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I wrote the following account yesterday but decided to sleep on it before posting. I feel I must now clarify, given the responses since the release of the official statement. OK, so to first explain how this has come about. I am the co-founder of the Black & Gold Group, but also current sitting Secretary of the Supporters' Club. The SC, B&G and NLV have all been interwoven for many years, simply because we are all Vale fans with the same ultimate aims. We all offer differing viewpoints on things but remain active together to provide a widespread view on situations. B&G have remained active, albeit in the background, for many years, mainly as observers and researchers. With my SC hat on, we have been increasingly frustrated with everything at the club, same as everyone else. We therefore requested a committee meeting a couple of months or so ago with the inclusion of Matt Hancock, who has offered himself up to the SC as the conduit between us and the club. The relationship between SC and club has drifted apart as we feel that the club have not wanted to engage with us, and it seems that they have hijacked events that the SC have traditionally held, on behalf of the fans. We all feel that the club are trying to control everything. This meeting was intense. I'm not slow at coming forward with my views, and neither is Paul Dixon, and Matt got absolute pelters. To his credit, he took it all very well. Never argued, never complained, never flounced off or made excuses. He took it all in. Following that meeting, Mark Porter, Paul Dixon, and I have remained in constant contact with Matt, intensely pointing out the level of unrest amongst the fanbase. He could quite easily cease communications with me because I have hardly been complimentary at times, but I have tried to reflect the level of anger, frustration, disappointment, and downright disengagement from the club. Matt has actively sought to understand all of that. We then held another meeting with Matt to delve a little deeper into the supporter discontent. This then led to Matt setting up a meeting with Carol for him relay the mounting concerns to her, with her full attention. It was then mutually agreed that a meeting should be held between us to face this head on. During this period, other fans have also been voicing their concerns in their own ways to the club, so we therefore asked them to join in a collaborative effort. Matt then gave us a list of dates that Carol would be available, and the meeting was set. At no point were we given a time limit, a limit on numbers of members that could attend, or any actual pre-requisites at all. All that was asked towards the date looming was a list of names of those attending. The meeting was initially going to be between us and just Matt Hancock and Carol. A couple of us then debated the merits of also requesting the attendance of Paddy. We decided against it, but then as the meeting approached, we were told that Carol would like him to attend. We ran it by our groups, and it was agreed that he should attend. So, on Monday evening, we held a meeting between 7pm until just gone 10pm. The burning topic, of course, was David Flitcroft. My view remains that I cannot see his position anything other than untenable. A sentiment held by all of us on our side of the table. Let's not dress that up any other way. The overwhelming evidence of fans in the ground, fans in the pubs, fans on social media, forums such as this and radio phone-ins, is that very few have remaining faith in our Director of Football. You must understand that, had we sat down and screamed that Flitcroft is a w***** and he needs to f*** off, a 3-hour meeting would not have lasted 3 minutes. And we would also be doing a dis-service to the other points that needed addressing. We went into the meeting well researched, with a formal agenda from which to raise our points. After lots and lots of debate around the obvious, we then discussed the other topics; those being the communications coming out of the club, the problems with ticketing, the matchday supporter facilities and overall 'experience' and the potential for better fan engagement with the club going forward. The club seemed surprised at some of the issues raised. They did admit failings in communication, they also saw a different viewpoint on the other topics that they had not considered. Above all else, they appeared genuinely shocked and saddened at what we were telling them, in terms of the overall disconnect between fans and club. Now, we all know that admitting failure, and expressing shock and sadness at things is all well and good, but they need to let their actions do the talking. We hope that they now understand that loud and clear. It's over to them to deliver results. So please let me make it abundantly clear. We recognise that fans are not happy. This season, we have seen fans fighting amongst themselves in the stands. We have seen much anger directed at Flitcroft, at our players for abject performances. We have seen growing complaints against the disparity of ground improvements. We have an utterly unworkable relationship between the Supporters' Club and the club. We have seen an alarming lack of respect shown to us fans by the club, not least by way of Carol's letter, David Flitcroft's Podcast, and the ignorance displayed towards our concerns at the last fans' forum. We are taking those issues to the club because they all need to be fixed. Do not think