cheeky

I’d keep: Ripley Garrity Chislett Dipepa / Plant / Walter’s et al from the Academy. Unfortunately, they’re the players we will most realistically lose. The remainder of the players need to shoulder a lot of the responsibility for how this season has panned out. I can forgive players not being that good, if they are picked, that’s not on them. But not putting in 100% effort every week, not seemingly caring when we lose and plummet down the league, and not showing an ounce of fight, I can’t forgive. The majority of these players are in a very privileged position, they earn more than the average fan, and to say play with such a lack of effort is the biggest insult to us, as fans. Unforgivable (Ripley / Garrity / Chislett / academy graduates aside).

I don’t see what more she could have said in the statement to be honest. Emotions are running high, so whatever she says, people will undoubtedly find something wrong with it if they want to. yes mistakes have been made, but I don’t agree with all the Carol out talk and all that nonsense. Protests etc are there for when the club is in a catastrophic position and could disappear or the owner(s) are that much of a shyster and asset stripping the club. Neither of those scenarios ring true here. The club isn’t at risk of closing, the owner isn’t taking the club for all the money she can (in fact she’s losing money), she’s simply made some poor business decisions (Flitcroft) and we’ve had a dreadful season. There are 92 league clubs. Out of those 92, 12 clubs are relegated every season. It’s the nature of the game. If the fans of every club relegated, protested to remove their owners each year, there’d be no one left to own a football club. I think past history has made a protest the first port (no pun intended) of call for some Vale fans, when it fact it should be the final measure, the extreme if the life of the club is at risk. Carol has accepted her mistakes and vowed to support the club still. We have to now accept what has happened, enjoy the summer off (the euros etc) and come back in August and do the same. What other option is there? And no, I’m not a happy clapper by any stretch of the imagination, put calling for an owner to leave who is actually financially propping up the club rather than taking it for all it’s worth, is not the solution in my mind.

Good point that. I’m looking at Peterborough as a bit of free hit now. Not a match I’m expecting to win so anything about that will be a bonus.

It says a lot when a 16 year old is preferred ahead of Grant at fullback as well.

I thought similar. I had Plant and Shorrock swap places though.

Football, I blinkin’ hate it!

A couple of weeks we were dead and buried. The Burton game gave me hope. The Bristol Rovers game gave me belief. If we win today, I’ll have expectation! Football, I blinkin’ love / hate (delete where appropriate at 4:45) it!

I was resigned to relegation. Now I’ve got hope again, and it’s the hope that kills you in the end.

His interviews never make much sense to me. I just want him to start laying into the players now, the nicey nicey approach clearly isn’t working. You know my opinion of Adams in the latter part of his reign but Christ, what I’d give for an old school manager right now who’d call a spade a spade. Can you imagine what his post match interviews would be like if he were in charge right now!

If you have an employee causing you to lose customers, money and status, it doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, you get rid.

The one thing I can’t understand is that Carol is a very successful business woman. You don’t create a business and then sell it for £180m without having a bit of nouse and without being able to make hard decisions. In fact, I’d go as far to say you actually have to be quite ruthless to be that successful, and that is what makes the open letter, the fact Flitcroft is still in a job etc so bizarre.

I came to terms with relegation a few weeks ago. I have a ST so I’ll still go the matches but the truth is, the only part of the match day experience I enjoy is going to the Bulls Head and trying the craft IPA of the week. It all goes down hill after that.

Yessssss Loft has come on. The come back is on!!!!!

I actually think this squad is worse (particularly attitude wise) than the squads under Sinnot, Glover and Gannon. But even they managed to get a win once in a while. But yeah, he’s inherited a group of players who in the main are not good enough and don’t seem to care that they’re careering into league 2. I’d still wager Clarke would have been able to keep us up if he’d been given the job at the same time though.

Is this 6 losses and 2 draws in Moore’s first 8 games?

