blackdog

The excitement of the FA Cup has gone, strangled by the Premier league, back in the day getting a draw at Liverpool and bringing them back to Vale Park on the Monday was better than Christmas day for me, yes we lost to a late extra time goal but I still remember the atmosphere. Same with the Arsenal game the excitement and anticipation, to me as an old codger seems to have been slowly rubbed out, who remembers the Leeds v Chelsea replay at Old Trafford, beats anything Sky puts on now, Fa Cup final day is just another fixture, shame really the worlds finest Cup competition devalued.

Thats no good if you can only do it for 45 minutes.

The hard truth about today as far as I'm concerned is we scored a deflected goal and their keeper had a mare for the second, they changed things around at half time and we didn't have a clue, not a scooby,it was obvious after 5 minutes of the 2nd half they would score but not 4. The substitutions were bizarre, surely Loft on for Uche, there again I didn't see Loft he was missing for the half time kick around and I couldn't see him on the bench, was he even there ? Weir on for Uche rendered our forward line redundant, if I had known that Dipeppa and Weir would have been our forward line during one of our most important games of the season I would have thought you were off your rocker. I feel as though we have given our place in the 1st division away cheaply, starting off 7 zip in August, building a side round loan players and injury ridden journeymen and no strikers then going on to playing with no passion or commitment is unforgivable for me, the decision to leave Crosby in position for so long was unforgivable and not having a proper recruitment process in place to replace him was also unforgivable. Next season will be no easier, we don't have a nucleus of a good side, to many of the current team are bottlers but are under contract next season, we had the basis of a solid 1st division side when we left Wembley 2 years ago, we are nowhere near that standard tonight.

A welcome performance that has us at least in with a shout a shout I thought had gone a few weeks ago, the application was spot on, the fight and desire was there and you could sense the togetherness of the team, Moore of the same please ! A special word for the ground staff as well, the amount of rain we are getting I thought the pitch would have played heavy, money well spent Carol.

I agree with this, in my opinion it puts unnecessary pressure on clubs and it could be argued on the players themselves.

When the goal went in, Ripley sprinted straight over to the bench to celebrate, there was definitely a different energy about the team, it was obvious that the result meant something, after the Oxford game I'd as good as given up, yesterday has given me hope, lets get to the last game with something to play for...........

The most disturbing thing about today for me was the apathy amongst the fans, it is obvious that the fans have packed up and can you really blame them ? This team is not phenomenal Carol, it's just not very good at football and it's plain to see that next season with this set of players it's going to be another struggle and that's where the apathy sets in, once it gets a hold it's very hard to shake off, it can take years to gain support and just months to lose, the damage done with the recruitment policy since January 23 is going to take years to rectify and the paying public deserve an explanation That's why hundreds were streaming off the ground before the final whistle just resigned to yet another home defeat. The fights gone out of the supporters and it's certainly gone out of the team, like I said............. Apathy

No I didn't unfortunately, I just wondered if these figures are official released from the club.

Just out of interest, where've you got these figures from ?

1979-80 was a rough one, but as bad as they were it was balanced, in other words we had players in all the correct positions, defenders midfield and strikers, trouble was they were just rubbish at football, this team has no balance, with quite a few positions not filled and not been all season despite opportunities to correct the situation, I'm not saying this lot are rubbish at football because the team has no balance and we have been asking players to do a job they don't normally do, but I have to say I have no connection with this lot, I don't enjoy watching them, the perseverance with the possession based game drove me to distraction,20 passes then back to the most creative player in the side Ripley and after the Middlesborough game I gave up, the total lack of fight and the thought we could outfootball by playing walking football was unbelievable to me. So for me 2023-24 is right up there as one of the worst.

I understand what you are saying, but a public forum would no doubt descend into chaos, I don't think I know any of the people involved or what was discussed the other night other than what was reported, but I know that the questions asked would have been passionate, pointed, direct and to the point and would have left Carol under no illusion of the majority of fans feelings A public forum would probably have descended into a shouting match, so I'm grateful there are fans who took the time to prepare and ask some awkward and difficult questions.

Taken from Wikipedia Backed by ambitious owner Stewart Day, Flitcroft signed experienced players such as Kelvin Etuhu, Nicky Adams, Ryan Lowe and Shwan Jalal; Flitcroft said that "we’re in League Two, but we try and behave like a Championship club".[62] The club spent £100,000 on improving the pitch and dressing rooms, whilst long-distance coach journeys were replaced by flights Sound familiar ? And we all know where Bury ended up.

Rumours are Flitcroft has used MRKT Insights, I've looked them up and all I can say it seems full of corporate guff, and when you listen to Flitcroft you can see where he gets his inspiration.

It's so frustrating in as much she recognises she knows nothing about the football industry and quite rightly she looked for someone to run the football side of the business, what I find unbelievable is she takes the first person she comes across without going through an interview process, same with the manager situation, as Jean has said we wont need a DoF next season.

If the Shannahan's think that relegation will be just a blip on a graph and we will bounce back straight away because Flitcroft and MRKT Insights on paper say it will happen, I can give them a bit of free advice with no strings attached........It is very very unlikely to happen.

I'm not too bothered tonight, relegation was on the cards at Christmas so I've come to terms with 2nd division obscurity next season, the alarm bells rang for me in September when we struggled to beat Sutton and Crewe and the streaky wins we had, added to that the incompetent transfer dealings it's been inevitable, so it's been a death by a thousand cuts for me so at least tonight we are not dragging it out any longer, as far as I'm concerned I'll just let the season fizzle out now.

A really good listen, interesting what Ex Pros have to say, especially what was said about the lack of fight and how other clubs players see us, confirms what the vast majority of supporters think.

Just watched the highlights on YouTube.......We're not very good are we ?

Add to that, Worrall knew his contract wouldn't be renewed and yet he played at 100% right to the end, a top professional and the type of character we have tried and failed miserably to replace.

I find it unbelievable that we have got ourselves into this situation and its going to impact on next season. It's quite sad really, all this is so unnecessary, I fear ego's and stubbornness are the root cause of our problems.

Back in the day it was Lol Hamlett with an old bladder and a bucket of cold water how times have changed.

That second half was something else.................................................

You do realise where Fleetwood are in the league don't you, good team ?

Smith has been mucked about by the style of football Flitcroft seemed hell bent on introducing, in my opinion he's been hung out, he's an out and out defender nothing flash just hard and rugged, he's not a ball playing centre half. The criticism of Saturdays mistake is probably justified but if the referee had been as pedantic as he was all game he would have moved the free kick further back and closer to the touchline where the foul took place, he would also have booked Taylor for kicking the ball away. Not defending the lad but he should have enough credit in the bank, his confidence must be shot trying to play like Paolo Maldini, if we are intent on blame the management are just as culpable not playing to his strengths.

Oh that's OK then let's get relegated it'll be much easier in Div.2