Where are we Heading?

[Tomo]

so sad reading some of these comments (as I find myself empathizing with a lot of what's been said which is concerning)...keep the faith guys give it a week and we will have 2 wins, £28k in prize money and through in two cup competitions. Life will look a lot rosier then-hopefully :-)

 

Yeah hopefully a win at the weekend will sort it out! I'm going to force myself to go anyway. Furthermore I want to because in the unlikely event that we do have a decent cup run, I want to have seen all of it.

[old sage]

Today's "generation" just don't have anything like that to cling onto..the occasional giant killing does wonders. Still probably my most magical Vale moment when we equalised at Goodison.

To be honest Johnny during the Rudge years we had quite a few magical moments. These include taking nearly 7,000 fans to Liverpool in the cup and the boys didn't let us down earning a well deserved 2-2 draw.

Sadly like a budgie that has been released from his cage we don't want to go back to the bad old days like those when Bratt & Co blighted our club.

 

Did Rudgey & Bell spoil us or did we deserve our decade or so of relative glory? I know for me it was an era when you could stick your chest out and say I support Port Vale and no one laughed after years of jibes and wise cracks. Oh how I would love to get those proud days back again.

[Yukon]

To be honest Johnny during the Rudge years we had quite a few magical moments. These include taking nearly 7,000 fans to Liverpool in the cup and the boys didn't let us down earning a well deserved 2-2 draw.

Sadly like a budgie that has been released from his cage we don't want to go back to the bad old days like those when Bratt & Co blighted our club.

 

Did Rudgey & Bell spoil us or did we deserve our decade or so of relative glory? I know for me it was an era when you could stick your chest out and say I support Port Vale and no one laughed after years of jibes and wise cracks. Oh how I would love to get those proud days back again.

 

It should have been 2-1, McManaman was miles offside for their second.

[Guest]

I get this feeling now & again to be honest, like going through periods where I won't really check up on here too or bother keeping up with us aside from going all of the games, & that feeling usually happens if we're not doing well (obviously).

 

Right now, I'm at the point where I'm even considering not going on Saturday as I'm that annoyed about the £26 I set fire to last week, and the amount I've spent going to every away game this season too. Which I'm kinda disappointed at myself for, but I too feel slightly disconnected & almost just less bothered at the moment. I'm sure I'm not the only one either as even the little atmosphere we usually get at home just feels completely gone & deflated.

 

I love Vale but i feel the same and for a few seasons havent felt the buzz ,love awaydays but cannot be arsed go as its usually good day spoilt by 90 mins of ineptitude .

Home games in league go all aint been a cup game though or friendlies and the only reason i still go all the home games is because my nephew and son have a season ticket as do i .

Finding i enjoy walking my dog or doing a crossword more exciting than watching Vale at present ,even though last two home games ive enjoyed the second halves but first half well the less said about it the better.

But what gets up my back is anything done to get more folk interested in watching Vale and put some more bums on seats .

In a word no !!

Its poor and only a cup run of magnificence can lift the sorry club but every season it falls on deaf ears .

My last season this will be im 45 and completely sick of it ,its got nowt do with winning either ,a wholehearted gusty display every week for the whole 90 would be nice c .

And a ground which has more fans in who have hit hard times or cannot come because they cannot afford 23/22 quid watch half hearted rubbish .

[Tomo]

I know some have watched for decades and will all eventually get sick of it & stop going (most anyway), the worrying thing to think about is I'm like in my early twenties & I've only been going 15 years but my enthusiasm has dropped a fair bit recently. I know I'll always carry on going but still...

 

We usually stand by the away fans first half in the Paddock for some atmosphere & singing, moving to our ST seats in the middle in the second half, but this season, the numbers who stand up there have dwindled & we don't even bother first half sometimes. It's worrying as they were mostly around my age or younger, which isn't great to see because we're clearly not attracting the future fans at all.

 

It's been discussed a lot too on here as to what should be done, but I just don't think the club are proactive enough to do anything about it, & are relying on good performances, which isn't a great strategy.

[Regal Beagle]

If anyone is in two minds about going on saturday, just turn up at 16:00 like our players.

[For Us All]

Today's "generation" just don't have anything like that to cling onto..the occasional giant killing does wonders. Still probably my most magical Vale moment when we equalised at Goodison.

 

Yes,it will take some beating.Only the 3-1 win against our southern neighbours comes close.

[Yukon]

Yes,it will take some beating.Only the 3-1 win against our southern neighbours comes close.

