Norman Smurthwaite on BBC Radio Stoke, Monday 18th May

[Valiant62]

He's managing expectations. I don't have a problem with most of what he said tonight. Big ticket signings are high risk and don't anything like pay for themselves in season ticket sales. There'll be comings and goings as per usual and with a reasonable budget plus the hint that if we start looking like play off material he'll push on financially, I'm well satisfied.

[leedsvaliant]

I like the fact that there's no fluff with smurf. You feel like you get told the fact, however sometimes people need to be told what they want to hear in order to inspire. What does worry me is that we are seemingly stretching the budget out in order to offer contracts to players who have proven to be not good enough. My strategy would have been to offload at least 6, freeing up extra money to hold on to our better players and also leaving some over to supplement the first team with 4 or 5 good league one players.

I still can't see the sense in wasting an average league one budget on below average players.

My fear is that our remaining budget will not bring in the sort of players we need, page could be out on his ear and we're left with Williamson's and birchall 's to try and rescue the season with a new manager .

I think it's clear to everyone that you can't just expect people to come to the vale in blind hope, the only way you'll get more people through the door is the product on the pitch.I'm all for us living within our means but the old adage speculate to accumulate is very much applicable here. We need to hold on to our best players and add other decent players around them. Fans will back a winning team but in this day and age a winning team costs.

[Yukon]

Not in the least. It's his club and that is the end of the matter. The fact that he hasn't a clue how to run one is something that I have absolutely no control of but I certainly don't have to like it.[/quote

 

Well on that basis you continue to moan and l take no notice and l continue to run the Club so you can continue to moan

 

Truth is, OS got stuck in a rut pre- administration (the second) and can't accept anyone running the club without suspicion and disdain. Honestly, if Roman Abramovich bought you out and gifted £0.5bn to the first team he'd still moan. Sadly there's a few like that (where is TB when you need a good working example).

[carpetman123]

I think that all the critics on here tonight and you can count them are all the same ones that appear on any Smurf thread and are just not happy with whoever runs the club!!! Maybe they ought to find something else to do on a Saturday afternoon

 

We don't know who's signing yet it's early days I,m sure come August we will have a better idea and I for one trust Norman and Page to get it right what we have to do is get behind the club and buy our season tickets and stop wingeing about club politics!!

[ItWasTheLightsThatDidIt]

Moan, moan, moan......

[ItWasTheLightsThatDidIt]

I seem to remember the ostrich writing on here many moons ago that Perry deakin, blue sky and bratt et al were the best thing for vale (or words to that effect)

Just watch the footy, if you want too..... Simple as that

[andy jones]

he doesn't seem to understand that positive criticism is not personal criticism.

 

Norman, do you?

 

You are the antithesis of V2001 and I am eternally grateful that you are.

 

I respect and admire your input to the club immensely and I mean time, passion and commitment as much as finance.

 

But at times what you define as honesty doesn't come across as such. Tonight I was praying you would come out with a really positive message that would encourage fans to be enthused about the club, but you didn't.

 

When asking you to consider employing a professional PR person its not a derogatory comment because no one is great at everything.

I would just like to see someone at the club who is capable of putting a vibrant and positive tone to the excellent work you do.

 

Someone who is good at blowing your trumpet.

 

Come what may Norman those you class as moaners are in the main the first to buy season tickets.

[andy jones]

I seem to remember the ostrich writing on here many moons ago that Perry deakin, blue sky and bratt et al were the best thing for vale (or words to that effect)

Just watch the footy, if you want too..... Simple as that

 

Please keep to the facts. The promoting of Lloyd and Deakin' s scheme saw the removal from the Board of the last two members of the original V2001 (Bratt and Oliver).

 

Unlike the present I didn't have the benefit of hindsight where Lloyd and Deakin were concerned but what I do know is that many people fought very hard to remove V2001 and after the partial success at the EGM this was the very last opportunity to remove them.

 

Why carry on regurgitating the past with sly comments?

[Inny]

Totally underwhelmed!

 

I'm sorry but Smurf talks in riddles. Do you want Pope to Stay? Well I'd be sorry if he left. It sounded to me that he couldn't care less.

 

Rob is the manager! Then why is it Smurf who is talking to the Palace owner? Then again shouldn't it be the Palace manager Pardew that he should be in contact with?

 

Onthe subject of ST sales it's a chance for the fans to get cheap admission costs. Thank you, thank you Norman for being so kind. Lets get real without the revenue of Season Tickets the summer would be a long and financially scary one.

