TJHValiant

Not necessarily. Our ability to create those chances to score goals has been as poor as I can remember. Sang is awful at crossing and getting the ball into the box. Our biggest miss is Worrall who was good at that. I think Loft may have had more with him around.

I’ve seen a few claiming this. He went to Vale because he was injured, unwanted and unfit but fitted the most valuable aspect of the matrix. It was not about: Not fitting a system. Not having a good attitude Not even being good. He ticked the most crucial box of all. Cheap. That’s why he was at Vale.

Uche was not the boat being pushed out by any stretch. He had been sitting around all summer without a club and was unfit. If we had the budget for league 1 strikers we would have them. Instead we got the desperate. Cambridge have 9 contracted strikers and are right at the bottom end of league 1. We barely kept hold of 3 and the best one we had, Harrison was let go, under contract, to get a pay increase at a league 2 club. If we had a league 1 budget, you would have kept him and Loft. The only proven league 1 players with experience of regular starts in the division were Ojo and Massey. The rest of our squad came from league 2 or were unproven from higher clubs, like Sang. Then Wilson turned down our initial contract offer, suggesting that it a crock with little obvious options finds our pay unappealing, what will decent league 1 strikers think about our offers? Answer, they did think much of them and went to other clubs in league 1 with bigger budgets. I.E clubs that are league 1 clubs, because they stayed in the division. That gives a massive clue to how bad our budget was. Another clue is that our two best players who started regularly were loans. Further clue, total lack of investment in January, when Reading fans spent more on a statue of Rudge, than Carol did on actual players. Biggest clue is when we look at our league 2 squad and August and say…”it looks better than our league 1 team last season” Final clue, is that every single player released will not be playing league football next season. Not just because they were awful but because they were signed cheap in the hope they would be good enough, not on the evidence from league 1 or better history on the pitch. Why? League 1 standard players cost more.

It was a league 2 squad on a league 2 budget. That’s the reality. We never kicked on with the increase in quality hoped for. The real tragedy of this season is that it is hard to see how we will convincingly consistently compete in league 1 without a serious amount of increased revenue or more debt.

I would expect given how everyone was saying what a well run club we were and how lucky we are to have such an amazing owner, we should expect promotion. Anything less would make Carol look a bit crap really.

I think the money alone is probably going to be the defining factor.

I agree. I was quite impressed with Uche’s attitude. I would keep him.

8? That would do. He’d have increased this years tally by 700%

Much as I would like to laugh, we all know that the crap non league striker route has been very well trodden and has not been successful. Kyle Perry? Ricky Miller? Dior “dire” Angus?

You’d think so, but some guys can do it in league 2 but not league 1. We have seen Loft can’t do it in league 1. Even Pope never really did it in league 1. Not Loft levels of bad, but certainly, even at Bury never set the world alight.

I agree, after all he has in the past. A lot of these names of non league players being thrown about does not mean they would do better. I reckon if Loft was in the national league we’d be gagging to sign him at 26 years of age. To do well in league 1 now, you need half a championship squad. I don’t see any comfortable league 1 team full of non league punts or taken from the released list of league 2 teams. We don’t have any player anywhere near the standard of a Sam Vokes, yet Wycombe are firmly average for the league. I don’t think he will ever do it in league 1, so even if he scored 20 in league 2 next season, we should still not renew his contract if in league 1.

I never agree with this pay off players to do nothing. Unless seriously injured or old servants who have done well for the club but can do no more. The idea of giving Loft a years’ wage or even a month to reward failure seems crazy. It sends out the message to any other future duffers that if you sign a contract with us, we will let you go with a pay off if you’re bad enough. He can be dropped sure, but the best thing to do is keep him as a bench warmer as back up to better.

It will be interesting to see how much longer it carries on. I enjoyed the first season but found the 2nd series a bit tedious unless you actually care about Wrexham. The best football reality series was for me “Big Ron manager” which back in 2006 had me having a good laugh at a dreadfully run league 2 club in Peterborough United. Who’s laughing now eh?

I don’t think anyone is getting ripped off who buys a season ticket at Vale. Biggest issue is the entertainment and league 2 football is notably worse for that.

I did today, so I suspect they are trying to kick everyone off as I had auto renew switched on.

I’d love to see a win. I don’t want us finishing 2nd bottom either. It’s been a miserable season but I’d rather it ended on even the most minimal of highs.

Micky Adams was a wonderful appointment and looking back aside from the Foyle season with poor buys the club was generally stable in the 3rd division. I think Carol established good foundations for the club initially but we have lost our way and some of the decision making has been dreadful . If it carried on, it would be going in a Smurf or Bratt direction. The worrying thing is, all owners except the MOLD era had a honeymoon period, but nobody has ever been able to convincingly turn around a decline when it has been happening.

I am, but I don’t think those with the money, Carol or President Robbie are.

I’m very hopeful as a Vale fan I never have to be.

Mason-Clarke started his career at Barnet in league 2 and did very well before Posh signed him. Edwards was also of Barnet. Peterborough have a very very close working relationship with Barnet and their academy so know their best prospects very well before signing. It is not an accident so many of their gems come from there. Tolaj at 22 years of age (not a youngster) has has played 15 games in the football league in loan spells and has scored…0 football league goals. To give sense of perspective, Ryan Loft, currently 26, had scored 4 football league goals at 22. From 30 football league appearances.

National league striker? Not those hopeless prospects again. Ricky Miller was meant to be a non league powerhouse and was crap for us. Non league players are non league for a reason.

Barry Bannan? No chance. He likes and is used to money. There are a great number of players who will have played for Moore who are decent, but that’s because he managed clubs with greater resources, not because they have a love or desire to play for Moore. With Carol, you won’t get more, you’ll get less. A lot less. I doubt Moore can work with less

Carol won’t be throwing any money at anything. She didn’t when we got our highest gate average since 94/95 last season, so why start now? We will have a reasonable budget for league 2 because we are a big club for the league with big gates for it, but it won’t be due to Carol deciding to bankroll much more.

Well the letter shows rather more contrition than the last one, but Darren Moore knows nothing about league 2 does he? My personal view is that the league cup game against Mansfield showed we could have a strong team for league 2 with the right new faces brought in. I can’t imagine another bottom end Aspin era style showing.

The basis is who is on the pitch, the players, their backgrounds in the game and how far they are in standard behind those in even the most average league 1 squad. It is not a league 1 squad with league 1 players. We have not a single player who was a proven league 1 regular when we signed them. Maybe Massey or Ojo but the rest? Cheap punts or crocks.