The club that i love

[darren1810]

Having digested the last few days i am left bemused and upset at my beloved club. I have watched some dross and been through the dark days, my dad took me in the early 70's and i have been ever since home and away.

The euphoria of Wembley, beating Stoke umpteen times,Boxing day 3-2 at Maine Road, Wycombe away celebration day.

Burnley 7-0 down after 49 minutes, 0-4 to Burton Albion, Enfield, Canvey Island etc.

 

In the space of a week we have gone from allegedly making a sizeable bid for Danny Rowe to signing Danny Pugh from a lower league club aged 34. We all have opinions, let us put aside the feelings on Grant, in the cold light of day we have sold 2 of our best players. Everyone knew a keeper was vital, a journeyman maybe , an old head ? I wish the new lad well but where has he been scouted? Celtic v Cowdenbeath under 23 is not a good yardstick. I hope he does well of course but it is a risky gamble, he is the same age as Boot.

Why are we obsessed with midfield, can anybody on here second guess this weekends starting 11 ? I for one do not see Eagles or Pugh playing hardly any role this season ( i may be wrong ) ,we now have Guy, De Freitas, Eagles, Pugh and i will class the QPR lads as midfield. On top of Thomas,Tavares, Amoros, Pereira, Shalaj,Mbamba,Kelly etc etc. Talk about options.

 

During any given season out of the 92 clubs, there are 4 Champions, 7 further promotion spots.

12 teams will get relegated and 69 will remain where they began the season.

 

I am not expecting Port Vale to walk the League or have any divine right to do anything. What i do want is something to hold onto , a hope, some optimism, why can't we be Burton Albion or Scunthorpe ?

 

The life is being sucked out of my club and fans are staying away, i will openly admit i am losing heart and am sure will get some abuse on here if people read my post. Trips to Bournemouth away for a night game, Sunderland away on a Sat after a night shift have never deterred me, this year i had to be dragged kicking and screaming to a local derby at Shrewsbury , and what for ? a dire 0-0 against an awful team with maybe one goal attempt.

 

I feel this weekend is absolutely pivotal to staying in this division. Posh are there for the taking, lost 5-1 at Bury, 2-0 at Oldham and 0-4 to Mk Dons in the last 3 games. I am struggling to find solace in any of the away games to be honest which makes our home games must win in my opinion.

 

I am sure i will get some vitriol and accused of being negative but the lifeblood of my team is slowly draining away, i actually suggested signings would be of the ilk of Theo or N'Guessian and was right, anyone suggesting Ajose, Leon Clarke, Luke Murphy etc was in cloud cuckoo land.

 

Come on Vale make me proud again and offer some light at the end of the tunnel.

[smithie]

We've got to accept that this season is over with regard to anything other than staying up.

 

I doubt there's anyone more disappointed with one or two of the incoming players than Michael Brown. The fact is, we don't know what leverage he was working with and how we pay compared to other clubs.

 

If we play anything like we have against Bury and Scunny, we'll be safe long before the seasons' end.

 

I've got far more faith in Michael Brown than I could ever have in Bruno.

[Yukon]

This is all too familiar tale at the moment. Until the chairman employs someone who actually knows what he;s doing then we are screwed. Page, Bruno, Brown- all patsies with no English Football League experience who he can manipulate and ultimately blame. He simply won;t take responsibility for his actions and the same ridiculous sack the manager/ hire the assistant/ start again merry-go-round will continue until he either wakes up or sells up.

 

My issue with Brown getting the job would not have been if there was a decent CEO or DoF in place but there isn't.

[PV1973]

We've got to accept that this season is over with regard to anything other than staying up.

The sad this is that I think this season has always been about staying up. Anyone with any common sense would know how difficult it would be for everyone to settle in. Now we are having to recover from that and just survive.

[Family Stand Terrier]

I agree with every word. Except Boxing Day 3-2 at Maine Road, that was 1-0. 3-2 was the season after in November. Sorry.

[Yukon]

I agree with every word. Except Boxing Day 3-2 at Maine Road, that was 1-0. 3-2 was the season after in November. Sorry.

 

I thought that too- Foyle scored if memory serves.

[darren1810]

Yes hands up you are correct, it was off the top off my head, the jist is the same, we actually beat City twice, remarkable as it seems now.

[TheSage]

Like a few others, I went to all those games and many more, but I have to agree with you that since we returned to League One we've seen a lot of our better players depart and replaced on the cheap or with young loan players. However, hope springs eternal at the Vale and I'm crossing my fingers we survive this year because, to date, I think Brown might be capable of doing a very good job for us, as long as he's given the right tools.

 

Keep the faith, hard as it can be at times. At least we're not in Crewe's position looking down the barrel of a gun at non league football.

 

The Chairman dropped an almighty clanger with the Bruno project and it must not happen again.

 

Some great times those. Throw in the first trip to Wembley, the Rovers play off game and the Goldstone promotion party!!

[valeblue]

Well said darren1810!

[TJHValiant]

Buck stops with the chairman. He runs the club and the reason we have an increasing pile of questionable players is because he is simply not willing to pay for anything better.

[smithie]

Buck stops with the chairman. He runs the club and the reason we have an increasing pile of questionable players is because he is simply not willing to pay for anything better.

