Leaderboard

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.

Yesterday saw Mal Benning playing against us and having a decent game. Nothing barn storming but steady. That highlights exactly why we are in this mess. Moving Mal on wasn't a problem, not replacing him with somebody better is. You can draw a list of players we have moved on since Jan 2023 and you won't find many have been upgraded on. We are here for one reason alone, recruitment or rather the failure of recruitment. To my mind, David Flitcroft is responsible for these things and has to carry the can.

As I'm moving back into the Stoke area I'm in a position to come to more games and a season ticket is on my agenda for the first time since I lived in Stoke over 12 years ago. The thing is, and I bet a lot of people renewing will feel the same way, is they won't want to be taken for mugs. We know the club will do a drive for pre season ticket sales, and it looks increasingly likely we are going to be forced into a us vs them situation in terms of getting Flitcroft out. For us, we want to see some cause for optimism and also being able to get behind the manager. Right now, the DoF seems to relegate the manager to a head coach and the head coach has been set up to fail. I'd agree a lot of us saw this coming - my scepticism started when AC was appointed. In part for me I wanted a manager, not a coach. And to a lesser extent it had the whiff of the club tightening its belt with budgeting. The successive transfer windows, the last 3 now, beg the question of whether the club is being set up to fail. That the financial tightening led to lay offs, compromises in recruitment that affected even DF. Ultimately somebody is accountable, and I'd like to know what the club will do to set this right. Promises of renewed optimism and enticing deals to get a ST won't cut it for me. I'd be optimistic and want to get a ST regardless. So: Why have we failed in the last 3 transfer windows? Why do we have a disruptive loan policy for team cohesion? We simply can't operate in half seasons if we want to progress Why have coaches (even DM right now) failed to get much out of the players? Has the investment into non-footballing areas shown any return on investment? Unfortunately the answer to all three for me is David Flitcroft. So Carol needs to then answer why has DF done so poorly. If it is an issue of budget, and she can't solve it, then she needs to ditch the DOF model and go for manager + recruitment team. If the answer is something else, then I'd like to know what senior leadership think this is, and what they plan to do to address it. Values, being nice and friendliness doesn't put food on the table or points on the board. Football is a results business and if Carol wants the club to do well then she needs to be willing to make difficult decisions. It's not nice for somebody to lose their job but ultimately if they can't do the job, or the job is not a right fit for the organisation, then you reorganise and find something that works. David Flitcroft owes nothing to this club and Port Vale Football Club owes nothing to David Flitcroft.

Taken from Wikipedia Backed by ambitious owner Stewart Day, Flitcroft signed experienced players such as Kelvin Etuhu, Nicky Adams, Ryan Lowe and Shwan Jalal; Flitcroft said that "we’re in League Two, but we try and behave like a Championship club".[62] The club spent £100,000 on improving the pitch and dressing rooms, whilst long-distance coach journeys were replaced by flights Sound familiar ? And we all know where Bury ended up.

I know Moore hasn’t exactly set the world on fire but at the risk of sounding like a broken record, this isn’t his mess. I would say he’s come across a bit ‘nicer’ than I imagined. I thought he was a bit spikier tbh (he certainly took no prisoners when he played) and that he set up his teams to get stuck in. That said, I just don’t think we haven that in the squad. Maybe him being ‘nice’ is because confidence is low and he’s tried to re-build, who knows? If so, it hasn’t worked, it’s too late and so maybe a few home truths need dishing out. In league 2 I’d like us to recruit big, athletic players and/or players with that big of edge, who get stuck in and most of all hate losing. Players like, dare I say it, McKirdy (though obviously not him!). We need leaders, not shrinking violets, and certainly players who are physically robust, not ones that disappear for 3 months after a kick on the shins. There are players that always seem to cause us problems - like Winchester yesterday, Piergianni, Keillor-Dunn etc (though arguably the same could be said of Loft). I’d like to see us trying to dictate teams at home, even in the promotion season I didn’t think we were great and often looked wide open in midfield (I’m thinking the Swindon home game with the infamous Cov incident). We need to utilise one of the biggest advantages…. the size of the pitch. We’ve given him another 5 years so we must have trust him. As long as Fraudcroft sticks to cleaning the bogs in the Robbie Williams suite and lets Moore choose his own players, I think (hope) we’ll at least stem the bleeding next year, though I don’t expect an immediate bounce back if I’m honest. And please, please, please, please….. for God’s sake, can we not view the January window as ball of Kryptonite and try and learn from past DISASTERS and at least have a bit of a strategy for it.