I should have been at the match today, but my wife is working all day, so I’m having to look after the kids, constantly tidying up after them every 5 minutes when they get bored of what they’re playing with and get another load of toys out. Can’t watch anything on tele as Bluey is on repeat…..and I’m probably having more fun that I would if I’d gone to the game. Anyone want a season ticket? I’ll give you £10 if you’ll take it off me.

I don’t know how you have come to that conclusion. A group of people contacted the club and asked for a meeting, they weren’t cherry picked by the club themselves. And that’s notwithstanding the fact this sort of meeting must surely fall within the remit of the supporters club in any event. It is open to anyone to contact the club if they want and ask for a meeting. And if somebody wants greater involvement then they can out themselves forward for one of the SC committee roles at their AGM. It’s not a closed shop.

The simple fact of the matter is a group of supporters took time out and made the effort to arrange a meeting with the club to air their issues. There wasn’t actually an obligation at all for them to make a statement. They didn’t have to, and the purpose of the statement I suspect isn’t necessarily the content, but more so to show that dialogue has been opened, to show there is an effort there to work together because let’s face it, what was or wasn’t said isn’t the most important thing right now. What is important is to encourage a bit of unity and an atmosphere on Saturday where we can hopefully push the players on the pitch to a much needed 3 points. That’s the only important thing right now in me eyes. You don’t need to know what was said at the meeting, you’re not entitled to know what was said at the meeting. If you do want to know what Carole etc views are of the current situation, you can always request a meeting yourself.

A high proportion of the beef from posters on this thread doesn’t seem to be about the statement itself, but because they weren’t invited to the meeting, which is a bit entitled in my opinion. It smacks of jealousy to me, to be frank. Am I annoyed I wasn’t told about the meeting? No. Am I annoyed I wasn’t invited? No. How can I be. I’m a Vale fan. I buy my season ticket and spend my money at the club. But, I don’t give up my free time for the club, I haven’t attempted to arrange a meeting myself. The people who did attend, obviously did and do all this, so there shouldn’t be any resentment because you weren’t invited. It’s ludicrous. With regards to the statement itself, of course it’s written how it is. The minutiae if the meeting, the individual personal comments likely made, obviously cannot be included. It’s a public statement from a professional business and it cannot include criticism about members of staff etc it could leave the club, an employer, open to all sorts issues (constructive dismissal case for example?). All I’m taking from it is dialogue has been opened between the club and its customers. Whatever you think of the Shanahans, DF etc, that’s got to be a positive surely. The ability to listen and communicate was not something V2001 / Smurhwaite were ever open too. And no, I’m not a happy clapper, and no, I’m not happy with where we are in the league, the recruitment over the last 18 months etc but my recourse is through my wallet, that’s it. I have no other entitlement to anything else and nor should I.

I’m currently watching the Brits and I’ve just realised I’d be much happier if I treated the Vale like I do music. Not recognise anything after 1999, and have a blanket opinion that anything after 1999 is absolute bobbins.

Don’t forget Owd ‘un as well:. Genuinely don’t have the energy for a protest like that now. It consumed me back then but with two kids now, I don’t want to be coming home after a match filled with fury. It’s bad enough just watching the lack of effort as it is. Have you still got the hat 😂

Uche is just as bad as Loft in my mind. We won’t get 5 goals between them over full season, even in league 2. A lot of fans seem to like Uche because he’s a big youth and has that “cult” player thing about him when in reality, he just isn’t very good. Agree with the rest of your comments about the youngsters. They may have potential, but throwing them into a relegation battle won’t help their development. They’re not ready for this and it’s not fair on them to be frank. Dipepa being asked to lead the line in a 6 pointer in the week. We shouldn’t be in a position where we have to ask a kid to do that. Mental! I think the only reason Sharrock and Lomax made it into the team at Christmas was Crosby sticking 2 fingers up to Flitcroft to say I’d rather play untried 16 year olds than the bobbins you’ve provided me with.

I’m missing the Jim Gannon and Dean Glover days right now. Christ, this is the worst squad in years.