Port Vale fans panel on “League Two ready” Port Vale and who they think the “main culprit” is…

The questions

Will Vale get relegated?

Steve: Unfortunately I think we are going down as we are League Two ready rather than Championship ready. I have watched enough lower league football to recognise a good team and a poor team. It’s obvious what we are currently watching.

Paul: Vale will get relegated. It’s inevitable. When you have no striking options, a midfield with no legs and a defence that concede for fun, it’s a recipe for disaster.

Ian: Yes. Basically because we don’t score enough goals and concede far too many, due to dreadful recruitment.

Who is to blame if they do?

Steve: To use Carol’s own words David Flitcroft is responsible for everything the ball touches. We almost got relegated last season, the warning signs were there. To repeat the same mistakes this season and put us back in the same situation is inept. Not to sign a much needed quality striker over three transfer windows is what I call a dereliction of duty. I know a lot of fans blame Carol in particular for our current predicament and she has to shoulder part of the blame. Personally I view it like Stoke fans criticising the Coates family. All they have done is plough money into the club with admitted limited football knowledge and relied on advice from the wrong person.

Paul: The main culprit is David Flitcroft. The recruitment has declined rapidly over three windows. To not bring in a recognised striker, over 18 months, is unforgivable. His footballing “philosophy” has turned us into a non-contact under-23 side.

Ian: With the club being less informative than North Korea, it’s a difficult one. Has Carol asked Flitcroft to run the club on a shoestring budget? Or has Flitcroft won the admiration of Carol by sweet talking her into believing that his extraordinary knowledge of football and unbelievable contacts within the game will bring in a continuous supply of world class academy players and all this will be self financing through his genius in the transfer market? Personally I’d opt for the latter. The writing was on the wall when Forrester was sold to Bolton and we still went into the season with no forwards and a third of the squad made up of young loanees and kids from the academy. (In Flitcroft’s own words). “I am in charge of all football related matters” The Buck Stops there!

What does the club need to do in the summer to turn it around?

Steve: We need a clear out not just on the pitch but at director of football level too. If you study performance indicators our DoF looks likely to have failed on his key objective, keeping us in League One. We are going backwards in that our promotion side is stronger than this one. As regards the manager he at least deserves time to recruit his own players and be judged on that rather than the ‘hospital pass’ of a team he currently has. I am a firm believer that it is his responsibility to sign the right players as it will be the manager who will be judged to have succeeded or failed by these decisions and not the DoF who seems untouchable.

How successful he will be in the Summer depends on funds available to him and any unwanted interference he receives from above. Regrettably I can see the players we want to keep like Ripley, Garrity and Chislett attracting unwanted attention from other clubs whilst the players we want to move on, but under contract, going nowhere.

Paul: This can’t be sorted in one summer. We have 90% of this squad under contract and most aren’t good enough. Who will take them? A start will be for Carol to stop “trusting the process”. Rip it up. It hasn’t worked. If she wants to continue to employ David Flitcroft then fine, but he shouldn’t be given footballing control and certainly not another transfer window. She needs to get the fans back on side. That would be a start. Along with a striker!

Ian: I’m dreading next season. If Flitcroft and Moore are still here it would just be more of the same. Our only hope is to rid ourselves of both and bring in a strong minded individual who will manage as well as choose his own scouting setup. With the money saved from Flitcroft and Moore leaving, in my dreams I would love Neil Warnock he’s a proven track record at every level.

Any other business?

Steve: I think Carol has a decision to make between backing a DoF who is failing in the eyes of the vast majority of supporters or backing the fans. I was never convinced that a club of Vale’s size needs a DoF but if we are having one we need a person of integrity. A respected Colin Garlick type figure receiving sage advice from Sir John perhaps?

Paul: Carol has done wonders for this club. The club is in wonderful shape from when she bought it. But the open letter defending Flitcroft and not taking any responsibilities or putting any responsibility on him for the obvious failures on the pitch did her no favours. Moore has to be backed and he should have the most say on transfers. Crosby was more or less thrown under the bus. And the academy lads need to ply their trade in non-league for the time being. They aren’t good enough for league football yet. Here’s hoping something changes. The door is wide open for League Two and if we make the same mistakes in August and next January, our league status could be massively under threat. We’re still alive in League One. Just. So, while there is hope we have to believe but I’m afraid my head is ruling my heart and it tells me it’s Crawley, Accrington and Newport next season. What a mess!

Ian: I’ve been dreadfully disappointed recently, I think the treatment of Crosby by the club was poor as was that of Steve Speed. Carol’s open letter to the fans was seen by many as condescending and this was followed shortly afterwards by something similar by CEO Matt Hancock. Season ticket holders on the Bycars End were effectively thrown out of their seats. We’ve been treated so poorly with the Railway Paddock facilities we have, while the cucumber sandwich lot opposite are looked after like kings!