Shropshire_Valiant

Were there not only 3 divisions(or at least levels to the league system) in 1931 though and less 'league' clubs(2 third divisions that were the same level north and south)? I know it's splitting hairs and is historically our highest league finish but I always thinks it's difficult to compare the 2 eras(i.e1920s/30s to the 1990s) as there are a lot of variables.

Aside from discussing Loft's ability(or lack of) and whilst I agree with some of what Rob has said in the piece on the front page re mental health, one issue is who else do we stick upfront as an out and out striker with the options we have? Surely you need a least 1 fairly tall bloke up there? You take Loft out of the firing line and that leaves us a 17 year old lad in Dipepa and Wilson who is injury prone and playing as a lone striker isn't really his game. That leaves us with the make do and mend option of shoehorning Garrity or Chislett in there, some would probably argue they'd be better on one leg than Loft but in all seriousness is that really the point? Criminal what a mess we've been left in from that point of view of the recruitment and makes the January window even more shameful from Flitcroft and his recruitment team! I'm left shaking my head whenever I think of it, there truly was no excuse not to at least get 1 striker in(even a young lad on loan ala Thomas could have taken some of the weight of games) but we got nowt! Short of signing a free agent with some level of fitness(I saw unofficial vale on twitter linking us with an Icelandic chap, don't know if there's owt in that?) we're utterly doomed it would seem!😞

The comments about Jones are laughable, just shows how "stats" can't paint a completely different picture to reality. Lies, lies and damn lies! One of the worst footballers on ability I've seen at Vale in 30 odd years as a fan(at least for league one level and he wasn't great in league two)! Flitcroft ought to be severely reprimanded for ratifying a 2 year extension when his injury/absence record is a joke as well. Sadly Loft is another, I've seen some poor strikers at VP in my time but he makes Reggie Cicilia look like Drogba!

I guess a lot will depend what division we are in, if we go down(or perhaps that should be when on current form!😞) . i've not given up hope but admittedly it looks grim. The decisions to give Loft a 2.5 year deal and Jones 2 years(injury record alone, whatever the debate on his ability) were shocking beyond belief. I'm all for giving players a chance and do think Vale fans have to have a scapegoat at times. (Massey and previously Benning before he left have fallen into that category to varying degress, and going back 15 odd years people booed Constantine when he was half decent!?)I'll never barrack him when playing but Loft truly is one of the poorest footballers I've ever seen and to think we paid around 75k for him!😱 I'd hope to move him on but who would honestly take such a poor standard of player, even NL clubs would probably laugh! As an aside I didn't particularly rate Pope the season before his 33 goals which was one of the biggest transformations in a player I've seen but even he offered more than Loft(I think he got 4 or 5 goals)! We may just have to hope he can act as some sort of foil for a.n.other forward we bring in as a hold up man even if he managed 5 goals in league two. Then again I say another forward but based on Flitcroft's record we could be waiting years before we ever sign (a decent) one!🙄 I honestly think we'd have Bob hope of keeping both Garrity and Chislett if we went down, maybe 1 at a push but both have proved they can score goals from midfield in league one, I suppose at least we'd get fees if we sold either/both? One plus is the young academy lads will have had some experience in League One so you'd hope they could put that to use in the lower level of league two to make some impact. The attack and defence(to a slightly lesser degree, what are Debrah and Iacovitti's contract situs, they should be decent enough in league two?) would need a hell of an overhaul whatever division we are in!

I said that, I don’t blame him I’d have been the same in his position bet he couldn’t wait to sign

Whoever sanctioned the 2 year deal for Jones ought to be fired on the spot. Not only he is he a national league standard defender his injury record is awful. No one will ever convince me he’s good enough for league one😩

On now

I don't know he just doesn't come over as man management material to me at all. But that's true, his biggest mistake was leaving Derby, should have stayed and made a go of it in league one. Sadly a lot of 'name' managers seem to think anything below the championship is beneath them which is wrong.

Exactly look at Rooney, excellent player, arguably one of the best of his generation in this country. But management wise his early efforts would suggest he's out of his depth. There should be a role for him as a coach somewhere you'd think, particularly with strikers but as a manager I'll be honest I just couldn't take his face or voice seriously if I was working under him.

