Time to go smurf

[Jinkin John Jeffers]

"One bourbon,one scotch and one beer" plus fags.

 

[smithie]

No mate, I enjoy listening to your analysis but can't stomach him at all.

 

For me a radio reporter should paint a picture on what is happening on the field of play. Too many times he slates Vale fans, thinks for players, managers and officials which I really hate unless he is psychic, rambles on about personal issues that are totally unrelated to what is actually happening during the 45 minutes +, if nothing is, tell us! They also need to be informative, apparently during the Shrewsbury game the guy that sits in front of me told me that Blakeman had said the t20 game between West Indies and South Africa was just about to get under way, he decided to stick it on the tv and continue to listen to the Vale game on the radio only to find it was 3/4 of the way through. Whether that's bad research by his team or not he's still the man that passes it on.

 

I would imagine he's a lovely and chatty lad hence the reason you like him as you spend a great deal of time with him travelling to games no doubt but that doesn't make him professional.

 

One of my friends is a reporter for BBC Sport and has been for years, he says the best thing a reporter can do is create and no form opinion, that should be done by the analysts (summarisers in your case) and of course the general public.

 

Thankfully I haven't needed to listen to him much but after the Crewe game I'm afraid I will have to!

 

Lee Blakeman seems to have decided it's easier to kow-tow in his interviews, which is a shame.

 

I remember him grilling Rob Page once about conceding on the far post, and I was glad to hear the right questions being asked. I was equally impressed with Rob's well-mannered response (let's just say Micky Adams would have thrown a strop at being questioned like that).

 

He now has one, and only one, format for posing questions.

 

"How disappointed are you with that defeat?"

"How happy were you to score that fifth goal?"

"How certain are you that you will keep the same team next week?"

 

In other words, everything is couched in some kind of quantifiable measure - and pretty much gives the answer in the question!

 

I think he's been in the same room as McGarry too often - the guy who is the King of soft-soap "interviews".

[geosname]

I dont know if it was the right time for pope to go but I think the way it was handled was snide, childish and unprofessional.

 

They say crap runs downhill..... there must be an awful lot of crap at the top.

[Robbie Earle's Perm]

I dont know if it was the right time for pope to go but I think the way it was handled was snide, childish and unprofessional.

 

They say crap runs downhill..... there must be an awful lot of crap at the top.

 

To be fair neither the chairman or the player conducted themselves that well through it. Neither should have used the media the way they did whether well intentioned or not.

[Shropshire_Valiant]

I haven't read all the thread but for me it's clear we're a decent goalscorer short of perhaps being a playoff/side capable of going up. Whether Pope would have solved that problem the answer is blowin' in the wind as Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul and Mary and various others once said!!

My own opinion is probably not, I think we had the best out of Tom when we did and I'm not sure he has another season(certainly 30+ goal or even 15-20 in him). But on the same hand I'm sure he'd have done a bit better than the likes of Ikpeazu, Robinson and Hooper have done!

Is Smurf to blame for him going or us not getting another striker? Again you could certainly apportion some of the blame to him but I also think that retained list and keeping Yates and Birchall has cost us(their wages would surely have been better spent on a striker?). Yes they've been decent servants to Port Vale but we've kept them a year too long. For the amount of games they have contributed this season it hasn't been a good decision to keep them however you dress it up.

Page's reluctance to wield the axe on the deadwood during the close season(let's be honest had Williamson not wanted to move back down south we'd have been lumbered with another striker who huffs and puffs in League One and doesn't score enough goals).

That said our position in the league is about what I expected especially with the end to last season and no one can deny there has been some improvement there. Despite this my own opinion is the style of football is dreadful and we have a manager who is largely negative tactically and who the jury is out on(again imo although the average-poor gates we've had this season would perhaps back me up?)

[smithie]

I haven't read all the thread but for me it's clear we're a decent goalscorer short of perhaps being a playoff/side capable of going up. Whether Pope would have solved that problem the answer is blowin' in the wind as Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul and Mary and various others once said!!

