Smurfs shoes

[Trampilot]

All Smurf really needed to do was bring someone with football experience to the club. Nothing else. A Director of Football if you like who can guide the transfer policy and perhaps have an idea when they are being taken for a ride by a particular agent. Smurf could say to the DoF: "I want to bring in foreign manager and players ... go find them." Job done, now back to the paper work.

 

This would have allowed Smurf to concentrate solely on the business side: finishing ground, marketing - and having someone do it properly, and doing meet and greet. He should be enjoying the ownership of a football club but instead he decided to do it the hard/wrong way. This is fine if you are lower down the pyramid. At some levels the chairman will be doing general maintenance, working in the ticket office etc... He'd probably enjoy that.

 

Instead he decided to go to war with the press, allow himself to be conned and it seems making himself a hate figure amongst the fans. He's a fool.

[Emile]

I understand Smurf wanting to do something different. Most of us were desperately unhappy with Page's tactics and his terrible retained lists.

 

Different would have been an established no-nonsense manager who would have taken the tough decisions that Page didn't have the guts to do. Different would have been investing in players just before their prime knowing a decent season will double their value (and the clubs).

 

Just because signing a manager who was a specialist in failure and signing 30+ forgein players is different doesnt make it ok. It was a terrible decision we all saw coming. To recify this he should be funding a promotion campagin to right his wrong then walk away if he fails again.

[JOHNNYAITCH]

Smurthwaite spent a damn site more money, travelled a lot further and I have to say, if I was in his shoes I'd be a darn site more disapointed in the outcome than a lot of others. .

 

Possibly but the point is why did we end up where we are? And is he disappointed cos of relegation, cos of failing, cos of losing money, cos of losing face..all these and more?

[JOHNNYAITCH]

. This is fine if you are lower down the pyramid. At some levels the chairman will be doing general maintenance, working in the ticket office etc... He'd probably enjoy that.

 

****..you've just unearthed his master plan..turn Vale into a hobby where he gets to do everything

[Family Stand Terrier]

There are too many instances where in Smurfs shoes I would have done things completely differently.

 

With regards to Page I would have looked at the bigger picture, I would have asked myself where the club was when he took over, and where we were when he decided to force him out. Steady progression, a squad that needed a few quality additions in the summer. Then I have to remind myself that I'm thinking about this as a Vale fan, not Smurf. Smurf wanted a speedy return on his investment. The longer he was losing money every month in L1, the more it would cost him eventually to realise that dream. What was best for Port Vale goes out of the window.

 

So now he's made that decision to force Page out, and again I find myself thinking about it as a Vale fan, with an element of care about how the club is perceived in the football world, and the potential impact my actions would have on the club as a whole longer term. Back in Smurfs shoes, I'm thinking about money. I don't want to pay Page off, my only focus is getting him out and getting a bit of money for him in the process. Bonus, played a blinder. I certainly then wouldn't go and shout about it from the rooftops. That in itself showed the lack of intellect we're dealing with here. He actually thought people were going to swoon all over him and praise him for pulling off such a masterstroke. Backfired massively, and it didn't take a rocket scientist to predict as much.

 

All of a sudden he's got a football decision to make. If it was me, again, I'd think about it as a fan and look to appoint a known, experienced, successful (to some extent, it's L1 after all) Manager, that may cost a bit of money but would excite fans and have them backing the club again, in the same way Adams did when he joined. Then I'm back in Smurfs shoes with his motivations ringing in my ears. Money. Cheap. How can I make a return from this, and get us to the Championship quickly?

 

I'll try to copy my mate Darragh at Posh, but in a completely different and much cheaper way. I'll find players abroad that are cheaper and will make me millions soon. Scope a few agents, watch their you tube videos, disregard the opposition, then get them over here.

 

So he comes across Bruno after a chat with Mourinho. As a fan I calm myself down and check out his credentials, 2 seconds later I'm saying thanks but no thanks.

 

Then there's the way he's treated fans over the last few years. His potential customers. It's at this point that I'm lost. No amount of jumping into Smurfs shoes allows me to understand what planet he's on. The people he so desperately relies on to make him money, he treats appallingly. I'm in his shoes, taking grief from people who's money I need. I ask myself how I can limit the damage, change their opinion and get them back on board. Not Smurf, he insults them on twitter, attempts (poorly) to belittle them on their fans forum, refers to an element of them as racist (what possible good could come from that, even if true?) and then makes statements where he calls them keyboard warriors and implies they're not "real fans".

 

Ticket prices. As a fan, again thinking long term I see the threat posed to the club from Stoke. I understand that any child, like when I was 4 years old with a father who didn't support Vale or Stoke, would probably choose Stoke over Vale. What do I have in my control to challenge that? I control the prices, I control the ground they pay to enter, and I control the product they come to see. I'd look at other successful clubs, and emulate their model, scaled down to a realistic level, look to improve the whole experience, and focus on delivering a smaller higher quality squad. What does Smurf do? He sets the price at a similar level to our competitors with a far superior product, threatens fans with budget reductions if they don't turn up, runs ad hoc ticket incentives for walk up fans struggling to afford £22, that means they have to fork out £52 to get any benefit from it, and pays peanuts to the majority of the 41 different players used in a whole season.

 

There's loads more I could go on about; meeting a dead man, JFH, the sentinel ban, rejecting synectics. The list could go on forever and a day.

[man in the pub]

I can't agree about the risk he took with Bruno. It was a crazy thing to do based on the bloke's managerial record and to allow himself to be influenced by a phone call from one of his mates was naive in the extreme.

 

We all make mistakes but as has been said above, to keep making the same mistake is a bit silly.

