Why we need Neil Aspin.

[Beza]

I’ve seen many Vale fans voicing their opinion in the last week on the potential appointment of Aspo. For me, it’s a no brainer and a few bullet points why.

Firstly let’s get rid of the myth that he hasn’t league experience. 20 years ago I would have agreed with you but there is nothing between league 2 and the national league now. They are 90% professional football clubs. Aspos Gateshead got just over 600 supporters at the weekend. They are a professional club.

We bang on about our budget and certain idiots say it’s Norman putting the money in, yet we get five times Gatesheads crowd on a bad day! And they probably beat us in a competitive game right now!

Our last three managers, Page, Bruno, Brown, have just under 300 managerial matches between them. Aspin has over 600, spanning 12 years.

This isn’t a man about to have his first dance, like Glover and Foyle before him, so let’s get rid of the “been there before with ex players” nonsense. This is a man who has earned his stripes regardless of him being a Vale legend. Chesterfield have gambled with their legend in Jack Lester. Now THAT is a gamble. Aspin isn’t.

The man has an eye for a player. He signed Jamie Vardy. Sold Lee Gregory to Millwall as well. If anyone listened to Foyley on RS last night, he made a lot of sense. He’s fully supportive of his appointment.

Now, being 37, I can totally understand those in their teen years or early 20s who are looking at this appointment as just another Vale legend. But I think this time it’s totally different.

Neil Aspin is a successful lower league manager in his own right with an abundance of experience. Experience at a level right now that is no different to where we are at.

We are now Port Vale Football Club who are the worst team in the English football league. Joint one of three. By a distance.

We have fallen. We continue to fall. There is no hope............ But Aspin? Yes. There’s hope. There’s a man with over 600 managerial matches under his belt. Almost 400 matches for the club as a player. He knows the club. He knows the fans.

Hey, even if Rudgie isn’t on the payroll, do you really believe he won’t be getting a bit of advice from him? Course he will.

He’s been a very very good manager in his own right and yet it just so happens he is a Vale legend.

If it is Aspin, and it seemingly looks like it, it could be the best thing for the club in a long time.

We need reuniting as fans. We need renewed hope. We need a “manager”. We need somebody who will take no **** and ultimately we need somebody to grab this club by its balls and get it on track again.

Aspin, for me, out of all the duff candidates that have been banded around (ince westley) is by far the standout candidate for PVFC at this time.

For me, as it seems the owner is going nowhere, it’s an appointment to unite us all.

Aspin for Vale.

well put Spunkers top top post.

[For Us All]

Loved Aspo as a player and if he's half as good as a manager he'll do alright.

Morale at the club is the biggest issue we have and if he can sort that out I believe we can get out of trouble.

They say never meet your heroes but I did just that at an event some years ago,when I sat at the same table as Aspo and Goober and they both didn't disappoint.

Good luck Neil,you will have my full support.

[Valiant in Brum]

Great post hopefully by the end of today we will be Neil Aspins barmy army :)>

[mr.hobblesworth]

That forum also says that Aspin plays direct football and describes him as a National League Pulis.

 

I don't think Aspin is the right person for us, unfortunately. However, I desperately want to be proved wrong. I don't think Vale fans will put up with 'lump it up' football and I also question whether Aspin's managerial statistics bear up under scrutiny. May of his wins with Halifax, for example, were when the club was in a very 'false' position. He left his first job in a row over money, was sacked from the next when Halifax reached a league below us and floundered, and is doing ok (again in the league below us) in his current one. I don't think anyone would argue that if it weren't for his past as a Vale player, we wouldn't be interested (compare the response for Askey getting the job) so I'm presuming a big part of people's desire for him to join is to do with his 'heart' and 'passion' and I don't think that's enough. I think the appointment (if it happens) reeks of short-termism and will quite possibly be disastrous. I've defended Garlick in the past but there's no way it should have come to this.

 

Still, as I said, I'll try and be there on Saturday and hope with every fibre of my being that Aspin can be as much of a Vale legend as John Rudge.

[Shropshire_Valiant]

TBF he didn't 'flounder' with Halifax in the National League he got them within 3 games of the league as they lost in the playoff semi to Cambridge(who went up) Admittedly the wheels fell off a bit the season he was sacked but most managers have a shelf life at any club.

 

At Harrogate no manager has done better than him their since which suggests he was doing something right and before this current season they have made the decision to go full time. That suggests Aspin asking them for more money before he left he wasn't wrong in that they needed to spend a bit more to progress!?

 

I'm not disagreeing with what your saying mr hobblesworth but as I said yesterday you can dress managers records up both ways to suite either argument.

 

Aspin wouldn't be my first choice BUT when I consider some of the names being banned about I'd take him like a shot!