for one moment that we are easily pacified. But we must be logical. We cannot just rock up with a list of demands. There will have to be compromise and understanding from both sides. The first step in that healing process is to meet and hit the problems head on. Monday's meeting was exactly that. We don't have any answers, or results to report back on, from one solitary, intense meeting. But it is the start of some much needed honest and frank dialogue. How this pans out is yet to be decided. We've been in much worse states. We have battled to remove two rogue owners in the last 13 or so years. These owners are not rogue. But it's fair to say they have misaligned their focus. Please support us in regaining that. And please understand our respect for the Shanahan family, despite all our current differences. We've hopefully now opened doors and we look forward to the club holding much more open dialogue with the wider fanbase.62 points
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I dont have much to add that Bede and Mellor haven't already said however I would like to say something about my own experience of Monday and the few days since. I am as guilty as anybody of bashing out my opinion on the Internet without any regard for the people I am talking about. Many people give the impression that they would love to have the opportunity to "put the owners right" on a few things. It was not pleasant seeing first hand just how much the situation is affecting Carol. I think we all forget sometimes that the people we lambast are just that, people. We often think its OK to scream all sorts of things into the Internet but it really isn't. I have had a very strange week, where I have seen people take a statement and add their own conotations to it and talk about them like they are fact. I have seen the absolute worst of people on all SM platforms, screaming all sorts of made up theories into the ether. I understand the clamour for detail and there was alot of debate behind the scenes over what, if anything we should say further. We have been under alot of pressure to get this right. One part of the official joint statement that seemed to attract alot of critism was the part about urging fans to put aside frustration to help give the players and management a boost. I will hold my hands up and say that I wrote that part and not the club. It was never meant to insinuate that fans hadn't been supportive and was only intended as it was written. It was simply asking people to but it on the back burner to deal with later whilst we try to slavage league one status. I felt that there was pertinence in acknowledging we are in a relegation battle and also in acknowledging there is fan frustration. I got that wrong, so please don't bash the club for my misjudgement. Some of the critism we faced was too much. As I have said, I have been massively guilty of this myself and after this week, I must be better in future because I now know first hand that things we say on the Internet do effect people personally. Meeting Carol under these circumstances has reassured me that the whole family are absolutely the right people to look after the best interests of the club. I have not changed my mind about David Flitcroft, I am still of the opinion that he cannot come back from this. I wanted to just calrify and apologise for my part in the statement and also to appeal to people to think a bit more before they sit at a keyboard. I can't see how we stay up but one thing I will say from Monday is that Carol and Paddy have an absolute belief in Darren Moore, so until the fat lady sings, I'll be crossing my fingers that we are still a league one side next season. I would say, let's get behind them on Saturday and see if we can't get 3 points to put us back in the race... but perhaps not.43 points
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I've not really said anything so far but keep seeing the recurrence of people "having their belly tickled" "smoke blown up their arse" "not asking the hard questions that fans want asking". Bede, Dicko, Tony and myself were there as part of B&G. If you think we are the type of people that would have our bellies tickled and not ask the hard questions, then I'm not sure how to change your mind, epecially people like Spunkers who have seen us on multiple protests, meetings, etc... Collectively we have got rid of two lots of disgraceful owners, yet went into the meeting to offer an olive branch to the club to try and resolve current tensions. This is because the Shanahan's, in my opinion, truly have the best wishes of the club at heart and it is not them that is the problem. We want to work with them to try and sort this current discontent and anger out. Of course the main topic was the director of football. But do you think you can really go in and tell Carol to get rid and walk out? The meeting would be over in an instant. The club now realise how deep rooted this is and they have to try and alleviate the tension. How they do that is up to them. We know what we want to happen, but Carol owns the club and we can't hold her by gun point, but we can try and make her realise the massive feeling of discontent. What the club do now is their decision. We have started the conversation. They know how the fans feel, trust us. Now while the club decide the next steps, the only thing we can do is get behind the team wholeheartedly on Saturday, like we have all season and try and retain our League 1 status.31 points
