onevalefan.co.uk Present Past Specials About Forum
Jump to content
onevalefan.co.uk forum

Advert


Advert


Leaderboard

Popular Content

Showing content with the highest reputation since 27/06/19 in all areas

  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. Over the past few days I've sort of u-turned from being incredibly downbeat about PVFC to a little bit more optimistic. Previously I was very critical of an awful 2023 - the worst performing League 1 club, and 85/92. Undoubtedly unacceptable and very significant improvement is needed very soon. I was disheartened at the sacking of my personal favourite manager, and felt he could steady things if given a bit of time. The football is often pretty dull, and there's been some truly shocking performances. I was disappointed by the appointment of Crosby, the lack of even considering other options, and losing 7-0 on opening day set me on quite a negative view on things - I was almost looking for confirmation of my previous views. I was going into games expecting bad things, almost looking for them. Having had some time to reflect and do some research, I'm not quite as downbeat as I was. I'm certainly not excited, and I'm not shedding any tears if we sack manager and DoF tomorrow, but these are the reasons why I think there's room for a bit more optimism than is being made out: 15th isn't great, but we've only finished above 15th in League 1 twice since 2007. This has been a ceiling for us for nearly 20 years, and we're 3 points from 11th with games in hand, which would be our 3rd best league finish this century. Finishing, say, 14th in League 1 would be one of the best finishes I've ever seen - sad, but true. Average league attendances are at record highs. Last season, the league average was 7,681. This season so far, 7,323 (this excludes cup games). The last time we recorded over 7,000 average home attendance was 1998. If you remove the club's Golden Era from 1990-98, the last time we averaged over 7,000 was 1964. We are attracting new fans for the first time in decades. Building from this - purely anecdotally, I am seeing more young fans at Vale Park. We missed out on an entire generation from 2008-18. Pretty much everyone my age went to support Stoke. The promotion and Wembley visit seems to have attracted a new group of younger fans, who hopefully will be kept on. Vale Park was effectively left to rot for 30 years. Whilst some areas still feel that way (Railway Stand), we're slowly but surely improving what is a traditional and brilliant old football ground. The scoreboard looks great, the Fanzone is a big improvement, and hospitality is befitting of a professional football club. I can order a cup of coffee from my phone, which for me is brilliant - though everyone else seems happy queuing in the rain! Carol Shanahan has a few flaws as an owner. She talks in slogans, seems to overly trust a few individuals, and maybe doesn't quite do enough for the average fans' experience in the old stands. However, she is still a huge net positive on the club. The accounts are in good order, according to Kieran Maguire of Football Finance Expert fame. She spent circa £10m in 4 years, including overpaying by £2-3m to avoid us going bump. We didn't even own the ground when she bought us. The club has undoubtedly improved in almost every metric - 20th in League 2 when she arrived, with a gate of 4,431, and 15th in League 1 now, with gates of 7,000+. The academy has gone from being in the bottom 5 for productivity in the country to its most productive in decades - even if its only Lawrie and Mills who make a career of it. She's invested in the ground, and provided more memories in 4 years than I had in 20 years beforehand, including the two best of my life in Swindon and Mansfield. Her intentions are good, in that, whatever we think of her, she wants what is best for PVFC, not herself. The academy - although this crop were signed under the old regime, clearly things went wrong in the 16-18 stage and we only saw Smith and Gibbons break into the first team for nearly 20 years - both on account of their grit and battle. In the last year, we've sold two players to top academies for good money, and shown any youngsters choosing their club that their is a viable path to the first-team. This group who are breaking through now made it into the 4th round of the Youth Cup and only narrowly lost to Liverpool 1-0. This should have a knock-on effect down the chain. Communications - a contested point, and I was very critical early on in 2023. However, since then, the Supporters Summit gives fans a viable and active outlet to channel frustrations to a senior member of the club in Matt Hancock. The Action Plan gives us a quantifiable overview of where we are (and aren't) in terms of what we want to see improved. Whilst I have doubts about Flitcroft and whether he is the very best person for the