Having played for some good clubs sometimes then coaching at them follows on when a player comes to around 'retirement' age i.e mid 30s(if that's what they want) so I'd say opportunities to get his foot in the door with coaching/managing would have been greater for Kennedy. Clarke wasn't a particularly great player in the grander scheme of things(played all his career in the 3rd and 4th tiers), that's not a criticism but possibly means he's had to work harder to work his way up more as a coach/manager as he won't necessarily have the contacts from his playing days. In fact I think his first managerial role was Salisbury who were Southern League/NLS standard. That's not to say Kennedy hasn't worked hard but he probably had a grounding at clubs who employ a dozen coaches or more and opportunities becoming available in the revolving door of football management/coaching if you apply for enough lower league jobs and put you've worked at a big club on your CV I'd imagine eventually one may come knocking? Whereas Clarke was in non league management before working for Bristol Rovers, Walsall and ourselves who employ half that number of people in the coaching set up. If he'd failed at Salisbury that may have been game over for him in terms of any sort of professional management career. Of course both may end up at the same level of management and facing each other on Saturday(I hope not personally as I'd prefer DM but we'll see), but I guess it just shows the 2 ends of the scale in some ways.

Bowyer does sound a boring sod from some of his interviews and as the poster said above evidently came over the same on commentary, I guess he can't help his voice/accent though😁. That said decent record by enlarge. Couple of promotions at Blackpool and Dundee(albeit it the one in Scotland with a side you'd fancy to be there or thereabouts in their 2nd tier, still got to be achieved though). Harshly fired at Salford like 1 or 2 others after a half decent season as well before that. We could do worse as I said yesterday. Bonner similarly, did very well at Cambridge. Appears to have spent most of career in the Cambridge, Essex, East Anglia region though, it would surprise me from that point of view if he came to Vale, particularly if he has a family, but football can be a nomadic career I guess so who knows Kennedy and Adams would undoubtedly fall into the underwhelming category but most managers will have their pros and cons if you go on previous endeavours/records, as long as they aren't truly awful records they are going to get a job somewhere eventually you'd imagine. It maybe us? Like most I wouldn't be enamoured but I'd give them a chance. Moore would certainly be the marquee appointment of those mentioned although his record does come across to me as a tad overrated perhaps? Again pros and cons we can all see I guess.

Bowyer is an interesting one, record is pretty solid aside from Bradford(he's not the only one to have failed there which probably tells you something). Not sure why he left Dundee after getting them promoted without looking into it? We could do a lot worse.

Agree as much as I've lost/losing faith with Flitcroft over the lack of (decent)forward signings in consecutive transfer windows, he's made 1 good appointment, 1 bad on the managerial front. He may argue he deserves another chance at least on that front(not sure I'd trust him with the summer window but I'd imagine that's another issue depending on if we stay up or go down as I doubt he's going anywhere immediately?) If he gets this one wrong and we go down he'll most likely be dragged out by a baying mob with torches and pitchforks in the summer. Get it right at least in the short term and as you say some fans may be back on side.

Agree on Pearson, I'd drive him to Vale myself if he was interested, certainly as a short term fix at least to give our sorry lot a rocket after some recent performances. Couldn't see him dropping to League One though based on his previous roles. That said he only lives near Shrewsbury, wouldn't be a massive commute for him?

The issue(the club will see) with Wickham and Madine is they've been 'out of work' since the summer so may not be match sharp/fit unless unbeknown to us they've been training elsewhere and keeping fit themselves? How I'd look at it is if a player is the "fox in the box" type like Lee Hughes surely they'd have that knack of scoring a few goals even if the rest of their game needed work fitness wise, got to be worth asking the question of a few on the list as you say? Even some of the foreign ones, you can only ask the question if they fancy playing for an English 3rd tier side, some won't be interested of course but could find a gem you never know.

Don't rule out any of the foreign options on that list, Flitcroft said we were widening the search to other markets at the fans forum😉

I'm the same and as much as I'm not a Crosby fan either I'd tend to agree with that. I think a lot depends on Wilson' fitness if we could guarantee at least 15 of the remaining 20 games out of him(pray to whatever god takes your fancy if your religious!!) and Loft could at least resemble something of a target man(or a lump that can hold the ball up a bit and occupy defenders for more than 5 seconds) I'd stick my kneck out and say the rest of the squad should have the ability to see us finish somewhere between 16th-20th. As bad as it looks at the moment! As long as Crosby doesn't employ the sort of tactics we did at Shrewsbury for example, do that and he's asking for it. May as well go for it imo even if we have games like the Charlton one at home(minus the rubbish defending on our part hopefully). That probably wouldn't be a bad achievement considering we've had 2 fit strikers for large chunks of the season and the likes of Garrity and Ojo have spent spells on the sidelines. Having said that I don't think it will be enough to sell as many STs before next season, it's just whether the general fanbase blame Crosby and/or Flitcroft for us not doing a bit better.

