Old School

Just watched DM's pre match press conference and unless I'm much mistaken he had an animation I have not seen before. The squad have obviously taken great heart and pride not only on the win against Burton, but maybe even more so the performance. I am feeling a lot more confident about tomorrow but not getting carried away, it really is a case of get a win and its game on. Lose and it's game over. My prediction for what it's worth is 2-0 to the mighty whites.

I'll settle for a 98th minute winner going in off Lofty's bum.

My tongue in cheek reference to Colin Garlick seems to have got some folk quite exercised. Whilst it was tongue in cheek because I don't know if Colin is either available or interested given the way he was unceremoniously elbowed out, I don't think it totally unrealistic to have an administrator rather than a "football person" running things. An administrator like a manager does not require an intimate knowledge of the process, merely the ability to manage those that do.

Colin Garlick?

I don't think we can read too much into one match, ie today's win. I do hope though that we can read something into the performance. Seems a bit too coincidental that after all the recent games that cried out for a response from the players but did not get one, that straight after flitcroft goes the lads really put in a shift. It would be very very interesting to find out the exact circumstances that led to flitcrofts departure. I don't like to think ill of someone I don't have personal knowledge of, but there are rumours that all was not rosy in the Port Vale Garden. Roll on Friday and (hopefully) another 3 points.

Well, I got it wrong. I said that we would lose for certain. I was wrong and I'm very happy that I was. I didn't get to the game as I am away for a long weekend but if you read my most recent posts you will see that what pi55es me off most is not seeing any fight, heart or commitment from the players. By all accounts that was not the case today and the lads did us and themselves proud. Really pleased for Lofty, sounds like a total number 9 performance. Is this due to you know who departing? Who knows, I guess we may have more of an idea next Friday. Well done lads.

You have to be really careful when bringing on a young'un like Baylee, he does not yet have the musculature to play all game every game. It would be a terrible decision if he were ruined in some futile bid to avoid the drop. Baylee and the other young'uns may well be our future, so need to be nurtured carefully to ensure they reach their full potential. Decisions now ought to be for the longer term, this season is a write off.

Not sure if we will ever know if he jumped or was pushed and I guess it doesn't make any difference. We are where we are and relegation is a certainty, so attention must be on next season. DM must have a massive say in what type of players he wants, if not the actual players, and I would imagine that "bottle" would be the first and foremost quality required. We have seen this season what happens when you recruit based on stats rather than ability and character. Get it right this time!!!!!!

I really can't see any point in endlessly predicting/forecasting what is likely/certain to happen in the next fixture, we will lose, we know that for certain. Home, away, makes no difference. I accept that we are down which is disappointing to put it mildly. What absolutely infuriates and enrages me though is the manner of our going. We know that they are not good enough and that is down to fraudcroft and potentially Carol and the budget, or lack of one. The squad is horrendously unbalanced and that is directly down to fraudcroft. However, all that being said it is the players themselves who are entirely culpable for the way they have gone about things. They have shown absolutely no interest in giving it their all in any game this season (and last season too), they have never got injured going in for desperate challenges to win the ball. They have not closed down, tracked back or shown the slightest interest in working up a sweat. What they have done is allowed teams to walk through us unchallenged to score the easiest of goals. They have defended like clueless idiots and would be a disgrace to a Sunday league pub team. They have shown the most appalling body language, clearly giving up when the first goal goes in after 5 minutes. They have tried to hide for the entire match. In short we were almost certainly doomed before a ball was kicked, but I just cannot and will not accept the way it has happened. There are one or two notable exceptions and no blame can be attached to the young'uns, who have done us and themselves proud. The rest of them have to go, by any means necessary and in that I put fraudcroft at the top of the list. Whew, glad I got that off my chest.

I think it is clear that fraudcroft is going nowhere for the time being, obviously Carol is still all starry eyed and madly in love with him. At some point the love affair will end, probably when Carol realises that fraudcroft has spaffed her entire investment up the wall and the club is now worthless. It will be a very high price to pay and so unnecessary.

