Warren

On the injury / recovery front, PV is much closer to Liverpool than Aberdeen. It should be easier to have a managed fitness programme using the resources of a Premier League club close at hand.

This looks a good signing to me if true. He's big and likely very skilfull at L1 level. He would only come to play and not mess around on the bench. Get Jesse Debrah fit and the back three starts to look big and able to play footie. This concept of being able to give a player / parent club assurance they'll play regularly is an advantage PV has in the transfer market. It's a way to close the gap in the transfer market on bigger clubs like Derby who wouldn't provide that assurance. But it's slightly a double edged sword if we take on loan players who aren't ready for L1 level like Kofi Balmer.

Weir has come to play. Looks a good signing.

Retirement. I thought Smith was good, but clearly Beterbiev is exceptional. No point hanging round not to fight him again. Time for a coaching career.

We got alarmingly played through v Charlton. But the biggest issue is giving the ball away. That ruined the whole night v Middlesbrough.

I think the standard of the Premier League is the strongest in the world but also the strongest of any league there has ever been. This means that players who may have played at that level in the past are pushed down. In other words every level is stronger than ever.

I'm sort of in agreement with this and sort of not in agreement. The main difference is information technology and data analysis. That should help in targetting scouting and player comparisons. Also in the physiological field. However, I get some users, e.g. Man Utd and Chelsea, can still waste billions on the wrong players.

Set aside injuries. I think where we are at is an emerging big centre forward whose size enables the target man role and occupies defenders at set pieces. Not prolific but good for 1 in 5 to 1 in 10 goals to games. Then attackers playing alongside or behind who are scoring goals in Chislett and Garrity et al. Plus I think Loft can be a significant threat from the bench and his size offers defensive capabilities. The issues with strikers are the ones in current form are expensive to sign and pay. The ones that we develop and perform well will get signed by bigger clubs - accept PV gets a fee. At our size of club and L1 level it's hard to create and keep an effective strike force. We can't afford a lot of risk which I define to be a striker / forward who costs a fee, has high wages, gets injured a lot and doesn't score that many. It's tough to manage and we ain't doing too bad in recent games!? It's the back where we have stuff to fix to get safe in mid table.

Uche played the whole of the game v Charlton, scored and was man of the match. He's now up to speed and deserves a run of games.

My thinking is structured, if you like, on the basis that we have quite limited funds available. We seem to have slightly too few attackers but they can do a job. However, also too many defenders who are not quite good enough at L1 level. Hence I would like to prioritise defence - but we need to move some defenders on first.

The front end of the team looks OK to me. I'm up for a clever signing. But surely we have to be able to defend better. It's the key to climbing into the top half. This is a multi facetted problem and the backroom team need to analyse it and recruit a player to help solve it if possible.

The club needs to be brave in bringing through the young players. Space needs to created for them. Hence it's right Tom Conlon is not resigned. But obviously all strategies have risks to be managed. If they flop then the club could be in relegation trouble.

Bradford and Swindon stand on the same points in L2. Both are just about in range of Wimbledon who currently hold the last play off spot. 26 played, 34 points. Wimbledon 25 played, 39 points. It makes absolute sense for Bradford to stuff Swindon - 27 played, 34 points with a recall. Of course we need to organise a party at PV to celebrate Swindon being stuffed.

Bradford City are an enigma. Clearly are a bigger and better supported club than Port Vale. But massively under achieving in L2. Surely, they want to assemble a promotion team. If they are going to sell a goal scorer they should only do so for a large fee. Bradford's average attendance is 17,855 this season.

When it comes to young players brought in on loan, promoted to the first team squad or sold on from the academy for profit, PV has done very well in the last 6-9 months. So I do trust them to make the right calls in Jan 2024 including the return of this dude if it is possible. I think sorting central defence this window is important. We have almost an army of players who can play central defence. For me only Jesse Debrah is clearly an L1 player. The rest are L1/L2, L2 or NL/L2. This matters absolutely - stop letting goals in. If the defence is more solid / confident, including passing, I think it does assist giving younger players a chance at WB, midfield and forward. I'm suspecting we are in a tight budget situation. Therefore we need to give young players a chance for this reason - aside from development. To do that well we must improve the defence this window. That includes players in, players out and getting players 100% fit.

The lowest supported team in the Championship is Rotherham on circa 10k. Then step up to Blackburn on 15.5k. Stoke are 11th on 22.4k. We go to the top which is Sunderland on 40.8k. Plymouth are on 16.3k and competing in the lower half. I know away fans attending is consistently higher, but we would need VP full every week. The other factor here is that the teams in the Championship already have Championship players. We don't, so we would need to buy them and develop them. I agree Ojo was a Championship level player, but he's at VP to see out his career. The trade is his experience. However, there can be Championship players at PV hiding in plain sight. If Championship players were brought in there are younger players at PV who would develop to their standard quickly.

We seem to be able to score goals now. Our issue is letting fewer in. We may be challenged in midfield / forward line if Blaster / Devine are recalled in Jan. Clearly our problems were scoring goals. It had two parts in players were not scoring and the manager didn't seem to know how to set up the attacking half of the team. But I think for a club like us it's very risky to spend more to bring in a lower league striker. None of them are much good across career. If they were they would be playing for a bigger club / higher level.

Only Ripley, Blaster and Devine are good enough to play at Championship level by say next season. Two on loan to us. So only Ripley. We can't get there from here. Radical improvement in attendances and off field income needed to get to and remain in the Championship.

Wilder in talks to replace Heckingbottom.

Staff haven't been paid at Reading. Looks like the club is in deep trouble.

He wasn't getting games at Rochdale. He needs to play and progress. To me he looks lightweight. He needs to overcome that to play at the level Port Vale is at. Being a bit unfair there, I guess it's just normal development.

I'm going radical. Keep Massey. He's a lot more useful than appreciated.

This is where our great insight and strategic thinking on what's needed is set out for Crosby to learn from.

I visit my friend in Arbroath once a year since he moved back there from Wigan. The first year I decided I wanted to watch my first game of Scottish football. But Arbroath were away. So I chose the next town / station north which is Montrose. Once supported I can't unsupport them! I suppose if I wanted the big time I could have chosen Aberdeen.

Well it's a free world. I used to watch Tranmere alot in the 1990s, possibly because my friends support Tranmere. I would like to go again soon since its been several years now. I also haven't been able to watch my Scottish team Montrose for a few years. I had a trip booked and covid-19 cancelled the whole fixture.