DoF role, he spoke twice in the summer, once in September, gave an in-depth interview in December, and will probably speak again in January. I don't want him to speak every week - partly as he does my head in, and partly as you end up over-communicating; once every 6 weeks is about right. Carol has been quiet for 18 months, only really speaking out in April with a really detailed explanation as to where we were, and where we were going - it isn't perfect, but its more transparency than most owners would provide. Comms is better, not perfect Recruitment - again, contested. Flitcroft has had some absolute stinkers, and considering our use of data services, analysts, and recruitment teams, it is hard to defend Ryan Loft, Liam McCarron, Joel Cooper et al. However, if we believe his line about 'lacking time after the playoffs' in 2022, he's had two pretty good summers in 2021 and 2023 - Wilson, Proctor, Garrity, in the first, Chislett, Arblaster, Ripley in the 2nd (with loads more decent signings I haven't mentioned). We have turned profits on the likes of Johnson, Forrester, and Rodney. Striker is an major issue, but looking at clubs in the middle of League 1, most are struggling in that area (bar Charlton with Alfie May, no one below 9th has a player with more goals than Garrity's 9). Our treatment and development of Arblaster and Devine will hopefully stand us in better stead with the Category 1 academies, so we see less of McCarron and Odubeko and more Blasters. Debrah looks a really clever signing. Ben Garrity will go down as one of the best signings since 2000 - a proper throwback to Rudgey's rough diamonds. There's of course a load to be worried about. I'm nowhere near convinced by Crosby and there's every chance he's gone within weeks. If I had a bet, I think we'll finish 14th in pretty boring fashion. After shattering the club-record for games by New Year, and rarely having a run of free midweeks, we've now got 4 winnable games in 5 with no midweek games. Crosby has a real chance to put some points on the board, and extend a respectable run from December onwards into something more consistent and sustainable. Flitcroft needs to have a much, much better January than last year, even if there's little financial room to work with. If you drew a line graph of PVFC from 2019-present, the line is inexorably, though gradually, going upwards, with a few dips along the way. The line of best fit, if my GCSE Maths isn't failing me, would be going up. There's loads of work to do and it's our duty as fans to both support the club and demand improvement, to safeguard it as generations before us have done. Blind optimism can do more damage to the club than moaning - if we'd all done that under Smurthwaite, he'd have taken us to the very brink. Carol isn't infallible, and we've been here longer and will be here a lot longer. Sometimes we have to point things out and suggest they get fixed. Despite this, I do think we're in a better place than I (and a lot of others) feel like we are. Sometimes, treading water can feel like regression after a pretty rapid rise. We're not used to a boring season. We might have to get used to it. More than anything, I'm trying to go into games a little bit more optimistically, as expecting things to go wrong is nowhere near as fun. UTV
    42 points
  4. Lovely gesture from Funso! Rang Crosby up after the game & said that goal was for him. You could see them pair had a really close relationship. I think nothing from the club is disgusting to be honest. He wasn’t quite ready but he had a good crack at it & what a genuine bloke who had this club in his heart. Wish him nothing but the best in whatever his next chapter brings
    35 points
  5. 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, Rob
    33 points
  6. I've seen a few people asking to bin Nathan Smith off after he has had his first bad run of games in his near decade-long career with us. Please, someone tell me why we should get rid of our most consistent player of the last 8-10 years or so after a month or two of poor performances, during games in which everyone else on the pitch played equally as poorly or worse than him? Some very short memories among Vale fans it seems. He is being played out of position and getting caught out by wingers in a role that doesn't suit him, I like Lowe's organisation of the backline, but his aerial ability for the centre of a three is to be desired. Smith is not the tallest, but at least he can be dominant in the air over the majority of forwards in this league.
    33 points
  7. Absolutely massive credit to Bede, Mellor, Mark, Tony, Jean, NLV lads, and anyone I missed off. They braved it and talked Carol into viewing things very differently. Got a load of undeserved stick from people who didn’t have a clue. Once again, these lads and ladies sacrifice time and effort for PVFC. Raising a glass to them.