Be easier to say who should.

I dodged the bullet on this one. I had got it in my head that we were away and by the time I realised we were at home it was too late. I watched some of the game on ifollow and interestingly we looked even worse through that medium than actually being there. In fact we were just so bad that I couldn't even watch it from my comfy armchair. All their usual failings seemed to be magnified with no footballing ability, no pride, heart or fight and absolutely clueless in seemingly each and every situation. The question is on another thread, but here's the answer. Yes, this is the worst Vale team ever.

Sounds great except for the football bit, I'd cut that out if I was you, matchdays will be so much more enjoyable.

If Moore did go we could probably get Boris Johnson in. Bojo would put flitcroft to shame with his smarming up to Carol. We would be promised promotion back to L1 next season, the Championship the season after, then the Premier league the season after that. Boris would sorrowfully admit that it would probably take another couple of seasons before we won the league, FA Cup and Champions League, but hey we have to be realistic. In reality by then Bojo would have us in the Potteries and District Lads & Dad's. Or even more likely, bankrupt.

It's always difficult if not impossible to make cross gererational comparisons. What I will say though, is that I have never in all my years watching the Vale seen a team that has less fight than the current lot. We have had some players, teams even, over the years that were actually far far less technically proficient than the current squad/team, but at least they would generally give it their all, something that sadly you just cannot say about this lot. Everything changes and sooner or later the wheel will turn, I just don't know what league we will be in when it does.

Deadwood is something or someone that contributes absolutely nothing, yet consumes vital resources. Many if not most of this squad fall into that category. Team spirit? You having a laugh?

Even though many players are contracted for next season it is possible to move them on. Simply tell them that they will not get 1 minute on the pitch next season so look for another club and if they find one the contract can be terminated by mutual consent. You would imagine that most of them would want away from the disaster that is Port Vale, some of them might even be decent players elsewhere like Benning. Once the deadwood is cleared sack flitcroft and get someone who actually knows what they are doing in to recruit some players that can do the absolute basics and have a spine. That's what should happen, but with Carol totally under fraucrofts spell god alone knows what will happen. Almost certainly nothing good. Dark days indeed.

I would have thought lows and lower still. 😡😡😡

You cannot call for the managers head after 3 games, just look at what he has got to work with, an unbalanced squad of sub-standard low confidence players, many of whom do not even seem to be prepared to put a shift in. Alex Ferguson would struggle to get a performance out of them. I don't believe that Moore will walk if (when) we go down as it looked odds-on when he took the job. I guess he will have a big say in who should stay and who should go in the end of season clearout. I also think that Darren will be telling flitcroft exactly what he wants in terms of replacements. Keep the faith with Darren, I trust him more than the clown dof.

If I was selecting the team for tomorrow's game I would just ask them all "who fancies it?" and make my selection based on the responses. When you are up to your neck in the brown stuff you want first and foremost those that are up for it, not delicate flowers or "bottlers". You never know, we might just catch them off guard as they will obviously be expecting the team that we have been far too many times this season. A scrappy one nil to the Vale.

I have seen this scenario a few times in my years following the Vale, fans taking up entrenched positions coming around to believing that any counter views are from idiots or not "real" Vale fans and the rhetoric and tempers ratchet ever higher. Believe me, as a senior manager for most of my working life I know that if you get 2 people together you will get many more than 2 opinions advanced. My position is that I do not believe that Flitcroft is doing a good job, purely and simply because I think that the team that won promotion was better than the current one, so I think we have gone backwards. I also do not agree with the current tikka tanka football at all costs. Football like any professional sport is a results based business not a philosophy or worse still an ideology, sometimes you have to be pragmatic. That is my position but I would not have a go at anyone for having a different perspective and I most certainly would not stop going up to support the lads because I was upset about something I disagreed with. Let us hope for a miracle 🙏 but be prepared for the worst. UTV