 

Why is he still in contact with MA and why the need to tell us about it?

 

'I won't talk to agents'. Well as virtually all players have one he isn't going to be doing much talking!

 

Tonight has done little to allay my fears for the club's future.

 

Page identifies the players but it would be chairmen that approach the clubs and discuss figures.

 

I actually think Smurf talks a lot of sense and clearly we can't pay any players whose salary would potentially break the club. Yes you do have to speculate to accumulate but Smurf was left with some serious baggage by Wildes and it will take another year before many of the overpaid contracts come to end. I hope by then we can see some direction, however currently standing still would be good as opposed to flirting with relegation.

 

If the 3 or 4 additional players come into the squad and are first team players let's hope they improve the team from last year, including the performance of all the strikers who were, without exception, mediocre at best last year.

[rayzer]

If Vale are doing badly and in the relegation spots at the end of September will Page get the sack and be paid off or will he just be demoted and the new manager have to work with Page as his assistant?

[old sage]

Well on that basis you continue to moan and l take no notice and l continue to run the Club so you can continue to moan

Why not take a look in the mirror and just take the time to consider that there could be a little bit of good reason why 'I continue to moan' as you so succinctly put it.

Remember this Smurf I aren't the only one who is complaining. We all appreciate that you bought the club when in admin but it doesn't mean that you are right all the time. Mr Wildes may have been over extravagant with your money but his style and manner came over in a positive way which was good PR.

 

My main gripe is the fact that you have in my opinion 'the cart before the horse' in common parlance we are like a shop and the shop keeper has to buy the stock before he can expect the customers to flock in to buy.

 

Only time will tell whether I or you are correct Smurf but unless you make the first positive moves then ST sales will be very low and attendances in general will be poorer than this past season.

 

I appreciate that it is expensive but that is the way that in football outside the promised land of the Premier and Champions Leagues works I'm afraid.

[Lady_Vale]

One part that seemed odd was to say that last seasons budget should have seen us mount a serious challenge for the play offs. Well why didn't it?

 

To then reward everything that saw that fail doesn't make sense, particularly when you then go on to say that there will be less money available next season.

 

What should next seasons budget be aimed towards then? Survival again?

 

We're treading water at best unless another few thousand fans attend but how do you do that when you're cutting budgets?

[Guppy 4 England]

Why not take a look in the mirror and just take the time to consider that there could be a little bit of good reason why 'I continue to moan' as you so succinctly put it.

Remember this Smurf I aren't the only one who is complaining. We all appreciate that you bought the club when in admin but it doesn't mean that you are right all the time. Mr Wildes may have been over extravagant with your money but his style and manner came over in a positive way which was good PR.

 

My main gripe is the fact that you have in my opinion 'the cart before the horse' in common parlance we are like a shop and the shop keeper has to buy the stock before he can expect the customers to flock in to buy.

 

Only time will tell whether I or you are correct Smurf but unless you make the first positive moves then ST sales will be very low and attendances in general will be poorer than this past season.

 

I appreciate that it is expensive but that is the way that in football outside the promised land of the Premier and Champions Leagues works I'm afraid.

 

No. Its just you.

[ItWasTheLightsThatDidIt]

Please keep to the facts. The promoting of Lloyd and Deakin' s scheme saw the removal from the Board of the last two members of the original V2001 (Bratt and Oliver).

 

Unlike the present I didn't have the benefit of hindsight where Lloyd and Deakin were concerned but what I do know is that many people fought very hard to remove V2001 and after the partial success at the EGM this was the very last opportunity to remove them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I'm simply trying to say that Norm should be supported because he will do his very best for the vale.. He has already proved that by putting HIS money where his mouth is..

If results don't go to plan in the coming season Norm will change things to try and make it better..."

 

Why carry on regurgitating the past with sly comments?

[VantaaVale]

Mr Wildes may have been over extravagant with your money but his style and manner came over in a positive way which was good PR.

 

The only problem being that Wildes' good PR and extravagance was not sustainable for the club. Hence the situation we have with Pope now.

 

If the 65% cut in Pope's wage is to be believed and Pope would still be the highest earner according to what Smurf said last night, then I would imagine that Pope is on something like 6-7K / week. Is it sensible to continue that contract, or bring him in line with the rest of the key players?

 

I thought Smurf came across very well and told it as it is. I prefer facts, not empty promises.