My own opinion is probably not, I think we had the best out of Tom when we did and I'm not sure he has another season(certainly 30+ goal or even 15-20 in him). But on the same hand I'm sure he'd have done a bit better than the likes of Ikpeazu, Robinson and Hooper have done!

Is Smurf to blame for him going or us not getting another striker? Again you could certainly apportion some of the blame to him but I also think that retained list and keeping Yates and Birchall has cost us(their wages would surely have been better spent on a striker?). Yes they've been decent servants to Port Vale but we've kept them a year too long. For the amount of games they have contributed this season it hasn't been a good decision to keep them however you dress it up.

Page's reluctance to wield the axe on the deadwood during the close season(let's be honest had Williamson not wanted to move back down south we'd have been lumbered with another striker who huffs and puffs in League One and doesn't score enough goals).

That said our position in the league is about what I expected especially with the end to last season and no one can deny there has been some improvement there. Despite this my own opinion is the style of football is dreadful and we have a manager who is largely negative tactically and who the jury is out on(again imo although the average-poor gates we've had this season would perhaps back me up?)

 

The gates are disappointing, but mid-table Third Division football is a tough sell for any club (look at Coventry in a one-club city, very poor gates).

[For Us All]

The gates are disappointing, but mid-table Third Division football is a tough sell for any club (look at Coventry in a one-club city, very poor gates).

 

I wouldn't say they were very poor,they are averaging over 12,000 but the big two Sheff.Utd and Bradford are miles away from anyone else.The rest of the league all get under 10,000 with Vale in 16th place on 4,805,just above Crewe who are currently on 4,667,with three home games to play.The bottom twelve clubs in League One don't currently average more than 5,502 and the average for the whole league is just 7,070,this would obviously be much lower if you took out the top two.

Top of the pile are Sheff.Utd with an average crowds of 19,651 after nineteen home games and the wooden spoon goes to Rochdale on 3,163,also after nineteen games.

Did we get similar crowds when we last hovered mid-table in League One or were they worse?

[Timothius]

And I said it was an excuse where? As you've said in your response to REP after the injury he is not the player he once was. That is the point - his day has gone.

 

FYI played at a decent level till my mid 30's, fortunate enough to avoid serious injuries, and still get round a 6 a side pitch and the occasional 11 a side, but not as quick as I used to. That's what happens - we fade with time.

my response was to REP mate not you, sorry you thought otherwise. I had to pack in at 31 because of a number of injuries but mainly knee ligament damage, I have had the odd kickabout since but can't walk for a week afterwards!

[Ben]

my response was to REP mate not you, sorry you thought otherwise. I had to pack in at 31 because of a number of injuries but mainly knee ligament damage, I have had the odd kickabout since but can't walk for a week afterwards!

 

Thought the Staffs Knot team packed in years ago:D

[butt lane vale fan]

Lee Blakeman seems to have decided it's easier to kow-tow in his interviews, which is a shame.

 

I remember him grilling Rob Page once about conceding on the far post, and I was glad to hear the right questions being asked. I was equally impressed with Rob's well-mannered response (let's just say Micky Adams would have thrown a strop at being questioned like that).

 

He now has one, and only one, format for posing questions.

 

"How disappointed are you with that defeat?"

"How happy were you to score that fifth goal?"

"How certain are you that you will keep the same team next week?"

 

In other words, everything is couched in some kind of quantifiable measure - and pretty much gives the answer in the question!

 

I think he's been in the same room as McGarry too often - the guy who is the King of soft-soap "interviews".

 

To be fair mate, I know a guy who lives on the same estate as John Acres, unless John has moved recently. He was friends with John.

Whilst he was working at Radio Stoke he did an interview with Tony Pulis in which he asked hard hitting questions.

Stoke apprantley complained and John was pushed out from their games.

Although to be honest he seems to of done better for himself.

[Shropshire_Valiant]

The gates are disappointing, but mid-table Third Division football is a tough sell for any club (look at Coventry in a one-club city, very poor gates).

