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Reality Check and simple facts


philmpv

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Reading through the various recent postings on here, it's fairly obvious (at least to me) that there are some serious expectations of a lot of supporters as to what we should expect from our beloved Vale. However, I think a lot of us (me included) need to sit back from time to time and appreciate just what we are.

 

Fact - We don't have any divine right to be in the Championship. A lot of fans seem to think that we do (at least, that's what I've taken from the constant moaning that we're 'only' mid table, etc). Let's face it, we were spoiled under Rudgie. Apart from those special years, when have we ever been at a higher level and competed. A LONG time ago! Yes, every supporter wants promotion and a challenge near the top of the league every season, but that's not going to happen for 15 odd clubs in our division alone in any given season. We are a lower level team and, barring a lot of things going our way, we will remain so.

 

Fact - Norman is human. He makes mistakes. We all do. If he learns from them, great. If he doesn't, he's the one who'll ultimately suffer, as there's no chance of him getting any of his money back if this Club doesn't succeed. It's his money he's ploughing in, and he's free to do with it what he wishes. Yes, we don't all agree with how he goes about things, or what he spends his money on, but do you see them queuing around the block to invest in the Club? Without Norman, I dare say that we'd be in a LOT worse a position, both on and off the field. He's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and not everyone (or even most) will agree with the way he goes about things, but that's his way and barring Roman Abramovich's mother seeking to invest, we don't have much option. Do people seriously think that he doesn't want what's best for the Club (i.e. promotion) as without it, like I've said, he may as well donate all of his money to the Clinton Foundation.

 

Fact - Our crowds are crap. Without the fans attending, we will continue to have to live within our modest means. Yes, it's a vicious cycle (i.e. without good football, why should the fans pay £23 a pop). It's a case of having too. I'd rather have a Club in 20 years time to support than not. Norman said that he wanted to fill the park and, if that's the case, he'll have to let people in for free (even then, some would still demand their money back because their seats weren't covered in mink fur, or their willy wasn't shaken off after a half time whizz by [iNSERT YOUR SECRET FANCY OF CHOICE])

 

Fact - We don't know what our players are paid, nor what certain players whom we haven't signed wanted, so how can we rant (vehemently in some cases) about how tight Norman is etc? Alex Jones, for example, may have wanted £5k a week, which is clearly not on for a Club of our means. We just don't know. Yet so many supporters spout as if Norman calls them personally to discuss the terms of each players contract. Every signing is a risk that might not pay off, so I don't blame the Club if they're not throwing stupid money around. Look at Yates, crocked for virtually the season just after signing a new contract extension and Andoh, out for the whole of last season. If we did push to boat out and sign, say, 11 Championship players on Championship wages, who's to say that the majority would succeed? It could be the death of the Club.

 

Fact - Who's to say that an 'experienced' journeyman manager is the best thing for us? The fact that they've been around the block invariably means that they will have some glaring failures on their CV, and who's to say we won't be the next such failure. All managers start somewhere, and the next successful manager that we have could be Michael Brown. It may not be, of course, but to me he's certainly understood that, at present, we need to be hard to beat (which he's done so far), as we can't take an attacking approach with the players that we have (our only fit strikers are Reg and young DT), as we'd be on a hiding to nothing if we did. You can say he's only played Chesterfield and Oldham, which is true, and things may change when we play the 'bigger' teams, but why not give the bloke a chance, as we did for Rudgie (before anyone starts, I'm not bigging him up as the next Rudgie)? Do people seriously think that we'll get the likes of Rowett et al here at the moment?

 

Final fact - We all love the Vale, and want the best for the Club. Keep the faith.

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Reading through the various recent postings on here, it's fairly obvious (at least to me) that there are some serious expectations of a lot of supporters as to what we should expect from our beloved Vale. However, I think a lot of us (me included) need to sit back from time to time and appreciate just what we are.

 

Fact - We don't have any divine right to be in the Championship. A lot of fans seem to think that we do (at least, that's what I've taken from the constant moaning that we're 'only' mid table, etc). Let's face it, we were spoiled under Rudgie. Apart from those special years, when have we ever been at a higher level and competed. A LONG time ago! Yes, every supporter wants promotion and a challenge near the top of the league every season, but that's not going to happen for 15 odd clubs in our division alone in any given season. We are a lower level team and, barring a lot of things going our way, we will remain so.