[bomber]

We all like to see silky football! However look what Pulis has given stoke ! I am sorry but I will accept any kind of football to get out of this downward spiral and reignite the club. It is a results business, if it means ugly football for a while so be it,at least it will be in the football league,

[PVFC764]

Sorry, but I just see it as another Vale Legend that will end up becoming ridiculed and hated by becoming a Vale Manager when things go wrong and it will do at some stage. You know at some stage being a football manager things will not go to plan and fans will call for the sacking of you. All the fans wanted someone with experience of Lg 1 and 2 at least. Just hope this is not a do on the cheap again and it will work for the Vale.

 

Just hope when he is made manager it is a very long and productive one. Seeing Smurf said he has not been in touch and will never happen, it will happen and possibly before the Newcastle game tonight to bring some cheer to us fans.

[Valiant in Brum]

If he is a Tony Pulis then I hope he achieves the same success here as Pulis did at Stoke ;).

[tisdeano]

Accrington beat us beacause they were a well organised team working hard for each other.

 

Im very confident Aspin, if its him will get us playing the same.

 

We need the ship steadying, we need some direction and most of all we need a man manager and motivator, for me Aspo fits the bill

[mr.hobblesworth]

TBF he didn't 'flounder' with Halifax in the National League he got them within 3 games of the league as they lost in the playoff semi to Cambridge(who went up) Admittedly the wheels fell off a bit the season he was sacked but most managers have a shelf life at any club.

 

"He was sacked on 17 September 2015 following what the board described as "a prolonged period of indifferent results stretching back to February 2015" " Sounds a lot like floundering to me.

 

At Harrogate no manager has done better than him their since which suggests he was doing something right and before this current season they have made the decision to go full time. That suggests Aspin asking them for more money before he left he wasn't wrong in that they needed to spend a bit more to progress!?

 

Fair enough.

 

I'm not disagreeing with what your saying mr hobblesworth but as I said yesterday you can dress managers records up both ways to suite either argument.

 

Aspin wouldn't be my first choice BUT when I consider some of the names being banned about I'd take him like a shot!

 

I don't want any (well, most) of the names bandied about either but that doesn't mean we have to accept Aspin. IMO, as soon as it became apparent that Brown wasn't working out (and that's ignoring the fact that he should never have been given the job in the first place), the powers that be, whether that be Smurthwaite or Garlick should have been compiling a list of potential managers for when the inevitable happened. We could have had someone ready to go at least a week ago and also spent some time courting decent out of work people rather than playing pathetic games on Twitter and in the press. If we'd taken this approach, then we'd have been in a much stronger position to get someone like Chris Powell or Richard Money rather than an average non-league manager. I believe it's us that's appointed Aspin (if it happens), not Norman. If this goes **** up (as I fear it might) he'd be well within his rights to state that he gave 'us' what we wanted.

[carpetman123]

Its a no brainer for me its got to be ASPIN!! he's managing in a division that is no different to ours at the moment, the top ten clubs in the National League now a lot have gone full time would hold their own in league 2 without a doubt

 

His teams have all done well and it gives him 3 months to assess the squad and see what and who he needs in with the supposed backing from Norman in Jan, who knows with his knowledge of the National League he could bring in a gem from there

 

Go on Norman do the right thing and give us all a lift!!

[mr.hobblesworth]

And just to address the talk about whether it would be worth to have Pulis style football with Pulis style results, I'd say no. We are desperate for fans, our current lot are currently literally dying off. Who is going to watch lower league hoofball when there's Premiership football a few miles away for about the same price? Also shouldn't we be attracting a manager who will play the Vale way rather than changing our style to suit the incoming man?

 

What ever happened to aspiring? I want to get away from the bottom of this league as much as anyone but we need to have our sights set beyond that. I don't give a fig if Gateshead would beat us; I want to see who we could be beating in a couple of seasons, and I don't think Aspin is the man to steer us in that direction.

[bogie boom years]

Ok a spin but will he bring his own staff or stick with them pair that are there now which I think won't work a think he'll have recruit his own which would make sense any ideas people

 

Sent from my SM-G901F using the onevalefan mobile app

[Rampant Zebra]

The thing is that Aspo may not be the best manager available but he is probably the most likely to want success for the right reasons for the club not just someone seeing it as a stepping stone to a decent job such as most of the out of work managers mentioned.

 

Sent from my Moto G (5) using the onevalefan mobile app

[mr.hobblesworth]

I want a manager who sees us as a stepping stone! I want every manager who comes to us to want to end up managing the best clubs at the highest level. I'd hope that we can keep them with a combination of decent wages and ambition on our part but I don't want anyone who's happy to merely manage a league two side (not that you inferred that).