    32 points
  8. 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
  9. 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
  10. What an unbelievable bit of media that is from the club. The bloke normally announces the biggest transfers in World football. Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar etc. He has 30 million followers. Brilliant exposure for the club. The bloke is a huge name in World football. The fact he has tweeted about us 3 x this past week is quite astonishing. It really does feel like some of the hard work is beginning to pay off in terms of changing people's perceptions of Port Vale as a football club. It was always going to take somebody taking a punt on us to get the ball rolling, & I think we got that shot when Spurs gave us Alfie. We clearly did a great job with him, as well as Ollie, & it has started the ball rolling. We are in a great position to be able to pretty much guarantee these players first team football at League 1 level & we now have the evidence to back those claims up. The tide is turning & we are clearly making progressive steps. I think there's lots of things behind the scenes that are playing a part. The loan lads all live in a house together, they have the foodie footballer going in & walking them through how to cook their own nutritious meals, look after themselves & help with recovery. We've now got the T-Zone, the ice baths, the family area where their parents & friends can enjoy the match. They are really well looked after. I also think our run in the Youth Cup last year will have really helped. I went to the Liverpool game where we somehow got beat 1-0. We played them off the park for large parts of that game. No doubt they will have been impressed with what they witnessed & word travels fast in footballing circles. If you'd have told me before the season that we'd have 3 current England under 20 players joining us on loan this season, in addition to a lad that's played in Liverpool's 1st team & Champions League football, I'd have laughed it off. Massive credit to the club for starting to turn the tide & change opinions to help improve us. I'm really excited for the future. I think if we can stabilise & keep making small improvements & progress in the next couple of years, we'll be in a really good position to have a go at sniffing around the higher echelons of League 1.
    31 points
  11. 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
  12. 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............. Apathy
    29 points
  13. 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
  14. Can we all just stop slating loft see his name come up so much give the lad a break hes our player whether you like it or not just get behind him while hes wearing our badge
    29 points
  15. Loft was excellent today. I hope the guy who was bad mouthing him at the Supporters Club meeting was there to see it.
    28 points
  16. 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
  17. Carol is a woman with good intentions, and to this point has been a net positive for PVFC. Communication is welcomed. However, this simply confirms my fears. A one-sided defense of a man not doing a very good job, whilst quelling and patronising dissent from the masses - an implication that we're too thick to see the 'real' Flickers.: Concerns that have been reinforced by this: Carol is far too close to Flickers - she isn't seeing what's happening as she's very good mates with him, and reliant on him for football decision-making There is a resentment from hierarchy to fanbase - criticism is being suppressed in a way that suggests we're not quite clever enough to see all the brilliant work 'Flickers' is doing. Silencing of fan views is not good. We'll criticise what we want, and a lot of fans (though not all) are thinking the same. Acknowledgement that January and the appointment of Crosby were really bad, to at least validate our concerns, is much better than saying 'you're just a bit too dim to understand this;' An equation of justified criticism with abuse - dangerous precedent to shut down any justifiable criticism. One-sided perspective - they're now focusing on thinking that Flickers is good, without actually analysing if he is. Working backwards logically. I think the fundamental issue I have is that justified, reasoned criticism playing a part in Carol Shanahan becoming chairwoman of Port Vale - I remember her saying to me and other members of B&G that we must always hold her to account. I have never, and will never, be personally abusive to her or Flitcroft. I will, however, as a fan of PVFC who wants what is best for PVFC, offer criticism if I feel it's warranted.
    28 points
  18. I have given myself 2 days to calm down and try and look at the events of the last 4-5 days objectively and here is my view on it... The blame has to start at the very top but is also a collective, so many errors or failings are happening that its not just on one person. Since 5pm on January the 1st 2023 we have won 11 league games in 13 months, 5 of those in a month spell August/Sept, and 3 of them in a 3 week spell in December, that leaves 3 wins in the other 7-8 months of football played over the 2 seasons. That is dire in itself. Everything done previously since the take over in 2019 is slowly undoing due to a lack of communication, lack of investment in the correct area's and we really run the risk of sitting here in 12 months time and being back slogging it out to scrape the 40-50 points we need to stay in the football league with how it is going with 4500 fans in the ground. Lets be blunt here, V2001 came in as saviours but that went sour, as did Smurf for a while so we have been burnt as a fan base before, now I am not suggesting in any way Carol and Kevin are heading that same route, I dont believe for one minute that but just because you saved the club etc doesn't mean you should be beyond criticism and some fans still seem to have this "well they saved us so its ok" attitude. I am forever grateful to Carol and Kevin for saving us and for the great time's we've had 2021 into 2022 and the enjoyable first season 2019/20 but we can't hide from the here and now based on the past, we are regressing as a club massively, for some reason in January 2023 everything seems to have changed and I don't understand why? Take out the two awful transfer windows in the two January's but the whole place comes across as apathetic and its rubbing off on the fans, you've long term loyal