Trumpingtonvale

He may be going nowhere, a lot of folks seem to be already assuming he’s definitely going. Surely he’d only be let go if we can find a suitable replacement beforehand - our having learned from the Connor Hall situation last year? Big gamble accepting a fee now (unless our hand is forced because there’s a release clause in his contract) and then assume we can still get someone in.

Get him on a free transfer, get him fit, playing OK then sell him - would be how the club are probably looking at it. Isn’t that our business model - sign a player increase his value and then sell him on?

DF will obviously have a release value for every player and if it’s met for Uche then he’ll go. Perhaps there’s also an element to this of Uche and/or his agent trying to get Vale to extend/improve his current deal, especially if he’s happy here.

I’ve only really seen Dunkley at Shrewsbury get close to ‘handling’ Uche single-handedly. Most if not all other L1/L2 teams have ended up having to at least double-up on him, just in case he creates opportunities/chances because of his unpredictable ‘style’. Our challenge, as a team, has been maximising those opportunities/chances when they occur.

I guess our DoF thinks playing half a dozen or so games in the Champions’ and Premier Leagues alongside one of the world’s best defenders (VvD) equates to “great experience”. Nah, unless you’ve played cold Tuesday nights in Burslem alongside ‘Pincher Smudge’ any European or PL experience means nowt.

Is Mr Williams fully fit and available for Saturday? I’ve seen lots of comments about his injury record but not seen anything to say he’s currently injury free.

They certainly did a good job with big Jesse (assuming he’s not out long term now 🤞) when other clubs didn’t seem to want to take the risk. If Rhys plays regularly and is as good/better than Jesse then happy days.

No mention of overseas leagues (apart from UK & Ireland) ? We may be once bitten twice shy because of the Bruno season but there may be as much value in still looking overseas than in the lower English tiers. Have proportionally more overseas players been successful than our non-league recruits? -can only think of Robin van der Laan ( Dutch 2nd division) as being really successful (Heald, Andoh, Jensen?) but we’ve not brought in a huge pool of players compared to those with a non-league background (admittedly Bruno year was an exception).

The number of injuries has to be taken in the context of the make up of the squad where the 23 outfield players allowed can all be over 21 supplemented by as many as you like under 21 yo (year old) contracted players plus as many as you like academy (under18?) players. According to the EFL website EFL Squad List: Season 2023/24 - The English Football League WWW.EFL.COM Vale have 22 contracted players (if big Uche is added), listed below. All other L1 teams have bigger squads (the majority being 27+, some 40+ contracted players, Middlesborough, mentioned above, have 52 contracted players) so when we have the same number of injured players as other teams it’s a bigger proportion of our squad that is unavailable for selection so is it not unreasonable therefore, to assume that has a bigger, detrimental impact on the quality of the team we can put out? Port Vale - In Squad Players Player Home Grown 1 Balmer, Kofi 2 Cass, Lewis Graham Yes 3 Chislett, Ethan Alexis 4 Clark, Mitchell Reece Yes 5 Conlon, Tom George Sawyer Yes 6 Garrity, Benjamin Matthew Yes 7 Grant, Conor James Yes 8 Iacovitti, Alexander Yes 9 Jones, Daniel John Yes 10 Loft, Ryan Yes 11 Lowe, Jason John Yes 12 Massey, Gavin Alexander Yes 13 Ojo, Funso-King Ayorinde 14 Sang, Thomas Roy Yes 15 Smith, Nathan James Yes 16 Wilson, James Antony Yes Port Vale - Under 21 Contract players Player 1 Arblaster, Oliver Luke 2 Devine, Alfie Sean 3 McDermott, Thomas Vincent 4 Plant, James John 5 Thomas, Joshua John

Possibly sliding doors moment last summer ? If we’d been successful signing him would we have still signed the Blaster and/or Devine, changed the way we play etc..

Even if he is injured having “pulled up in training “ , then it’s guaranteed we’ll sign him, it’s what we do with strikers in the January window if last year is anything to go by (but Young might actually be worth the wait). If it’s a ‘mystery’ injury then is he the type of player we’d want to sign - is that type of behaviour conducive with passing our recruitment team’s di??head test?

If there can be any positive to the news about Ben Garrity it’s that most clubs will lose interest in signing him while injured. Some may still have a punt though with a cheeky lower than market value bid because he is injured - saw on twitter Garrity to Bolton for £300k but am assuming it’s utter bolox.

Makes you wonder why he’s been recalled unless Spurs want him to play in/be available for the first team otherwise he’ll just be limited to non-league (u23) football.

Dane Scarlett (striker) recalled by Spurs (not really hit it off at Ipswich 12 bitty Apps no goals) , perhaps Alfie can put a word in?

Wouldn’t be a shock if our former owner had found some way of including some kind of sell on payment that went to himself or one of his other companies (other than the Vale) too - I never got the feeling he had the club’s future fortunes at heart, I don’t know whatever could have given me that feeling🤔.

Lots of clubs do too Osh, Wimbledon know it and have slapped a £2.5 mil price tag on him.

Isn’t Giggs one of the co-owners too?

I see it as the value of paying wages to someone who might well have a bigger impact on team performances /results in the minutes they do play compared to the cost of others who play 3 times as long for the same or lesser positive impact.

Ojo played as the centre centre back that night too with Conlon and Walters ‘holding’ midfield. Don’t think TC’s been seen since and Rhys hasn’t looked capable of stepping in(yet), in the league fixtures at least. It’s definitely a concern and might mean we see those players we were looking to offload in January having to stay AND play.

Clarke-Harris and Alfie May - hopefully transfer doesn’t happen until after Jan 6th.

Blackpool have Jordan Rhodes (on loan ‘til end of the season) who’s already scoring pretty regularly in their formation so not sure what Clarke-Harris would give them unless they’re looking to change tactics or concerned Huddersfield will want Rhodes back next month.

What’s a goal scoring L1 midfielder (on trajectory to score double figures), with 18 months left on their contract, worth? > £0.5 mil? Or do we slap a £1mil+ price tag on him to ward off interest/give us cash to buy a replacement or three?

Have I missed the outcome of Jesse Debrah’s compensation tribunal, if not, anyone know when it’s due? That could potentially put a dent in our striker, LWB, any other position, budget.

Both DC previously and recently Rudgie have said, regards recruitment, a club does well to get 70% of new signings right (am assuming that means quality over availability ie a player would be considered when available/not injured). Of our signings at the moment Ryan Loft and Uche are arguably not in the 70% who else would we say was in the 30%, remembering some players are signed in the context as back-up/squad players not 100% first team started?