the club has no ambition part 2

[Mellor!]

I'm no fan of Norman but I fail to see who else could come in and have the finance to take the club forward.

 

Better the devil you know?

 

If you sit in the Railway Stand, have a look behind you on Saturday.

[joey_pvfc]

We have Stockport county written all over us, ever since smurfwaites been at vale we've been going back wards, he does not care about port vale FC, he will be the death of our club.

[old sage]

I'm no fan of Norman but I fail to see who else could come in and have the finance to take the club forward.

 

Better the devil you know?

There are several clubs with a lower fanbase and a small budget who are thriving Accy, Burton being just a couple of standout examples. The truth is wise management of the club at the top can take you a long way forward. I believe our current reputation as a football club makes it hard to attract decent quality players simply because of our owner.

[RailwayRowdy]

There are several clubs with a lower fanbase and a small budget who are thriving Accy, Burton being just a couple of standout examples. The truth is wise management of the club at the top can take you a long way forward. I believe our current reputation as a football club makes it hard to attract decent quality players simply because of our owner.

 

I agree with your opening points totally. But I have to slightly disagree with your comments about players not signing because of Smurfthwaite. The problem as I see it is that Aspin can’t afford to pay the “going rate” due to the amount spent on the countless quantities of dead wood brought in by the owner himself and then Brown latterly. Over 30 professionals for a club of Vale’s size is ridiculous. If Aspin can discard of 30%-40% (and he’s made a good start) this should free up funds for a good overhaul in the summer when he WILL attract players. But can we finish the season outside the bottom 2 with the current crop? I think we will, but it could be tight. Just pray that Pope stays injury free.

[Smugsy]

I don't think the fact we have no ambition is the problem. The problem is we continue to be a poorly run club. We can't continue on our current six monthly cycle of bringing in a load of new players and getting rid of our better players. This started with Bruno then we had last year's disastrous transfer window. Brown did it again in the summer now it's Aspo's turn. It simply does not work. I think our problems started with our beloved Chairman's ridiculous statement at the start of last season where he said if we were not in the top six at Christmas then he'd blow the whole thing up and for once he was true to his word. We've been on a constant player merry go round ever since.

[Santa]

I agree with your opening points totally. But I have to slightly disagree with your comments about players not signing because of Smurfthwaite. The problem as I see it is that Aspin can’t afford to pay the “going rate” due to the amount spent on the countless quantities of dead wood brought in by the owner himself and then Brown latterly.

It's both those things. I don't know how much NA and JR have been able to repair our reputation yet.

 

I don't think the fact we have no ambition is the problem. The problem is we continue to be a poorly run club.

Pretty much this.

[Paul6754]

The management team and the players have ambition, problem is the man supposedly with the cash sits around twiddling his thumbs.

 

Th only conclusions to draw are he isn't bothered about the club, he's hit on harder times and wants to conserve his cash or he's just not paying attention.

[Paul6754]

I agree with your opening points totally. But I have to slightly disagree with your comments about players not signing because of Smurfthwaite. The problem as I see it is that Aspin can’t afford to pay the “going rate” due to the amount spent on the countless quantities of dead wood brought in by the owner himself and then Brown latterly. Over 30 professionals for a club of Vale’s size is ridiculous. If Aspin can discard of 30%-40% (and he’s made a good start) this should free up funds for a good overhaul in the summer when he WILL attract players. But can we finish the season outside the bottom 2 with the current crop? I think we will, but it could be tight. Just pray that Pope stays injury free.

 

I agree with the opinion you give above on Smurf/players 'cause plenty of players have signed since Smurfgate.

 

However, I don't go along with the often quoted phrase of 30 players plus or minus a few is too many for a club like Vale. The club plays over 50 games a season not counting reserve games.

 

A match day squad is 18 quality players good enough for the league Vale are playing in, add to that 2 or 3 who may be out of form and shouldn't be in the match day squad, allow up to 3 players out due to injury at any one time, an extra goalkeeper to make 3, 6 or so younger players for the future and that's 30ish players already and not allowing for or guarding against the comings and goings the like seen with Gunning and Anderson.

 

IMHO The damage to the squad was done by Smurf and Bruno. Michael Brown signed some good players, Pope, Worrall, Tonge, Anderson, Gunning, Kay, whitfield, I could go on. MB signed some players that didn't work out but there isn't a football manager ever that has a 100% success rate in signing players who've worked out. MB's biggest mmistake was the goalkeeper signings.

[Erniemossrules]

I agree with the opinion you give above on Smurf/players 'cause plenty of players have signed since Smurfgate.

