Norman Smurthwaite on BBC Radio Stoke, Monday 18th May

[old sage]

well last nights r/s show did little to convince me that our clubs future is nothing other than an ever decreasing circle. we can be fairly sure that both popey and marshall are as good as gone unfortunately . o'connor , well lets wait and see eh. it would be good to see innis back at the club but he would need someone in the calibre of neil collins along side him , not duffy / mc givern / vesseli . i will be attending next season but not as a season ticket holder (only the second time in a decade) . out of the 6 of us who normally have a s/ticket none are renewing . fingers crossed we will have an excellent season and the club will end up better off with us paying more on the day but i believe that is a pipe dream .

 

lets all pray that we manage to keep at least one decent player (oaky) , the majority of the dross do not re sign and page can bring in some decent loan + permanent signings. hopefully vale will then get off to a good start , otherwise page will be out in september and normans sleepless nights will commence (for longer than 8 weeks this time) .

My thoughts exactly like you BHW I shall pay on the gate next term. I just hope that the ticket office is working efficiently otherwise many will stay at home especially on cold midweek nights when a warm fire and the Champions League proves a more attractive proposition.

[PVTony]

Bad, weak, watery beer week after week will lose customers for the pub owner.

 

Bring in a new beer at the right price and trade will increase.

 

No use the pub owner stating that a new and better beer will be brought in when more customers use the pub. He has to get the good beer in first.

[old sage]

Bad, weak, watery beer week after week will lose customers for the pub owner.

 

Bring in a new beer at the right price and trade will increase.

 

No use the pub owner stating that a new and better beer will be brought in when more customers use the pub. He has to get the good beer in first.

It's a no brainer isn't it Tony.

[Yukon]

My thoughts exactly like you BHW I shall pay on the gate next term. I just hope that the ticket office is working efficiently otherwise many will stay at home especially on cold midweek nights when a warm fire and the Champions League proves a more attractive proposition.

 

Purposely depriving the club because they aren't paying your sweet pea enough? Give that joker a medal, pathetic

[TheSage]

I know NS was truthful and straightforward (and he's done an enormous amount for us) but we had an hour to broadcast the merits of PVFC and enthuse the listeners; it didn't happen.

 

It was low key and uninspiring. If I felt like that as a hard core supporter, what did the stay-aways and moaners think?

 

I'm sure what he said was true and made financial sense but the overall tone of the show was depressing & mundane, we are where we are, stuff.

 

A bit more up-beat talk and an attempt to galvanise the fan base and give them hope and optimism was needed, yet it seemed to me that we spent 85% of the time talking about mistakes made over closing the stand, the drop in gates, the probability that all 3 of our better players will go, and so on. The tiny bits of positivity were lost in a sea of depression, though I suppose the nature of some of the calls and the poor quality of the presenter were also to blame.

 

As Tony rightly says, if you offer entertaining fare people will come and watch, but last season's home form was appallingly bad and the run of 1 win in 11 towards the end affected supporters negatively.

People won't just turn up out of tradition and sympathy if they've had their head banged against a wall for months on end.

 

Give them something to get excited about. (like having you season ticket delivered by Miss World or a Labour election victory:laugh:;))

[raywalkersbananakick]

Rookie manager no chief scout = rookie budget.

[old sage]

Purposely depriving the club because they aren't paying your sweet pea enough? Give that joker a medal, pathetic

No actually I shall probably be paying more. You make me chuckle Yukon because you say I'm obsessed I think in truth it really applies to you also.

[Bert Llewellyn]

More nonsense. The majority of fans are season ticket holders and will renew whatever- like me

 

I have renewed my season ticket but I have to say that I share a great many of the concerns expressed by OS - so he is not alone! Like OS said it is Smurf's club but that doesn't mean that he should be immune from criticism. He can either look at it or ignore it that his is prerogative but this is a fan's forum so OS is completely within his rights to say what he wants in my opinion. Some of the post's on here seem to question his loyalty. He is completely vale through and through more than most people I know, he just isn't Smurf through and through - and that is his prerogative. So by all means disagree with his opinions but don't rubbish his posts in personal terms.

[Bert Llewellyn]

Bad, weak, watery beer week after week will lose customers for the pub owner.

 

Bring in a new beer at the right price and trade will increase.