 

Fair point I think Vale as a club have always suffered from having probably one of the most fickle and apathetic fanbases in the country. Stoke are traditionally similar although currently going through one of the more successful periods in their history.

 

Although deep down we have all known for much of this season we are a mid-table side considering we have mathematically had a chance of the playoffs I think the gates are 500-750 down(average wise) on what they could be, and for me a lot of it's down to the style of football. Shrewsbury I thought for example was dire the team had a negative mentality and just went through the motions and lacked any real urgency to kill off a mediocre-poor side!

 

As I've said before I think a lot dates back to that poor run at the end of last season, I think it cost the club season ticket sales(myself included although I've been to about 12 home games(or will have done by time the season ends)).

[Mcphee4Scotland]

Fair point I think Vale as a club have always suffered from having probably one of the most fickle and apathetic fanbases in the country. Stoke are traditionally similar although currently going through one of the more successful periods in their history.

 

Although deep down we have all known for much of this season we are a mid-table side considering we have mathematically had a chance of the playoffs I think the gates are 500-750 down(average wise) on what they could be, and for me a lot of it's down to the style of football. Shrewsbury I thought for example was dire the team had a negative mentality and just went through the motions and lacked any real urgency to kill off a mediocre-poor side!

 

As I've said before I think a lot dates back to that poor run at the end of last season, I think it cost the club season ticket sales(myself included although I've been to about 12 home games(or will have done by time the season ends)).

 

Even in our promotion season of 2012-13 season I think our home average attendance at VP was around 5,800, basically around 1,000 more than what we currently getting this season. It was only really the last two home league games (Burton & Northampton), where the gates massively swelled as it would do with all similar sized/equivalent clubs on the verge of promotion at such a pivotal stage of the season etc.

 

In our first season back in League One I think we were averaging around 6,000-6,200 following on from the euphoria of our first promotion in some two decades which were also swelled by large away followings by the likes of Coventry and Wolves if my memory serves me correctly?

 

I agree I think we are maybe 500-700 fans down on what we should be getting at the moment, probably down to the uncertainty surrounding the club and the negativity that has gone with the owners comments/outbursts in the past few months.

 

In the 5 home games I have been to this season, I don't think the quality of football on offer has been that bad at all and certainly an improvement on the previous two seasons (which admittedly was not too difficult in all honesty).

 

Prior to the Burton and Barnsley defeat (the latter of which we really should of secured at least a point from), we had only lost one league game at home in some 6 months!

 

So I don't think it's necessarily the football on offer at the moment which is the sole/main reason why the fans are staying away.

[Jacko51]

I wouldn't say they were very poor,they are averaging over 12,000 but the big two Sheff.Utd and Bradford are miles away from anyone else.The rest of the league all get under 10,000 with Vale in 16th place on 4,805,just above Crewe who are currently on 4,667,with three home games to play.The bottom twelve clubs in League One don't currently average more than 5,502 and the average for the whole league is just 7,070,this would obviously be much lower if you took out the top two.

Top of the pile are Sheff.Utd with an average crowds of 19,651 after nineteen home games and the wooden spoon goes to Rochdale on 3,163,also after nineteen games.

Did we get similar crowds when we last hovered mid-table in League One or were they worse?

 

I no longer trust attendances figures. Some clubs like Vale announce the number in attendance. Other clubs like Blackpool announce number of tickets sold even if the holders don't attend. Apparently last season at Blackpool two year season tickets were sold - a considerable number of those who bought them have not attended this season, boycotting the Oystons, but they still appear in the attendance figures. Phil was speaking to three Blackpool fans yesterday at the England game - all of them had season tickets but they hadn't attended a single game this season. When we played there the crowd was announced as 6,500 but it looked about half that. Bradford sell loads of cheap season tickets and always include all of them in their attendance figure when the crowd often looks much less than the 17,000 plus that's announced.

[bookworm]

I couldn't rise more than 10 inches FUA' date=' I'm too tired today! ;)[/quote']

 

bragging again REP, behave yourself you decrepit old ****er:D

[bookworm]

Novice.

 

is 56 anywhere near,