 

He was sold a duffer by Mourinho, and we're now undoing all the damage done by Bruno and the Beard.

 

No point dwelling on it now - we're looking better under Brown no doubt.

[Family Stand Terrier]

He was sold a duffer by Mourinho, and we're now undoing all the damage done by Bruno and the Beard.

 

No point dwelling on it now - we're looking better under Brown no doubt.

 

There in lies the problem. This is a bloke making serious decisions that affect the club. It takes 2 seconds to google Bruno's managerial record. It doesn't read well. 100% Smurfs fault that we're in this position.

 

Take Brown for instance. He's just resided over a full transfer window, whilst not even being our permanent Manager. How much confidence would potential signings have in the club not knowing for sure if the bloke who wants to bring them here is even going to be in charge in a few weeks.

 

Nothing against Brown, but either appoint him, or appoint someone else and give them the transfer window to build their own squad.

 

I'm also conscious of a post I made a few weeks ago about judging Smurf during this period of selling STs. Notice he was arguing with and belittling fans on twitter again the other day. I wiped the slate clean and hoped he'd learn from his past mistakes. I can't say I'm overly impressed with his performance so far.

[smithie]

[quote=Family Stand Terrier;699504

I'm also conscious of a post I made a few weeks ago about judging Smurf during this period of selling STs. Notice he was arguing with and belittling fans on twitter again the other day. I wiped the slate clean and hoped he'd learn from his past mistakes. I can't say I'm overly impressed with his performance so far.

 

I've just found out that my e-mail address held by the Ticket Office is incorrect - this is after 3 seasons of having to call them and offer my renewal payment. This was in the absence of any communication from them whatsoever to entice me to renew.

 

A recent e-mail to other season ticket-holders went out blank. No content at all!

 

If I was the manager in there I would make damned sure that every current and lapsed season ticket- holder gets a personal phone call inviting them to renew or return.

 

I'll say it again, I struggle to think how such a small operation fills their time all week.

[Bea Smith]

He was sold a duffer by Mourinho, and we're now undoing all the damage done by Bruno and the Beard.

 

No point dwelling on it now - we're looking better under Brown no doubt.

 

 

 

I agree with the sentiment of your post, and will always give new players my support and stand by the Vale. We are also looking better under Brown, yes, I'll agree with far better.

 

But Brown can only do so much - he can only work with the tools he is given, (not used as a derogatory term there), to get a job done, and he has just lost two of his best players, three if we count Jones going too, with near £300k coming into the club.

 

I am only dwelling on it because once again, the same mistake has been made - refusing to pay good money for a critical shortage (keeper) and bringing in a number of hopefuls whose total wages and expenses would easily have solved that problem. Bargain basement shopping from a mentaility that seems incapable of learning, adapting or changing in any way.

 

I cannot believe that some of that £300k could not procure an experienced goalkeeper, even if we had to pay over the odds - we now have 3 keepers (excluding the unavailable Johnson) with 2 first team games between them, and if the new Celtic lad turns out to be a superstar hero I will be more pleased than anyone, but the odds are against it.

 

NO news or new contract for Streete either.

 

It seems Carlisle must have offered more to get Jamie Proctor from Bolton too, and all in all we have been treated to a FarmFoods shopping trip, some of the fayre on offer may well end up being very tasty.

 

Lose this next match and we are in for a bumpy and fearful ride towards the relegation places and I have no doubt that Brown will be the ready-made scapegoat for a chairman who blames everybody and everything else but never seems to learn anything.

[smithie]

I agree with the sentiment of your post, and will always give new players my support and stand by the Vale. We are also looking better under Brown, yes, I'll agree with far better.

 

But Brown can only do so much - he can only work with the tools he is given, (not used as a derogatory term there), to get a job done, and he has just lost two of his best players, three if we count Jones going too, with near £300k coming into the club.

 

I am only dwelling on it because once again, the same mistake has been made - refusing to pay good money for a critical shortage (keeper) and bringing in a number of hopefuls whose total wages and expenses would easily have solved that problem. Bargain basement shopping from a mentaility that seems incapable of learning, adapting or changing in any way.

 

I cannot believe that some of that £300k could not procure an experienced goalkeeper, even if we had to pay over the odds - we now have 3 keepers (excluding the unavailable Johnson) with 2 first team games between them, and if the new Celtic lad turns out to be a superstar hero I will be more pleased than anyone, but the odds are against it.

 

NO news or new contract for Streete either.

 

It seems Carlisle must have offered more to get Jamie Proctor from Bolton too, and all in all we have been treated to a FarmFoods shopping trip, some of the fayre on offer may well end up being very tasty.

 

Lose this next match and we are in for a bumpy and fearful ride towards the relegation places and I have no doubt that Brown will be the ready-made scapegoat for a chairman who blames everybody and everything else but never seems to learn anything.

 

None of us know how much we were offering players, and nor do we know the mind-set of the players. We were hardly going to push the boat out when this is probably a patch-and-plaster solution for keeping us up.

 

Look at it this way; If Michael Brown makes a good fist of it between now and the end of April then optimism can quite rightly be high for next season. If Sheff U and Bolton bugger off upwards and Rotherham/Burton come down, it makes next year's league wide open.