ValeForever.

The Bruno/Brown team went down with 49 points. This current bunch have 33 with 9 x games to go. This team is far worse.

9 points from our last 16 x home games. The worst home run in our 148 year history. Worried about next season. Moore first Vale manager in history to not win any of his first 8 games in charge. Only Vale. See you next week folks.

Orient 3-0 Vale

Orient 3-0 Vale

I'd keep Garrity & Ripley. I genuinely wouldn't be bothered if everybody else left the club. It won't happen obviously, but that shows the strength & ability of our current squad. NB: That doesn't include the young lads. They've done their best in very trying circumstances & should be applauded. However, they should be absolutely nowhere near our starting 11 at this level, or the level below.

This squad struggles in League 2.

When the chants started against Flitcroft after the 2nd goal went in, I looked up at where they sit & Paddy was sat just down from Flitcroft shaking his head in disgust at the chants.

Not a single win in 2024. As we head towards the middle of March. Unfathomable. We deserve so much better than this. Keep your heads up Valiants, you're not alone, we're all feeling it. Dark times.

Because our entire future as a football club is not solely dependent on us being relegated this season, that's how.

Just need to vent slightly here, apologies. Just to be very clear, I'm not a huge lover of DF. I understand ppl think he talks waffle & is pulling the wool over Carol's eyes. I understand he's not a particularly 'likeable' guy. He was always on a hiding to nothing when a club legend & fans fave came out & blitzed him publicly upon his arrival. That planted the seed. It went very very quiet though when we instantly got promoted, didn't it. This for me is yet another clear statement from the club. Well done for getting together with the main supporters groups. I'm confident that Porter & Dicko et al got their points of view across. Ultimately it's Carol's decision on how to manage poor performance of the football side of things (Flitcroft). If she believes in him, then ultimately we have to respect that view & get on with it. I'm not sure what some supporters genuinely expect sometimes. We're not the Dog & Duck. We're a professional football club playing in the 3rd tier of English football (for now). The club shouldn't have to give minute by minute accounts of the goings on behind the scenes. I personally hold the view that a lot of the anger & abuse towards the club & DF is unwarranted. DF answered questions recently including covering the January transfer window. That's a fact. If some fans weren't happy with what they heard then that's unfortunate, but ultimately the bloke explained some of the reasons why we didn't do what we should have done. There's been forums (I'm sure there will be another in the summer). Carol has done podcasts, statements. No matter how many times the club engage, or how they engage, it doesn't change anything, because ultimately ppl aren't getting what they're craving, which is DFs head on a plate. You've got to trust in Carol to make these key decisions. She certainly doesn't help herself at times from a PR perspective but I 100% believe she wants what's best for this football club. If she feels that's to give DF more time to rectify some of his very poor performance, then so be it. If we're honest, he's probably earned more time based on his performance over his full time at the club. He's made massive mistakes, but he's also done some good along the way. & even if Carol did get rid, she's just going to bring another DOF in who some people won't like & will want rid of at the first sign of poor performance. We're having a terrible season. Lots of mistakes have been made. Ppl at the club will be dissapointed with their own performances, DF included. As a fan base we really do need to come together & do everything we can to give us a sniff at staying up. It might not be enough, but we're Vale fans aren't we. We have to try. I genuinely believe in my heart of hearts that good times are ahead of us. Even if we go down this season, I do believe important lessons will have been learned & we will come back stronger. We're all Vale aren't we... let's back them & show some faith. I'm really hopeful of better times ahead. UTV.

Carol & fam are about to be in a different stratosphere from a financial perspective. The future is bright, despite the immediate demoralisation of near certain relegation back to L2. Next season would've been very interesting had we managed to stay in L1.