fans giving up almost on us, the whole atmosphere around the place from top to bottom including fans now seems apathetic, I was out walking in Derbyshire Saturday (not the best time to be stood on rock overhanging a sheer drop checking the score I will be honest!) but I thought "Why am I bothered?, if the club isn't?" thats the feeling I have, that they are not bothered that we are 5th bottom and nose diving, they've done little to turn it around or try to turn it around, there has been little to no communication for the fans at all anymore (the odd fans forum every 3-4 months isn't good enough), we all stayed up expecting the signing we were told we would get (Striker) for it just to not happen... no communication. Something is massively wrong at the moment, no one knows what it is but something has to be very wrong and the longer it goes on, with no change, no communication the more rumours will develop and that is no good for anyone. Crosby is out his depth, Flitcroft has failed for a second transfer window in 3 and Carol and the board make the top decisions, its on all three, the players who by their apologies on social media clearly didn't feel they put enough in have to take some flack too. Things have to change and fast, if not there will be no "Championship Ready" no "7-8000 attendances, and we will be back welcoming 200 fans from Barrow and Harrogate rather than 3000 Wednesday and Derby fans. At the moment the general fan is being let down... and thats not something I expected in this regime, we have portaloo's, no communication... dont forget the real fan, the one thats been coming 50 years, or travels up every week from London, Cambridge, Leicestershire etc, they are your bread and butter and without them there is no Port Vale Football Club regardless of how nice the corporate facilities are and how good the youth players are. Lets wake up from this sleepwalk we are on and get the club back that we had in 2022.
    27 points
  19. Hmmm... You're complaining that the club has a media team that plans questions for interviews in advance? You're complaining that they've come up with a idea of using some of interview answers as good PR to encourage other loanees to select the club? You're complaining about a video clip that you really don't have to watch if you don't want to? Bizarre. It's the official club channel. If you want unfiltered, spontaneous, not toeing the party line Vale content there's podcasts, newsletters and vlogs you can get that sort of content. But it's not the club's job to do it - it's surely their job to produce professional content that portrays the club in a good light. It seems downright odd to criticise the media team for doing a professional job.
    27 points
  20. Coming back for a good mate and vale fan's funeral next Thursday then to the match on Friday and home to Wales on Saturday ...just win it for Patrick,RIP mucka ⚽VTID UTV
    26 points
  21. 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????
    26 points
  22. 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
  23. 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
  24. Let me tell you where I am. I’ve no interests int sort of protest and quite frankly I’m pretty certain nobody else is either. Certainly not the old brigade who told you Smurthwaite was a bad egg years before you opened your eyes. What I do think is that it’s fair that fans, can raise their concerns on a forum, on social media and ask why we have allowed ourselves to be in such a position. On a personal level I’ve been going since 1983. I’ve seen good times and bad times. But even in bad times we could mix it up and put a tackle in. When we lost to Cheltenham back in October, on the way out I looked at my old man who’s 65 and said why do we bother coming? The football is that dreadful that I asked him how many times are we getting out of our seat and roaring the lads on or even celebrating a goal or a tackle or a corner or pressure or a fist bump. Very little. This absolutely dreadful footballing philosophy of a bunch of nice guys and kids is so <ovf censored> boring. I want a connection again. A manager in the dugout who isn’t a yes man full of rhetoric. I don’t go to watch Vale because we have nice training facilities and showers. I don’t go Vale for us to put kids from the academy in for the sake of it to tell other clubs “look at what we do”. I don’t go the Vale to sit in the Prawn sandwich brigade whilst they can’t be arsed to fix a set of toilets for the faithful. I go because I love the club. But. And here’s the but……. There comes a time where logic has to take over rather than sheer stupidity. Stupidity on my part in parting with 50 quid every matchday and knowing I’m gonna watch a club that has neglected the football environment, after doing so <ovf censored> well in getting out of league 2. And that is all on David Flitcroft. And I ain’t the only one. We go for the football. The average fan doesn’t really care that some academy kid has been sold for 150k or whatever when they can’t even a piss in the paddock! The average fan only cares about 3-5 on a Saturday or 7.45-9.45 on a Tuesday. And so I made the decision that I’ll just watch the shower of <ovf censored> on ifollow. In the comfort of my own home. And if Carol and David can’t be arsed to fix toilets, sell players, release players and apart from the odd one or two bring in an absolute load of guff on the pitch, then I ain’t parting with my money. 8000 became 7000 became under 5000 very very quick. That’s some drop. BUT once you question it, you get a ridiculous open letter telling us how great Flitcroft is. And she lies in it as well!! She even goes as far to say he brought a cup run to the club. <ovf censored> me sidewards……. Fleetwood, Crewe, Sutton and Mansfield and then tippy tapped our way around Middlesbrough in the most pathetic quarter final effort I’ve ever seen from any club. Flitcroft has done this and that with the academy. We weren’t doing it before he came. WRONG. We were selling players from the academy for good money before he came! And as for him not applying for the managers job annd not wanting to come back into football. Utter bull. And she’s been found out in a previous interview. So yeah. Like it or lump it pal but she’s losing the average fan. And lose the fans and you’ll lose the club. She’s insistent on a “future”. That’s all well and good. But when there’s no “present” on the pitch there’s certainly not going to be a successful “future” going forward.