Steve Speed, Colin Garlick, Tom Pope, John Askey, Darrell Clarke, dozens of other wonderful people have all been disposed of without ceremony when their time was up (or it was perceived that their time was up) when the club had disposed of them under Carol's ownership. Why is David Flitcroft different to all the rest? Why is he untouchable? Please answer Carol.

It’s patently obvious he’s not up to the job. As much as we’ve highlighted our poor transfer dealings this January the real damage was done in the summer when players are actually readily available. We needed 2 strikers yet ended up having to re-sign James Wilson. Worse still, we recruited players to play a rigidly imposed style of play which left us with no flexibility to change and even less willingness to change. We gambled on recruiting “top” young talent on loan and as luck would have it two of these players came good, which inevitably meant they’d depart in January leaving a gaping hole, which we decided to fill by gambling again on yet more “top” young players. Unfortunately, it looks like we lost the bet this time. If you’ve attended any of the meetings you’ll know that Flitcroft talks the talk but one look at that team out on the pitch will tell you he doesn’t walk the walk. Ultimately Carol can dig her heels in as much as she likes but the guy is done for. It’s just a matter of when not if.

The main issue DoF has built a really unbalanced squad with a fancy full vision of a playing style of Pep or Arteta to attract topflight loanee players. A 352 formations to be successful massively relies on having 3 central defender's that have pace, great distribution skills / ball carriers, consistent (very few mistakes) also intelligent enough to hand off forwards between them as the ball goes down different flanks - In my opinion at our level, they don't exist, or they would be topflight players. On to wingbacks need to be able to defend, tackle, mark the wide player (not let them drift off unmarked at the back post), have pace, stamina, be able to beat first man and be able to cross a ball - In my opinion we have none. On to the mid field, need to be able to tackle, receive ball, distribute, ball carry, track back and create space - In my opinion we lack movement, since Olly and Alfie went back in Jan (they really carried the team and papered over the cracks). On the front line, Pep successfully played without a 9 because of strength in depth of the team (footballers who can play most positions interchangeable), but when he found an exceptional one, he slightly changed the system. We don't have that luxury. We don't play to the forward strengths as the system is too rigid. The tactics this season, I seen us play Josh Thomas as a 9 to hold the ball up at 5ft8 never going to work, we rarely used his pace. Wilson not a 9, but a 10 needs ball to feet. Loft well, I'm still uncertain of his strengths (panic buy, but tracked him for months, did DoF ever look at goal to game ratio...). At least Uche caused chaos in opposition defence giving time and space for others. We can't rely on attacking midfielders to score all the goals. So, we are left with players not playing in their positions of strength to fit a broken system of ball retention at all costs (sideways backwards) for Prem teams benefit, for us being their extended academy's only to recall if things work out. Our academy players should be on season long loans to lower levels, but instead make up a large portion of the squad. We have released a lot better players than we have now in the squad. Carol you been sold, a pipe dream, from a Charlatan, who came for an interview to be manager. If DoF is not released, we will be National League ready if we are lucky and if and when he is released, I fear it will take a few seasons to rebuild. In the mean time gates will shrink, up take of early birds season tickets and and season tickets will be very very low. Just give DoF the red card 🟥, so we can prep and start for next season reconstruction early. In fact why don't we all take red cards to next home game to visualise to Carol our discontent on DoF. Rant over 🤬

Danny Sonner mentioned wages at Vale about 20 years ago.....so what do we do pre-season, bugger off to Spain and have zero match condition pre season friendlies. Point being, Vale will always be Vale, and for the second season running the prep for the new season has been an absolute shambles.

