Match Thread: Cheltenham Town v Port Vale

[Hagrid]

One chant of 'Norman Smurthwaite, get out of our club' on Tuesday would lift my gloom a tiny bit.

 

I'm not particularly boisterous and don't sit in the Paddock but I hope someone starts it, I'll happily join in.

 

I'd be an improvement on the inevitable silence and if we go down, I at least want the clown to feel uncomfortable.

[Bert Llewellyn]

I've been a critic of Smurf but it's not his fault this time, he gave what 99% of fans wanted in the dream team of Aspin and Rudge but they have proven to be completely clueless and believe it or not we have actually got worse after a brief upturn now are destined for non league after decades in the league. Most disappointing from a personal point of view is I dreamed of my son being Vale mad like I was when my dad first took me matches but he doesn't want go at all having been a couple of matches

 

Sent from my [device_name] using the http://onevalefan mobile app

 

Did he f##k he appointed them and didn’t deliver in the transfer window

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using the onevalefan mobile app

[mickyferns]

Honestly mate, have you been drinking? You are fully entitled to your opinion but reading a lot of your posts I have to say mine is almost the complete opposite.

That's fair enough that's why we love discussing the game but no denying most were happy when Smurf gave us Aspin and Rudge surely? I dislike Smurf on just about every level but on this occasion he gave us what most wanted but they have proved to be a disaster so I don't blame him.

 

Sent from my [device_name] using the http://onevalefan mobile app

[Hagrid]

I know he's hardly covering himself in glory these days but I feel so sorry for Aspo.

 

You hear in interviews, and on one occasion when I spoke to him, how much this club means to him, how much he understands Vale fans, and how bad he'll be hurting tonight.

 

I imagine Smurf will be doing doughnuts in his Tesla in Coventry, smoking a fat cigar paid for by Hugill, without a care in the world.

 

If it was a mercenary manager with no affiliation I wouldn't be bothered, but Aspo is a genuinely decent bloke who has an affinity with the club. Makes it a whole lot worse.

 

This isn't me saying he hasn't ballsed up recently, but he showed what he could do in December. He's a good manager.

[PVTony]

Chelt. have one of the weakest defences in L1 and the Vale couldn't score against them except from the penalty spot.

 

Couldn't even score against Morecambe a club in the bottom five with a poor defence.

 

We can't score and we have a useless defence.

 

Relegation is looming.

[Mario]

The answer to that is yes - you could be a supporter of Sjoke.

 

Sounds like Aspin is reading the riot act to them - so don't expect to hear much from him tonight. Radio Sjoke has just read out a text which had a good point. Get Aspin to ask the players who actually want to play for Vale. Those who say no - get rid of them now. Drastic but all players who put on the shirt should give it 100% - the fans do.

 

P&G a complete waste of time from a Vale perspective Stoke callers going on and on and on and dont get me started on this peeping your horn if your on the car park and you think Jessie is a Jessie

[CambridgeDon]

Just seen the score - first time I've not followed the Vale through a game for a long time. What a disgraceful result. We're done. If we lose like this against a team that's out of form and short of four or five players, what chance do we stand? Can't see where the next win is coming from.

 

It's obvious where the blame lies. For too long, we've had so-called leadership with no understanding of football, no sense of footballing priorities, no footballing strategy, little or no integrity or transparency, and what's worse, a penny-pinching cost cutting approach despite all the promises to make good the mistakes of the past. Well, they've been repeated, with a complete failure to make the necessary resources available to improve the squad. And we can see the result.

 

The worst thing is that, even after Aspin's appointment, you could see all this coming a mile off. Having pulled the side together and got us on a superb winning streak, the first thing the club does when Aspin tells them he needs their support is to tell him they won't breach the pay structure. The pay structure, when we're looking down the relegation barrel! This issue isn't the player, it's the impact that this had on the team - we haven't won since - and it just shows how little the top management of this club understand about the fragility of team morale when you're in a relegation struggle and need to support, not undermine the manager. It sent a terrible message to the players. Mark my words, this is going to be one of the watershed moments of our season.

 

I think I'm done - after decades of supporting the Vale, I don't think I can bring myself to step into Vale Park again until Smurthwaite is gone. If you're reading this, Norman, I hope you understand what you've done to this great club.

[mickyferns]

Did he f##k he appointed them and didn’t deliver in the transfer window

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using the onevalefan mobile app

I agree it's disappointing we didn't sign more quality but we still have players that teams at this level including Cheltenham can only dream of, the likes of Pope, Worral, Whitfield, Smith, Raglan, Forrester are all beyond them but they have a better team cus they have a good experianced manager

 

Sent from my [device_name] using the http://onevalefan mobile app

[Hagrid]

That's fair enough that's why we love discussing the game but no denying most were happy when Smurf gave us Aspin and Rudge surely? I dislike Smurf on just about every level but on this occasion he gave us what most wanted but they have proved to be a disaster so I don't blame him.

 

Sent from my [device_name] using the http://onevalefan mobile app

 

There's no point in appointing a decent manager if you don't back him, despite making over 2m in 12 months, and leave Tony ******* Fradley in charge of the club.

