Has Norman bottled it !!

[Fosse69]

Leics half -term last week, see what happens this Monday, pure speculation on my part.

[WalterJ]

You can't support the team at 9.30 on a Sunday night.

Opinions and debate from Vale fans who are gravely concerned.

Nothing wrong with that.

 

I have supported them since 1959 and still can't settle on a Sunday after a defeat or even a draw! It takes me till Tuesday to get over it! Tough season but i have had plenty of them! Never give up I say. Vale forever!

 

 

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[Spunk Trumpet]

I have supported them since 1959 and still can't settle on a Sunday after a defeat or even a draw! It takes me till Tuesday to get over it! Tough season but i have had plenty of them! Never give up I say. Vale forever!

 

 

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Kudos to you Walter. A lot of frustration, anger, disappointment at the minute and places like this are the best way to vent them.

We all support and love the Vale, mate. Some just show their concerns more than others.

We all want success.

The fans are hurting.

The club is on life support and the leader won't rally the troops.

Here's hoping to three points soon. We need them.

[WalterJ]

No "Normans Love In" anymore on here.Shock ,horror. You woudnt listen to the chosen few would you. Spunk Trumpet was one of the Smurf lovers but now seen the true colours of our leader and getting slagged off by certain idiots that cant see any fault in Norman.I for one have never had any faith in Smurf from day one and it bloody well hurts me to see my beloved Port Vale in the bottom 4 of League 2 in a relegation fight and most frightening,no bond or confidence in the camp.

 

Can't even get our league correct which shows what Smurth is up against. Vale fans with no sense only none sense!

 

 

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[NoHalfMeasures]

I'm one that got sucked into the Smurf "new era". Fell for it hook line and sinker especially after the first few games. Now I'm having to drag myself to the games and really wouldn't be going if no ticket. Been going for over 40 years and have never felt so despondent with my club. Will not be renewing under the present dictatorship.

[bookworm]

Realisation that he has made a massive mistake

 

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Bruno was a too big a bollock to pick up so next year they go to north wales for the annual holls,

[ELDERBEZZA]

Walterl Beza corrected the league if you care to read later in the thread!Smurf is up against Specsavers too😴

[Robbie Earle's Perm]

I for one am glad he's keeping a lower profile on social media.

[Spunk Trumpet]

I for one am glad he's keeping a lower profile on social media.

 

Absolutely.

Now to come out with some positive, rallying calls, through the proper channels.

The ones he hasn't alienated.

[Spunk Trumpet]

Does anyone know if he's ok?

 

Yes I do.

No he isn't.

Never has been.

[old sage]

I was one of the few who soon realised after his 'Papa Smurf' fancy dress stunt at Wycombe when we all laughed that the comic was in reality a very destructive figure. His arrogant, Brash manner was very off putting but I could live with that no problem but he has slowly and methodically dismantled a good close knit football club. What we now have is a bunch of strangers who in the main are a very poor calibre of player. I'm sorry to say it but all our owner thinks about is how to make a fast buck and he is now finding that this is nigh on impossible at our level. Ownership of a L1 club needs to be kept to a wealthy few who have a large amount of financial backing and are prepared to spend knowing that there is very little likelihood of getting that money back.

Our owner says Port Vale is debt free but that is yet another example of his long string of lies because we may not owe Nat West or Barclays but Smurthwaite is determined that if he sells he wants all his money going back to the Bank of Smurthwaite. I've got news for you Mr Smurthwaite if that is the case you will never sell the club.

 

For the club to move forward we need to be rebranded under new ownership who the fans that are still out there will buy into. The owner has fed us too many lies, disgraceful decisions and deceitful actions.

 

the only words I want to hear from the present owner is 'I quit and will sell the club and the ground for a realistic valuation'. Otherwise keep it shut because the majority of us aren't listening.

 

Valiant 2001 were a bunch of crooks but Smurthwaite has actually in my opinion inflicted more lasting damage by splitting the club from the ground during his short tenure.

