matmat

While technically it's in our own hands in reality I think we are relying on Burton continuing their recent form & probably more importantly Cheltenham not going on a run. If it is going to require 50pts, I don't see us getting there. Cheltnham's next 4 games are massive. Orient (A), Carlisle(H), Bristol R (H), Burton (A). They are all very winnable games, but they are down there for a reason. They have injury issues and a congested fixture list. If they pick up 9pts from those games then I don't see us staying up, but they could just as easily pick up 4 or 5 points and then we have a real chance.

The risk/reward just isn't there for us. If he is currently rated as a top prospect at his age group, then if he stays next year and has a good, even great season, he is still rated a top prospect who has done well at L1 level, I don't think it moves the needle much in terms of transfer fee. If he has a poor season or an injury hit season he is no longer a top prospect & his value plummets. It is all academic if PL clubs come in for him this summer. It's modern football, young prospects at PL clubs are paid 3-4x what our top earners get & on long term contracts, we simply won't be able to compete with what he is offered elsewhere, we just need to get the best deal possible for the club & it was great work by the club in that regard to tie him down to a contract a couple of months ago.

The club won't have much choice if PL clubs come in for him. He will be offered life changing money, which can set him up for life. You can't blame the lad for taking that, football is a percarious career, you don't know if injuries are around the corner, or maybe he just doesn't develop as hoped. PL clubs can afford to take that gamble, we can't.

It seems an almost certainty after what he did with England that a PL club will take a chance on him in the summer. Hopefully he can continue his progress & score the goals to keep us up in the meantime. Will be interesting to see if he does go what sort of fee we would get for him. With the money spent by PL clubs, and the fact of his England call up & performances making him one of the top prospects in England at his age group, doesn't seem unreasonable to think we could get a record fee for him, breaking the £2m we got for Ainsworth many years ago.

He has managed 4 clubs, all higher in the league than we currently are when he managed them. 3 of those 4 clubs fans seem to hold him in high regard. The only ones that don't are where he was there the shortest amount of time, half a season, and Huddersfield look a bit of a basket case atm, the way they are going through managers. Ignoring Huddersfield as he only left 2 weeks ago, none of the other clubs he managed have had an upturn in fortunes after getting rid of him and getting in new managers. On paper it looks a fantastic appointment, now we just need to see how it works out on the pitch. The 5 and a half year contract length is pretty meaningless without actually seeing the contract, there could be all sorts of break clauses in there for both sides.

Yep, we definitely do. So, let's get behind the players and encourage them to get those wins, it probably makes it more likely than booing them onto the pitch! I get the disenchantment, that transfer window was a joke. We have made progress over the last 5yrs, we've made less progress over the last 12mths than any of us would like, but it's imperative that we stay in this division this year and then we address the reasons for the disenchantment.

I'm as unhappy with how this transfer window as ended up as anyone. I can't believe we've got to the end of the window without signing a recognised striker or wing back. But stuff like this is nonsence. It's unarguable that Flitcroft has been bad for PVFC?? We are in a higher division, and yes, relegation is a really worry given our January business, but we are still high odds on to stay up this season, we have 4 or 5 of our own youth players in and around the first team, and we've sold 3 youth players for a combined fee of somewhere between 500k-1m depending on which fees you believe. So there is plenty of arguement that he is doing ok. There are loads of other improvements around the club, the pitch is way better, the PA system actually works, the new scoreboard is a great, the fan zone is a great addition. I'm fuming about the transfer window, but the overall trajectory of the clubs is upwards. There have been mistakes and blips along the way. We are going into a massive month for the club starting today at Fleetwood, we've got 8 games in Feb with most against teams involved in a relegation battle, it's imperative we pick up a good haul of points this month. And we go into the month with key, experienced players injured and 4 new, young loannes who we currently have no idea how well they will adapt to our club or L1 football. We really need to get behind the players this month, I really don't want to feel the toxicity and negativity I'm seeing on here at the ground. The transfer window is done now, get behind the lads and lets get the points on the board we need to stay in this division, then we can address wtf has happened this window and how we ensure it doesn't happen again in the summer.

If that's true about Williams then well done Vale. When we signed him I had a look on the Aberdeen forum & there were loads of rumours on there about his attitude & conduct. They ended up keeping him around the place for 4 months, without ever playing him. Vale did the right thing to send him back swiftly, even though it looks embarrassing to the club to have to come out & say they signed an injured player. On the other side though, Flitcroft has made a big deal in the past about all the research we do to check the players we sign are the right fit for the club, right personalties etc...what happened here then? A 5 minute search on google brought up loads of red flags.