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Somewhere, Carol is sat, rightly proud and beaming; a good chunk of the extortionate fee she paid simply to keep us alive, to give us all something to do on a Saturday, to carry on the weekly traditions of the generations before us, is going to be paid back with one fell swoop. Revenue from cup competions will probably exceed £500,000 this season. The buzz for the City game will probably boost walk ups over the Christmas period. Genuinely couldn't be more pleased for the Shanahans. They well and truly deserve a heap of money and a day in the hospitality of one of the biggest clubs in the country. Please all, keep in mind Norman Smurthwaite; I'm sure some of you don't like to recall him, or even read his name, but stay with me. A man who willing to see us liquidated out of spite; a man who would have happily rented Vale Park back to us; a man who single-handedly took us to near oblivion. He'll be sat, probably crying, in the lonely and sad life he leads. Reviled by all, the club he refused to care for now has a monumental money spinner within months of him being forced out. Just picture his face when number 62 was drawn away to the Premier League and FA Cup holders. Then picture Carol's smile. Up the cheeky whites.

Very reasonable performance considering the 7 changes and them having a few decent names out. Played some good football and two well taken goals. I believe Taylor is out of contract in the summer and I read on a Forest website that its not thought he'll be given a new deal. Special mention to the utter freaks who cheered Lloyd getting subbed; he didn't play well but was far from disastrous, and actually had 3 decent attempts on goal in the first half. Absolute weirdos who shouldn't be allowed out on a school night. Have your little vendettas all you want but please do your very best and get it into your thick skulls that denigrating a Vale player's confidence every time he steps out in a Vale shirt is proper strange behaviour, and you all need your hard drives checking. WAAAAAAAY Bazza chuckles to his mate, another destruction of a Vale player complete. "That's my job done", Bazza thinks. Well worth the tenner entry, managed to give Lloyd another mental kicking, as he leaves before penalties to take to Facebook to give him a bit more stick. Rant over. Great week, great time to be a Valiant.

This.

I remember the stick Tankard got when he first played at Vale. I think some people were miffed because he had been the replacement for the popular Sulley at LB. Tanks was clearly a young player with talent on the ball, he just lacked confidence. He hadn't found it easy to settle....people forget that these are young men, away from family and familiar things, and they can find it hard. Anyway, he was getting uncalled for abuse at times and his confidence went down. Every time he got the ball he was nervous and would make mistakes he wouldn't otherwise make. It was as if the boo-boys liked that because it somehow proved them right! It is a spiral fans can get into if they are not careful....wanting their own player to do badly just to prove a point. Of course, away from home Tanks was always much more confident....but I daresay the boo-boys weren't there. I remember even Seth Bothomley added fuel as well. They seemed to prefer Stokes in that position ...because Stokes was more bustling and got tackles in more. (And thus ended up over-committed and on the ground while play went on around him) In the end a couple of people felt so strongly about it they wrote to the Sentinel page saying how uncalled and counter-productive this abuse was. Not long after Tanks got the last-minute winner against Huddersfield right smack in front of the Bycars (which was full in those days). Cracking volley it was too. It was amusing to see how swiftly people changed their tune and started singing his name. lol He ended up a firm favourite at Vale, or course. And a lot of fans are probably oblivious to the fact it could have turned out very differently and we would have lost out on a good player for us. We often forget that some players take a while to overcome nerves. Booing doesn't help of course! The manager may simply be hoping that the player he sees in training suddenly clicks and is able to show his true ability on matchdays.

I’m going!!!!

Either we're good at "playing with ten man" or he is contributing because we've only lost three of the eleven games in which he's featured this season

What a difference in our club since the Shanahans came in. So proud to be a vale fan again.

He wasn't even our worst central midfielder tonight but some folk couldn't wait for the self satisfactory "told you he was sh***" nonsense. I know I bang on and I don't particularly rate the lad as a footballer either, but he's working hard and doing a job in the cup games for what will be a pittance. Politely applaud him off for his effort, go home, and stop celebrating his struggles.

