1

There should be some sort of rule for preventing teams blatantly ruining the competitive edge of the league in the latter games. Didn't Bristol Rovers go up with exactly the required score line, beating Scunny about 314-0 on the last day? Not sure what the rule would be / policing, but it's becoming more of an issue.

Tyrone Loran, anyone remember him?

Or summer, or previous jan, or previous summer

And of course we got him in peak ‘Vale condition’ - injured, unavailable, and lacking fitness

The biggest mistake of all the mistakes was sacking Darrell Clarke. His stock just rises and rises as more of what he had to contend with at the time becomes unravelled.

We had a competitive budget this year, it was just spent unwisely by those who were supposed to be the football and recruitment experts. Short of Carol scouting the players herself I don’t know what else she could do. She could have gotten rid of Crosby and Flitters earlier, but she’ll learn from that. Her biggest mistake has been leaving others in place too long to make too many mistakes with the first team. I do think this relegation will have caused a big wake up call for her decision-making and I wouldn’t be surprised if she got more hands with exactly how the budget is being spent - in terms of holding them constantly and firmly to account. Regarding intentions, financial input and everything else that goes into ownership, she’s got our best interests at heart and she’s obviously the right person to lead us back to L1. Sang, Grant, Lowe, Ripley, Uche, Loft etc. will not have been cheap. There was plenty of money there I’m sure to get a decent striker without having no support players to fund it. She gave the recruitment team the funds and they squandered it. Signing Uche and Loft proves we could have got decent strikers for the funds available. That’s part of my anger with this whole mess; it’s not just a rubbish squad, but an expensive group that are going to be hard to shift before their contracts run out.

He was injured on international duty. Still is injured. Didn’t realise he was still injured.

Someone who's departure has been overlooked somewhat, due to the lament for Ollie and Alfie, is Josh Thomas. He was getting better and knew where the net was. Not only fast, but also chased, which are two different things. Would have grabbed more goals than those who replaced him. Ah well.

Leutwiler Lomax Smith Yak Wynne Walters Chislett Plant Shorrock Garrity Dipepa No loans, none out of contract, no underachievers, only decent seniors, our developing talent (Yak and Smith aside, no-one to replace them)

what does a winger look like? I haven't seen one since 2018.

I think one of the first tests will be his retained list. If anyone is offered a contract, like Uche or Massey, then it'll set alarm bells ringing. Maybe he thinks Wynne will b good enough, but any that have been playing should be leaving. I'm hoping every chance he gets he'll be bringing in better players that play specific roles. If he is stuck with some he can't get rid of, then he'll have to maximise the other spaces.

All aboard super Darren piss the league express. Chooo choooo.

If they take the p i double Sandra with offers then they can whistle. I’d rather a mopey pair who are cheat codes in L2 than sell them for peanuts that can barely by the train fare for a replacement. Learn from Forrester. Sell anyone else to get them out, but nobody would want anyone else for a fee.

I hope Moore is just very level-headed and zen, rather than lacking in passion and commitment. Crosby and Clarke were clearly passionate and chose their words carefully, while emotion seeped through. I can see how behind closed doors they would tell it as it is, and say what needed to be said. I can’t see that from Moore, but hopefully he’s just got a robotic way of dealing with the press and he’s different when talking to the players directly.

Moore will have contacts to get decent players in and have the right links to incentivise not-wanteders to move on. I’m optimistic that Carol will give him a nice budget, and that he himself and people who report to him will have the main say on what happens with the playing squad.

Cash in on Smith. He has a year on his contract, 400 senior games at L1 and L2 level, captain’s experience, only 28, a dependable mainstay fitness wise, experience of ‘big event’ games. His CV will appeal to many teams with bigger budgets looking for experienced fill-ins and I doubt many know much / any detail beyond his stats sheet. Obviously his speed, height, leadership and general ability is questionable, but like I said his sellable assets can fetch a decent price tag if marketed correctly. It’s time to totally revamp the defence. Every single player across the back line. To do that you need funds. He’s one of the only players who could demand a fee and I think some would pay it for the reasons stated above.

So Darren’s sticking around. I think we’ll have a competitive budget.

Average current position of teams relegated from L1 last season: 15th/16th

Crewe

Interestingly we’re only 7th bottom for goals scored.

Nearly half time.

Sang and Grant are understudies who have had to play in place of Clark and Plant. By definition they’re supposed to be only playing the odd game but here and there. That’s been a big alteration to our hopes for the year.

2 game season. Pride in the shirt and high pressing, then anything can happen. As Garrity said, they’re in our league. Got to drag them into a battle.

Nobody signs a 5 year contract on the cusp of relegation, then leaves or gets sacked if a few months later that very real prospect materialises. This is a long term project Carol and Darren have entered into. He needs at least two windows to start sorting through the mess and making the team his own, and whether people agree or not I think that's the least he'll get.

They wouldn’t be eligible to play Blackpool away, due to kit clashes.