    26 points
  25. Having personally dealt with Matt all throughout this 'process', I'd appeal for us all to let the dust settle and show the man a bit of respect. He has been true to every word that he has said to me and others and I believe that the club will change for the better in the coming weeks and months. Rest assured, I won't <ovf censored> rest unless it does. We're <ovf censored> on the pitch. We're angry in the stands. We've all been treated poorly and left behind. But these aren't bad people, they have just had bad judgement and bad advice. We're trying to change that, and they are listening. Let's give them a chance to repair that.
    25 points
  26. Synectics is a fraud investigation company , but yet Flitcroft flew under the radar. Ironic .
    25 points
  27. This. I genuinely forget we were playing a few weeks ago. Remembered about 30 mins into the game. Just forgot, as it has become such a soul destroying chore in every sense of the word to watch. And that's from someone who as well as going to daft lengths of effort during the B&G days, I years before had spent time on my knees in the railway (badly) painting the steps so we could get a safety certificate off the council when in admin. The same stand and the same knees I fell to when that Swindon pen went over the bar and we were going to Wembley, I literally just fell to the floor with my fists and eyes clenched having a proper mental. I'm struggling to give a <ovf censored> now. The gutless, cowardly decline on the pitch in recent times has completely evaporated the enthusiasm and soul out of me for Vale. Existentially things were horrendous under V2001 and NS and the football was <ovf censored> horrific under Glover, Brown etc but I was 100% committed because of visceral anger at what was being done to the club. Now I just simply can't be arsed because all there is to do is watch CS enthralled by Flitcroft's patter as the ball gets played back to Ripley for the 73rd time and we send out a kid still in year 11 to warm up to replace our one fit forward. I'm sick of either reading or concluding myself every week about how none of this group of donkeys ever demonstrate any emotion. Penalty shouts, nothing. Teammate hacked down, nothing. Lopata pushed face first into the advertising boards yesterday, nothing. And I mean face first, I don't know how he didn't end up with a fracture or concussion. None of them ever remotely demonstrate that they care. 6 years in and the Railway's somehow gotten even worse, while money is thrown at mach 3 at the prawn sandwich crowd and four million different sets of changing rooms. Oh and a new office overlooking the training pitch, sound. I didn't want any strikers in the squad anyway. 3 horrific windows in a row has left us having won 3 games in 5 months. Literally 5 months, yesterday was the 22nd week. Imagine saying that during the V2001 and NS eras, imagine what the reaction would have been? 3 wins in 5 months. It's utterly mental. Instead of acknowledging why the fans are annoyed the salt in the wound is she then completely ignores those reasons despite releasing an 1800 word tome, the less said about which the better. Responsible for everything, accountable for nothing.