We don’t know what the club have offered wage wise, if the numbers being mentioned on here are true then some of our players are on a damn good screw. If we look at other teams in this league it’s hard to believe we can’t compete wage wise. Anyway, it’s how the budget is spent that’s the issue, most obviously we’ve had enough money to pay off and replace 2 managers and numerous staff, not just coaching staff but the likes of Garlick, Speed and Co. who will all have received remuneration packages. On the surface it looks like we’re extremely wasteful with whatever money we have available for wages.

We don’t need a DOF in league two.

1. Sack off the 3 at the back/wingback system. It's boring, slow and doesn't suit the fanbase. 2. Go 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 and sign some high quality wingers/forwards. Emphasis should be on goalscoring, not pointless possession or "aligning with the values of the club". 3. Squad DNA: Fast, attacking football. With athletic, physical players that hate losing. 4. It's easier to say who to keep: Ripley, Clark, Garrity, Chislett, Yak (squad), Plant. The rest can go. 5. The kids should go out on loan in non-league and play 40+ games.

He's coming across as beaten and dispirited as I feel. 1 point from 18 with only 1 arguably really hard fixture is appalling. 4 of the opposition were in and around us.

This is how I feel. I really can't be bothered with League Two. Turning up for home games where the away side have brought 100 fans and stithouse their way to a 1-0 win. Everyone deserves to be in whatever league they end up in - but it's all so avoidable ending up in L2 again.

In JR'S. Book, he travelled 100s of miles to view potential players,sometimes two matchyes on the same day, many hours away from home in a jalopy of car supplied by Bill Bell, this is professional devotion to the club, I wonder what Flicroft has done , I suspect he's a telephone traveller, both him and Moore needs to take a this leaf out of a masters book, and BTW Carol, Flitcroft has never paid back or ever will the extent of JR'S time, ability, and monetary results to our club, so think on Carol you may own the ground but club belongs to the supporters, historical and future, JR knew this hence the statue to be built, so for these two characters Flitcroft and Moore either start to learn from the master his record and his book or has we say in the Potteries dialect, "Bugger thee sen off," and for you Carol before it all turns sour, find some dignity to rid us of your misguided appointment of an inept carpet bagger.

"And the EFL itself gives each Championship club £3.92million from its central income, with £950,000 going to each League One club and £640,000 to teams in League Two". In view of Carol's letter (statement), she stands by Df and says he has saved his salary 'many times over' In light of theimpending loss of £310K from the EFLnext season and a loss of £600/£700K in lost ST income, another £100K in merchandise, etc next season, he must be doing a tremendous job. In my profession, I have seen many project contractors/ organisations promising the earth in terms of savings and guaranteed success, only for the deals fall flat on their face leaving the mere mortals to pick up the pieces or the business folds with massive cost outlay. We are not PL2, we can't play EFL League football with a squad of crocks, free transfers, youth, has-beens or never-have's. You can't treat the fan base with contempt in this regard. Football is the priority, we will sacrifice amenities and campus's for this (well I would anyway). Get some sound common sense back in the club and re-evaluate. If it's a struggle and we have run out of time/ money then look for investment. Use trusted experienced allies, John Rudge being one. There are many supporters with the nous too. The Club is in a tailspin, heading for places we thought we'd never see under a Shanahan ownership. So sad to see for us all. Carol/ Kevin will never lose the respect of genuine fans, this situation can still be rectified (maybe not this season), sadly their outlay may not be recovered. That's business, I guess? I remember a lengthy conversation I had with Terry McDermott (former Liverpool and England Legend for the young uns'!). We talked about football finance/ shares, etc (I was a big roller with £1K in Vale shares at the time!), he said to me at the end. "If you want to make a million out of football - invest £20M my friend". He lost big money in both Newcastle (Before Ashley) and Celtic. I'd be happy to help any supporter groups and speak with the owners, it may be no use if they are set on this path of destruction sadly.

I think we're a fantastic bet to go down again, you'll probably get half-decent odds too. Our success in L2 previously has come from having physical players and leaders in the team, Griff, McCombe, Richards, Pope and even recently with the likes of Conor Hall. We won't recruit those kind of players though, it'll be "nice lads" to fit this rubbish passing it sideways style of play. Sign a big b*stard up-front, some quick wingers, and get it in the box to him. Bring back Dinosaur football!