 

Fact - Norman is human. He makes mistakes. We all do. If he learns from them, great. If he doesn't, he's the one who'll ultimately suffer, as there's no chance of him getting any of his money back if this Club doesn't succeed. It's his money he's ploughing in, and he's free to do with it what he wishes. Yes, we don't all agree with how he goes about things, or what he spends his money on, but do you see them queuing around the block to invest in the Club? Without Norman, I dare say that we'd be in a LOT worse a position, both on and off the field. He's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and not everyone (or even most) will agree with the way he goes about things, but that's his way and barring Roman Abramovich's mother seeking to invest, we don't have much option. Do people seriously think that he doesn't want what's best for the Club (i.e. promotion) as without it, like I've said, he may as well donate all of his money to the Clinton Foundation.

 

Fact - Our crowds are crap. Without the fans attending, we will continue to have to live within our modest means. Yes, it's a vicious cycle (i.e. without good football, why should the fans pay £23 a pop). It's a case of having too. I'd rather have a Club in 20 years time to support than not. Norman said that he wanted to fill the park and, if that's the case, he'll have to let people in for free (even then, some would still demand their money back because their seats weren't covered in mink fur, or their willy wasn't shaken off after a half time whizz by [iNSERT YOUR SECRET FANCY OF CHOICE])

 

Fact - We don't know what our players are paid, nor what certain players whom we haven't signed wanted, so how can we rant (vehemently in some cases) about how tight Norman is etc? Alex Jones, for example, may have wanted £5k a week, which is clearly not on for a Club of our means. We just don't know. Yet so many supporters spout as if Norman calls them personally to discuss the terms of each players contract. Every signing is a risk that might not pay off, so I don't blame the Club if they're not throwing stupid money around. Look at Yates, crocked for virtually the season just after signing a new contract extension and Andoh, out for the whole of last season. If we did push to boat out and sign, say, 11 Championship players on Championship wages, who's to say that the majority would succeed? It could be the death of the Club.

 

Fact - Who's to say that an 'experienced' journeyman manager is the best thing for us? The fact that they've been around the block invariably means that they will have some glaring failures on their CV, and who's to say we won't be the next such failure. All managers start somewhere, and the next successful manager that we have could be Michael Brown. It may not be, of course, but to me he's certainly understood that, at present, we need to be hard to beat (which he's done so far), as we can't take an attacking approach with the players that we have (our only fit strikers are Reg and young DT), as we'd be on a hiding to nothing if we did. You can say he's only played Chesterfield and Oldham, which is true, and things may change when we play the 'bigger' teams, but why not give the bloke a chance, as we did for Rudgie (before anyone starts, I'm not bigging him up as the next Rudgie)? Do people seriously think that we'll get the likes of Rowett et al here at the moment?

 

Final fact - We all love the Vale, and want the best for the Club. Keep the faith.

 

Best post I've read this year.

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Very good post.

 

Although I don't think we have a divine right to be in the Championship I do think it's a realistic goal as we hold the record for the club who has played most seasons in the second tier without ever making it to the top tier. Plus Bournemouth have shown having dreams can come true and even Leicester won the league for the first time in 134 or so years of existence!

 

Norman is ok but he does let himself down sometimes and I think a lot of current frustration is due to his massive wild gamble in appointing a manager with a dodgy record and having him sign a load of non-league level no hopers in the belief they'd turn out to be a lot of Andy Jones's & Ian Taylors. It was never going to happen and Norm is bound to get the brunt.

 

I wholeheartedly agree about Browny, we've got to give him a go. We're not going to get a successful up and coming manager like Rowett and to get someone who's decent but needs to re-establish themselves like, say, Jimmy Floyd or Chris Powell, are going to be relatively expensive. The alternative to Browny are people like Iain Dowie or Dean Saunders, etc., who are serial flops and would be uninspiring. I could be wrong but Brown may turn out to be very capable he certainly has a decent CV to date, let's judge him in 10-15 games time when he's had a chance to influence things. Oh, and let's not all call for someone else based on us getting beaten at Huddersfield (IF we do) seeing as they're pushing for the Premier League this season!

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Agree,

 

We all discuss (and heated debate+)and look at the same thing from different angles . Possibly because of the past we judge the future in our own interpretation however all the debate and discussion doesnt/wont change anything with only hindsight being the true mark of how good an owner is/isnt.

 

My dads in his 80s and we constant bicker because i only want promotion when we are ready and have a steady foundation, a one hit wonder of a promotion to the championship season could be fatal as in a short few years you could be worse off than when promoted as costs rise which cant be sustained in the league below, my dad thinks this is lack of ambition.

 

Wigan , Rotherham (burton currently exception but will return)have bigger budgets than us and are finding it hard to cope - it seems as though the championship is slowly becoming the 2nd div of the premier league with the budgets that relegated clubs are earning increasing the difference to that of the lower leagues which is why you need to have large gates or a chairman with cash rich deep pockets to sustain a forward march.