 

Agree Jacko having finished mid table last season don't think this was the time for major surgery. Clear out 5/6 players who were past it/not good enough/too injury prone and bring in 4/5 better players who will feature in the team.

[Valenick]

I can't believe I'm saying this . Great post geo

[the_tench]

Can't knock smurf for the Bruno thing , if that risk had paid off we'd all be singing his praises but do feel that he's the one that should put things right .

[londonvale]

There were 51 sacking's in English league football with 11 chairpeople having suffered relegation.Aside from clubs like orient or Swansea who made more than one change it's clear that expectations v reality are always a problem.we all wanted a successful season..all those chairpeople did.our chairman was one of the ones who got it wrong.we all have an opinion just like he did.so did 10 others.82 of them are a bit happier but all those sacking's show it ain't easy meeting expectations.the accy Stanley chairman is the one who actually is coming out with the blinking obvious...how can ever of us compete when premier players earn so much.where are the ally brown..paul Maguire.. Jimmy greenhoff..mark grew.players dropping down?they don't..dont blame them but why would a Paul scholes drop down and play for 50k.he probably could have outscored our forwards last season..clubs/chairpeople can't expect a Peter crouch or Defoe to drop down..be a draw and put in a performance.they are all (the bottom 48 especially)trying to make ends meet and be successful.. just like all fans and owners...we live in hope

[Spunk Trumpet]

I have said this about him, he took a risk with Bruno and it did not pay off, but it might have done. We could all be talking about what an amazing season it was. You sometimes have to take risks and they might pay off. They didn't this time but they might the next.

 

We need to dust ourselves off and get behind the lads next season, if Smurf is still here then so be it. We can not keep starving owners out.

 

Bashing my head against a brick wall with people like you.

If my auntie had ******** she would have been my uncle.

It was never going to work. I and a minority warned you last summer of the consequences. Now you want us to dust ourselves off???

You're thick.

I'm sorry, but you are.

People like you make me so angry.

You were the same with v2001.

Sometimes I hope the club just goes under, because I am sick and tired of replying to braindead idiots like you, who haven't got the foggiest idea as to what's going on because you're thick as ****.

It would do my blood pressure the world of good.

[Spunk Trumpet]

There were 51 sacking's in English league football with 11 chairpeople having suffered relegation.Aside from clubs like orient or Swansea who made more than one change it's clear that expectations v reality are always a problem.we all wanted a successful season..all those chairpeople did.our chairman was one of the ones who got it wrong.we all have an opinion just like he did.so did 10 others.82 of them are a bit happier but all those sacking's show it ain't easy meeting expectations.the accy Stanley chairman is the one who actually is coming out with the blinking obvious...how can ever of us compete when premier players earn so much.where are the ally brown..paul Maguire.. Jimmy greenhoff..mark grew.players dropping down?they don't..dont blame them but why would a Paul scholes drop down and play for 50k.he probably could have outscored our forwards last season..clubs/chairpeople can't expect a Peter crouch or Defoe to drop down..be a draw and put in a performance.they are all (the bottom 48 especially)trying to make ends meet and be successful.. just like all fans and owners...we live in hope

Apart from that being the most illiterate post of all time, from what I got out of it just about sums up some of our fans.

 

You're probably a nice guy.

But you're thick.

And there's no hope whilst the current idiot is in charge.

[Spunk Trumpet]

Can't knock smurf for the Bruno thing , if that risk had paid off we'd all be singing his praises but do feel that he's the one that should put things right .

 

Let's look at the risk.

Gets rid of a full squad.

Employs a manager who had 6 previous jobs and failed in every one.

Never lasting longer than 11 months.

Has no managerial experience of the English league.

Employs 15+players on contracts of 2 and 3 years that have no experience in English football or are crocks like Forrester.

However, he has a plan b should it go belly up.

Fair enough.

Unfortunately plan b was pie in the sky and the experiment was an absolute joke from the start for anyone with a brain cell.

It was NEVER going to work.

It's like me saying I will get a million quid if I beat Usain Bolt in a 100m sprint but if I lose I'll get nothing and my mrs will walk out on me.

I'll stay at home thanks.

Any sane Vale fan weren't taken in by the idea.

As for him being the one to "put things right" as you put it.

No thanks.

Get the idiot as far away from the club as possible.

And as for yourself. Wake up.

Good grief.

[grebovale]

Just a thought,if the chosen one (one of the best mangers in the world ) recommended a guy to be your next manager wouldn't you go for it ?

Yes SMURF made a mistake in believing the chosen one new what he was talking about and we are all ( including SMURF) paying the price

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using onevalefan

[geosname]

Just a thought,if the chosen one (one of the best mangers in the world ) recommended a guy to be your next manager wouldn't you go for it ?

Yes SMURF made a mistake in believing the chosen one new what he was talking about and we are all ( including SMURF) paying the price

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using onevalefan

 

Risk my money on blind faith... no

Check his ability, his record, his standing with the people he has worked for... then consider what he himself said about how he would achieve what you wanted and the risk involved.

[Wrex]

Just a thought,if the chosen one (one of the best mangers in the world ) recommended a guy to be your next manager wouldn't you go for it ?

Yes SMURF made a mistake in believing the chosen one new what he was talking about and we are all ( including SMURF) paying the price

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using onevalefan

 

I'd certainly consider it. I'd look into and say ok so Bruno has spent how long working as a coach under Jose at some of the biggest clubs in the world? Oh, he hasn't? What's his record then? Achieved nothing at clubs I've never heard of, what?! Ok, how does Jose know this guy? Oh, they're mates from 20+ years ago from when Bruno was a player in Setubal? Hmm, **** off Jose you <ovf censored>, do I look like a mug?