Championship Striker? Alex Jones? Smurf On The Radio

[werstayinup]

What I concluded from that is that he employed Ribeiro, not because of his managerial and coaching credentials, but because he has contacts.

Then let's go back to when he was employed back in June. At the time Norman said he has a plan b and he would use it should we not be in the top six at Christmas.

Fair enough.

Until you realise plan a was to appoint a foreign manager with a poor record, in the hope his mates help him out. Sign almost 20 players, of which the majority were a huge gamble, having played in poor European leagues.

And then plan b, the master plan, the back up that's been put in place is.................... To sign a load more players!!!

 

He is right. Apathy has set in.

Stop talking about Micky Adams.

Support is 20% down in two years because of your antics Norman.

I said 12 months ago just how damaging his antics were after Exeter. Slagging the club off to the global audience at SKY.

It was irreversible then and is now.

I liked his little sly dig about be careful what you wish for in regards people wanting him gone.

Make no mistake, there were and possibly still are people wanting to buy the club but he puts them off with his ridiculous asking price.

 

I'm sick of people saying 'he puts his money in'.

He wastes it. That's what he does. On ridiculous contracts. Signing a keeper from benfica on a two year deal. Ryan Lloyd. Shalej on a one year deal. Ferguson from Burton. Mbamba. We could go on.

He said quality not quantity and ends up with the opposite. And why? Because the more players he has, the bigger chance of that one gem that will make him money.

That's why there will be another bucketload of arrivals in January.

Between him and Bruno it's the blind leading the blind.

And if he thinks getting in a prem/champ striker then we will start winning games, he's sadly mistaken.

We could loan Zlatan and he wouldn't score the goals because of the managers stupid, stubborn, isolated one up front approach. I've never seen the formation played where the striker is so isolated as it is in our side.

 

Bruno's in charge for the next two home games. I'll support the lads. I'm hoping for at least three points from the two to keep our heads above water.

The sooner we reach 50 points the better.

 

I said similar in that we can bring in as many proven players as he wants BUT with how the manager sets out and refuses to change it will make no difference.

 

This was the best time to get rid of the manager with a few available who imo could get us out of this league but what happens....well yea

[Ben]

We have heard many comments from Norman some good, some bad, I have now given up now trying to work him out as there is no consistency so we just need to keep supporting the club we love and hope we get lucky.

[mr.hobblesworth]

I think Plan B should have been Plan A.

[valiant_593]

I would look at the lads such as Mbamba and Pereira who aren't good enough and release, maybe loan a couple of the young lads out if buying in players. Pointless getting rid of Big Reg, De Freitas, Kiko or Amoros as these are starting to show real potential.

I agree. Those latter ones you mention look great potentially, I also like pereira just don't think he's ready yet. Mbamba can go asap.

[valiant_593]

Championship striker?

We already have one, he gets played on the wing.

It doesn't matter who we bring in, if you don't play them in their correct position.

 

Jones has been completely ineffective up top it's been tried and it doesn't work. Out wide he makes them dangerous runs to the back post and is always in behind there defence. When someone has scored so many in that position why play him up top where he's struggled? Cicilia and a new forward to start up top with Thomas and Jones out wide.

[oakesypvfc]

Jones scores 10 goals from out wide, people ask for him to be put through the middle where he's struggled when played up there.

 

People moan about the players we have but then moan we're going to sign more.

 

People moan about a stale setup last year and we need a clear out, we do it and they moan.

 

People moan about V2001 and then moan about Smurf!!

 

I give up.

 

Pretty much spot on that!

[SuperValiant1876]

Jones scores 10 goals from out wide, people ask for him to be put through the middle where he's struggled when played up there.

 

People moan about the players we have but then moan we're going to sign more.

 

People moan about a stale setup last year and we need a clear out, we do it and they moan.

 

People moan about V2001 and then moan about Smurf!!

 

I give up.

 

 

It's embarrassing. Too much expectation in the modern game and too much moaning. Probably why attendances are down in league 1 and 2.

[Tomo]

Jones scores 10 goals from out wide, people ask for him to be put through the middle where he's struggled when played up there.

 

People moan about the players we have but then moan we're going to sign more.

 

People moan about a stale setup last year and we need a clear out, we do it and they moan.

 

People moan about V2001 and then moan about Smurf!!

 

I give up.

 

People also moan about people moaning. Just human nature mate

 

Seriously though, they moan about everything because it is the way we've gone about, well, everything.

