Hitcher

Our most recent dip into non league was Deborah who is big, quick and strong with potential to improve with better coaching. Before that was the last non-league player Rodney? I know we got him from Salford but had been on a succession of national league loans. Anyway think we had the same approach with Rodney in that we thought he had a physical edge and could develop the rest. Just saying that unless a non-league player is wildly talented and somehow gone under the radar they'll probably have an outstanding physical attribute - Pace (young vardy), Strength (Deborah), Size (Hudlin). Occasionally you get a player like garritty rise up through sheer grit, determination and desire.

We had some poor loans last season, so I imagine Weir would have been near our first pick seeing as he had already answered the question that he can play in league 1 with a good season with Morecambe. Hopefully Weir goes well for us so we can prove that Arblaster thriving wasn't a fluke.

I remember him saying that a season or two ago, but that was when we were signing less good loan players. Think we're now mostly pitching ourselves as a good vibes introduction to men's football for talented prem youngsters now. Interesting that we tried for Weir in the summer. Anyway I hope he does well for us

Jenson Weir is 21 and on his third consecutive loan to a league one club. Does anyone know much about his contract situation as has the feel of a signing we could make permanent if he enjoys his time here.

Are Bradford season tickets still insanely good value? I seem to remember they had one season with £100 season tickets and have had high attendances since.

Glad all over? Be such a weird twist if he comes back.

Grant isn't quick enough for me. The way we play you need quick athletic wingbacks to get higher up the pitch and contribute offensively. It's a bit like when we had hussey who had a great left foot but just seemed to slow the team down as the other team knew he would never beat them for pace or dribble round them.

Kinda figured that if Clarke Harris is £800k and he was last season's golden boot, that garritty wouldn't be worth more than that. I agree with you though in that it'd be really hard to replace garritty. You don't get many midfielders that score as much and are as good as ratting. It's normally the tricky winger or attacking flair centre mids that get the most goals. Garritty kind of has a lampard ability to arrive in the box, but with cult hero levels of work ethic.

What would you value him at? Or a better way of phrasing it, what fee would we have to achieve to not be disappointed? For me I think that's £500k + add ons.

You'd like to think Tottenham would have been as upfront on Devine as Sheff U were on Arblaster. Hopefully we can keep him as he's really come into his own in the last few games. Interested in everyone's thoughts on this. Is Devine a better player than Arblaster? Personally I think Devine has a much higher ceiling. He can walz through games and ping a ball beautifully. Its difficult to explain but I feel like Arblaster has a humbleness and likeability of being a young northern lad just loving playing footy. His playing style is all action box to box which is always a hit with the fans. With devine I think as he's always been a high talent on a guilded pathway there has been a touch of arrogance and almost a sense of 'how have I ended up at port vale'. You can see him trying to do stuff and other players are just not on his wavelength. However as each game passes there seems to be less of that and he's beginning to influence games.

On the upside atleast it's a clinical decision at the start of the transfer window. Now let's wait and see whether having a really successful loan spell and having developed a player helps us land another top talent on loan. Well that's the theory anyway.

Quoting myself is weird but that Thomas lad is being scouted by Bristol City, Cardiff and Swansea. I know articles likes this are 10 a penny but 23 scouts watching him at a recent game and tearing it up in VNS. I reckon Championship too big a jump. Worth a look though. Cardiff, Swansea and Bristol City race for non-league sensation Thomas WWW.FOOTBALLINSIDER247.COM

Walters won't get more game time then he will with us. He's still to young and raw to instantly improve a rival league one team. Does he really want to sign for a championship team and sit in the reserves? Surely a deal with us makes sense. On another note I had the opportunity to see a Bath City Vs Yeovil game the other week. Bath had this young winger 'Thomas' who was head and shoulders above everyone on the pitch. Skillful, speed and end product. Noticed he was in the VNS team of half season too. Wouldn't be surprised to see him in higher leagues soon.

I expect we will look for another high calibre youth as a loan for LWB in Jan. No idea where we are with our budget but why would it be different from last season where we said we didn't want to make many signings in Jan. I'm fully bracing myself for a bit about 'value in the market' and getting better value in the summer. It makes so much sense to spend the budget in the summer as atleast you get a full season out of your signings. Hopefully we learn the lessons of last season and don't go backwards or let players go on their terms (i.e hall). Also we gotta hope we keep hold of arblaster and devine.