So until we have a solid foundation im happy to slowly move forward and try and compete and win games of football something we all pay to watch and enjoy which we should do in this league (grey area)

How many premier league teams supporters are unhappy even the stoke lot recently yet they are in the so called promised land.

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In other words, sit back and accept mediocrity.

Norman says we can't afford then we all accept it. Despite him spunking a bucketload of money on wages for **** foreigners, manager and his staff.

 

Sadly mate, there is 2500 of you who think the same way. Probably down to closer to 2000 in the summer. And moreso as years go on as people wake up.

Then it will be the fans fault for not turning up like 'Papa Smurf' says.

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I don't think I'm being unrealistic and I don't expect to see reckless spending beyond our means but I do look very enviously on clubs with similar attendances who are well run and manage to make sensible decisions on and off the pitch. Some of these teams even manage to find the money to pay a decent centre forward.

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Reading through the various recent postings on here, it's fairly obvious (at least to me) that there are some serious expectations of a lot of supporters as to what we should expect from our beloved Vale. However, I think a lot of us (me included) need to sit back from time to time and appreciate just what we are.

 

Fact - We don't have any divine right to be in the Championship. A lot of fans seem to think that we do (at least, that's what I've taken from the constant moaning that we're 'only' mid table, etc). Let's face it, we were spoiled under Rudgie. Apart from those special years, when have we ever been at a higher level and competed. A LONG time ago! Yes, every supporter wants promotion and a challenge near the top of the league every season, but that's not going to happen for 15 odd clubs in our division alone in any given season. We are a lower level team and, barring a lot of things going our way, we will remain so.

 

Fact - Norman is human. He makes mistakes. We all do. If he learns from them, great. If he doesn't, he's the one who'll ultimately suffer, as there's no chance of him getting any of his money back if this Club doesn't succeed. It's his money he's ploughing in, and he's free to do with it what he wishes. Yes, we don't all agree with how he goes about things, or what he spends his money on, but do you see them queuing around the block to invest in the Club? Without Norman, I dare say that we'd be in a LOT worse a position, both on and off the field. He's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and not everyone (or even most) will agree with the way he goes about things, but that's his way and barring Roman Abramovich's mother seeking to invest, we don't have much option. Do people seriously think that he doesn't want what's best for the Club (i.e. promotion) as without it, like I've said, he may as well donate all of his money to the Clinton Foundation.

 

Fact - Our crowds are crap. Without the fans attending, we will continue to have to live within our modest means. Yes, it's a vicious cycle (i.e. without good football, why should the fans pay £23 a pop). It's a case of having too. I'd rather have a Club in 20 years time to support than not. Norman said that he wanted to fill the park and, if that's the case, he'll have to let people in for free (even then, some would still demand their money back because their seats weren't covered in mink fur, or their willy wasn't shaken off after a half time whizz by [iNSERT YOUR SECRET FANCY OF CHOICE])

 

Fact - We don't know what our players are paid, nor what certain players whom we haven't signed wanted, so how can we rant (vehemently in some cases) about how tight Norman is etc? Alex Jones, for example, may have wanted £5k a week, which is clearly not on for a Club of our means. We just don't know. Yet so many supporters spout as if Norman calls them personally to discuss the terms of each players contract. Every signing is a risk that might not pay off, so I don't blame the Club if they're not throwing stupid money around. Look at Yates, crocked for virtually the season just after signing a new contract extension and Andoh, out for the whole of last season. If we did push to boat out and sign, say, 11 Championship players on Championship wages, who's to say that the majority would succeed? It could be the death of the Club.

 

Fact - Who's to say that an 'experienced' journeyman manager is the best thing for us? The fact that they've been around the block invariably means that they will have some glaring failures on their CV, and who's to say we won't be the next such failure. All managers start somewhere, and the next successful manager that we have could be Michael Brown. It may not be, of course, but to me he's certainly understood that, at present, we need to be hard to beat (which he's done so far), as we can't take an attacking approach with the players that we have (our only fit strikers are Reg and young DT), as we'd be on a hiding to nothing if we did. You can say he's only played Chesterfield and Oldham, which is true, and things may change when we play the 'bigger' teams, but why not give the bloke a chance, as we did for Rudgie (before anyone starts, I'm not bigging him up as the next Rudgie)? Do people seriously think that we'll get the likes of Rowett et al here at the moment?

 

Final fact - We all love the Vale, and want the best for the Club. Keep the faith.

 

Yawn .. More unambitous apathy. If the rest of the human race thought like that we'd still be in the Stone Age.

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In other words, sit back and accept mediocrity.

Norman says we can't afford then we all accept it. Despite him spunking a bucketload of money on wages for **** foreigners, manager and his staff.