 

We're in limbo; being drip-fed funds to stave off extinction but not enough for anything above woeful football, woeful crowds, and woeful existence. He won't let us go bump as he's got too much money tied up, but he isn't bothered about doing good for the sake of Port Vale. We're simply existing; football for the sake of football, nothing to look forward to, lots to dread. No ambition, no excitement, no optimism. All because one clown got annoyed when we got knocked out the cup by Exeter a few years back, and has veered from calamity to catastrophe ever since.

 

Its the most frustrating, horrendous time to a Vale fan. Maybe I'm being hyperbolic but all my life (bar 2012/13-2015) we've been rubbish. I've had enough.

[Alkie]

The answer to that is yes - you could be a supporter of Sjoke.

 

Sounds like Aspin is reading the riot act to them - so don't expect to hear much from him tonight. Radio Sjoke has just read out a text which had a good point. Get Aspin to ask the players who actually want to play for Vale. Those who say no - get rid of them now. Drastic but all players who put on the shirt should give it 100% - the fans do.

 

Oddly the same words were posed on here a few pages ago by philpvfc.

 

Think I'd be tempted to send the team bus home and let the players find their own way home.

[elav trop 1876]

Are we weaker you really think? Last year yes, this year I’d argue we arent. Not that smurf has done any decent investment but Anderson and Gunning were very average at best. It just happened the squad was playing consistently well and made them look good solid. Anderson is a carthorse and Gunning is just a league 2 journeyman. We got rid of a lot of deadwood and brought in some players with potential as well as players to replace the above. Our down turn in form isn’t down to those two leaving it’s a drop in form across the squad really. Whitfield, Gibbons, Montano, Smith and both keepers have seen major drops in consistency of their performances coupled with us having some ***** luck and we are where we are. being a total unknown quantity under Aspin to start with gave us a run of games where we were difficult to prepare for now teams have scouted us and know what to expect. We are predictable and slow across the middle of the pitch and teams play round Kay and Tonge like statues. That system doesn’t work and needs changing. I wouldn’t say we are weaker due to transfers I’d say we’ve been found out

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using the onevalefan mobile app

 

Anderson is a carthorse and gunning very average you say ,, would love a carthorse and an average player ==shame we cant afford one eh - who wants a clean sheet and a settled defence

 

at some point matt you have to look at the personnel and ask the question why have we got them (the manager approached 30+ ctr backs)??

[PVFC764]

P&G a complete waste of time from a Vale perspective Stoke callers going on and on and on and dont get me started on this peeping your horn if your on the car park and you think Jessie is a Jessie

 

P&G is very biased and totally sjoke related, but they did have a few Vale fans on for once - which is a total surprise. Listen to it to hear our manager sum up the game.

 

Some light relief is listening to the Sjoke fans thinking they should be in the Prem because they are a big club. Makes you laugh.

[philpvfc]

They are a bigger club than 3 or 4 other teams in the Premiership with at least 10 clubs bigger than them outside of the Premiership but I’m sure the vast majority of Stoke fans can’t do the maths.

[vale on toower]

Didner think we should have played both Tongue n Kay and we finish with neither

And the ref was biblically the wos

 

Sent from my [device_name] using the http://onevalefan mobile app

[Mattholl]

There's no point in appointing a decent manager if you don't back him, despite making over 2m in 12 months, and leave Tony ******* Fradley in charge of the club.

 

We're in limbo; being drip-fed funds to stave off extinction but not enough for anything above woeful football, woeful crowds, and woeful existence. He won't let us go bump as he's got too much money tied up, but he isn't bothered about doing good for the sake of Port Vale. We're simply existing; football for the sake of football, nothing to look forward to, lots to dread. No ambition, no excitement, no optimism. All because one clown got annoyed when we got knocked out the cup by Exeter a few years back, and has veered from calamity to catastrophe ever since.

 

Its the most frustrating, horrendous time to a Vale fan. Maybe I'm being hyperbolic but all my life (bar 2012/13-2015) we've been rubbish. I've had enough.

 

This same stupid phrase again and again ‘backing the manager’. Not backing a manager is not allowing them to sign anyone and making them sell players. Very few of any managers in league 1 and 2 have been able to purchase players (pay a fee) in the summer let alone January. Aspin has been allowed to release players and pay up contracts, he’s signed 5 players, 3 of which involve a fee of some kind (pennies but a fee all the same). If you went to 95% of managers in our league and said right mate it’s January you can pay up the contracts of 2-3 players and bring in 5 most would snap your hand off.

 

Aspin has come into a situation he knew 100% about when he joined the club so all this nonsense about must be ready to quit because he hasn’t been backed is twoddle. Aspin knee his squad was poor (it was in the bottom 2 in the entire football league when he took over), he knew his budget had restrictions to it because of the size of the squad and he knew his job was keep them up.

 

Backing a manager is not making him work solely with what he has now and you will go with some of his ideas and wanted players, it’s not paying massively over the odds for a very limited pool of players and wasting money on 1-2 players that can be used to get 4-5 in the summer

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using the onevalefan mobile app