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Happy to prove you wrong Paul. Black & Gold have continued to exist since its inception back in about 2008/9, in the background, to gauge fans' feelings and I suppose judge the performance of the club. We have an excellent source of research to delve deeper into things. Mark Porter is the chair of the SC and, until recently, the meetings were held on the final Thursday of each month. However, we have just changed that to bi-monthly to allow us to have more regular committee meetings to allow us to operate better. Sadly, our website got hacked and damaged so we are struggling for an official means of communications whilst our new one is currently being built. (I'm the SC secretary by the way) Tell you why we represent you? We listen at meetings and we listen to fans in the stands, in the pubs, on social media and on forums such as this. We represent you by collectively discussing what we can do within our powers as supporter groups. That has led to lots of very frank dialogue with the club over the past couple of months, resulting in this meeting to hit it all face on with the people at the top. Yes, this meeting was face to face. No, we have not been pacified and nobody, not a single person, has changed their views on David Flitcroft or the disconnect between fans and club. I'm absolutely astounded at the bizarre criticisms that we've 'had our bellies tickled' and other such nonsense. As a result of our initial meeting, the club now fully understand the deep-rooted issues the fans have. It is the first step in a long road ahead. There will, of course, be further communication back to the fans, no doubt from both sides, but we also have to be pragmatic and sensible. We will do nothing knee-jerk. The fans have had faith in those groups to act for the betterment of the club in the past. We ask for the same again.31 points
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Very sceptical of this I'm afraid. Mark Porter - more faces than a town hall clock, goes on Praise and Grumble and slags people at the club off - I bet he won't have said half of that here, more concerned with making himself the centre of attention and getting inside info. I'd have much preferred another open fans forum, or God forbid Flitcroft sat down with the media and answered some frank questions. Instead we've had an in-house podcast, and now Carol grabbing a select group of fans who she can give a slight inside view into the workings of the club in exchange for their loyalty and spreading the good word on her behalf. Sorry, it means little unless Flitcroft comes out and explains what he's actually doing and takes some responsibility, instead of another attempt by Carol to get people to love him.30 points
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I'll renew mine. Football is my release. Vale are my club. I've no interest in removing Carol from the club and she isn't monetarily profiting from the club, so withholding funds will only hurt the club and the team further. I held money from Smurthwaite and MOLD, but this is a completely different battle imo.29 points
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The most disturbing thing about today for me was the apathy amongst the fans, it is obvious that the fans have packed up and can you really blame them ? This team is not phenomenal Carol, it's just not very good at football and it's plain to see that next season with this set of players it's going to be another struggle and that's where the apathy sets in, once it gets a hold it's very hard to shake off, it can take years to gain support and just months to lose, the damage done with the recruitment policy since January 23 is going to take years to rectify and the paying public deserve an explanation That's why hundreds were streaming off the ground before the final whistle just resigned to yet another home defeat. The fights gone out of the supporters and it's certainly gone out of the team, like I said............. Apathy28 points
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A joint statement that didn't really say anything at all. All talk and no action or solutions. Why not release a transcript of the meeting? Why not organise an open fans forum? It's all well and good saying the club was 'open and honest' and then not providing anything to back it up. Carol's open letter told me everything I need to know about what they think of fans and their opinions. Why wasn't Flitcroft there if his role was the significant part of the meeting? Must be scared of being called out without scripted questions and club edited podcasts. I'm sick of hearing 'biggest game of the season','must win', 'back the lads' and 'we will improve' and then the fans doing their best to get behind the team and then ultimately getting beaten comfortably every single game. I actually think the fans have been quite patient with how things are being handled by the club. We are abysmal on the pitch and all of this was avoidable, the past 18 months have been a car crash. They've been living under a rock and hiding for months.28 points
