Tomo

But what does any of the above have to do with football? Regardless of history & your political/other views outside sport, why should it ever belong at a football match, or any sports event? I personally can't remember having taken part in singing a song that doesn't relate to Vale/Stoke/football in some way etc. Surely that's the way it should be.

Put up a poll, I bet you'd be surprised what the majority think...

The joint best, yes.

Definitely, I can't recall the exact games but I've definitely seen far worse that hasn't resulted in a fine.

No point comparing prices in L2/L1/Championship to the PL when the situation is completely different. They're subsidised with huge amounts of money & gate income is of little interest to them in comparison. If Sky withdrew from the game, I imagine you'd see prices in the PL rocket (more than they already have for some home fans). Anyway, I don't know why we'd expect our brand new owners to reduce prices straight away, given they've just spend an incredible amount of money saving our club. Isn't that enough?! They could have increased the prices which would have been understandable with them trying to recoup initial layout. Bit much expecting handouts when they've just done us the massive favour of ensuring we still have a team to watch in the first place. But anyway, back to the game...

A lot of blurring of the lines here, with talk of Pope's status, rather than the subject of the topic which is the tweet. IMO, the status of the person making the tweet is irrelevant. Would people be happy with Carol (not that she ever would obviously) responding to criticism by swearing at people on Facebook & telling them to eat ****, should we go through a difficult period in a few months time? If not, then why him? Pope is obviously a Port Vale legend, of that there can be no doubt. Doesn't have any bearing on the subject though, he should rein in his presence online & trade it for a more consistent presence on the pitch.

Ignoring everything else that has been said, it's interesting that some fans seem to enjoy/support the way Pope talks to fans/critics etc online, yet it wasn't fine when it was our former trainwreck of an owner doing something similar. Any individual at the club (regardless of their role or stature) should behave in an appropriate & professional manner whilst in the public eye, online or not. I doubt we did before under NS, but it'd be interesting to know if we have any sort of social media policy nowadays. As he writes for the local paper, I wonder if they're happy seeing him post such things online. He's also most definitely a role model for lots of young Vale fans (plenty on this site with kids I imagine?), so it's surprising to see so many people don't mind him behaving in such a way.

Hard to disagree with all of that really. Line up for me Sat: ------------------Brown------------------- --Gibbo--Smith--Legge--Crookes--- -----Atkinson---Joyce---Burgess----- --Worrall---Bennett/Pope----Amoo-- If starting Pope, gives us the option to move Worrall back in front of Gibbo, putting Bennett up top alongside Pope later on for one of the middle 3. Taylor is a possible alternative for the midfield, him or Burgess would be fine really.

Incredibly refreshing to have multiple options & selection headaches despite numerous injuries! Atkinson could easily push for a midfield or RB starting place now, but do you drop Gibbo coming back who has been great? Would you drop Pope for Bennett given his goals, or replace one of Joyce/Burgess in midfield & move Worrall in there to accommodate Bennett up top alongside Pope? When all players are back, there's going to be lots of competition, & the future is looking pretty bright. Quite happy with Askey's performance this season so far, just need to sort a slightly leaky defence & fix the away form with a few wins.

Not sure I buy into the idea of racism here (haven't read much about it in all honesty though so it's possible), surely the fact he's been out of the game at any level of quality for 7/8 years is a factor? He was interviewed a few years back & even said that now he had done his coaching badges, he was willing to take a non-league club job & work without a salary as it was proving difficult getting back into the game, so based on that he can't really complain all that much, given he set the bar incredibly low. Times move quickly in football, if you're dormant or not in the public eye for even a short period as a manager, expect to struggle. Beggars can't be choosers.

Next to Crewe, Stevenage are definitely my most hated team in the league. So glad to see them rock bottom without a win, hope we can give them a thrashing in 2 weeks. If they're worse than Morecambe, shouldn't have any major issues, as long as we can deal with their time-wasting & tactics that seem to have stayed in place since the Westley era.

If we can get our first away win here, the vibe around the place could be great. 20 points in October & possible entry into the top 7, with the bottom side to play at home straight after. Buzzing for this, can't wait.

Was really happy to be proven wrong in the second half yesterday, great to see him finally get some goals from open play! Also great to win by more than one goal, first time since March I think? First half was pretty mediocre from all, but 2nd (like a lot of games this season) we took it up quite a few notches. I'd still stick by my idea of starting Bennett (or 2/3 of them up front together), Pope on his own didn't really work at all, Bennett on changed the style & it worked for them both & us. Maybe the pair of them with Amoo starting at Macc? RE the post, love Pope but have to say I'm not a fan of his online presence. Given we're in a 'new era' of sorts & the owners are online too being incredibly friendly & open with the fans, having Pope on Twitter still arguing with fans & swearing at people isn't really helping the image of the club. He's a professional & should be a role model, let the football do the talking. I wasn't really happy with it the last few years either, & my opinion hasn't changed.

The only thing they'll be assessing these new referees for is if they're capable enough to be added to the VAR collection for the greed is good league.

Given the last few iffy open letters/statements from them in the style of our former owner (technical issues with the bank multiple times, postponement of games etc), it sounds to me as though the owners either have very little money & rely solely on club income to pay staff/players, or they are reluctant to keep money of their own in the club accounts to pay them (or both). I'm sure this is the 4th or 5th time I've heard about this in the past few years now, & sometimes it's been for more than just a month at a time too. Just Google 'Macclesfield Town not paid' or something similar & you'll get numerous articles going back a few years. Pretty worrying stuff really, they apparently have an outstanding CCJ & additional loans that may be overdue. Reading comments from their fans, they're worried about the possibility of administration not too far in the future. I also think they're currently punching, given the size of their crowds & the town overall. Doing far better than expected to stay afloat in the EFL.