philpvfc

Nearly all league one clubs now try to play possession football, in fact can’t think of one that is very direct.

Why didn’t he play for 8 months? As far as I’m aware, it’s not because of injury. If that is the case then there is no excuse for not being fit, he’s a professional footballer and is paid to keep fit and ready to play if needed. I understand the case for match sharpness but that should not take more than a month to get back to full speed. He’s been with us plenty of time to be fully up to speed unless there is an underlying injury that we are not aware of, but saying that it should have been picked up by our medical team when joining the club.

Have you seen our squad over the last couple of seasons?

I just mentioned signings, but that makes it all the worse. You on about the same Taylor? The Taylor who can’t make the FGR team who are sitting near the bottom of division 2

Loft, Donnelly, Taylor.

Who? Balmer, Innis? Innis was quality, Balmer wasn’t the best but was no way as bad as soon other signings we have made of late.

For the vast majority of the time at Vale he has not been a good footballer. Losing Uche at this time is a loss for us but only for the simple fact we do not have anyone else any better. He was showing signs of improvement and could be a handful for defenders at times but let’s not kid ourselves he was a quality forward, some very over complimentary comments going on about him now we are about to lose him.

If we lose Uche and Wilson gets injured (both likely), plus the fact we have let Thomas go back, does that make us entirely reliable on Loft upfront? How many points are we off relegation?

Can’t see him getting game time at Plymouth unless they have injury problems.

Remember seeing him play for Liverpool in the CL and he looked a great prospect, not out of place in a strong Liverpool team. Obviously lost his way since then but if can get that form back and stay fit he will be a massive asset to us.

Oh yes I do. As I said, 3600 so probably closer to their average crowd than the 17,700 I was quoting against. You can carry it on but you are wrong.

Fans have every right to criticise should they wish but can’t blame Crosby for bad signings then compliment someone else for the good signings.

I know some people slag off Crosby but he has brought some good footballers in at the Vale but not including Loft. You can’t blame Crosby for some of the crap he has to work with but not compliment him when happy with the signings, it’s either or.

This video makes Morecambe look good last season.

And so it should. There was 13500 Stoke fans who attended on Saturday at a gate of 17,000. Had this been a league game the attendance would have been reported as around 23,000 as it would have included season ticket sales and other ticket sales even if they had not turned up. There was most likely less than 17,000 in the ground but the figure given will be a lot more accurate than the league games. Despite Boro selling 3100, there was only 2700 that turned up, this is the figure we reported. Had it been Bradford, Stoke and a lot of other clubs we would have reported 3100 away fans attended.

Do the maths. What is closer to 10,000? 3,600 or 17,700?

Yes, many times and I would estimate the attendance closer to 10,000, more than half the seats empty and the ground holds 25000. I have also said many times, it ain’t right to call an attendance based on ticket sales and tickets just given away, the clue is given in the name “attendance “

Based on ticket sales, not true attendance, similar to the <ovf censored> down the road. £198 full price for a season ticket means a lot buy a season ticket and don’t attend too often, these are counted when they fudge their attendance. Their FA cup tie at home to Wycombe attracted 3600 fans- this will be a true attendance and probably closer to their average attendance. Bradford although a bigger club than us are not as big a club as a lot are lead to believe.

Anyone bar Rangers and Celtic would be a promotion coming back to the Vale.

Surely scouting for a Division one club would be a promotion for him then.

Yes he should be dropped to the bench, I’d much rather have Ojo back in the middle playing alongside Chislett and Arblaster. I would even consider playing Walters above Devine. Devine is a great prospect with great talent but what I’ve seen of him so far he has not been consistent with more bad games than good, we should be using him as an impact sub, one thing that has been lacking under Crosby.

He signed, Brooker, Paynter, Constantine and Sodje, all of which I would have above Uche and Loft. Could we bring him back as a scout?

For me, Devine is played for what he can do, not for what he has done. Until he is consistent he shouldn’t be starting.