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Hello,, Firstly, thank you for being a part of the OVF community. It's a community where I would like people to get along, disagree without resorting to personal abuse and where the focus should be primarily on Port Vale. I have a confession to make - for a long time I have steered clear of the Politics section as I found some of the views on there wound me up. This was a mistake as I really wasn't aware of what was going on in there. As a result, when I recently went back in I was shocked. This section seems a totally different world to the rest of OVF - it's full of personal abuse, conspiracy theories and (often) racist views. All of these things are against our forum rules. We also have a small team of admin staff who volunteer their time free of charge. It's not fair on them to spent time moderating such arguments. I have come to the conclusion that politics is too provocative a subject and doesn't have any place in what is ultimately a forum to discuss football. So, with apologies to those who want to genuinely engage in political discussion, I am closing the Politics section with immediate effect. Please note - political messages posted in other sections will be deleted. This is my personal decision as OVF founder. There are other places online to discuss politics. From now on, OVF is a politics free zone. Thanks, Rob27 points
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For the first time in umpteen seasons, sadly I'm seriously considering NOT renewing mine and the wife's season tickets. Not because of the fact that we may be in L2 yet again, but because I find it totally demoralising we're parting with our hard earned brass, so that a stark failure of a DoF can squander it yet again, in exactly the same fashion that his last two years track record has demonstrated, I know this isn't positively supporting the club and harms the club, but really I,like many others, can't afford to waste money for the reward of feeling utterly depressed and miserable, after watching defeat after defeat The hype, national coverage and massive over positivity which was fanfared post promotion, had me and many others hooked, as we were sold a ridiculous notion that Port Vale were on an upward trajectory, backed by the prospect of a professional, business set up and the pledge of making new memories . Well that aged well, didn't it? We now certainly have new memories, but not ones that we'll treasure. So I guess there's a part of me that feels a little embarrassed at been taken for a fool for buying in to all that, but I'm also angry at the clubs failure to address the situation that has been allowed to fester while seemingly, being in total denial of it, as demonstrated as an example, by that bizarre open letter, which was always going to back fire. Anyway,that's it.26 points
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Our form since September (at which point we didn't win again until December) has us 138th in the form table of the entire EFL + top 3 non-league divisions. 18 points. There's only 5 clubs and 8 points between us and being at the very bottom of 6 x 24 team divisions. Would you like to know the best bit, gents? While we're rubbing shoulders with Dover Athletic (15 points) and Bishops Stortford (10 points) they're still one up on us as both have scored more <ovf censored> goals. We're 142/144 for goals scored since September in the EFL and below. Strikers signed in the January window to correct this horrific record = none. How does she say with a straight face that he's doing a good job?26 points
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I wonder if carol realises the only way she will ever achieve 10k plus home fans is providing a team that we are all proud of, a team that we are excited to come and watch on Saturday afternoons. Ive never seen such a pathetic excuse of a football team in my life. We let pett go and replaced him with jason lowe..... pett is no world beater but id take him every day of the week over lowe. Dan jones today you'd struggle to find a worse performance than that in any sunday league side across the country this weekend. Pathetic just pathetic. Our strikers have about 5 goals between them all season....... it is the most criminal neglect ive ever seen at vale in my whole life supporting the club. It simply is unacceptable. I could of recruited a better team than this lot. And they supposedly put this together through endless research and non stop hard work????25 points
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Synectics is a fraud investigation company , but yet Flitcroft flew under the radar. Ironic .25 points
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It’s more obvious by the week that up until his problems, Darrell Clarke was the glue that held this club together.24 points
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24 points
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We go into our next game, number 38 of the season, and our strikers stats in the league are this…… James Wilson. 3 goals. Uche Ikpeazu. 1 goal. Bailey Dipepa. 1 goal. Ryan Loft. 0 goals. 37 games in. Let that sink in Carol. Let that sink in when you came out publicly and said that David Flitcroft was involved in everything football related. Let that sink in the next time you slag off the fans in your open letter. Let that sink in the next time some WAG tells you we have phenomenal players. Let that sink in the next time narcissist Dave tells you he’s doing a great job. And ultimately……… Let that sink in when fans look at you with distain and disgust in letting OUR football club be ruined by David Flitcroft, whilst you detach yourself further from the fanbase. Forget your 6 monthly, annual, performance based reviews etc. This is no ordinary business. SACK. HIM. NOW.23 points
