leedsvaliant

Whilst he has yet to convince me, it seems that the issues are more deep rooted at both clubs. Huddersfield seem to have had their day in the sun and league 1 is perhaps their natural level of old. They've also only won 3 more in a similar amount of games, so it's not like the new manager has transformed them. I anticipated that Moore would do much better than he has, but most of our goals are lack of concentration and in some cases, effort. You can't legislate for that really.

Anybody still in on the Reading love in? Although we've been dreadful and deservedly relegated, this game was the catalyst for our downfall in my opinion. At the time we were initially meant to play them, we were in reasonable form and they weren't. We still had Devine and had started the game well, having a goal disallowed. We then had the game the week after postponed and so any momentum built up in December was vanquished. When we played the replayed game, we were in a right old state and they had picked up some form. This is a team that signed some very decent league 1 standard players but then failed to pay them. A couple of which we were believed to have been after. Why was this allowed? I'm sure all their fans will be delighted that they've stayed up but for me they should have been punished more severely. But like everything with this club, we meekly surrendered.

We know Smith can do a job in league 2 but I think it might be best for all parties if he left. He's not going to get any better. He's a decent defender but an awful footballer and I sometimes wonder whether he's been a hindrance over these past few years. Wouldn't be a disaster if he stayed. Ojo was really good in the first 3 months of the season but that's the only 3 months he has been any good. Flattered to deceive last year and his attitude stinks at times. Thinks he's better than he is. Iacovitti might be ok as back up. Has a mistake in him and sometimes looks like a pub player but ok for the bench. Ripley is good enough. He's not as good as he thinks he is and his failure to control his box considering his size is frustrating. I never wanted Clarke back but then he looked a real threat for a couple of games. Just never fit and I question his desire to really be fit. Bit of a loose cannon. Sang is awful in a defensive positions. He should never have been played there as you can tell it's just not his position. There looks to be a footballer in there but I just can't tell. Get him off corners though, they're awful. Grant has been a huge disappointment. Where was this decent player that Plymouth fans said we were getting? He has the odd decent half but then turns into a complete duffer. Doesn't look like he has the fight to make a difference. Ryan Loft. Potentially the worst technical footballer we've ever had. I have a far better touch than him and I'm nowhere near pro football. Yes, he tries hard but we need to get rid of him. Potentially in the top 3 worst ever players I've seen for Vale. An absolute joke of a signing. Wilson hasn't contributed at all in league 1 really. He's technically good but he doesn't do it anywhere near enough or is injured. Debra looks like a non league player to me. I don't see the potential. Clumsy, positionally poor....he's not for me. Uche might be a good wild card. He has the occasional stinker, where he literally looks like he has no legs. But he could cause carnage for certain defences in league 2. Garrity and Chislett it goes without saying are too good for league 2. They'll both be gone if they have any sense. A friend of mine (not a Vale fan) said that he remembers a lad called Baylee that played against his lad in a school team. He said that everyone applauded him off the pitch because he was so good. He's shown with his 2 recent goals what he is capable of. I reckon we've got a real future star on our hands. Lowe is what he is. A decent pro but well past his best. It was a desperate signing I thought. Seems like a nice bloke though. Massey has been another disappointment. He has the occasional game where I think 'where has this guy been?' . Then the next week he's awful. Another one that goes through the motions a lot. I'm not sure whether his heart has ever really been in it. The young lads have all done ok. Shorrock was superb against Blackpool but has looked like a child in other games. What we have to remember is that some players who've looked poor in league 1 might be very good in league 2. I didn't think the gap was that wide when we first came up but it is.

Yep. Most overrated player in league 1. Got the turning circle of a tanker, which would make him the fastest player in our defence. We haven't got that gutsy performance in us that lots of teams down at the bottom have in them at this time of the season. If we keep it to 3-0 we have done well. Bolton are pretty unlikely for one of the auto spots now, but they'll still outplay us without putting in too much effort. I'd quite like them to miss out though for 4 fold: 1) They think they're an absolutely huge team but without the Premier League years I doubt they'd be getting the crowds they are now. 2) When they near enough got promoted at our place they sang 'we'll never play you again'. But then did about 2 years later. 3) I lived in a halls of residence with a Bolton fan at University and he was a complete chump. Put me off ever since. 4) Ian Evatt is the most dislikeable, arrogant so and so. Apart from that I think they're great!

He's not good enough mate. He may have had a purple patch last season but I've seen enough of him to think that he'll be lucky to have a career in non league.

Whilst I totally agree with you, unfortunately there will always be floating fans who will usually only go when the team is doing well. These are the people we need to attend regularly if we want to incrementally increase our fan base. They need to have reason to spend their hard earned with the club....the club can't just rely on the blind loyalty of the hardcore support.

Feel like it needs some imagination from a marketing perspective. When Mike Aldridge was commercial manager a few years ago, when we were really crap, the Target 5000 thing really worked. I know Mike and he now owns his own very successful business, so clearly has solid business ideas. Do we have a marketing director or work with an agency? It just feels like the whole marketing of the club is quite haphazard and ad hoc rather than joined up thinking. I just think freezing prices is a bit lazy and isn't really going to entice people after this season.

I don't want a single statement when we sign someone in the summer to say anything along the lines of 'he's a lovely lad'. We need some horrible gits who are willing to call players out if they are not doing it. We need someone sitting on the referee, constantly in their ear. We're too cosy, too pampered. These players need to earn any treats that are bestowed upon them. This is their job, not a holiday camp. Earn the money before anything else, like we all have to. I'm pretty confident Moore will have identified this.