 

The 3-1 is my favourite by a mile. When Foyley slotted the third and they were out of time to get back into it- beautiful

[Tomo]

If anyone is in two minds about going on saturday, just turn up at 16:00 like our players.

 

To be fair, they usually open the gates just after half time so you could just walk in for the 2nd half for free which is bound to be the only entertaining half anyway

[smithie]

I know some have watched for decades and will all eventually get sick of it & stop going (most anyway), the worrying thing to think about is I'm like in my early twenties & I've only been going 15 years but my enthusiasm has dropped a fair bit recently. I know I'll always carry on going but still...

 

We usually stand by the away fans first half in the Paddock for some atmosphere & singing, moving to our ST seats in the middle in the second half, but this season, the numbers who stand up there have dwindled & we don't even bother first half sometimes. It's worrying as they were mostly around my age or younger, which isn't great to see because we're clearly not attracting the future fans at all.

 

It's been discussed a lot too on here as to what should be done, but I just don't think the club are proactive enough to do anything about it, & are relying on good performances, which isn't a great strategy.

 

Agreed, there's very few youths/lads even in the paddock these days. The shifting of away fans to the far corner has killed off any chanting between us and them and with it any atmosphere.

 

Welcome to football 2016-style.

[Coskickabo]

All you harbingers of doom should read the comments made by Vale fan Stephen Walters in tomorrow's Sentinel.Now there's a man who has a real grip on reality.

[Spunk Trumpet]

All you harbingers of doom should read the comments made by Vale fan Stephen Walters in tomorrow's Sentinel.Now there's a man who has a real grip on reality.

 

Harbingers of doom?

Stephen has said many things that has been said on here.

I follow Stephen on twitter and he hasn't been a happy camper in recent weeks and rightly so.

I've read the article and he isn't happy. The main point he makes is it's crazy to sack Bruno.

Sadly, we have a chairman who is exactly that...... Crazy.

[24 Nov 1969]

Having read various reasons why people are feeling fed up at the moment I thought I would try and explain why I have stopped going to watch Vale. I am not a fair weather supporter, I started going to Vale in the 80's, standing in the Railway Paddock. Since 1995 I have had a season ticket in the Bycars and barely missed a home game since then, watching us through the good times and the very bad, but I always stuck with PVFC and looked forward to going to every game. Then something started to change.

 

At the end of last season I took the reluctant decision not renew my season ticket. I've tried to analyse why and have concluded that it's not one specific reason but a combination of factors, when added together made me realise that I had grown out of love with my club and no longer could generate any enthusiasm to watch Vale.

 

What were these reasons? It certainly wasn't the standard of football, had it been so I would have walked many years ago! None of the reasons on their own is enough to stop me going but when combined it made me consider whether Vale and I had a future together:

 

1. The action of slashing the budget, the way it was communicated and with the sole aim of persuading players and staff to leave if they didn't like it did not equate to my own ideas of 'doing the right thing' by people.

2. I wasn't happy with the sheer volume of players brought in over the summer. It seemed to me to be not very well thought out and almost done in a panic. Also, the fact that someone has come from abroad does not necessarily make them a good player.

3. I was unhappy that the new manager was supposedly appointed purely as a result of the Chairman receiving a phone call from Man Utd's manager. Why wasn't there a proper interview process?

4. The cost of watching is too high.

5. We are the customers of the Club yet I feel that the Club does not value our custom. Facilities are poor. Seats are disgusting, I had to remember to bring a cloth with me at the start of each season to clean the bird muck off.

6. No atmosphere on match days. I accept that this is down to the fans but why move the away fans to a position as far away as possible from the Railway Paddock?

7. Last season, as well as watching Vale I also started going to watch Stafford Rangers, who are the nearest team to where I live. And guess what, I really enjoyed it. I started to think that when you compare the cost (£9) against the excitement on the pitch and commitment of the players, I realised there was no comparison. It made me want to keep going.

 

No doubt there will be many who disagree with me but I am just trying to explain why, as a paying customer, we can choose where we spend our money. I shall still be rooting for Vale and wish them every success.

[smithie]

Can't argue with any of that.

 

However you can watch us for £12 tomorrow.

[PV1973]

Quite a few comments about the atmosphere at the ground. With crowds like we get its hard to generate a decent atmosphere, especially when the home fans are so spread out. The only way to get them closer together is either close a part of the ground (never popular) or have a new smaller ground or the better option would be to get promoted so we can get more people in