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At the end of the day, any money available should have been ploughed into the team. Yes, some things had to be done to the stadium to make it safe, but anything else is just window dressing. The coaching room, the ice baths, the endless list of backroom staff are all great to have if you're doing well. As long as you're paying a player the going rate, he'll get changed in a portakabin. I understand to some extent to want to improve the commercial side of the business, but spending money on the unnecessary flowery stuff is just a bad plan. Spend every spare penny you have on the first team, which creates success, increased attendances, bigger away followings and everything else that comes with it. Once you achieve success on the pitch, you can do all the vanity projects you want. We've tried to act like a Championship/Premier league club before actually achieving anything. The most important thing in a football club is football. Full stop. Not community work, not nice buildings, not Mother's day lunches. Football. Concentrate on it, spend on it and then you can do as many charity/vanity projects as you like.23 points
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Wouldn't blame the Shanahans if they <ovf censored> off and left us to it. If my mum/ wife/ daughter was Carol I'd be begging her to walk out of the club and never come back.23 points
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I'll be renewing mine purely because it gives me a free pass from the Mrs every other week and a 12 hour session with no questions asked 🍻 Basically, if I was single I wouldn't be renewing 🤣 up the Vale ⚫️⚪️⚫️⚪️23 points
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After all of the crap and vitriol that's been going Carol's way over the last few months I wouldn't blame her in the slightest for not putting another penny into the club. But she won't do that. Because she genuinely cares about the club. And we're very lucky that she does. 99% of other owners would have done a Norm. There's only so many people willing to lose millions running a football club and at the same time always try to have its best interests at heart. Carol is one of them. But some of you think she should walk away. Or have you changed your minds now she's likely to be financially much better off and expect her to justify your annual £300 purchase by putting 180 million into the club?22 points
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Genuinely I think that everyone within the club, especially Carol, got carried away after promotion and the ludicrous amounts of positive press she received. She believed her own hype. OBE, award-winning darling of football. Dissent was removed from the club. Fans, and their opinions, were shut out and resented. Flitcroft was deified in her eyes. They could do no wrong and they were going to inexorably build to the Championship and everything would continue to go well as they’re all brilliant. Anyone with any doubts could leave. The letter is a microcosm - we are right, you don’t get it. We are brilliant. She imposed a model onto the club that the fans didn’t want or need. A sad, cautionary tale about ego, arrogance, and humility. A classic tragedy - the rise, the hubris, the fall. League 1 status was never a given. It needed sensible hard-work, constantly reflecting and improving. The nuts and bolts needed to be secure. There should have been zero talk of the Championship, of daft infrastructure, until a really solid, reliable League 1 core had been assembled. Carol thought she’d cracked football, had solved it. Look how great she was doing! We will go down, and right now Carol is in the denial stage of delusion. Her speech last night showed the first cracks appearing. The penny is dropping, far too late, and she’s trying to convince herself based on chats with the family of the new coaches. It’s desperation. I still think she’s a well-intentioned, naive woman who got far too full of herself and Flitcroft as DC delivered on the pitch. She equated DC and AC’s excellent management with something a lot bigger. She genuinely trusted Flitcroft to sort everything out, and has become way too dependent on him. She’s made mistakes the same way all of us have in work. I sincerely hope this summer is a reflective period for her. Take some time away. Go to Supporters Club meetings and listen to Dicko and Porter. Get some critical, cynical, experienced figures in the club. Reorient the finances to focus heavily on the first-team budget. She can still salvage a positive legacy, but she has squandered the legendary status she was assured in June 2022.22 points
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Over & out for me. The whole Vale situation right now from top to bottom is getting me down. Time to take a break from it all including the forum. Nothing against you guys it’s for my own good. I don’t want be feeling angry & depressed every weekend & talking Vale really isn’t helping. Take care guys, stay safe, look after your loved ones & be happy 👍🏻 I’ll check back in at the end of the season & what a season it will have been 😏21 points
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21 points
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For all the abuse she has received online ( it is abuse as well I have seen it 1st hand) why on earth would you put more of your family’s money in. I know I wouldn’t.21 points