Nine-minute hat-trick the highlight of Emirates FA Cup's second-round Saturday Final Score BBC1 1.50 PM

First half Amoo and Browne never went past their full backs but just kept playing the ball square or backwards. Second half they ran at their full backs and provided great crosses for Popey’s first two goals. Magic stuff.

Bore off you clown

You also said that you didn't think there was any improvement in the squad, and that after 10 games people wouldn't be very happy with where we were in the league I can directly copy and paste the links if you want? Point is mate, you consistently make claims that transpire to be complete rubbish. I'm sure you're a reasonable bloke but a good 80% of your posts are devoted to our 6th choice central midfielder.

No player should ever be booed by his own fans.

I'm sorry the word offends you but it is how I feel about our current tranche of politicians. They are a disgrace. The fact that a lot of people think Corbyn is intelligent confirms what I said earlier about all of them - you can fool some of the people all of the time. His academic record is poor and he struggles in interview when faced with a difficult question. Contrast him with the likes of Blair, Heseltine or Tony Benn and he doesn't look very bright at all.

I, along with no doubt many other fans, saw us win twice at Citeh inside 11 months in the 90’s. What could possibly go wrong ?

I'm quite happy to lose 45-1 if we score that 1 first. Just want the limbs. Those 30 seconds of primal, base emotion. I want to be approx 14 rows away from my Da with a broken limb and a blackout. Preferably someone who never scores like Gibbo. Pep can bring on De Bruyne and they can spank us about all they want. Just a crumb of limbs and £300,000 in Carol and Kevin's wallet please. All I want for Christmas.

Money spinner and double digit defeat but who cares!!!!

Quote from Dion Dublin on the 2nd Round highlights show: 'Port Vale are a big club'. Official.

Everton (again) it is then !

I think we need to adjust to the age of Pope. Askey is managing him to try to get a whole season fit out of him with realistic use. If he were to try to play every game his joints and muscles would get injured, maybe a big injury, maybe cumulative small ones, and he would be more likely to be out longer. When he has come on as sub he has shown good energy. Also he is able to be at peak when the opposition are tiring. And another factor here is Port Vale are fit. We have won games because of that this season. I have seen Liverpool twice in the last few weeks, a seriously fit team, and Port Vale were massively behind them before Askey and there is now a much more credible gap allowing for difference in resources. So Pope benefits from that as well. Of course he should start some key games, and yesterday was one. That might be a £500k to £1m game for the Vale in the next round and allow some strengthening in the next window or further ground improvements. I confess I slagged off Pope after he first came back. I didn't think he was fit enough. He didn't get to the box and shoot when played through and in a foot race with ex player Jones. With hindsight it was the whole team.

Another game and another team playing balls inbetween smith and Monty to get their lad in behind. It’s obvious that area is being targeted and opposition are getting a lot of joy out of it. From here The peno looked harsh, seemed like he fell backwards on his arse into their player. Anyone seen a proper replay of it? But overall Monty has been the weak link I think. amoo has been bone idle again for another week, his movement and showing for the ball has been non existent. Him and Gibbo have not kind of relationship as a pairing and I think that’s down to Amoos lack of movement. At times we’ve struggled to get to grips with their formation of wingbacks and we’ve been overloaded in the middle. Browne finally came to life at the end of the half and produced something. I think Gibbos been good, just needs some movement in front of him. Legges been steady and Joyce is holding it together, but we need more up front to get something here I think .

