Tom Pope

[Bald Eagle]

No he's got the turning circle of the Queen Mary

 

A bit less than Robbo's then:laugh:

[keeled56]

Popeys a good league 2 striker,but very average in league 1,we need better if we are serious about making a promotion challenge next season.

[PortVale4Life]

Can I ask you an honest question? Are Tom Pope's goals all he brings to the team? If your answer is yes then I give up.

 

I love how after being proved wrong in terms of goals you change to something else.

 

The answer is yes, but at this moment in time no. At the moment he brings nothing.

[P.E. ST6]

I said weeks ago that Pope shouldn't be anywhere near the starting line up as he was injured for a long time, we did really well without him but some fans seem to think if Pope goes we will be relegated. Yet we are stopping the likes of Campion and Nimley having a chance.

 

Pope is not bigger than Port Vale and he certainly doesn't deserve the contract he is on.

[old sage]

I love how after being proved wrong in terms of goals you change to something else.

 

The answer is yes, but at this moment in time no. At the moment he brings nothing.

I wasn't changing at all and as you don't seem to appreciate our top goal scorer's goal ratio then I just tried to remind people that there is more to Tom than his goals. No one at the club can hold the ball up like he can, he wins more than his share of knock ons and no one works harder than him. Last night he was poor but many on here seem to have singled him out as the reason we lost the game which is ridiculous as the team as a whole didn't perform with a couple of exceptions. I also am convinced that Popey was playing to orders in the first half as he was in our half more than theirs during this period.

I know many on here won't agree with any of my comments but do you know what I couldn't care less as football is all about opinions and time will only prove who is right and remember 'you don't miss the water until the well runs dry'. To think Vale will bring in a superior replacement for Tom his attributes and his goals is quite frankly laughable as to get one would require mega bucks and Smurf certainly wouldn't fund it.

[hamilboy]

I can't believe that our top goal scorer should think he is entitled to a new contract after all he's only scored 59 goals in this time. Who does he think he is?????

 

Smurf has said he can have a new contract but not on the terms that he is on now if he is the biggest earner at the the club he is certainly not earning it this season.The gate says it all last night we cannot afford to keep him on the money he is surely on smurf is right to tell stop moaning in the paper pull your finger out and do it on the pitch something which he is not doing at the moment.

[old sage]

I do partially agree with you Hamil Boy but I think that Smurf is playing a very dangerous game with our better players. Players like O'Connor won't be short of offers at the end of the season so to try and get them signed up now may actually save entering into an auction which could cost us even more money. Good players need to be signed early the 'run of the mill' ones are 'ten a penny' and won't take a lot of persuading to re-sign. We also have some real 'deadwood' at the club which we wouldn't miss if we released them.

[onestepatatime]

OS, surely you have to admit that Tom's recent performances have been way below what we expect from him? I believe his head has gone and he's "not at all there" during matches. Can't argue with his record for us but players need to be judged on performance now not past glories and expectations that they can revive that period.

 

Vale's one- dimentional, lethargic, predictable pattern of play is geared up to lumping the ball forward to anywhere near where Tom might be. If Tom is not winning balls in the air, or turning defenders, or is simply out of form then we must look at differing our play, surely? Teams are wise to what we have been doing for years now and Vale are so easy to defend against.

 

I will not knock Tom, but time has come for us to realise that Norman has made his stance and quite frankly he's dead right in asking Tom to drop his wage demands as we as a Club need to sustain itself in the League whilst being sensible with the budget. It is common fact that you are Tom's biggest campaigner but if Vale have to set limits with pay then so be it and we'll have to find treasures to assist our progress. Some, and I believe this to be an ever growing number, would argue now that without Tom Vale will still survive and maybe, just maybe revert to a more footballing attitude and change in style. Perhaps it's time anyway for this to come about with Page's anticipated clear out at season's end? Still love your passion for our talisman though so this is not meant as a criticism of your fervour. Trust you can sit yourself down in a darkened room and visualise our great Team without your loved one.

[onestepatatime]

When Pope is 100% at his peak and as fit as he can be he looks a real good target man. When he's off the pace I'm sorry but he looks a bit of a cart horse. I have to say the last 4 or 5 games I've seen it's been the latter......

 

For those old enough to recall, Steptoe's horse comes to mind!

[Guppy 4 England]

Pope didnt have the best of games, but he was assaulted at least 7 times during the game and the ref did nothing. It said it all the rapturous cheer when we did finally win a free kick.

 

Whatever is said though, we dont have any better and as i stated last season when we moaned about him, he has proven he is a goal scorer, you dont see top teams dropping their best forward and top scorer because of one bad game.

[onestepatatime]

Pope didnt have the best of games, but he was assaulted at least 7 times during the game and the ref did nothing. It said it all the rapturous cheer when we did finally win a free kick.

 

Whatever is said though, we dont have any better and as i stated last season when we moaned about him, he has proven he is a goal scorer, you dont see top teams dropping their best forward and top scorer because of one bad game.

 

1 bad game?????

[PVTony]

I can't remember, so a genuine question. How many goals has Pope scored in the last five games and how many has Willow scored? They are the two main strikers.

[valiant_593]

Pope didnt have the best of games, but he was assaulted at least 7 times during the game and the ref did nothing. It said it all the rapturous cheer when we did finally win a free kick.

 

Whatever is said though, we dont have any better and as i stated last season when we moaned about him, he has proven he is a goal scorer, you dont see top teams dropping their best forward and top scorer because of one bad game.

 

Its not one bad game though, its 4/5, nearly every match since coming back from injury.

 

I still dont think he has proven he is a goalscorer at league 1 level.

 

Ive noticed whenever Pope loses out to a defender, it is always that he was assaulted all game, I dont think that was the case, personally I thought Pope was very off colour again, and handled very easily by the oldham defence. I agree, on paper we have nobody better, but we can try a different option, we wont go up, or down so its time to look at a different option IMO.

[valiant_593]

I can't remember, so a genuine question. How many goals has Pope scored in the last five games and how many has Willow scored? They are the two main strikers.

 

Pope has one in his last 5, against Walsall and Williamson has 0 in his last 4, not sure who the next game back was.

 

Interestingly Marshall seems to be leading the way, 3 in 5 for him.

[PVTony]

Pope has one in his last 5, against Walsall and Williamson has 0 in his last 4, not sure who the next game back was.

 

Interestingly Marshall seems to be leading the way, 3 in 5 for him.

 

Thanks V593.

So between them = 9 games, they have scored a total of one goal.

 

I agvree with you valaint 593, nothing to lose or gain now, safe from relegation and no chance of promotion, so could it be time to give other strikers a starting place?