 

However, I don't go along with the often quoted phrase of 30 players plus or minus a few is too many for a club like Vale. The club plays over 50 games a season not counting reserve games.

 

A match day squad is 18 quality players good enough for the league Vale are playing in, add to that 2 or 3 who may be out of form and shouldn't be in the match day squad, allow up to 3 players out due to injury at any one time, an extra goalkeeper to make 3, 6 or so younger players for the future and that's 30ish players already and not allowing for or guarding against the comings and goings the like seen with Gunning and Anderson.

 

IMHO The damage to the squad was done by Smurf and Bruno. Michael Brown signed some good players, Pope, Worrall, Tonge, Anderson, Gunning, Kay, whitfield, I could go on. MB signed some players that didn't work out but there isn't a football manager ever that has a 100% success rate in signing players who've worked out. MB's biggest mmistake was the goalkeeper signings.

 

Baldrick Brown is totally responsible for taking us down into Div 2.We were 6 points clear of relegation when he took over and somehow he managed to get us relegated with his poor team selection and tactics.Then Garlick gave him the Managers job even though he was useless and he managed to get get 5 points from 11 games.Good riddance and you still had idiots saying give him until Christmas to turn it round.Thank God for Neil Aspin.

[philpvfc]

30 squad players for Port Vale is too many. We shouldn’t have any more than 24 with some youngsters coming through but not squad players. We should be loaning players as we need them to cover for injuries or for players we just cannot buy. We have by far the largest squad in the division and the majority would not get in to any other first team in this division.

[john1952]

31 players of which yates and Knops injured Slinn Kelly Walford Dennis Reeves Calveley Regis Turner and Angus not being considered leaves 20 plus new signing Raglan 21 playersfc

[Paul6754]

31 players of which yates and Knops injured Slinn Kelly Walford Dennis Reeves Calveley Regis Turner and Angus not being considered leaves 20 plus new signing Raglan 21 playersfc

 

Exactly, just over the number of available, fit League quality players to make a match day squad, the number goes up and down during the season. If vale had to use unproven youngsters to make up the 18 player match day squad the same people would be saying the club has no ambition. I doubt any of the above players (Slinn to Turner) are on mega bucks and so would hardly make a scratch on the playing budget.

[Heatwave]

Perhaps you aren't looking hard enough??

 

Who would you suggest that hasn't already been ruled out because they don't have a pot to pizh in?

[Paul6754]

Baldrick Brown is totally responsible for taking us down into Div 2.

 

We've had this discussion before but anyhow; So Smurf and Bruno take no responsibility? Who was it that loaded the 1st team squad with 12 players not good enough to play in The National League never mind Lge 1 or 2.....was that Michael Brown or was it someone else.....possibly Bruno or the Mousallati guy

 

We were 6 points clear of relegation when he took over

Yeh something like that but dropping like a stone, Vale would have been well adrift and rock bottom by end Jan 2017 if Bruno had stayed.

 

somehow he managed to get us relegated with his poor team selection and tactics.Then Garlick gave him the Managers job even though he was useless and he managed to get get 5 points from 11 games.Good riddance and you still had idiots saying give him until Christmas to turn it round.Thank God for Neil Aspin.

 

Vale were relegated on the last day of the 2016/17 season. I'm not making a case for Michael Brown but just pointing out reality.

[RailwayRowdy]

I agree with the opinion you give above on Smurf/players 'cause plenty of players have signed since Smurfgate.

 

However, I don't go along with the often quoted phrase of 30 players plus or minus a few is too many for a club like Vale. The club plays over 50 games a season not counting reserve games.

 

A match day squad is 18 quality players good enough for the league Vale are playing in, add to that 2 or 3 who may be out of form and shouldn't be in the match day squad, allow up to 3 players out due to injury at any one time, an extra goalkeeper to make 3, 6 or so younger players for the future and that's 30ish players already and not allowing for or guarding against the comings and goings the like seen with Gunning and Anderson.

 

IMHO The damage to the squad was done by Smurf and Bruno. Michael Brown signed some good players, Pope, Worrall, Tonge, Anderson, Gunning, Kay, whitfield, I could go on. MB signed some players that didn't work out but there isn't a football manager ever that has a 100% success rate in signing players who've worked out. MB's biggest mmistake was the goalkeeper signings.

 

In Vale’s last two promotion years of 1994 & 2013 we only used 22 and 28 players respectively in total for the whole season and that even included loan players. At the start of this season we had something like 35 professional players of our own on the books ! I normally agree with pretty much all your comments, but on this one the facts show we have far too many pro’s than is necessary which in turn eats up too much of an already meagre budget.