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I may be being overly simplistic but I see it as: Infrastructure improvements - great to have A competitive, balanced first-team squad - must have In order of priority: 1) First-team squad 2) Infrastructure I'm also surprised that when other clubs in similar positions were clearly able to bring in experienced strikers (Lyle Taylor to Cambridge say, or Mo Eisa to Exeter) these moves appeared to raise no alarm bells and no change of plan. The club seemed to stay in its bubble of - let's wait and see what happens / wait till bigger clubs make signings and get their offcasts / look at the PL2 market / wait till deadline day - almost as if adding another striker was a nice thing to have, not an absolute essential. Where were the alarm bells once Uche had been injured? Why, if these other clubs are paying over the odds for Taylor, Eisa etc, did we not react and see if we could move some of the budget from other things to the playing budget and pay over the odds to ensure we get the right player in? Perhaps there was no budget to move, but the attitude after failing to sign anyone seems to be for the club to have shrugged its shoulders and say "Oh well, we missed out on some targets" as if it's a slight mishap rather than something that could seal relegation. Why does the club appear to not have learnt any lessons from the previous transfer windows? This is a club that on the 1st August had one senior striker in Ellis Harrison. A club who started the previous season with one fit, senior striker in Jamie Proctor. A club who waited till the very final day in January 2023 to add an injured striker despite us having no fit strikers at the start of the year. Yes, we all get it's difficult to get a striker in. We realise there's a load of factors to getting someone in - but other clubs seemed to manage to do so. You won't get very far if you continually repeat the same mistakes every window.21 points
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Are you married? If so can you pass my deepest sympathy to your missus for having to live with such a miserable bugger!20 points
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20 points
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A high proportion of the beef from posters on this thread doesn’t seem to be about the statement itself, but because they weren’t invited to the meeting, which is a bit entitled in my opinion. It smacks of jealousy to me, to be frank. Am I annoyed I wasn’t told about the meeting? No. Am I annoyed I wasn’t invited? No. How can I be. I’m a Vale fan. I buy my season ticket and spend my money at the club. But, I don’t give up my free time for the club, I haven’t attempted to arrange a meeting myself. The people who did attend, obviously did and do all this, so there shouldn’t be any resentment because you weren’t invited. It’s ludicrous. With regards to the statement itself, of course it’s written how it is. The minutiae if the meeting, the individual personal comments likely made, obviously cannot be included. It’s a public statement from a professional business and it cannot include criticism about members of staff etc it could leave the club, an employer, open to all sorts issues (constructive dismissal case for example?). All I’m taking from it is dialogue has been opened between the club and its customers. Whatever you think of the Shanahans, DF etc, that’s got to be a positive surely. The ability to listen and communicate was not something V2001 / Smurhwaite were ever open too. And no, I’m not a happy clapper, and no, I’m not happy with where we are in the league, the recruitment over the last 18 months etc but my recourse is through my wallet, that’s it. I have no other entitlement to anything else and nor should I.20 points
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There’s a world where, one year on from the tragic death of his daughter, we gave DC compassionate leave again until the end of summer, and provided him with comprehensive mental health support and therapy upon his return. We had an assistant manager with interim experience and a DoF who apparently would be in charge of recruitment. I understand how bad things got, but did we not have a moral obligation to look after him instead of sacking him? Carol said he needed to heal elsewhere but DC didn’t seem to think the same when he was jettisoned. Everything good about this club was built on DC’s management. Behind that, it was just empty words. We conflated a really good manager with some nonsense ‘process’. I know it’s banging on about the past, but we didn’t have to take the path we did. We chucked away the very best thing we’ve had at PVFC at decades and I’m not sure when we’ll get as lucky again.20 points
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20 points
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I would love to think that auntie Carol realises that the only gripes from level headed supporters are our the worries about our DOF and not directed in any other way towards her ownership. Having said that, anyone this side of sane would not touch a football club in a million years. Furthermore, anyone sane with 180 million spunky spondulas should be off rocking a fat one all over the globe. Hope she stays, and the club can become self sufficient - for me, what right have us supporters to expect the shanahans to keep bankrolling PV bottomless pit FC forever. Enjoy the money auntie Carol 💖👍20 points
