valeparklife

Joe B talks a lot of sense, so definitely cannot be REP! What kind of moron would say ANYTHING negative to Carol and Kevin? They SAVED this club from becoming another Bury FC. Cretins.

He's a top player but given him being without a club for a while, maybe an offer of £2,000 a week and being back in the shop window is better than another year out of the game? Unless Salford chuck some money at him like they're about to do with £4m striker Will Grigg.

I really like Smith, and would love him to stay, but I find the talk of him going to the Championship a little bizarre. He's great at what he does - fighting, blocking shots, being aggressive etc but to play in the Championship I'd expect a CB to be more cultured on the ball and with better distribution? Also I think his lack of height and pace may count against him. I'd say his ceiling would be a bottom half to mid table L1 club?

Can idiots stop moaning at Amoo now?

Birchall alluding to Smith being off in the summer

Did Elliott Durrell ever get fixed up at a club?

I think the best bit of business we could do in January would be to sign Smith, Gibbons, Worrall, Amoo and Burgess to longer deals.

Twitter rumours saying Birmingham have bid for Smith. Probably nonsense (from an account with 6,000 followers) but how much would you say he's worth if we were to sell? Given he's out of contract in 6 months too?

I'll throw a wildcard name into the hat: Callum Roberts at Blyth Spartans. 22 year old left footed winger/attacking midfield who was signed by Blyth after being released by Newcastle United last summer. He has 11 goals in goals in 18 games so far this season and produced 30 goals + 21 assists in 80 games for Newcastle's U23 side. He's only on a deal that runs until the summer of 2020 so a move could surely happen in January for a nominal fee? Capped at England U-20 level and is absolutely tearing up the National League North. Watch some of the videos of Blyth's highlights and he's clearly too good for that league. He's a good age to develop further and could add some much needed creativity to our side.

Is that Gibbons first ever Vale goal?

These games frustrate the hell out of me but we can't forget how much we've improved since Smurthwaite buggered off. We're doing fantastically well this season and making great progress.

Is this since Askey joined? Don't suppose you know who they are do you? It's not something that gets much news coverage but I'm sure over the last decade or so we haven't had a full time scout on the books? Just scouts that come and go with the managers!

Agree entirely. I wonder if we have any scouts at the club presently? Out of interest, do you have the link to the podcast? (I like stuff like that!)

The trick is to secure these players while no one has ever heard of them, rather than putting them in the shop window while being on loan. Imagine if we could find another crop of under 21 players like McPhee, Goodlad, Brooker, Pilkington, Cummins, MBW etc. Our scouting has been atrocious since that era.

Mansfield just sacked their manager tonight!