Chris Birchall: Vale paying for 'risk' last summer

[Caselord]

Really don't understand that negative comments towards Birchy. Good pro and a solid player for us. Never let us down.

 

All his comments are spot on. I find it hard that anyone could disagree with his comments.

 

Last year we had an average L1 manger (learning his trade) and an average L1 squad (probably a goal scorer & tol centre back away from being a top 6 side). Fans demanded better which they are inclined to do. We've ended up much worse. Both in terms of quality of player, manager (although now departed) and overall balance of the squad.

 

Also, don't underplay the importance of squad unity and team spirit. It means a lot. Last year we had that.

 

Look at the Villa v Barnsley result last night to illustrate that point.

 

 

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[Guppy 4 England]

What amazes me is that the managers shouldn't really be questioned. The focus solely lies on the owner.

We can go on about Page all we like but he was learning his craft. He wasn't bound to make mistakes.

Bruno. Never managed in England before. Stupid, naive appointment.

Brown. Again, learning his craft. It's his first job and he has been dealt a bad hand.

In reality, with any other club, none should have been appointed. We aren't in a position to give chancers a job but we continue to do so on the field and more importantly in the managerial area.

The club needs a leader at the very top. Norman isn't that. You can only wing it for so long.

Change the record, it's boring.

 

Page was wanted by mk dons, Charlton and Sheff utd wasn't it? Still after he failed here even though Northampton poached him, it was a bad appointment?

 

Burton didn't do too bad with their rookie appointments.

[Guppy 4 England]

When they have played in a World Cup for their respective countries you may have an argument to back up such a ludicrous statement.

 

Alan shearer scored a fair few at the euros too, perhaps we should ask him to come and play?

[Emile]

The retained list would have been the same because he did the same thing the previous season. Bruno being rubbish doesn't make page suddenly a great manager and his decisions right. He lasted half a season in his new job before the fans turned on him and was sacked. Like I said there are two different debates here. The retained list and the replacements. We managed to get both wrong and now we are where we are.

 

 

Totally agree. Page was a below average manager and last seasons squad wasn't good enough.

 

Bruno was worse and I'm yet to be convinced by Brown.

 

This season we have signed some decent replacements for squad players but not to the quality we deeratly needed. Couple that with some dire tactics and we find ourselves at the bottom end of the league.

 

We should stay up but I'm far from convinced.

[Spunk Trumpet]

Change the record, it's boring.

 

Page was wanted by mk dons, Charlton and Sheff utd wasn't it? Still after he failed here even though Northampton poached him, it was a bad appointment?

 

Burton didn't do too bad with their rookie appointments.

Mark, you lost all credibility when you said the current crop are better than last seasons.

If you find me boring, then there is an ignore button. If you can't find it, ask admin. I'm sure they will help you.

[Portvale4]

Totally agree. Page was a below average manager and last seasons squad wasn't good enough.

 

Bruno was worse and I'm yet to be convinced by Brown.

 

This season we have signed some decent replacements for squad players but not to the quality we deeratly needed. Couple that with some dire tactics and we find ourselves at the bottom end of the league.

 

We should stay up but I'm far from convinced.

 

What makes you think we should stay up?

2 wins in 17 games.

1 win away all season.

Shocking home form.

Best defender potentially out for the rest of the season.

Best player being criticised by the manager and now not playing.

Captain out of form.

No one has a clue when the next win will come.

The list goes on!

We are in serious trouble and it's because of the pathetic chairman.

 

 

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[Spunk Trumpet]

Change the record, it's boring.

 

Page was wanted by mk dons, Charlton and Sheff utd wasn't it? Still after he failed here even though Northampton poached him, it was a bad appointment?

 

Burton didn't do too bad with their rookie appointments.

Also, I don't think he did fail with us. I never stated that!

Burton did superb with their rookie appointments before they are a stable, extremely well run club from top to bottom!

Something you cannot seem to grasp.

[toyahw]

Misleading headline. CB never says that. Says "a risk". And players were expected to take a pay cut. Totally well known. "Vale paying for risky summer" he does not say that. Shame on you RobF for conflating the two, or allowing such inaccuracy to slip under the radar.