Morecambe Accrington Salford Harrogate Depressing away followings Depressing grounds The feel good factor has well and truly gone 6 cup wins 8 league wins Thank you Carol and Fraudcroft Trust the process

Mal Benning will not have an easier game all season. I sit just past the 18 yard box in the railway and I’ve never seen sang in line with me and wanting to receive the ball. When he does receive a pass it’s always in his own half or on the half way line. We never ever get high up the pitch and try and hurt teams. It’s been an absolute disaster this season. Sooner it’s over with the better. We’ve recruited players (bad ones) who can clearly not play the way Flitcroft wants to play. Jesse debrah is starting to annoy me more each week also. Can he ever play a pass out without kicking it out of play. ? He’s steady centre half in the national league he’s a million miles off this league. He’s not the only of course .

Not defending Flitcroft but if they do get rid of him who ever comes in will have to work under the same financial restrictions and for that you have to blame Carol she’s done nothing while we nose dived down the league

Spot on, the main reason for our terrible recruitment is the wages offered. I have no issue if that is the case but I wish someone would come out and say it. Stadium costs and pitch improvements must be crippling. Apart from a brief period under Rudgey with Bill Bell loosening the purse strings we have never paid the going rate. Certainly don't want us to overspend and hit a financial wall but just be truthful Sent from my XQ-CC54 using onevalefan mobile app

Does anyone seriously believe things will be better in Division 2? Get a grip....Flitcrift will still be here alongside many of those donkeys on the pitch. Nowt will change. Recruitment of "better" players is pie in the sky. Who the hell wants to play for Vale on the alleged inferior wage structure? Why would the Club increase its wages, on less income, when it should have been done ages ago. We are stuck in an ever spiralling hole. Hundreds,if not thousands of regular attendees are now voting with their feet and will NOT renew season tickets. Action required now Carol, not when we are in a similar position next season. Give the wonderful fan base something to believe in for our future.

I doubt any of those strikers were coming for what we are prepared to pay, which is the biggest factor in our poor player recruitment this year.

Given there's 7 or 8 weeks maybe left of the season. Even if one of the Out of contract strikers wanted a grand a week extra than we offered . 8 grand extra wages wouldn't of been a huge gamble. A bigger gamble was doing nothing.

That's now 20 league home games lost out of 41 matches since the start of the 22/23 season. The table doesn't lie. Sent from my XQ-CC54 using onevalefan mobile app

Oh well. Where do we even start . Ripley Lomax Lopata Yak Shorrock Ojo Garrity Plant Mighten Wilson Chislett Yes it's unbalanced but I can't pick some because they are so poor. 3-0 Orient. 181 superb hardy Valiants.

We need a properly organised protest against Flitcroft. I hate to single out one person but he’s made his own rope by stating plainly he is responsible for “all things football”. Well the football is dire, we’ve hired mentally weak, uninterested and untalented players with an total imbalance positionally, and I am confident the squad is quite expensive ironically.

Yeah Sonner did. I remember, he said they were “conference wages” although difference being he had been at Vale playing good football for 2 seasons before leaving unhappy at said wages, so must have been acceptable to him at some point. What I see now is a club that won’t even pay enough for 1 star, proven striker. That’s not good enough.

He does speak, but only when he is in control of the output e.g. no independent media asking unscripted questions.

I would really love to know if Flitcroft thinks he is doing a good job. Not the bluster and fluff from the fans forums etc, just deep down whether he thinks: "I've made a mess of this, I have to get his next window right or it'll be me finished and my reputation ruined" Or "I don't really care, I'm on a winner here and I'm doing perfectly fine" But being as he doesn't speak, we'll never know.

Well there’s one thing for sure we never came to terms with league one! Defensively shocking conceding two and three goals a game ! Very overwhelmed at times and just watched the better teams play. Absolutely no steel or guts in the team we have just given up with a whimper. The reset is going to take sometime at best we could be in league two for a while. I am not at all confident we can get back up anytime soon. All the gains the club has made over the last few years lost! Back to three and four thousand crowds sadly.