 

No use the pub owner stating that a new and better beer will be brought in when more customers use the pub. He has to get the good beer in first.

 

Love the analogy - spot on in my opinion

[Yukon]

I have renewed my season ticket but I have to say that I share a great many of the concerns expressed by OS - so he is not alone! Like OS said it is Smurf's club but that doesn't mean that he should be immune from criticism. He can either look at it or ignore it that his is prerogative but this is a fan's forum so OS is completely within his rights to say what he wants in my opinion. Some of the post's on here seem to question his loyalty. He is completely vale through and through more than most people I know, he just isn't Smurf through and through - and that is his prerogative. So by all means disagree with his opinions but don't rubbish his posts in personal terms.

 

I know Smurf isn't beyond criticism, I've criticised him myself but you have to draw the line. We are just fans, not shareholders etc anymore and we have a choice, support the team or not. Put in context, we all complained when Smurf did the Premier League striker thing, but threatening to not renew your season ticket is doing the same thing.

[For Us All]

Purposely depriving the club because they aren't paying your sweet pea enough? Give that joker a medal, pathetic

 

Do we have two kinds of supporters now,Tom Pope supporters and Port Vale supporters?

[carpetman123]

I'm beginning to think that you're 2 people.

 

You've not exactly been positive in all of your recent posts John and so why feel the need to constantly bang the drum of being ever-positive.

 

You should make your mind-up.

 

Eddie I get what you are saying, I like everybody else do get despondent when things dont run to plan but at the end of the day you have to make the most of it, we all get setbacks in anything we do be it Home life, Work whatever! its the same with Vale we are talking peoples jobs and standard of living here.

 

To us its our team who we've supported all our lives but to the players its a job all said and done and if they have the chance to do the same job and get much better pay for doing it then i,m sure we would all do the same.

 

In defense of Norman he has stated that thats the budget which is competative within the top 10 its up to Page on how he spends it and who he brings in, so we will have to all wait and see what the individual players do in the next couple of weeks.

 

I can't or any other Fan can't do anything about it so we have to accept the situation and pull out the positives and look forward to the team he puts together so for me I see it as a positive that we will be signing new players and some of the weaker players maybe move on we don't yet know just don't want to waste energy worrying about something I/we can't control.

 

All I will say is I trust Norman and Rob to put out a competative side come August and is something I look forward to, can't wait for the new season to start as 3 months kicking my heels I hate!! not even got a World Cup or anything else to look forward to.

[stupers]

Really?

 

Indeed. I'll wait and see what the next 6 weeks brings before I pass judgment on our off-season. I was disappointed with our retention list, who wasn't? But the way some people are talking on here, you'd think we were just about to head into Admin again. I like the owner, I like the straight talking and I like the fact that for the 1st time in about 15-odd years we're heading into the season with a budget that is within our means. I'm pleased to hear O'Connor is more likely staying or not, the Pope and Marshall deals will play out as they see fit.

 

I'm just not as pessimistic as some on here, who appear to think the world is ending because there's no cash turnstile and the pies are cold. There's too many wannabe chairmen on here, most of whom would have us out of business in 2 weeks with their plans. It's great for people to have an opinion, you just don't cry about it if the chairman doesn't think the same as you. The 'Pay Pope whatever he wants and we'll fill the rest of the positions with park players' is not a great strategy.

 

Or should I just think what you think?

[PureVale]

Regardless of whether we agree with Smurf (some will some won't) the guy is doing what we were all craving for only a few seasons ago.

 

He's investing heavily in the club, trying to develop the youth and academy, and being open and honest in what's happening at the club and what the current state of play is.

 

A complete breath of fresh air compared to V2001 and MOLD.

 

We're on a journey. Sometimes it will be smooth sometimes it might feel like we're all gonna fall off! But let's enjoy the ride.

[leedsvaliant]

Whilst Marshall, Pope and O'Connor are our 3 best players, they still contributed to a team that came very close to relegation.

 

I love Marshall and think he's a good player, but there are lots of similar types of player out there.

 

When we play Pope, I feel we're very one dimensional and don't look particularly threatening.

 

I think the one we need to keep hold of is Oakey, as I think he's got a footballing brain that would make him look even better when alongside better players.

 

I'm willing to see how the close season pans out before passing judgement and if a few of the average duffers leave, it frees up more of the £1.7 million budget.