For Port Vale’s sake, go now…
On a grim Monday for Port Vale fans, OVF founder Rob Fielding repeats his plea for the board to move aside now, before it’s too late.
I’m sure a lot of fans feel like me this Monday morning. I feel scared about the club’s imminent future and worried that at this minute I cannot do anything but sit and wait for more (bad) news on the club’s finances. Judging by the board’s recent PR record, I doubt any news will come from the club itself, so a lot of the news is circulating in the form of rumours and hearsay. It’s all deeply worrying.
Let’s make on thing clear. I do not want the club to fall into administration. Admin should always be the move of the last chance saloon, as administration will not produce an easy way out of our financial woes. What’s more it opens us up to possibly losing the manager, key players and even the ground. So, administration is not simply an easy way to sweep the current regime aside and start anew.
What can we do today? The truth is very little. Most of you have done your utmost. You’ve protested, you’ve publicised our plight, some of you have even called EGMs. But right now, this minute, there’s little we can do but sit and wait.
But there is one group who can do something.
The board need to step aside now and open an immediate dialogue with the Supporters Club for a smooth and rapid transition of power. Then the interim board can evaluate the finances (I don’t envy them) and try and secure proper and decent ownership of the club or in the worst case scenario manage the club’s move into administration.
Should the board move aside before the Crewe match there’s even a very slim chance of securing a bumper crowd that may, in the very short term, shore up our finances enough to see us avoid the dreaded winding-up.
But will the board have the moral fibre and sense of duty to step down before it’s too late? I hope so because if not, it will be their stubbornness, misleading of the fans, mis-management of finances and self-preservation that will have taken the club into administration. What a legacy that would be.
So my Monday message to the board is very simple: Shame on you all… get out of our club. Now.
Rob Fielding has been a Port Vale fan for thirty one years. He founded the award-winning onevalefan.co.uk website in 1996. These are his personal views and he welcomes your comments on them.