Here we are guys cheer yourselves up! 5 page list of free agent strikers(including Dwight Gayle and Connor Wickham(still)), you can filter it for different positions/countries etc, I left whole world on as Flitcroft said we were widening the net!😜 Free Agent Strikers

If Wilson somehow manages to stay fit for the last 20 games(or at least 60-75 mins of them) that will be nearing on 30 games consecutive he's managed(he's been back now 7 or 8 easily hasn't he?). Virtually unheard of! But that's what we are asking to happen, coupled with Lofty lad to somehow resemble a competent football league striker. If Dipepa produces anything major(goals, assists) that would be a massive bonus as he's finding his way as a young lad!

Right apart from that was under Smurthwaite. The V2001 relegation was 2008/09ish? Foyle had a terrible last summer recruitment wise and Sinnott and Glover ablely finished the job! I think we were down with 2 games to go in that one despite a late rally at one point. Didn't we win a couple at home and beat Brighton away 3-2? but it had been coming for months!

I'm generally not one for kneejerk reactions but I too am flabbergasted we've not signed a striker🤯. I can't quite get my head around it, I hate the word but unbelieveably poor on so many levels. Epic fail as the kids say these days! I honestly don't care if we were unlucky either(we had 31 days!!!), there's no sympathy in football or favours if we go down it will be well and truly deserved. Does anyone have a link to a list of free agents so I can at least try to cheer myself up over a cup of tea?🤪

Had we signed a striker(or 2) I think we could have gotten away with the other areas people are suggesting(LWB and midfield). I like the look of Shorrock and between him Grant and dare I say it Jones you'd hope there's enough there to get to the close season, midfield if Ojo isn't far away there again we have options to get us through. Obviously it's not brilliant but I'd have gone with it. Not signing a striker with the fixtures we have in Feb is a dereliction of duty at best if not negligent.

Not to have signed at least 1 striker is utterly shameful if indeed that's the case(and with every passing minute that looks the reality). We went into the window needing a striking option(particularly once inevitably Thomas went back) so the recruitment team have basically had all month to secure some sort of replacement(s)(you could argue 2 were needed once Uche was crocked) and appear to have delivered diddly squat in that area, whatever the ins and out of the matter. Not even a young lad on loan from a Prem/Champ academy which would have at least been another body in there to help and maybe score a few goals? The other signings we have made I won't criticise as they have replaced the loanees who've gone back, but we've also let 2 of our permanent players leave which you'd imagine frees up some wages. McDermott didn't appear to be part of the first team plans at least in terms of being in the match day squad so I'd say getting a fee for him is something of a bonus. I genuinely thought when that happened we might see a permanent one come back in with the funds generated(plus Conlon/Cass' wages) and would have thought that wasn't too much to ask? It would appear so sadly! I have always held back unlike some on the Flitcroft bashing as ultimately his recruitment(or teams recruitment) got us out of league two and kept us up, within 3 seasons I don't think that's bad. He's also generated some good funds for the club selling players like Johnson, Walker, Forrester(who I thought was vastly overrated), McDermott and 1 or 2 others which appeared good business. However there is only so long you can live on past glories and the forward recruitment since we've been in League One has by enlarge been shambolic, it's arguably the most important position on the pitch in terms of winning games and yet on the face of it we seem to constantly neglect, penny pinch and ultimately get it wrong in that area. Admittedly strikers cost more but how much will it cost the club in the long run through fans not wanting to go and watch a side who can't score and may go down because of the lack of strikers? I'm not a fan of the style Crosby plays and personally think he's lucky to be in a job the run we've had, but he's been dealt a crock of <ovf censored> in this window and I doubt is going anywhere until the summer when he'll probably be dragged out if we're relegated(Flitcroft may as well follow him if that happens).

Shameful if that's the case. Sounds like eggs in one basket again. Genuinely thought we'd get a young loan in at least, not to get that is utterly pathetic

And Derby couldn't finalise a deal for him. No chance surely 🤔