    25 points
  28. Carol Shanahan has got a really important decision here. I imagine she was sat in the directors box, or at least watching at home, staring out across a 3/4 empty Vale Park. Sub 4,000 fans, sat mute in a funeral atmosphere. An absolutely spineless, insipid, soulless performance, led by a poor bloke who woke up this morning expecting a day of coaching teenagers before being chucked into League 1 football. Fans going to the toilet in portaloos. Hospitality full of uneaten canapes (probably). That was void of anything. Soul-destroying to watch. Not a crumb of anything positive. A club cascading rapidly towards relegation, an improving Fleetwood and Cheltenham below, Reading only around us by virtue of a points deduction. We are, categorically, the worst team in League 1. 11 wins in 50. No forwards. No leaders. Nowt. Carol can continue to delegate all decision-making to the architect of this mess. A bloke without any prior experience in the job he's currently in. A bloke who spends more time talking about campuses and zones than he does assembling a competent 3rd tier team. A bloke who pinned everything on the anointment of Andy Crosby despite a lot of fans pointing out is was probably a bad idea. She can let this bloke persist with this insane, damaging concept that we can play top-tier football on a poor 3rd tier budget, and appoint someone else to play insipid possession football. Let him continue to prioritise shiny new things to cover up the crumbling edifice behind. A lovely scoreboard in front of a condemned stand. Or, she can take control of the situation. She is abrogating responsibility at the minute, and it's killing everything she's built. If we go down, her tenure is around as successful as Bratt's, with better morals and intentions. A promotion and relegation from the 4th tier in 5 years isn't even close to successful. If she doesn't have the funds to put this right, then she has to sell up. I trust Carol, and I know some have lost that. She genuinely means well. She's, again, been far too trusting of someone not up to the job. She's got about a week to save her legacy, here. A good appointment, and a lot of this goes away. A poor appointment, and we're back to square one, just £5m in debt to the Shanahan family and a disenchanted fanbase. Carol, I know Hancock reads this forum on your behalf. Get a grip, for your own sake, or this has all been for naught. Swindon, Wembley. A complete and utter waste of energy. Put it right. Make some clear decisions. Invest the money. We can't let the past 5 years be thrown away like this. Feel a bit sick.
    25 points
  29. Right decision and will benefit Port Vale in the long run if not the short run to the end of this season. My view on Carol is that I try to judge people on intentions over execution. Her intentions are absolutely to do the best she can for Port Vale. That gets her a significant amount of leeway in my eyes. The execution hasn’t been perfect and it’s clear as a person she is very loyal and tends to hold on to people for too long when it’s clear they should go. Its not the worst fault in the world, I can name many MANY worse by just looking at previous owners.
    24 points
  30. It’s more obvious by the week that up until his problems, Darrell Clarke was the glue that held this club together.
    24 points
  31. Maybe time to stop mocking carol about her various business awards?
    24 points
  32. Just want to say that we fans got right behind our team today, regardless of other issues... well done us,cheers
    24 points
  33. I will reiterate. Fleetwood signed two strikers this window after their manager was sacked days before and after their bankrolling owner went to prison for 13 years in the summer. Us not getting anyone in is a shambolic failure and deserves DF being moved on solely on that disasterclass alone. Burton signed 4 forwards for <ovf censored> sake! Including Joe Hugill from Man Utd. How puzzling, they managed to loan a player from a top 6 club without the indispensable Flitcroft being involved. Modern science can not explain that mystery.
    24 points
  34. As someone who was heavily involved with the stress of trying to rid the club of previous owners can I just say 'Nippy' that IMHO every PVFC fan should be eternally grateful for the fact that Carol & Kevin have paid well over the odds and saved the club from extinction, invested further millions of pounds in the club's infrastructure, invested in the playing budget to get us out of league 2, increased the playing budget to enable us to improve the squad this season, created an Academy that is already bearing fruit. All this is working towards making us a self sufficient club that is a huge part of the local community well beyond just it's footballing core. Whilst, we are all concerned at results since we briefly went top of the table at kick off against Burton. Anyone who thinks, like yourself, that Carol should put the club up for sale so that a 'new owner' will suddenly appear who has the same love of the club as Carol and family really needs a reality check.
    24 points
  35. If you think the Shanahans are in it to make money you are absolutely deluded. Why should we sign a striker like Cole Stockton who hasn’t scored a league goal this season? And football is fun because I get to have a good laugh at the **** some folk post on here. And that is opinion so feel free to argue
    24 points
  36. I can answer on behalf of Barry if that's OK. Sadly, Barry's issues with eye sight have made it really difficult for him to participate. I've tried to customise some parts of the site for him, but it's still too difficult for him to post in the forum. However, I can confirm that Barry is still in fine form and in regular email communication via his lovely wife Ann. They are both doing well and Barry still keeps up with the Vale both reading content on here and other sites. I also know that Barry was apparently jumping up and down and cheering in the early hours this weekend, following Vale's dramatic 3-3 draw against Charlton! I know loads of you miss his poems, his memoirs, his competitions and other contributions (I do) so if anyone wants a message passing on to him do let me know.