I think we both agree that she's made unnecessary mistakes which will have cost her serious money. She needs to learn from them...quickly.

I used to work for a guy who did give people a chance, particularly sales people. And he was also pretty friendly with some of them. But he wasn't afraid to get rid of them if they weren't performing for his business. Unfortunately, to be successful, you have to be ruthless at times. Even if you personally like the people.

I don't think I suggested that she's less of a supporter than anyone else. I was responding to the fact that she's some sort of lifelong fan, she isn't. She's from South Staffordshire isn't she? Hardly Burslem born and bred. Let's not pretend she's a born Vale fan. She might be just as committed but let's not rewrite history. I totally agree that she has basically thrown away money and we're going to be back where we started. She desperately needs to learn where she went wrong because I don't think she can afford to throw away another 10 million.

Even when we got promoted, our team was so nice. Remember the Bristol Rovers game, where their captain virtually refereed the game? It feels like we value nice people over winners. The best teams we have played this season have, without fail, had someone who is horrible, winds the opposition up and is in the refs ear constantly. It's a side I don't like but if you can't beat em, join em!

I think she is a fan but she's pretty new in relative terms. I sat on a table with her and her mate a few years ago when the company i worked for sponsored a game. She had only just started attending games and I think part of it was from a networking point. She's a nice lady and I genuinely believe that she has the best of intentions. But let's not pretend she's a lifelong supporter. I think she's trying to run the club like a corporate business. They're so different. I still don't think she gets that.

I'm struggling to see the misogyny in my post to be honest. I'm simply suggesting that she might enjoy the prestige of being one of the few female owners in football a little too much. That's no reflection on her as a person, or as a woman. In fact, I think it's great that we have a female owner. Jeez, why does everyone try and find offense in everything these days?

Mmmm....I'm simply suggesting that there are not many females in authority in the football world. I think she is certainly playing on it. No misogyny.

Some people have said that Carol is only in it for financial gain. That's utter rubbish....nobody with any financial ambitions would run a 3rd division football club. You're literally throwing money away. Even Smurthwaite realised that there's nothing to be made from a football club and was extremely lucky that the Shanahans paid way over the odds. I do think, however, that she enjoys the prestige of being a female chairwoman a little too much. I admire the charity stuff but I think the 'legacy' ambition has taken over from sensible decisions. There seems to be an ambition to run a football club in a corporate entity style, with a high level of Corporate Social responsibility. Unfortunately, football just doesn't work like Synectics. You can spend all the money you like on staff and 'projects' but ultimately the biggest outlay should be the team. It's a football club. The clue is in the title. Stevenage have got a <ovf censored> ground, almost certainly a smaller corporate side than us, yet they're pushing for the playoffs because they spent big in the summer on their team. Somebody with football business acumen needs to get in there before she spadges more up the wall on vanity projects. If it were me, I'd have looked a long time ago about creating a smaller, fit for purpose stadium on the same footprint. I'm sure our old, decrepit ground, that in spite of serious investment still looks old and decrepit is a millstone round our neck. We still haven't got a finished stadium after 25 years for instance.

I'm of a train of thought that maybe we need to go back down. It feels we're completely under equipped for this division. We've had a succession of bang average teams come here, and as soon as they put any pressure on us, we crumble. The lack of time wasting, disrupting their flow, giving away cheap fouls, was really evident second half. We're too nice and accommodating. Any team that's done well this season has a couple of horribles who are constantly in the refs ear. Wednesday night showed us how far we are away. We need to get relegated, rip it up entirely and start again. What a complete waste all that winning on penalties against Swindon was. Mansfield will be replacing us next year and will be better prepared. Funny how things come full circle isn't it?

0 shots on target at home in a must win game is awful. We'd be going nuts!

Four changes smacks a bit of Clarke mucking it up and now rolling the dice.

Yep, me too. They spent the last few minutes just passing it along the back line.

In technical terms, one of our better technical footballers. But a forward should be judged on goals and assists, of which he has done nowhere near enough in the past 2 seasons. He looks like he has all the ability in the world, but if you don't utilise it effectively then you're a waste of a player. He seems to have lost the drive that he had with us in league 2. Maybe injuries and low confidence have played a part? Whatever the reason, we need 2, maybe 3 forwards who have a significant impact on either assists or goals. We just can't carry him anymore.

I agree. Thought he was faultless today. Thought the Yak was good too...they both kept it simple...head it and kick it away when necessary. Thought Sang had one of his best games for us...everything that we did that was good seemed to come through him.

I think 48 will do it this year, possibly 47. So 3 wins and 2 or 3 draws, or 4 wins. A win on Friday would be massive ahead of away games. If we could sneak a win out of one of Northampton or Wigan, both teams with not much to play for, that would leave us with trying to win 2 of our last 4. Not impossible but our form has to change dramatically.

Rovers fans are saying they've been dreadful this season but yet they're still comfortable in mid table, so they must have something about them. They've got very little to play for, which in some ways makes them more dangerous. Hopefully a bit of confidence and belief will finally seep into us.

I actually thought he did everything right with that chance in the first half. Keeper got in a good position to narrow down the angle, just unfortunate that he couldn't squeeze it inside the post.