wurzel valiant

To the tune of Neil Sedaka's Oh Carol. Oh Carol Norman Smurthwaite was a fool He messed up the Vale Coz he was a tool. Now it hurts him to see your success When all he could do was leave a ******* mess. Now off to Exeter for hopefully a good day out.

The stand cannot be built the whole length of the ground because Exeter do not have the land. There is a railway line that runs behind the stand and it does not run parallel to it so it cuts in a bit towards the corner.

Scoring one goal leaves you vulnerable as Tranmere discovered on Saturday. If you can keep clean sheets like Northampton one goal will get the 3 points although it doesn't provide much entertainment. Unfortunately our defence isn't solid enough to do a Northampton and if we are going to make the play offs this season we are going to have to make and take a lot more chances.

It was Oldham that won a new stand in a competition. It was I think based on fair play and goals scored. They had won or been promoted out of the 4th division about 1970/71 scoring a shed load of goals. They built the Broadway stand opposite their main stand. But it hasn't stood the test of time as it has now been demolished and replaced.

I always enjoyed going to Fulham. A pre match pint in Putney then a stroll beside the Thames before cutting through Bishops Park to the ground. As for the ground itself it still has the traditional main stand and the quirky dressing rooms where the players emerge from the cottage in the corner. New stands for the other three sides so you get a blend of old and new.

Attendances in the latter part of the season will be influenced by league position. If we are in contention for a play off spot or better still an automatic place then it doesn't matter who the opposition is. In these circumstances the fans will come out and attendances will rise.

I've been watching the big match revisited on ITV4 recently. This week it ha been showing games from December 1976. Yesterday was Arsenal v Man Utd played on a paddy field at Highbury. Tuesday was Chelsea v Wolves played on a pitch that was a skating rink on one side and a bog on the other wing with a sand pit down the middle. Vale Park in its current state is like playing on a carpet to what those teams had to contend with back then.

Lucky enough to have seen him play and also seen him in the theatre doing his "evening with Jimmy Greaves" show. He was a brilliant footballer and not far behind as a comedian. His footballing anecdotes were hilarious and delivered with great comic timing. RIP Greavsie.

Rochdale were far superior to Forest Green as an attacking unit and therefore much harder to defend against. Forest Green played ponderous possession football with no penetration and by the time they were able to get a cross in the Vale defence and midfield were back in the penalty area which became congested. As a result the Forest Green forwards were closely marked and had no space to move in. Contrast this with the first two Rochdale goals where the wide player delivered quality crosses into the box which were sufficiently far enough out to prevent the keeper from cutting them out and because the crosses were delivered early, the box was not congested, giving Beasley space to make a run to attack the ball. Admittedly the last goal was a defensive shambles but I think credit is due to the quality of the opposition rather than heaping all the blame on some of our defence.

Moved to Stoke from Manchester in 1960 as a 7 year old when my dad took a job at Michelin. First game was in Sept that year against Chesterfield. Vale won 7-1! If only they could have maintained that level of performance.