NW9Valiant

FTFY Please, no. Carol's been in football long enough to know people outside the circle that is Port Vale that have a bit more lived experience (and isn't an agent either). I've no got no wish or time for her to listen to people with a 'connection' to the Vale, least of all because I want the club to actually progress and go somewhere, rather than think small time which is why we struggled for so long in League 2 in the past.

Yeah I don’t understand this mentality either really. If it can be explained; ie. “I know because of X but I can’t say because Y”, then that’s clear enough for me. But then also if you can’t say for whatever reason, it’s probably better/more helpful for others to just leave it. It others reflects quite poorly, as though practically saying you’re ITK is a bit attention seeking. I have no investment in CG, except for me the timing of his departure can be seen as an indication of when it all started to go wrong. So the ‘why’ is more a bit curious.

I feel pretty deflated. Got myself up for the game given the faintest of hopes. I'll be at the final game unless my mate bails now we are officially down. Lots for the club to do to encourage ST sales.

well, nice to go into HT not having conceded 😆 Other than that we should really be a couple goals down. Some brief bright spots of forward play but the gulf in class is clear. We are League 2.

Jesus Christ.

Even if we have a right go, all guns blazing, how many do people think we can score? I just can’t see it. I think they will try their hearts out though, they are playing for their football league futures, but I’ll go 3-1 Bolton.

League Cup semis still two legs, that can't last long. Or the League Cup either for that matter. Time to revamp the FL Trophy and kick out the youth teams.

Can't exactly give players a growth spurt or the agility to jump. We do need more aerial presence. But you're right, both our managers defenders and we are one of the worst sides defensively. So many times trying to play football in defence instead of just hoofing it, does my nut in when these players are not equipped for that style of play. And a tackler in the midfield. Griff couldn't pass at all but as long as he kept it simple I thought he was fantastic for us in the middle winning the ball. He'd walk into this side. I'd rather 30% possession most games if it meant we made the most of the ball instead of just sideways and backwards play. We don't even have the creativity to unlock a defence half the time so I don't know what it achieves.

I can't remember which ex-pro said it once but they said the thing that separates footballers most from a league above is their character and mental application to their game. I think we've all seen it with a number of our players over the years, flashes of brilliance and good play a level above what we are at, but they often don't kick on. Ojo's poor attitude is probably a factor, agreed.

Urgh. I can't think of anything more pathetic than the honours system.

I won’t be feigning praise for individuals at the club over this. To be fair if awards like this are a person’s priorities then maybe they should be running a charity or social enterprise, not a football club. It’s good work for sure, but not the most appropriate or effective approach. There are countless organisations to choose from for these particular endeavours and it would be more fitting and impactful to raise awareness for those causes and support them which they are set up for, not to compete against. This is really a case of caring more about feeling good than doing good IMO. Let’s actually focus on getting our priorities in order on the pitch. It’s what PVFC is for. My suggestion would be, if championing causes because you care about them and not the awards, then the appropriate thing would be partnerships and sponsorships with food banks and local or even national charities. Donate a matchday shirt sponsorship, or matchday sponsor. Why the need to go for these things for the plaudits? The club shouldn’t be trying to do the work others are already doing. We’re supposed to be a football club.

I love a bit of Bing Crosby!! Oh... I see what you mean. 😄

Or you can look at it and say, as a club we are bigger than any one manager. I don't mind it personally, managers come and go but the club doesn't. I think he will do better (how much remains to be seen) with his own squad and more competent recruitment.

I'd agree, but at the cost of having a full squad? Definitely worth looking at the cost/benefit analysis and seeing if whether it is tenable. To get the kinds of long term successes for the first team, if we are unable to have a full squad in the meantime then we are in for a rough period or a few years of waiting to have players churning through the system. Is that what the club wants - to be Crewe 2.0? Bobbing up and down L1/L2 is alright because we spend loads of money on an academy instead? I fear with our revenues, and even the revenues that an academy can generate, we'd really struggle to attain both. A successful academy costs millions a year to run. And we're not the only team in town trying to do that. You can look at some of the bigger clubs who have vast wealth to look after their youth academy programmes and it's questionable whether the revenues generated even cover the cost of running the academy, let alone get reinvested in the first team. End of the day you need chickens to get the eggs, not the other way around.

He's literally said this in one of his first interviews after becoming manager. Don't forget his job interview was on Zoom as well.

Could he though? He sent a mate to watch us play before taking the job, and the only good thing he had to say about the team and the club were the fans 😄 I guess that was a tacit admission all along he knew the team were hot garbage then, but perhaps he saw potential in there somewhere (and some kind of promise of funds for next season)

If 4 went down from L2, I'd be minded to say we're in danger of a double dip. Will take some doing. Don't think the club would recover from such a disaster though. Yeah I'm 100% behind this. Before then, things looked professional, competent, fan engagement was good. For all the support Carol has gotten and gets, there has to be a bit more to the story about what's going on.

Still absolutely wild and bizarre to me that would be the case 😂

I dunno, the Glover, Sinnott and Gannon days were 10x worse than this for the standard of football and quality of the team. The problem lies in David Flitcroft trying to turn Port Vale into a pound shop version of Crewe and zero self awareness or pride. Wouldn't even front and manage the team himself, just wanted to throw people under the bus, collect a wage living off his phone working remotely. No doubt using his family connections to help him retain his job as long as he did. Absolute parasite. I appreciated under Crosby we wanted to implement a style of play, but we didn't have the players to do it. I still can't really work out what Moore's 'style' is, he changes every game what he is going to do, and if it doesn't work, his subs make it worse. So I get the frustration there. Moore has shown with a good enough first team he can get results, but he can't polish a <ovf censored>. He has shown some good man management skills in some of the players because there is a definite change in their energy levels and effort on the pitch. Problem again is, we just aren't good enough. That's not Moore's fault. My only other point is that listening to manager press conferences and interview questions are a complete waste of time. Don't bother, unless it's hilarious - and Moore is no Joe Kinnear, Warnock or Nigel Pearson for banter. Managing people and players is a very different skill to public speaking to an interviewer so I don't worry about him inspiring the players. I'll judge him on the results, when he's got some players and able to work from next season. If we are doing rubbish by November then we should be looking to move him on.

The blame is firmly on Flitcroft for me. As for Moore ... I'm not at all convinced by him now, but I was supportive and excited (naively) when he came in. If he has a release clause or wants to go, he absolutely should. I've seen nothing from him tactically that suggests how he might want us to play, and I've go no intention of seeing the Vale persist with 3 at the back with wingers for wingbacks. Squad needs ripping up and starting over again. And I would give serious thought about reducing Academy spend and putting it back into the first team.

Not in a million years. My opinion on Moore is not at all great. Gonna have to be one hell of a summer PR push and player recruitment to get excited for next season. The players did try second half, lots of high intensity sprints but ultimately just not enough quality in this side. Rip the squad up and start again, from the back. With 4 at the back this time.

Should be clear enough they have bad taste 😆

Not over yet. I'd put our years struggling near the bottom of L2 worse than this. And with the players we've got and likely have next season, I think it might make those days look like a party.

Sub 3000 on a Tuesday night in L2 then. Can't blame people really when we're lacking in quality and effort. Even if we are losing it is not entertaining.

Womp womp. 😞