Which experienced keeper should Vale sign?

[PV1973]

If Hornby happened to hear the interview how does he now feel?

If you knew half the stuff that gets said and goes on with players then you'd realise this is nothing in comparison. Football is a hard ruthless business, its always looking for someone better than you. He knows hes the number 2 keeper here and if the number one keeper was to be out for any considerable length of time then the club would be looking to get in another number one if necessary, thats just how it works with keepers.

 

People going on here about how big our squad is not sure where they get that from, we have a first team squad of 22 or 23 players, 7 or 8 of these are players who are in the first or second year of their career and maybe need going out on loan, I don't think many will agree but think we are still short of numbers. We have no back up wingers and the options in midfield are just kids after the first 11 and now Forrester and Barnett are injured, there is just Dan Turner waiting in reserve.

This, its easy to use the squad size as a stick to hit the manager with but we were supposed to be turning into a club that developed its own players. As Rob says above, have a look at that squad list and Slinn, Walford, Dennis and Calverley are all first year pros who will go out on loan. Above them are Gibbons, Turner and Reeves and they too are nowhere near the finished article yet. So theres 7 players out of the squad who are not quite ready yet for week in week out league football, they will be eased in gradually if they continue to do well. But if injuries and suspensions dictate then due to the lack of depth they could get their chance just like Hornby has.

[Woakesy]

I guess we can all discuss this until we are blue in the face. Give Hornby a chance/ sign a loan player/ injuries blah blah blah.

For myself the crux of the matter here is that at 17-30 pm on Radio Stoke within 45 minutes of that shambolic performance on Saturday our manager Mr Brown is openly undermining Hornby live on the radio. I realise the reporter asks the question and we all like to hear answers but alluding to the fact it is too soon for Hornby and he wanted to use him in the Checkatrade thing does not fill me or many other Vale fans with confidence.

If Hornby happened to hear the interview how does he now feel ? Almost like a dead man walking at Chesterfield 3 games into a fledgling career, i can't put myself in Browns' position on sat however different words may of been appropriate .

The buck stops at the top, if you sign a number 2 then you have to assume the worst scenario of your top keeper getting injured , unfortunately this has happened to us yet Hornby is now deemed to be not good enough.

Baffled dot com

 

PS Anyone know the diagnosis on Lainton as a hell of a lot of people are suggesting him in goal in the match thread for Chesterfield.

If he's ever going to make a career as a pro footballer, words like Browns should inspire him to prove Brown wrong and show he's ready.

 

I've no problem with calling out players professionally. It sorts the strong characters from the weak. Exactly what we need to get out of this godforsaken division.

 

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[Valiant62]

Hornby was ok on Saturday, less culpable than the ten in front of him.

[RailwayRowdy]

In the 80's both Liverpool & Villa won the old 1st division by using less than 15 players for the entire season ! Clubs at our level should not have the number of professional players that is now the norm. Especially as the back up players are not of the required standard. Perhaps one of the numerous keepers on the books could play left back ?

[Wrex]

How come after nine months in charge people are saying "Brown needs more time, he deserves another chance to prove himself" but if a goalkeeper has one poor game then he gets dropped to the reserves and we sign a new one?

 

Are these players scouted in any way or are we just going off recommendations or what?

[Row L]

In the 80's both Liverpool & Villa won the old 1st division by using less than 15 players for the entire season ! Clubs at our level should not have the number of professional players that is now the norm. Especially as the back up players are not of the required standard. Perhaps one of the numerous keepers on the books could play left back ?

 

I'll bet that they had a much bigger group of players though. They used to be called reserves and youth/third team. Now we seem to group everyone into a squad, even those who are developing and know that they will hardly get a sniff at first team football. its just semantics and i don't think that the number of players that we have now in the squad is any more than in years gone by.

[Fosse69]

I'll bet that they had a much bigger group of players though. They used to be called reserves and youth/third team. Now we seem to group everyone into a squad, even those who are developing and know that they will hardly get a sniff at first team football. its just semantics and i don't think that the number of players that we have now in the squad is any more than in years gone by.

As you say, players were just promoted from the reserves, if improvements required just buy a player in if you could afford, no transfer windows except for mid-March in those days.

[Jase Sherratt]

For me it's unlikely that we'll get Chris Neal. I'd take a gamble on Shay Given short term. Been released by Sjoke, a free agent and vast experience, including premier league. What have we got to lose??

 

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[Mellor!]

Thorsten Stuckmann released by Chesterfield in the summer. A good lower league shot stopper and put in one of the best goal keeper performances I've seen at Vale park a couple of seasons a go. Worth a short term contract maybe?

[Santa]

He made a brilliant point blank save from Eagles at their place last season. Pure reflexes. The next minute they broke from our corner and scored.

[valiant_593]

He's a decent keeper but brown will probably look either at a keeper who's past his best and injury prone or a young lad who's not ready.

[eh up nah]

Lainton was clearly signed as number one. The question mark was his injury record. He hasn't played many games for his age. That would've been the thing to put me off.

 

The one position on the pitch that no successful team rotates is the goalkeeper. Stability there is essential along with a regular centre half pairing.

 

We still went with him and we now have to accept that Hornby, as number 2, is now going to get games. He's untested at league level, but he'll always remain untested until situations like this. In his defence, I think he looks a decent shot stopper. He made 2 or 3 great saves at Leeds I thought. I know 3 went past him but that was after they'd brought two subs on, changed the game and were picking us off. He was not to blame for any of those goals.

 

Akinfenwa got two on Saturday and he'll never get an easier two. Diabolical defending for his first and his second came from their other guy completely mucking his shot up and it flying in off his head from about 5 yards out. He looked alright to me overall and made a cracking save off the free kick second half and ended up getting more confident coming for balls in.

 

In my opinion, and we all have our own, I think Hornby is getting a very rough deal. He's been brought in as second choice and is learning league football. How many other league two teams have two decent keepers? I bet most outside the top 7 don't even have one!

 

Its harsh, to say the least, to start talking about bringing replacements in for the lad this early in the season after so few games. Give him game time and we may (may not of course) end up with a decent keeper. But we don't like doing at that vale do we?

 

Brown, for me, is out of order undermining him in his interview. Maybe he didn't mean to come across like that?

 

Boot is basically Ryan Lloyd with gloves on. Gets a deal every year and nobody quite knows why.

[The French Connection]

Remember when we had to play our youth player in the cap against Shrews, the only 2 1st team games he played, the No1 & 2 came back, then we let him go. Ended up playing for Spurs in the Cup Final, Alecsic by name.

 

I remember him very well. Melija Alecsic. I used to play cricket with him for Silverdale when he was at the Vale. He was a fantastic slip fielder! And a very nice lad.

 

He died young,a couple of years ago, and ended his life managing a club in South Africa.

[Pops]

Milija went on to better things after Gordon Lee refused to let him complete his mechanics qualification with his father's taxi company in Newcastle, a sensible fatherly thing to do with many players ending there careers early through injury. A great lad and sadly no longer with us.

 

Shared rooms with him at Stafford Rangers. What a guy!!!

[jeffers]

I thought Hornby could have done better for the first two goals but his confidence definitely grew in the second half. After last season's fiasco's it was nice to see a keeper commanding his area, something even Jak didn't do. Good bit of PR by Browny to now knock his confidence back, how is he going to get experience seat warming.