[PV1973]

Misleading headline. CB never says that. Says "a risk". And players were expected to take a pay cut. Totally well known. "Vale paying for risky summer" he does not say that. Shame on you RobF for conflating the two, or allowing such inaccuracy to slip under the radar.

Headline where? In this thread? I took the article and headline in the first post of this thread word for word from the Sentinel.

[Emile]

What makes you think we should stay up?

2 wins in 17 games.

1 win away all season.

Shocking home form.

Best defender potentially out for the rest of the season.

Best player being criticised by the manager and now not playing.

Captain out of form.

No one has a clue when the next win will come.

The list goes on!

We are in serious trouble and it's because of the pathetic chairman.

 

 

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I think we have enough about us to scrape by but it's looking increasingly unlikely. I'm pretty worried.

 

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[Karl Pilkington]

What makes you think we should stay up?

2 wins in 17 games.

1 win away all season.

Shocking home form.

Best defender potentially out for the rest of the season.

Best player being criticised by the manager and now not playing.

Captain out of form.

No one has a clue when the next win will come.

The list goes on!

We are in serious trouble and it's because of the pathetic chairman.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using the onevalefan mobile app

 

This post is spot on. We rarely look like testing the oppositions keeper let alone winning a match. I thought we may have turned a corner after the positive performance at scunthorpe, but they haven't been setting the world on fire in recent weeks looking at their results. Unfortunately, we are only heading in one direction under the current regime. I'm an optimist but those above stats make awful reading. Millwall on tuesday were not anything special, they didn't exactly shut us down when we had the ball, we were just god awful with it so they didn't need to.

[Valiant Haze]

If Jerome Thomas is available and Michael Brown doesn't pick him on Saturday "because he's running under 10K", then he's joined the Smurthwaite club of being a total idiot.

[Bycarsbill]

Ok there may be sour grapes in this article, but also a lot of home truths. Also in the Sentinel an article about Stokes centre half on loan at Bristol Rovers, and getting rave reviews, is their an embargo on Stoke lads being loaned out up the road.

 

In fairness to Chris Birchall, it didn't come across as 'sour grapes' but plain speaking from someone in the know.

[Woakesy]

Do you think those retained lists would have been the same, had Smurf given him the backing he gave Bruno? Smurf spent months in the run up to both lists being released, telling all and sundry (at the time we should have been selling season tickets) that the squad budget would be reduced. Instead of gambling under those circumstances, Page went with what he knew. We now have the benefit of hindsight, and those of us who backed Page at the time have been proven right unfortunately. Under the circumstances he had forced upon him by Smurf, Page worked wonders. We'll now never know what Page would have done with the same level of backing as Bruno.

 

Shame, a more sensible Chairmen with a basic understanding of football, might have supported Page to go and get a few quality additions to an already well established squad. A squad that Page had taken from 2nd bottom to comfortable in mid table, over the season and 3/4 he was in charge.

 

The way Page has kept his counsel after the comments Smurf has made about him since (he surely had a case for constructive dismissal) shows the bloke oozes class and professionalism, in stark contrast to our Chairman. Two qualities our club is in desperate need of right now.

 

Absolutely. Page was treated abominably by Smurf. He's certainly proved himself the bigger man in that episode.

 

As it is, anyone arguing that this seasons squad is stronger than last is deluded and probably needs sectioning. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but we should have retained 3-4 players from last year and recruited British players with one or two from abroad to supplement.

 

The question I keep asking myself is how the hell has Smurf been successful in business? No interpersonal skills, very little evidence of charisma or charm and where do we start with the decision making.

 

I'd rather we were run by someone with no money, who ran the club according to our budget. If that means lg2 football with a greater emphasis on young players then so be it.

 

Give me a team full of local lads over foreign mercenaries any day.

[Trampilot]

When Page and some celebrated I commented that you should be careful what you wish for. Hmmm.. Sad to see that the worst possible outcome is now coming to fruitition. Yes its Feb. Yes we're not in the relegation zone yet. But that's how teams go - we've seen it all before.

 

Page's squad would never have got into this position (nor would they have got into the top 6) but mid table obscurity is looking kind of nice now. Always felt Page's squad needed a couple more players to challenge.

 

Having said that, a relegation battle is far more interesting than going for promotion. The expectation is nil so there's everything to gain.

 

UTV.