Its a good job Askey has wasted the budget isn't it Ernie...………. I for one hope he carries on wasting it I would like to think we will offer something and then maybe add in a 25-30% sell on and tell Jake he can go if he signs and a championship side come in for him with a decent offer

The EFL have fallen asleep again. This situation has been ongoing for a long time. I understand there is a buyer in the wings but there is a snag. I would hazard a guess that the snag is the current owner. The EFL should make it clear, play the games and pay your staff, or sell. If you do not then we will expel you from the league. It is an outrage how this owner is acting. He will not go into admin because then he will get nothing. The courts are slow to force admin, there have been enough chances. The EFL and the Courts have the solution, but instead they allow another foreign owner with zero integrity to strip our wonderful game bare. No one can afford to see a club like Macclesfield Town go down like this. As for Crewe! Words fail me. Clubs should be supporting Macclesfield, not acting in the way that dreadful club just down the road is acting. The lack of leadership in football is palpable.

He's out of contract at the end of a season, and I 100% remember reading on a Forest fans' site that he isn't expected to be offered a deal there, with them now at the top end of the Championship, considering he hasn't played a minute for their first team. My hunch is that we'll extend in January and Taylor will, quite rightly in his view, see how the season plays out. Gives him a full season of playing time and he won't have to commit himself. If he carries on his form he'll be a free agent with clubs in League 1 and 2 knocking down his door to outbid eachother on wages and he'll take his pick. Obviously, with the trust, development, and support we've shown him we'll have a good chance, but if a 20 year old bags 10+ from midfield (and has more to his games than just goals), I imagine you'll have your top League 1 clubs (Sunderland, Posh, Ipswich, Rotherham) fancying a go and he'll be off there. Would love to be proven wrong but I'd be very pleasantly shocked if he decides to stay with us, if he continues his form/we're still in League 2. Great talent though; shows that the loan market is very useful if we don't employ a scattergun approach and do our homework (he trained with us before signing). Definitely good to have good links with the Forest Academy.

May I remind all users that offensive language and bypassing swear filters is not allowed in our rules. This also applies to using offensive language towards players. You have agreed to our rules before joining this forum so serious breaches of our rules will result in users being banned. Attack the argument not the person/player. Thanks, Rob

I'm not sure it makes any difference to be honest. I suppose it would be ok if he had been organising a coup d'etat in Africa, like children of certain politicians?

Now 4-1. Weaknesses at the back...

Whatever revenue is generated we know that it will benefit the club unlike under previous regimes. If we are still in touch with the playoffs come Jan then this extra budget might be a springboard to bridge the gap and then who knows... Its wonderful to be a Vale fan again.

That will be an issue for about 4 matches. Then he’ll be injured again...

Plus what about.... Jonny Askey’s Black N White Army .... we hate Smurthwaite.... and repeat for 90 mins.

Doubt it'll be a live TV game but it could be one of those Sunday afternoon kick offs where the BBC cross to live reporters like the Exeter game a few years back. And thank God this kind of draw didn't happen 12 months ago. The money generated would have disappeared into Smurthwaite's pocket while we all know the money from this tie will be put back into the club. Good things happen to good people.

Our fortunes are a changing !! Even seeing Rudgey on the BBC it feels like 25 years ago.

Great day out for Carol and Kevin, CIteh in a similar position to Arsenal when we last went there, we are not but give it a go.

My lad will be 22 at Christmas. The highest team in the pyramid he has seen Vale play is West Brom, the biggest team he has seen ( history wise ) is Sunderland. For the younger generation it would be wonderful to get a massive draw, but as Jacko quite rightly points out it is about a 1 in 5 chance of this happening. Let us hope the gods are with us for once. For me those games against Derby, Southampton, Liverpool, Spurs, Watford, Everton etc are still in the memory bank and were the norm and taken for granted. Be really nice just to have a brilliant day out somewhere with 7000 Vale fans roaring. Gillingham away it is then

Questions for those who went How was Rhys Browne? How was Tom Conlon? What did we do differently second half?

Bone idle Barnett playing for Eastleigh.

Get in there Vale. Another goal and hat-trick for Pope. You just don't know what side you get with Vale at matches. Can we have another goal please.

Great stuff absolutely wonderful. Our Tom and round three of the FA Cup.