Shouldn't be anyone coming in.

Does he have pictures?

Flitcroft need's to go now. Not all stand together until the end of the season and have an inquest then, because an inquest at the end of this season will have consequences for next season. Because we will be messing around trying to bring a new DOF in which means time lost on getting rid of most of these loser's that are under contract. The work needs to start now on that and a plan need's to be put in place on how we are going to shift them on. Plus try putting season ticket's on sale in the next couple of weeks with how the fan base is currently feeling, how will that go down especially in regards to season ticket purchases. If we want a good crack at League Two next season, we can need to act now.

The fact that our season is essentially done with so many games left is a disgrace. People at the club need to be accountable, namely Flitcroft and the owner for her continued support of him. This squad will struggle in L2 and no way Ripley or Garrity will stay if we go down. We have no forwards yet in the last couple of weeks free agents such as forwards Gayle, Wickham, Tulloch, Hiwula have all been available. And free agent players like Liam Moore and Lee Evan’s could have strengthened us for no fee until the end of the season. Football is a results business and DF should be judged on that. He said himself that what’s on the pitch is down to him. Everything else is irrelevant. He needs to go. It’s DF or the fans. And it looks like Carol has picked her side. I suspect both may go in the not too distant future. And I can’t see Moore fancying L2 either. 5.5 year deal or not.

'Struggles' suggests some kind of fight or valiant effort. On that basis, this squad struggles to even struggle.

Our best players who we'd all keep will have suitors and be gone in the summer. Leaving us with Plant, Shorrock, etc to build around and the rest of the players we are stuck with but don't want. Really need Carol to make a commitment to review the footballing structure and make wide sweeping changes in order to turn around ours and hers, fortunes, My prediction next season is between 16th and 22nd if DF is still in charge of transfers. I'd not be surprised if Moore resigns so he can take a different job.

The first and only thing that should be on the club's league two preparation list is giving Flitcroft his P45. Everything else is irrelevant until that's happened.

yes, but not necessarily this season 🙈🙈🙈🙈😍😍

Well iv got a cheat code for Tuesday. It's book club night so not even spending/wasting £10 spunky spondulas on our shower on the i-feel-low - it's a win win for Hoppers, but unlikely for the vale 🤣🤣🤣

Yes alluded to by Phil Bowers. As for his Fraudcast which I fell hook line and sinker for , it would be excellent if a fan did rock up at reception and have a chat with him as he said he would do. Not happening is it. All guff and hot air,I'd imagine he would conveniently be away or in a meeting.

Ripley has got a bit of personality - I like him. Jury is out on Debrah for me. Might be okay in L2 but I'd like to think we could attract better.

It was blindingly obvious from pre season the budget was cut but when this got raised, most people thought it was ungrateful to suggest St Carol was doing such a thing.

I have one question for Flitcroft. What is occurring at the club currently,losing every week,crowds reducing(no way was there 6900 there yesterday),a new manager who has 1 points from 6 games.....is this part of the process he kept banging on about?

This squad struggles to tie it's own shoelaces.

If he is still here at Vale, give him a stand painting job that takes all year to do and nothing else. Loads of crayons, but remember to give him a new box every day as he will probably eat them or lose them.

I'd keep Garrity & Ripley. I genuinely wouldn't be bothered if everybody else left the club. It won't happen obviously, but that shows the strength & ability of our current squad. NB: That doesn't include the young lads. They've done their best in very trying circumstances & should be applauded. However, they should be absolutely nowhere near our starting 11 at this level, or the level below.

First priority has to be to make sure we don’t do a Forest Green. That requires signing some players with some leadership and fighting qualities, instead of having some nice metrics on Wyscout.

National League Ready 😬

Basically do not allow David Flitcroft anywhere near player recruitment or dictating the football philosophy of the club. I’m assuming Carol will not sack the guy. Let him look after the kids, training facilities and any other stuff, and sink a few pints on match days in hospitality, which seems to be the norm.