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Why should they put a penny from this deal in? They've had horrific abuse. Just because we are probably going to get relegated. Whoop de do,relegation. The worlds ended, we're in a relegation fight. It's not perfect but nothing ever is. All those who've asked/demanded Carol and Kevin sell up will now be rubbing their hands with glee. Its their money, not ours, and they can do what they want with it . Carol and Kevin aren't from Burslem but have done so much for us, but it's never good enough for some. Some elements of our fan base are beyond embarrassing and their behaviour is appalling, directed towards decent people who have done nothing but try and support and progress our club and the wider area. Someone on here posted she looked like a demented seal clapping the lads off on Saturday. Grow the fk up. Crocodile tears after Saturdays video, and this is mild compared to the abuse on other mediums. Hang your heads in shame.20 points
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It's not even like it's been one problem position (e.g. strikers). If you take goalkeeping, it took four signings (Covolan, Stone, Holy, Stevens) before we finally arrived at Ripley. Using just that goalkeeping position alone, surely you must ask questions of whoever is looking at recruitment if four out of five signings for a position don't work out? I also think we have missed Forrester at the back. He wasn't a world beater but had potential albeit with the odd mistake in him, and we sold him to Bolton, presumably for a quick buck, We've then had two poor signings in Balmer and Iacovitti brought in who aren't up to the standard of the player they replaced.20 points
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The bit that got me was the new coaches wives know we're going to be OK? What the fck has that got to do with anything. SIGN A STRIKER20 points
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Mate one or two on here know me. I go everywhere, mainly on train. I've been night games at the likes of Sunderland and Brighton. Been to some awful places. Halifax with about 1500 there , Sutton etc. And as a club we are far better off than when I used to trudge to Halifax and Rochdale.. However this current lot have sucked the enthusiasm out of me. It's a chore to go. I don't enjoy it at all. Not about the winning either as the Charlton 3-3 was excellent entertainment. I really don't enjoy it. Find them a really dislikeable bunch with the odd exception. I can spend up to 150 quid on an away game. Reading was 63 train and I think 27 ticket before I'd even supped my first 7 quid pint. Hopefully I'll feel differently soon but I'm completely apathetic towards it. Don't think I'm alone either sadly.20 points
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My journey to apathy from the start of the season to now: 1. Expecting to win each game 2. Expecting to win the odd game 3. Hopeful of a win 4. Expecting to lose but expecting to score 5. Expecting to lose but expecting to get some shots on target 6. Expecting to lose and expecting that we don't have a shot on target. = not @rs£d19 points
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I can't believe having like many of you here I've seen us lose 4-1 at home to Macc. Plenty of other humiliations. Was it 6-2 v Lincoln the other year. This feels worse. What makes this all the less unpalatable is that it was all so preventable. Many fans ( and we all think we're experts ) saw this coming in October and November. Another poster rightly put the Boro game was the final straw. A humongous night for the club to get a massive pay day in a 2 legged semi final , we didn't have an attempt on target. Simply astonishing. The club has buried it's head in the sand and I got suckered by the podcast DF did. He literally could sell sand to the Arabs. Burton away will be my only game this season. I've had it . Ruining my moods , my weekend and even my sleep ( drama queen alert ). I'll renew my 2 season tickets and be back in August but I'm drained by it all for this season. Two runs of firstly 11 and now 12 and still climbing, without a win has sucked the life out of me. What used to be my weekend treat, is now an absolute chore and sense that I have to be there. I'm not putting myself through it any more and will come with renewed optimism that we might win a few more games in League 2. Hopefully Flitcroft is sacked by then.19 points
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Flitcroft brought in 5 players in the January window. One never made it onto the pitch before he was sent back to his parent club. Of the others only one started today. That is simply pathetic and he should be on his bike.19 points
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Could have a big rant but at this point it’s pointless. Players are crap. DOF is inept. Owner is clueless. Just let it all unfold.19 points
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I think what people are frustrated at rob is the fact that things have been explained to a handful of people and the rest of us are left here guessing. If anything id expect a 'supporters club' to now explain to us fans what was said in the meeting. I dont expect the club to provide a transcript but the fans that were there should now be saying we asked about January and this is what we were told. They should relay the message however it seems like thats not going to be the case so i really dont see the point of the club announcing the meeting. As it seems like its a weve discussed things but were not telling you what was discussed. So who has the conversation really benefited?19 points