 

Sadly mate, there is 2500 of you who think the same way. Probably down to closer to 2000 in the summer. And moreso as years go on as people wake up.

Then it will be the fans fault for not turning up like 'Papa Smurf' says.

 

Just what exactly did Norman do to upset you so much spunky

You loved him initially ( like we all did) and then something happened and now it's like, you hate the man, personally....

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Just what exactly did Norman do to upset you so much spunky

You loved him initially ( like we all did) and then something happened and now it's like, you hate the man, personally....

Exeter.

I've stated this before.

No club chairman should slag off his supporters and our great football club on an impromptu interview on sky sports.

Unforgivable.

Since then he has lost our great club many supporters, sent us down the most ridiculous path, aligned himself with a manager who thought he was going to sell out Vale Park and make millions from players and continues to make bad decision after bad decision for the football club.

The last 12 months on his watch have been shocking and any other businessman would have been sacked.

Sadly, he is the owner and we have to go along with what he does.

But the facts are there that hundreds into thousands of supporters have had enough of him and are apathetic of how the football club is.

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We are only averaging 4421 this season at home our lowest since relagation from this divison in 2007 to 2008. We have the 5th lowest home attendance in the league so far this season but only 352 away fans average has come to vale the lowest in the divison so we are just about getting over 4000 home fans at games. We have had 4 night home matches in the league so far this season and another against bury in a couple of weeks so thats not helping our attendances. We will struggle bring players in on a permanent basis untill we have a proper manager and not a caretaker manager. There will be clubs in league 2 and in conference that can pay higher wages than us. Apart from cup runs or selling players we wont make much money infact we are probably going make losses so no wonder we are struggling compete with bradford as they get bigger crowds and are in the top 6 so its more appealing for players to join them.

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We are only averaging 4421 this season at home our lowest since relagation from this divison in 2007 to 2008. We have the 5th lowest home attendance in the league so far this season but only 352 away fans average has come to vale the lowest in the divison so we are just about getting over 4000 home fans at games. We have had 4 night home matches in the league so far this season and another against bury in a couple of weeks so thats not helping our attendances. We will struggle bring players in on a permanent basis untill we have a proper manager and not a caretaker manager. There will be clubs in league 2 and in conference that can pay higher wages than us. Apart from cup runs or selling players we wont make much money infact we are probably going make losses so no wonder we are struggling compete with bradford as they get bigger crowds and are in the top 6 so its more appealing for players to join them.

 

Club spiralling down & down. Buck stops at the top

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Without a couple of strikers we will not score many and that will mean less fans as they will not come and watch matches where we find it hard to score. Also the fact we may end up in a relegation battle and prove the bookies right.

 

This will hit Smurfs bank account, well more like Vale's budget for next year. Some how we need to shift the players who will never make league 1 football standards, this could be foreign or brit players.

 

At the moment we have a budget that is paying for players to come in and train and then go home and relax. All we see is non league teams signing players and actually paying a fee for them, mean while we keep loosing out on possible signings linked to the club.

 

As they say interesting and frustrating times for both fans and staff trying to sort out players coming in and going.

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The original analysis is fair and accurate however we are still right to question the continuing poor decisions taken over the last couple of years in respect of the strategic management of the club.

 

It is very rare indeed for a manager to resign, Port Vale's last three managers have all resigned, that is virtually unparalleled and makes a strong case for a relationship breakdown and unreasonable interference between the Chairman and the Manager.

 

On a business front we do not seem to be doing a great deal to promote the club with the community. I am a former season ticket holder who let my season ticket lapse, mainly because it is a 400 mile round trip and the best part of 11 hours out of my day for a home game. However the club has never made any attempt to contact me or include me in any marketing offers, even though they have my email address. All I get is the weekly update that everyone else gets. That is a huge business omission. Proper commercial businesses place huge value on a database of loyal customers and lifelong supporters.

 

I see other smaller clubs who have set a strategy as to where they want to go and how they intend to get there. I have no idea at all what is the Chairman's strategy for the future development of Port Vale. It seems to change according to his mood and whoever he has spoken to.

 

His decision to appoint Bruno Ribiero on the basis of his track record defied belief. Right now he either has to give Michael Brown the job until the end of the season or bring someone else in. That should be the first part of his strategy, ie protect our current position. Then he should embark on a strategy to ensure that the club can finance itself and be important to its community.

 

His constant obtuse twitter message habit is also frustrating and irritating and simply adds to the confusion and angst felt by fans and directly contributes to much of the negativity that follows.

 

So, yes I am realistic, and the first post in this thread has great merit and I cannot disagree with it, but I can, and do, add further comment to show that we should not be satisfied with what is currently available to us.

 

We need a strategic business development plan that will describe the Chairman's plan for out continued development.

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