 

They moan about the players we've signed because the majority haven't been good enough, or aren't even good enough to get game time (so what was the point). They moan about us signing more because the chairman said quality over quantity, yet did the complete opposite. The combination of these two factors has dissolved any confidence they had left in the chairman/manager to sign much better than we have already, & they're probably expecting more of the same.

 

Then they moaned about the stale setup because it did need a clear out IMO, which we did. But again, we replaced with complete unknowns, & like it has been mentioned elsewhere, took a reckless gamble, rather than a calculated one (which would have been to add far fewer (higher grade) players, who have some sort of experience & are used to the English leagues, rather than spreading the pay thinly on more contracts).

 

They all moaned about V2001 because, well, that's obvious, don't really need to go into it. They're moaning about Smurf also for fairly obvious reasons. He gets people's backs up, makes sometimes ridiculous unnecessary comments in the media, frequently says one thing & does the complete opposite (or goes back on his word), blames everyone around him...I could go on with a lot more to be honest, take your pick.

 

However, I do actually agree about Jones (I think I may be one of the few that do though to be honest). I hope to god that we do end up with better than we already have (& release a load in January too if possible), but I'm not very confident. I'll always support whoever is on the pitch at the time though.

[PV1973]

(& release a load in January too if possible), but I'm not very confident.

All the new players except a few, (maybe Patto, Shalaj and Taylor), will be under contract still, so we can;t just get rid unless we pay them off or someone buys them.

[Trampilot]

And you weren't the only one. Mbamba's YouTube showreel even had some indoor match footage on there - at that point alarm bells should have been ringing. I don't like to single the lad out but he's not a 19/20 year old chancer, he's 24 for Christ's sake.

Norman's Plan B looks suspiciously like Plan A in a funny looking wig and glasses.

 

If he thinks the Manchester Uniteds, Middlesbroughs and Sheffield Wednesdays of this world are going to loan us players for free or even just cheap as a favour then he really has been hoodwinked by Bruno, and continues to be.

 

 

 

"It is I, Plan A..."

 

http://www.downvids.net/-it-is-i-leclerc--225694.html

[Tomo]

All the new players except a few, (maybe Patto, Shalaj and Taylor), will be under contract still, so we can;t just get rid unless we pay them off or someone buys them.

 

Oh yeah I know, like I said, if possible. Just really speculating as I was wondering if maybe there's a possibility there's a performance-based clause built into some of their contracts like people say there's rumoured to be with Bruno?

[Fosse69]

Quite a few people get employed for their contacts, but if their contacts do not contribute to the business, only personal skills and expertise are left to keep the job gained.

[Hagrid]

Jones scores 10 goals from out wide, people ask for him to be put through the middle where he's struggled when played up there.

 

People moan about the players we have but then moan we're going to sign more.

 

People moan about a stale setup last year and we need a clear out, we do it and they moan.

 

People moan about V2001 and then moan about Smurf!!

 

I give up.

 

Its almost like different people have different grievances, and OVF is not a sentient being with unified opinions.

 

I moaned about a stale setup and wanted a clear out. This doesn't mean I want any clearout. I want a good one. The one we've had is utter shambolic.

 

I moaned about V2001 and I moan about Smurf. They aren't mutually exclusive. They're both bad (in different ways).

 

You seem to think that if we moan about one thing, we must accept all other things.

 

Tbh I just want a good Port Vale, and at the moment there is a lot of issues. You seem satisfied with repeated away batterings, a squad of 40 with 8 good players, and 1 win in 11.

 

I give up.

[smithie]

It's embarrassing. Too much expectation in the modern game and too much moaning. Probably why attendances are down in league 1 and 2.

 

Totally agree - although a lot of the moaning is enabled by the ease of the internet. Pre-net, there's no way people would have fired off a letter about 3-5-2 to The Sentinel every 5 minutes, or called Radio Stoke's phone-in to moan about cold pies. We sound off because we can, and I'm still not sure that's a good or bad thing!!

 

The last thing many people seem to do is to contact the club directly with their concerns - again, maybe this is too much effort. In any other line of business, we'd surely deal with the other party directly?

 

As it happens, I had a poor experience with my season-ticket renewal and contacted Smurf directly. In due course he called me personally to apologise and got it sorted the same day.

[fairportnick]

 

As it happens, I had a poor experience with my season-ticket renewal and contacted Smurf directly. In due course he called me personally to apologise and got it sorted the same day.

 

When I had a problem with a ticket, he sorted it immediately and even walked round the ground with me to the turnstile. You have to call that very good service.