Old School

I'm no stato, but I can confidently say that this will be a record breaking season on a number of metrics.

Not sure how you arrived at the position that DF is not the issue. Who put this squad together? A squad of sub-standard injury faking bottlers. Anyway, I don't have a season ticket at the moment due to the clubs superb computer system making a complete hash of my renewal. I subsequently joined the 1876 club and get £4 off tickets, which actually works out far better for me as I go away for long weekends fairly often so cannot attend every match. I will probably do the same this season and see how things go.

After watching the Darren Moore interview with the injury updates I simply cannot believe that they are genuine injuries, they are plainly and simply cowardly players hiding. In all the games I have watched this season I just cannot remember seeing the players putting their bodies on the line, fighting for the badge and their own personal and professional pride, which is how most injuries happen. In fact I have seen the exact opposite, players pulling out or not going in to tackles 100% commited. In other words, morale is that bad that players appear to be exaggerating or even making up injuries to avoid having to play games. I am aware that this is a horrible thing to think let alone say, but nothing else explains our injury list when almost none of the players seem to want to get in there where it hurts. What the heck is going on at the club?

I have to admit that I don't understand why Carol has chosen to die on flitcroft Hill. Carol is a very very successful businesswoman so she must understand that it is results, just results, only results and naff all except results that count so surely to goodness she must see that the trajectory we are on is leading inevitably to disaster. Unlike fraudcroft Carol has a huge financial stake in the club and stands to lose a huge portion of that investment. It is hard, very hard to admit that you have got something so spectacularly wrong as she has with flitcroft. Either Carol just cannot bring herself to admit such a massive misjudgement or perhaps even more worrying she actually does believe that the sun does shine out of 5hitcrofts bottom.

As fans paying for the privilege of watching the Vale, maybe not enjoying but watching, we all quite rightly have our opinions on the players, manager, dof, selection, tactics, substitutions etc. This is what sport is all about. The vast majority of us will support the lads 100% during the match, even if we have a moan about things after. I get both sides of the argument on this thread, it is undeniable that Loft has not performed anything like a player that our dof "chased" for months to sign. However, I wonder how many chances his team mates have created for him to get on the end of. The best strikers in the world can be seen going through something similar to Loft when there are very few chances coming their way and their confidence is shot. I do not blame Loft, I do blame fraudcroft for landing us with the worst, most unbalanced, unfit and injured squad I have ever seen.

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

I would love to know if we dropped off and defended a 30 yard line in the second half as per instruction from Darren Moore, or was it just an unspoken but collective decision by the players. The answer matters as if it was on DM's instruction, it would obviously be the wrong decision, he has seen enough of us now to know that we just cannot defend so it would be pointless. In the post match interview Darren said that he was disappointed at how we yielded the initiative, hinting that it was not by his instruction. If it was the players that consciously or unconsciously made the decision, why was Moore not on the touchline screaming for them to push up? Everyone, including the players must know that playing as we did second half would be football suicide, so why the heck do they keep doing it?

Can't wait to see Darren Moore's post match interview. Surely this performance and result will elicit some passion. One point from 6 in 2 "must win" games, abysmal. Why oh why do they (the players) keep demonstrating the definition of insanity by sitting back and standing off every time we are in front, with the inevitable result that we concede and throw the game away. Moore ought be telling them that if they don't push up and keep the pressure on the ball they will be subbed. Helpless, hopeless and bloody well useless.

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

I, and I suspect most Vale fans go to the match to see a good competitive game of football and hopefully 3 points. I do not go there to gaze in awe at the superb facilities at the Wembley of the North. How anyone cannot understand that everything flows from the product on the pitch is totally beyond me. I would rather splash ankle deep through urine (and did so for many years) and have decent team, than have the best bogs in boslem and garbage on the pitch. Of course I would prefer the facilities and the team but if, as it is, a question of either/or, I'll take the team please. I get what some say about Carol and Kevin saving the Vale, but what if they have only postponed the inevitable? I have never in all my years as a Vale fan seen worse football than now, with full time professionals unable to undertake the most basic of football skills, and worse, far worse, look like they could not give a monkeys. Dire times.