    24 points
  37. 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
  38. 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
  39. 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
  40. 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
  41. My own take on this is I thought Joe made a very good post earlier comparing the Page era. It was boring particularly away where many games were shocking. Odd exception obviously. Finishing 14th is fine by me. There can't be many level headed Vale fans expecting a play off challenge. Maybe our fast start of 5-1-1 did us no favours. However the reason I'm disillusioned is the football has been dire. I really enjoyed the more direct approach v Blackpool. I can accept defeat . Goodness knows I've seen enough in 50 years. I really can't put my finger on it . Forget the so called Happy Clapper brigade or the moaning Minnie's. Let's try and understand why fans are disengaged. Just why are so many of our fanbase feeling this way. It's not a few dissenting voices either. I saw versus Barnsley with my own eyes a guy who does absolutely loads for the club pleading with Carol to get rid as we trudged off to a catcall of boos. A guy who puts a lot of coin Vale's way. We have not got entitled opinions of grandeur. We're Port Vale. But why are there continued concerns and calls for change when we are where we should be ? It's the mind boggling team selection. Square pegs in round holes. The baffling substitutions which make no sense. And the reluctance to deviate from this new found Port Vale way. I'm fed up of your Lincoln and Carlisle scenarios where both were avoidable yet nobody was surprised we conceded so late. I'll be there Saturday, I'll be at Reading the weekend after. But it's a struggle watching some of the performances. It's not actually about the be all and end all of winning. I'd like us to get me off my seat and have a go. If we lose so be it. But some of the football has driven me to despair. That's why I'm disillusioned.
    23 points
  42. I thought I'd start this thread EXCLUSIVELY for Happy Clappers. As a bona-fide member myself I'd just like to say I'm really looking forward to this coming season. I'm happy to state now that if pushed for a prediction, then I think we will finish somewhere between 24th and 1st. Good luck all connected with the club, the players in particular. I'll feel a bit like RZ at first as I won't be able to identify most of the players but I'm sure I'll get there by Christmas. Up the Vale (Ps, I reckon 3 posts before it's spammed by a moaner [emoji1787]).
    22 points
  43. 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
  44. 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
  45. How about the bit. David had no plans to be involved in football. Why was he interviewed for the management job then ? The second time I've read it, the worse it is. Patronising and condescending with veiled digs. Simply awful.
    22 points
  46. I feel as though fans have been hauled infront of the Headmistress and given a lecture on who is in charge. Condescending to say the least. However it is now abundantly clear who Carol believes is in charge and that's DF. Up to fans now to decide if she's correct. I fear for my Club now.
    22 points
  47. Will Ryder being chucked out to face the press is so cowardly from the club. This shouldn't be his job. Poor guy. Everyone's hiding, but an academy coach is the one taking the hits. There's been absolutely zero planning to this fiasco. If that clown upstairs is staying on, he should be facing the press, apologising for the mess he's created, and very clearly telling us what on earth he's going to do to put it right.
    22 points
  48. I'll watch how I word this for fear of upsetting folk. But your last paragraph is the absolute crux of why I go to the game. I want to be entertained and win a few home games ( our home form is abysmal like last year ). Whilst I am grateful for everything our owners have done and saving the club we seem to of taken our eyes off the ball on the pitch. Heres the bit I'll get stick for but I've broad shoulders. Not concerned with fanzones, rollover hotdogs, face painting, DJ ( who just seems to amuse himself), or old folks bingo. I want to see a team on the pitch with desire and intent. Too often we are able to predict what will happen ( Saturday a case in point). All the extras and goodwill are great . But ultimately I pay for my 2 season tickets to see the action on the pitch. And it's poor fayre.
    22 points
  49. CAFC fan here. Enjoyed all the comments on Uche, all very helpful. He's coming into us as 4th/5th choice IMO, but whilst we have players injured we need a focal point for a more direct playing style that Appleton wants to implement. Through that lens it looks like a good signing. Would be underwhelmed if he was coming in as the main man to build around next season. He is coming in as we have Leaburn and Aneke out injured. JCH and Ladapo were both on our radar and I think that was more of an either or as opposed to Uche being a target because we didn't get JCH. A back up should we lose May to injury. Fingers crossed you lot get the fire-power you need over the next couple of weeks and best of luck for the second half of the season.
    22 points

Advert



×
×
  • Create New...