[Sick_Valiant]

I was one of the few who soon realised after his 'Papa Smurf' fancy dress stunt at Wycombe when we all laughed that the comic was in reality a very destructive figure. His arrogant, Brash manner was very off putting but I could live with that no problem but he has slowly and methodically dismantled a good close knit football club. What we now have is a bunch of strangers who in the main are a very poor calibre of player. I'm sorry to say it but all our owner thinks about is how to make a fast buck and he is now finding that this is nigh on impossible at our level. Ownership of a L1 club needs to be kept to a wealthy few who have a large amount of financial backing and are prepared to spend knowing that there is very little likelihood of getting that money back.

Our owner says Port Vale is debt free but that is yet another example of his long string of lies because we may not owe Nat West or Barclays but Smurthwaite is determined that if he sells he wants all his money going back to the Bank of Smurthwaite. I've got news for you Mr Smurthwaite if that is the case you will never sell the club.

 

For the club to move forward we need to be rebranded under new ownership who the fans that are still out there will buy into. The owner has fed us too many lies, disgraceful decisions and deceitful actions.

 

the only words I want to hear from the present owner is 'I quit and will sell the club and the ground for a realistic valuation'. Otherwise keep it shut because the majority of us aren't listening.

 

Valiant 2001 were a bunch of crooks but Smurthwaite has actually in my opinion inflicted more lasting damage by splitting the club from the ground during his short tenure.

Well put. Smurf needs to put the club up for £1 and walk away.

 

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[sunny boslem]

If he is still here next season I dread to think what our attendances wil be

 

 

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[PVFC764]

If he is still here next season I dread to think what our attendances wil be.

 

Very low I would guess. The away fans may out number home fans if Smurf carries on with his players on the cheap scheme.

[Heatwave]

This is going to be my last post on here for a while so I'll say what I've got to say and then go.

 

When Smurf and Paul Wildes came in and bought the club following the debacle that was V2001 everybody was overjoyed - new broom, fresh start etc. We had a promotion to L1 and the joy continued.

 

We should have seen the writing on the wall in the blaze of acrimony that accompanied Wildes' departure - OK, to many he was spending money Vale couldn't afford, and I accept that - up to a point. What Wildes was doing was what all good professional football clubs do - spend with the hope of accumulation later; if it doesn't come you write it off and start again. Smurf wasn't prepared for Wildes to do that with his money and sent him packing. That was when the alarm bells should have started ringing.

 

Now we're in a situation where the owner is budgeting for a Conference club while we're still in L1. He can always blame the fans - after all, if we'd kept faith in him we'd have kept coming and we wouldn't be in this position now, right? The problem is that professional football is a business; you invest and if your investment doesn't pay off at first you change tack and try something else. Where football is a business like no other is you depend almost exclusively on the goodwill of your customers to stay in business, and those customers won't back a failing product. That gives rise to the old adage 'if you want to make a small fortune from football, start with a big one'. I've no doubt that Norman has been bankrolling Vale hand over fist during all these months of failure but it's still not enough for us to progress. If he was serious about keeping us up and putting us in a position where we could press on then he should have done it - that he hasn't is perhaps either indicative of his priorities or a statement that he doesn't have the financial muscle.

 

So, to my mind there's only one solution - Norman has to sell and see if there's anyone else out there who is prepared to do what he was either unwilling or unable to do. Other than that, administration beckons yet again and this time it could be for good. If the administrators can't sell then they would put the club into liquidation - Port Vale as an entity would cease to exist, and the purveyors of 'modern football' - the Premier League and those associated with it - can chalk up another success.

 

Maybe there would be a few hardy souls who would try to keep the club name alive; maybe as an amateur or semi pro club but that approach is unlikely to get us any farther than the Northern Premier. Sorry to be on such a downer but that's how I feel at the moment and this really is the beginning of the end.

 

So, to borrow the words of Captain Oates, I'm going outside for a while and I may be some time.