worldsendvalefan

Why have we taken on a player to help us in a relegation fight who is clearly not fit. Sent from my SM-A528B using onevalefan mobile app

I think a large part of this problem is that clubs in the premiership and championship now have much larger squads. Where they will employ footballers just to be bench warmers. Or just be part of an enhanced squad. It works for the players as they can earn far more as a rarely used squad player in the higher leagues than drop down to leagues 1 & 2 for first team football. Can't blame them. Would you tell your missus that you are going to up root all the family so you can earn less than a quarter of what you were. It is the way football has been allowed by the authorities to develop. Sent from my SM-A528B using onevalefan mobile app

I haver never heard Pope's interview or have any knowledge of the content. However the reasons I wish he would leave the club are as Follows. Out of interest is there anywhere I can get to listen to it. 1. He came to interview for a managers job, yet managed to sweet talk himself into a job that didn't exist at the time. Very nice salesman, yet I feel he conned Carol into creating an unnecessary post. 2. He previously managed Bury and was at the helm when he spent out on wages and transfers that he must have known they must have been financially unsustainable for the club. Still he got a promotion on his CV and Bury went bust. 3. It appears he has now decided on what the permanent style of play this club shall play. Even though it has failed badly for the last 2 years. 4. He has been in charge of recruitment for the past 2 seasons and it has been a complete disaster. Our team ended up being propped up by 2 on loan teenagers this season. In the last transfer window all the other teams managed to sign permanent transfers to improve their squads except us. It seems we didn't even have any targets. And to be scrambling about in the final hour was amateurish to say the least. 5. Take a good look at our current squad. Our bench is largely made up of not ready teenagers. The squad is so thin it is laughable. All this is down to David Flitcroft. He has failed miserably in his role. He has to go. I just hope our new manager is able to go his own way with formations, style of play, players etc. Sent from my SM-A528B using onevalefan mobile app

Do we know how long Loft is out for

Better footballers want better wages. They will put up with moderate training facilities

I think the biggest problem, now is that Carol has now backed herself into a really tight corner over Flitcroft. It will make things really difficult for her if results keep going badly and the new head, coach, whoever it is does not work out. If things on the pitch turn around then all well and good. However going by the performance against Orient, I am struggling to see that happen. What is Carol going to do with Flitcroft if things don't work out. Does he keep his job regardless. Does she end up with egg on her face and eat loads of humble pie. Which after that letter would be highly humiliating. Or does Flitcroft get to resign with a nice big payoff. There are a number of problems I have with Flitcroft. 1. He has sold Carol a fantasy that if she spends all this money of hers, on things that are very nice to have or employing people in various roles that are very nice to have, it will make us better prepared to mount a promotion challenge or stay in the championship if we get there. It won't. It is only players on the pitch that will do that. 2. He will only accept one style of play and that now has to be the permanent ethos of the club. Even if it is failing badly. This will highly prejudice the range of players, managers/coaches we can bring in. We are Port Vale in league 1. We are not going to be able to out football clubs with higher budgets. What we can do is out fight them with determination and effort. 3. As an experienced manager, who is responsible for most of the first team coming to the club and the style of play, then it was shameful to hang the youth team coaches out to dry. And not take charge of the first team against Orient. As somebody else has put it was cowardly. 4. A leaf could be taken out of Wycombe Wanderers book. When on lower gates and more limited financially, they took the decision to do away with their Acadamy and youth teams. Not because they wanted to, because they no longer had the money to continue with them, they could not afford them. It didn't stop them getting promoted. Now before anyone jumps down my throat. I am not advocating doing away with our academy. But there are plenty of things in Carol's letter that she gives Flitcroft credit for, that we don't need at our level. If we can't afford them don't spend the money on them. 5. His recruitment is really poor. The tea. became dependent on youth team loans. Did he not realise that the parent clubs may want them back in January. If you look at the Youth team loans we have had over the years most have been garbage. We got lucky with Devine and Arblaster turning out so good. He was never going to be able to pull that trick again. I really fear for our club now. Carol had backed herself into a corner, she will have difficulty getting out of. And are the players really going to be pulling out all the stops for the man who has put the club in this position. Sent from my SM-A528B using onevalefan mobile app

Yes it's true Flitcroft has had lots of excellent ideas and aspirations for the club. All of which cost someone else, not him a lot of money. I am sure he had lots of good ideas and aspirations that cost Bury a lot of money and in the end their existence. We are currently averaging around 6,000 home gates in league 1. At any other time in my last 50 + years of supporting Vale, those sort of gates would have had us financially self sufficient. Yes players wages are higher, I accept that. However if we are struggling to make ends meet, why have we got a larger coaching staff, than ever before. Why are we employing stats analysts. Why are we buying big electronic scoreboards. I know what the score is, I'm watching the bloody match. Why do we need a fan zone. I've turned up watch the match, not listen to a load of stupid music. Couple of burger vans will do nicely. All the extra training facilities. Very nice. However, what we had didn't stop John Mcarthy, Steve Guppy and Ray Walker tearing up the opposition. It seems to me that Flitcroft has convinced Carol, that to be a modern, successful club in the championship all this is what you need. The answer is get to the championship first. Getting the right players on the pitch should come first. That is what gets results. That is what will increase crowds. That does nesseccarily mean spending loads of money. It means better scouting and most importantly having the right manager who can get the most out of the players at his disposal. What it does not mean, is what someone was good enough to post on here. Which was Flitcroft's mission statement for Bury. Which I presume is the same for Vale. Where the club should be wedded to one style of play. Which the club should be known for. Possession football. I am not saying that in itself is wrong. But if like any other style it isn't working, you have to be able to change. Little wonder we struggle to sign players in transfer windows. As I presume, that if they are not our type of player and don't fit the club ethos. the club won't go for them. How many good managers are we now going to reject, because they don't aspire to the club ethos. We are Port Vale. We regularly pull in gates that should see us comfortably survive in league 1. Stoke on Trent is the smallest city in England to support two professional teams. And we are the one with the smallest support. The reality is League 1 is our natural level. That is not to say we cannot be ambitious. Given the right manager and the right squad of players we are always going to be able to have a tilt at promotion. It won't happen every season. Football isn't like that. There is no formula to guarantee success. Look how big clubs like Derby and Sheffield Wednesday have struggled in recent years. Every so often we will get a manager in like Gordon Lee, Mickey Adams and John Rudge with players which will run through brick walls for them. And none of them needed a DoF, stats analysts, coaches for every possible position and a big electronic score board. This is what supporting Port Vale is all about. We will never be able to out football the bigger clubs. But what we can do is put together a bunch of players that will run through a brick wall for the manager and fans. Carol has been sold a load of twaddle by a man whose head is in the clouds and loves spending other people's money. Irrelevant of the cost to club and fans. Sent from my SM-A528B using onevalefan mobile app

Scary thing is, is that the more I think about that. The more probable it seems to be. Also the guy had stuck with the job and guided us all through the Smurthwaite years. With very little thanks or appreciation. It was probably one of the biggest mistakes the club had made in recent years. As now plainly evidenced. Sent from my SM-A528B using onevalefan mobile app

If you stick a couple of black pudding slices in that egg banjo sandwich, you will eat the greatest sandwich ever. Try it gorgeous [emoji846] Sent from my SM-A528B using onevalefan mobile app

Apparently Smith took a pay cut to move to Reading. Has supported the club from a boy. Sent from my SM-A528B using onevalefan mobile app

That is one of the most scary posts ever put on here. More so because it is true [emoji1787] Sent from my SM-A528B using onevalefan mobile app

One that scores goals or even a goal would be an imporovement