My prediction for what it's worth. We're relegated with games to spare this season. Moore does a DC & completely overhauls the squad in the summer. We have money to spend & manage to sign a decent squad. We are in & around the playoffs next season, but don't go up. Takes us 2 x seasons to get back to L1. I don't think Moore comes to Port Vale without getting a decent pay packet & the promise of funds to build his own team. I think a massive part of us bringing him in was that bagging a well known manager with a proven track record puts you in a much stronger position when you're trying to attract players & get signings over the line. I think that probably played a part in January. Players were probably looking at us & thinking... bottom half League 1 with Andy who in charge? I think Moore is a piece of the puzzle we were missing. A "big" name who can get signings over the line. Signings who would normally be out of our reach. We will find out in the summer. I think DF & Carol were banking on us being a League 1 side, because the calibre of player we may have been able to attract with Moore as manager & Carol's new found wealth would've put us in a different bracket. It doesn't look like that will materialise & he's going to have to work much harder to get some good signings through the door. There isn't many quality players who want to play League 2 football. I believe stopping up this season would've been transformational for us as a club. I think Carol knows this. Her interview on Saturday said it all. She knows we're within touching distance of a new era, but relegation is going to put us back by 2/3 years. She must be just as frustrated as ourselves, you can tell by how emotional she was in such a public setting.

Rory... Delap?

Whilst I admire your optimism, non of our games are currently very winnable. We've lost at Carlisle, Fleetwood & Cheltenham. The games in hand are no good to us. We are doomed. As I say, I admire the optimism but people need to wake up & smell the coffee. We're yet to win a game of football in 2024. It's almost March. We're going down.

It's getting really depressing now. We can't even grind out draws. We're getting well beaten every single game & the matches are coming thick & fast. February was always going to be make or break & unfortunately, we're broken. Plan for League 2 now, there's not a chance this lot stop up. Poor at the back, non existent up top, lack of anything on the bench. Even Garrity won't save us. That 3 nil v Blackpool will be our last win of the season. We look absolutely shot. All that hard work, all that emotion & passion to get ourselves promoted. All down the toilet. It reeks. Only tiny bit of light right now is that I'd like to think Darren Moore would have us hard to beat in League 2. Is anyone else concerned that they've not announced his backroom team yet... seems to be dragging out massively. Could the whole thing collapse? We're the one club I wouldn't put that past.

Lost count of the amount of games we've lost by a single goal this season. Can see us falling the wrong side of a tight game again tonight. We simply don't have enough characters. Hoping I'm wrong but 2-1 Reading. Late consolation goal from Wils.

Hypothetically question, last game of the season. Vale, or another team facing the drop. A group of ppl decide to go to the Reading game for the sole purpose of invading the pitch to activate Reading's points deduction & secure survival for their own team. I'm not saying this would happen, but stranger things have gone on in football. How does the EFL work that one out?

I'd go 442 & try to become more difficult to break down. Need to fix one thing at a time & get points ticking over. Ripley Debrah RB Lowe CB Smith CB Jones/Yak if Jones is crocked LB Massey RW Sang/Garrity if fit CM Ojo CM Mighten LW Chislett in the hole roaming behind Wilson CF Can't see us getting anything at Reading but some absolutely huge home games coming up that are now pretty much in the must win category. Lincoln, Fleetwood & Shrews.

Lewis Cass scored for Stockport today on his full debut. Would you believe it.

Benning was <ovf censored>, and so is Grant. Wouldn't have either of them anywhere near the first 11. But we are where we are!

We literally announced his signing though. Why would we have offered him a contract if we didn't think he was good enough?

I was very confident that the Tommy McDermott post wouldn't be the last we heard from the club yesterday. I am flabbergasted that we haven't bought in a striker, genuinely. Feels very much like something slipped through the net last minute. I think they will use Mighten up top. We've taken a massive risk. It's going to be a ride between now & the end of the season. The kids have to step up & that's a huge risk.

Think this news probably solidifies the rumours about the young lad from Barnsley. Has played for the Polish national team at youth levels. On paper seems a sensible signing with Williams going back. You could tell from ACs interview at the weekend Rhys was absolutely nowhere near it. Does raise the question why he signed in the first place & definitely makes us look a bit desperate. It's going to have to be a busy afternoon/evening at the Vale. What a huge week this is for the club & our future direction. Signings needed & points required, urgently.

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.

Dan Gore training with Vale today apparently. You cannot help but be impressed by the difference in our loans this season compared to last. Alfie & Ollie have both done well for us & now we've drafted in what looks to be another couple of England youth players who you'd expect to be at a similar level to Alfie & Ollie. Weir as well, on paper is a super signing when you look at his stats in a poor Morecambe side last year. Really impressive. We just need a few perms through the door now to really strengthen us.