valeparklife

We're just not going to get 5 or 6 wins from the last 12. It's League Two next season and we need to start planning now. Hopefully Moore just uses games like these to find out more about the players and who to keep.

Only if 4 teams get liquidated! We'll finish 2nd bottom.

Nah. She's got to reap what she sows. She was interviewing for a football manager. Then a football manager told her she should hire him as a DoF. Then he told her to spend a fortune on a campus, T-Zone, scoreboard etc. Then he signed 60+ players over about 3 windows. Then he hired a coach as a manager without interviewing anyone else. Then he refused to rectify the mistake when he clearly wasn't cut out. Then he assembled the weakest, softest group of players we've ever seen. Then he failed to sign a L1 level strikeforce over 3 windows. Then she had the audacity to write a patronising letter telling all the fans why we are all wrong, and that the board were all right. Etc etc. This blind loyalty from Carol is the reason we're in this mess. This relegation is on her. And she needs to get rid of DF, take some of that £180m, and bankroll us back into L1 at the first attempt. The fans do not deserve L2 football again. The fans ALL saw this coming.

When we go down. There is no way DF can stay. It's impossible. I certainly wouldn't trust him to sign another player, and I've not got £10m+ invested in the club.

Are you alright in the head? Inherited an imbalanced squad, with no strikers, no left sided options that are all way way way too nice and don't have an ounce of fight in them. What is he supposed to do? The players brought in to the club since 1st January 2023, across 3 managers, have lost 31 games from 54! Winning 11!

The fans saw these issues coming - I can't understand why Carol can't too. Terrible last 3 transfer windows Imbalanced squad Crosby appointed without other interviews Crosby not sacked earlier A DOF won't get every decision correct, but these mistakes were all completely avoidable and have resulted in us heading for League Two again. I love Carol for saving us from Smurthwaite, but surely if she looked objectively at our situation she would agree with the above?

I feel we keep saying a lot of games are "winnable". Carlisle, Fleetwood, Reading, Cheltenham were all "winnable" and we lost them all.

Haven't we been saying this for months? "Next game" "Next game". Majority of these players don't care. I hope I never see Grant or Massey in a Vale shirt ever again. Ripley Smith (squad player) Chislett Garrity Plant The rest can f-off.

Genuinely wish I could be as optimistic as others, but if we've won 3 in the last 27 (11%), and 11 games in 53 since the start of 2023 (20%), then how on Earth are we supposed to win 5 games in the last 13 (38%)?!

Spot on. It's fine to go after your "A Grade" strikers and not get them if you already have some other "A/B/C Grade" strikers at the club. I'm not even sure we have "F Grade" strikers. Relying on someone with weetabix for legs, a 16 year old, and someone that hasn't scored a league goal since October 2022 is utter lunacy!

Ah - didn't know that! Thanks!

Gregory isn't registered for Sheff Wed's squad currently. 35yo and out of contract end of the season. Wonder if Sheff could release him and we could sign on a free? Knows Moore too!

Great work! Championship player the fans would love, we have tracked his for 12 months. He wanted to come but they wouldnt sell him and he has only played 6 mins in the championship so far - ??? Frustratingly I can’t figure anyone out despite trawling late substitutions in the championship - Flitcroft says we will go back for him in the summer The only player I can see that's played 6 minutes in the Champ is Joey Phuthi from Sheff Wed. https://fbref.com/en/comps/10/playingtime/Championship-Stats#all_stats_playing_time Championship striker who was exceptional in league 1 who we chased right to the end but it slipped by as they didn’t want to release him because they didn’t get their player and he hasn’t played much since - ??? "Exceptional in L1" to me would mean they've appeared high on the top L1 goalscorer charts over the past few seasons. The only realistic player I can see would be Lee Gregory, who wasn't named in the 25 man squad for Wednesday since the transfer window.

But you can sign players on cheaper wages, and develop them into better players with better training facilities?

I can forgive a bad window + a bad managerial appointment, but I feel there have been a number of mistakes made now that just defy common sense. Failure to address our poor striking options over 3 windows. Failure to recruit a balanced squad (How many CM's did we have at one point? Why did we start the season with 1 injury prone LWB? Why did we sign a winger when we don't play with wingers?). Failure to even consider other options for interview after Clarke left. After appointing Crosby, which we all knew was doomed to fail, failure to remove him in Oct/Nov. Now the latest lack of common sense is sacking Crosby a few days after the window shuts, which gives the next manager zero wiggle room in terms of personnel. Like I say, no owner is perfect and mistakes will be made everywhere - but these are just so simple and so avoidable that I don't have any confidence in our fortunes improving under Flitcroft. I am absolutely dreading the next appointment - I feel it's going to be some Premier League coach or someone that just obsesses over possession and nothing else.

I dont disagree, just saying how I think the DoF/HC model works well at other clubs. I think this 352 system stems from Flitcroft, first with Darell then Crosby, so continuity there. I think we still played passing football with Clarke, but we've just gone to the complete extreme under Crosby. Possession for possession sake. Another game today where we've had way more possession and no goals. Sent from my SM-G981B using onevalefan mobile app

This is an outdated view of football. The DoF + Head Coach model exists everywhere and a lot are very successful. It promotes consistency and continuity. Best way to describe it is to imagine a club had Arsene Wenger as manager, and then Tony Pulis. Wenger would sign loads of 5'4 technically skillful players, then when Pulis comes in, he sells the squad and replaces them with loads of 6'5 neanderthals. Extreme example, but you get the point. Having a DoF oversee the playing style/recruitment avoids this. Think of Brighton - Potter leaves, De Zerbi comes in like nothing has changed. Same for Brentford - Dean Smith leaves, Thomas Frank steps up. The idea is correct for us, but the execution isn't going so well so far. Crosby isn't the manager to take us forward. I support the model, just not the personnel.

Great post. I'm starting to think this way too. The DoF model can work and would be very good for us in terms of recruitment - DoF focuses on getting quality players in + Head Coach manages the players and the games. I was hoping for a raft of carefully scouted, astute signings - players that other clubs have overlooked (like Garrity), that would come in with a low/zero reputation and flourish. I'd probably say out of those 50+ players we've signed under Flitcroft, maybe 10-15 or so have been a success? I see Ephron Mason-Clark was sold to Coventry by Peterborough the other day for £4m. I know they are masters at it, but his record before Posh was hardly inspiring, yet they were able to see something and develop him into a £4m player! This forum would have had a meltdown if we'd signed him based on his record!

Thierry Small: Charlton sign former Southampton defender - BBC Sport WWW.BBC.CO.UK

I think Carlisle have had a good window and will escape. Armstrong, Kelly, Vela, Neal, Lewis are really solid signings. They've lost Moxon, but Vela is a good L1 player to replace him. Georgie Kelly would have been good for us. Played a fair bit of Championship football and a really warrior leading the line.

We're really going to have to get behind Ryan Loft. No more stupid booing. 100% support. Turn him into a cult hero like Reggie was.

I can't be doing with League Two again. It's horrible. Praying there are 4 teams worse than us!

There is no way we haven't made another signing. No chance. Or is there? Surely not?

Went to bed at 10pm last night fully expecting to wake up and see some more signings. What a depressing way to start the morning, UNLESS a striker and a LWB get announced. Still think it's been another shocking January window again though.

McDermott to Burnley reminds me a lot of Joe Davis to Leicester all those years ago.