinion piece). Cullerton said:
“The only word I want to hear Norman say is goodbye. End of story. The man has had a go, he has failed. But his problem is, if the proposal to sell is anything like was printed in the paper, or in the media, where they can get 20,000 crowds in the Championship, the squad is worth £5m. – If you get £5m for that squad you have done very, very well.
“And the fact the ground is worth £10m? The ground is worth £10m to replace but it is not worth £10m. The ground is worth about a million quid. So, if he got £2m for the club all told, he is a very lucky man in my view.”
“Do you think it is reasonable for Norman to get his money back for the mistakes he has made?”
Cullerton on falling attendances
I think the supporters just won’t come, it will be apathy. It is a big worry because if you lose them it is very difficult to get them back…
Commenting on poor attendances at the club Cullerton argued: “I think with everything that has gone on around the club, that is going to happen. I think the days of demonstrations here have gone. I think the supporters just won’t come, it will be apathy. It is a big worry because if you lose them it is very difficult to get them back.”
This fan could not agree more with these final comments. It is very sad to see a club with an ageing fanbase and a declining one at that. Several regimes have done little to address that decline and with neighbours Stoke City in the ascendency, the situation is becoming more and more critical.
In my view, the football club desperately needs owners who have a long-term commitment and long-term plans for the Vale. The truth, as told by Mick Cullerton this weekend, often makes uncomfortable reading – but I hope that present and future owners listen, learn and act on such sage advice.