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Going down with a whimper sadly! This is going to set the club back years. All the good will and support built up over the past few years lost!19 points
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Add to that, Worrall knew his contract wouldn't be renewed and yet he played at 100% right to the end, a top professional and the type of character we have tried and failed miserably to replace.19 points
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How does Carol come back from this? 1. Very clear, simple message when we go down admitting that serious mistakes were made, that the fans should have been listened to, and lessons have been learned. Make the fans feel heard. 2. Flitcroft sacked ASAP with a new DoF installed before the end of the season ahead of the summer. We can’t trust him anymore, and the DoF needs time to prepare for a crucial summer in which we cannot do a Forest Green. 3. No phrases, cliches, slogans. No faffing about on anything apart from essential stuff for the average fan. Want Need Expect. Championship Ready. Get rid. Budget reoriented to build a solid League 2 team with experience of success at the level. 4. Engage with the average fan again moving forward. Meet with Mark Porter and the SC on a regular basis. Stay in touch with the common plebs. We may be a bit emotional at times, but we see things from a different angle. 5. Never, ever get ahead of yourself again. Just have a relentless focus on winning games of football. The rest will come. Every season, the focus should be on improving the league position from last season, above anything else. There is enough residual goodwill towards the Shanahans that they can easily rebuild from this. What would be a disaster is a doubling down on the failures to this point, to protect egos. Sincerely hope she chooses the right path as we all fundamentally want her to be successful. I feel like the old Carol who took over has gone, but I’m sure things can be worked out.19 points
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19 points
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Clearly an absolutely fantastic businesswoman. That dosent mean what is going on at the vale is correct though.19 points
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Notice the first thing she mentioned was what we wanted to do was with the community and then the pitch was mentioned. That's is the problem. The football hasn't been the most important thing for 2 years and this is what happens. We are a football club first. Everything else is secondary. When will she get that into her head?!19 points
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Whatever we may think about the current situation, we’ve got to put it to one side on match days and get behind the team. Everything will be ten times worse if we were to go down. We must stay up. Do our bit. That’s all we can do. I’ve moaned enough in the last few weeks (and will probably be moaning again at 5). However, they’re our team, let’s support them and after all we’re a better club to support in League One, rather than League Two.19 points
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Fundamentally it is all on Carol. She didn't have to appoint him. She didn't have to give him full control when working part-time. She didn't have to go along with all the silly infrastructure stuff. She didn't have to sack anyone with any degree of football experience and replace them with family and friends. She didn't have to appoint Crosby without speaking to anyone else. She didn't have to stick by Flitcroft as he continued to balls up windows. She didn't have to choose to side with Flitcroft over the fans when they started to raise concerns. She didn't have to belittle the fans who were worried. She didn't have to keep employing a DoF responsible for 11 wins in 53. Sorry, we can discuss the flaws of the DoF all night, but bucks stops with the decision-maker at the top. Carol has caused all this through conscious, bad decisions she's made which has been driven by a resentment of the average fan.19 points
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Carol would be better keeping her own counsel. No open letters, no speaking to fans and crying in front of them. She should really be holding Flitcroft, the man she's entrusted the football side of her business to, accountable as to why the football side of the business is failing. She should be considering the financial ramifications of relegation to League Two and why the fanbase is unhappy. If she ignores those things then the football club deserves everything it gets for that short-sightedness18 points
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The current incumbent has us as the 142nd lowest goal scorers in the 144 team EFL+conference. Probably 144th next week. "There's no guarantee a replacement would be any better" is utterly meaningless, you could say that about anything. Why would I do that? Who's mentioned that? No one other than you, writing fantasies. All conjectured fantasy. 142/144 goals scored is reality. Vale in the drop zone is reality. Burton brining in 4 forwards in January including a lad from Man Utd is reality. Vale bringing in absolutely no one and now suffering for it is reality.18 points
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