Well done for admitting you were wrong. Now explain why when well respected members continued to tell you what Norman was doing you kept defending him... saying you hadn’t seen the proof. There are a million things that people believe without seeing the evidence with their own eyes... I never once saw Alex Ferguson have a glass of red wine with Arsene Wenger. But it’s a commonly held truth that it happened. But for you... for some reason, you insisted that you personally had to have hard evidence of anything bad Norman did. When people told you they knew, you argued and attempted to make them look daft. Because you, for some reason didn’t like people trying to show Norman up for what he was. You tried to stop it, and in trying to discredit the accusations, you sir were defending Norman Smurthwaite. And there is no smear campaign ... just reminding everyone that that fat c*ckwomble held Port Vale to ransom... and you argued against those trying to enlighten others. When people were campaigning and letting people know that Norman was signing players, your response was to say it could be proven. And that shouldn’t be forgotten. And it won’t be! Anyone who wants evidence, don’t chose the selected quotes from the man himself. Use the search function to search the term Norman under the poster Regal Begal. Then you can make your own mind up!

The are multiple sites where various park and ride schemes could operate from and it would make sense that as many of these routes as possible be dedicated transport access, similar to the way that the Potteries Marathon comandeer the roads. Providing that locals and other commuters are given adequate notice then I'm sure that the organisers can employ enough people who specialise in this sort of stuff. As far as the NIMBY brigade are concerned, maybe the Shanahans can hire a couple of buses to take them to Rhyl for the day

I'm not sure what the opening poster was expecting from a player released by Cambridge who was often sub for them. He's a typical league 2 winger. On his day - brilliant. On others - anonymous. Sometimes both within the same game! He's chipped in with a few goals and assists and already has more than many of last season's midfielders/ wingers. He's quite a big frame for a winger so getting up and down the pitch and being ready to attack with 100% intensity at every opportunity is not going to happen and I do think we have been spoilt winger wise in the past with the likes of Guppy, McCarthy and Ainsworth who set the bar of our expectations so high. Let's just say I think we are often a better attacking force with him in the team then when he is not.

Another "crap" idea that Labour announced yesterday but which very much fell below the radar was their pledge to plant a billion trees by the year 2040. Sounds all very wonderful & green, but do the maths; a billion over 21 years implies planting nearly half a million trees every year or almost 40,000 tree plantings a month. All very nice and laudible, but again a Labour pie-in- the-sky and unrealistic pledge!

Ahhhhhhh well.... Never mind, you cant please everyone eh.

We may well be performing a few places above expectations, I would expect a promotion team to have 2 or 3 Worralls in front of the back 4, we are building, Amoo may improve but is where we are at present.

A newly released scientific study concludes that one in three politicians lie as much as the other two.

Rob, is it in the rules that you can ban someone for talking out of his/her bottom?

This is what happens when the owner isn't a scuttling little insect like the last one. Can't wait to see him on Hamil Road before the gig selling warm fanta from his car boot. Wonder what capacity they'll go with. More seats I'd think in the Hamil to have the stage against the Bycars/family stand but the shallow rake would make the view suffer from a full pitch. A couple of years ago I did some maintenance work on VP during pre-season when we were in admin and it was required to start the season. I say maintenance work, it was mostly very badly painting yellow edges on the steps in the railway and fcúking dripping it everywhere. I realised then that the council were dead arsy about irrelevant details to even allow a football match to occur in a football stadium, so to get the nod to host a gig must have been a HUGE amount of work over a large period of time, a significant undertaking and effort for the Shanahans. Well done to them for that, it should, even for charity and after costs, be a cheeky little earner for the club.

Oh almost forgot to add, so nice too see the Vale helping to relaunch Robbie's career

We sound dire. I thought today was a perfect opportunity to match them up 5-3-2. Instead we have two luxury players in Amoo (hopelessly out of form) and Browne (played one half this season) on a really tight pitch and a forward who can’t stop scoring on the bench.