Smurthwate Meeting Ticket Only

[CAVALIER]

Sold out then. Be an interesting evening .

[the_tench]

looking forward to this,hopefully the clowns amongst us manage to pipe down enough for it to be a worthwhile event.

[Santa]

hopefully the clowns amongst us manage to pipe down enough for it to be a worthwhile event.

Apart from the one everyone's come to listen to.

[Biddulph_PV]

Apart from the one everyone's come to listen to.

 

Hopefully we can find out a bit more about gay footballers, as that seemed to be the main topic at the recent 'meet the manager' if the Sentinel running commentary was anything to go by. Not the more trivial question of how the Hell we are going to stop the club falling into the abyss...

[Jacko51]

Hopefully we can find out a bit more about gay footballers, as that seemed to be the main topic at the recent 'meet the manager' if the Sentinel running commentary was anything to go by. Not the more trivial question of how the Hell we are going to stop the club falling into the abyss...

 

That wasn't a meet the manager, it was run by Kick it Out and was about racism and discrimination in football.

[Biddulph_PV]

That wasn't a meet the manager, it was run by Kick it Out and was about racism and discrimination in football.

 

That'll be why then!

 

All I recall was that considering the Messasiah's of Rudge and Aspin were in attendance we didn't hear much about what was going wrong and how it was going to be rectified. Maybe all will be revealed tomorrow.....along with a flying pig.

[Jacko51]

That'll be why then!

 

All I recall was that considering the Messasiah's of Rudge and Aspin were in attendance we didn't hear much about what was going wrong and how it was going to be rectified. Maybe all will be revealed tomorrow.....along with a flying pig.

 

 

You weren't at the meeting so you surely can't comment on anything other than the snippets in the Sentinel.

[Jacko51]

One thing that was asked at that meeting was whether or not Norman had kept his promises to Aspin. He passed the question on to Rudgie who didn't answer it!

[hamilboy]

I can only say that smurthwaite has got some brassed neck cheek to meet the fans tonight i can imagine that it will turn into a slanging match from the off.This man has promised so much for our long suffering fans through his lies and deceit he has put the vale fans through the worst time in the history of port vale fc.I hope whoever turns up gives him both barrels do not hold back let him know how much this club means to the fanbase of our club i dare not go tonight because i'm so angry that i would totally lose it with him.

[rsb]

The owner will say about the manager the fans asked for him so I got him for the fans don't blame me.

[Doha]

I was strongly considering the 3hr round trip to go but the tickets are sold out.

 

Will anyone be streaming it live? I know a few lads do it on their phones during games. If anyone has an iPad or whatever it's possible with the free youtube app to stream stuff live to youtube, the benefits being the video is archived afterwards rather that being lost when the stream is finished.

[onestepatatime]

Is the meeting on the radio, as Smurthwaite has insisted they attend?

[Family Stand Terrier]

Last night saw the first sub 3k home fans for a league game at Vale Park for a very long time. I think the last time was a home match v Yeovil in 08. I may be wrong.

 

Hopefully this was a one off, as it's not like we could really use the excuse that Champions League was on, or that the weather was horrific (it was cold, but nothing more than to be expected for a winter night match).

 

My worry however is that this is the first evidence of the often predicted decline of our hard core support. Is it finally becoming a reality. You could usually rely on over 3k, regardless of the circumstances. But as has been predicted and posted about on here for a good few years now, there are many reasons for us to worry long term; we have an aging fan base, Stoke's ability to aggressively market on our traditional patches, the cost of watching Vale being similar to the cost of watching Stoke, Vale's poor investment into the whole modern stadium experience in the 21st Century, non existent customer database, non existent marketing, lack of innovative pricing promotions, and the huge issue of having a very poor product to sell on the pitch.

 

I've seen many posts on facebook recently about older Vale fans that have passed away. That's only over a short period of time, but longer term these fans simply aren't being replaced by a new generation of young Vale fans. These issues have been raised to people at the club, Norman was made aware of the concerns the last time he had a stint on here. His reply was incredibly vague and I genuinely don't think he grasped the risk we were facing at the time. For me I think that's a further reflection that he's never viewed the Vale as a long term project. He wanted a quick return, and the future problems that may or may not materialise were of no concern to him.

 

Maybe this is an over reaction on my part, and hopefully last night was a one off, but now more than ever we need someone running the club that looks upon it as a long term project, to secure an integral feature of a community that it has been a part of for over 140 years.

 

We are fortunate to have the stadium that we have, but we have to be geared up to get as many people into it as possible. Whilst the product on the pitch is so poor, surely the only way to do that is by seriously reducing the price, and gearing up to generate increased match day revenue through increased attendances.

 

A lot of this won't be for Smurthwaite on Thursday, is I think the whole notion is lost on him. My point for posting is more to highlight the man's legacy. Not only are we at our lowest ebb for decades, his incompetence has led us to the brink of ceasing to exist. I honestly think our situation is that serious, and last night's attendance, for me, is potentially evidence of that.

[Heatwave]

Last night saw the first sub 3k home fans for a league game at Vale Park for a very long time. I think the last time was a home match v Yeovil in 08. I may be wrong.

 

Hopefully this was a one off, as it's not like we could really use the excuse that Champions League was on, or that the weather was horrific (it was cold, but nothing more than to be expected for a winter night match).

 

My worry however is that this is the first evidence of the often predicted decline of our hard core support. Is it finally becoming a reality. You could usually rely on over 3k, regardless of the circumstances. But as has been predicted and posted about on here for a good few years now, there are many reasons for us to worry long term; we have an aging fan base, Stoke's ability to aggressively market on our traditional patches, the cost of watching Vale being similar to the cost of watching Stoke, Vale's poor investment into the whole modern stadium experience in the 21st Century, non existent customer database, non existent marketing, lack of innovative pricing promotions, and the huge issue of having a very poor product to sell on the pitch.

 

I've seen many posts on facebook recently about older Vale fans that have passed away. That's only over a short period of time, but longer term these fans simply aren't being replaced by a new generation of young Vale fans. These issues have been raised to people at the club, Norman was made aware of the concerns the last time he had a stint on here. His reply was incredibly vague and I genuinely don't think he grasped the risk we were facing at the time. For me I think that's a further reflection that he's never viewed the Vale as a long term project. He wanted a quick return, and the future problems that may or may not materialise were of no concern to him.

 

Maybe this is an over reaction on my part, and hopefully last night was a one off, but now more than ever we need someone running the club that looks upon it as a long term project, to secure an integral feature of a community that it has been a part of for over 140 years.

 

We are fortunate to have the stadium that we have, but we have to be geared up to get as many people into it as possible. Whilst the product on the pitch is so poor, surely the only way to do that is by seriously reducing the price, and gearing up to generate increased match day revenue through increased attendances.

 

A lot of this won't be for Smurthwaite on Thursday, is I think the whole notion is lost on him. My point for posting is more to highlight the man's legacy. Not only are we at our lowest ebb for decades, his incompetence has led us to the brink of ceasing to exist. I honestly think our situation is that serious, and last night's attendance, for me, is potentially evidence of that.

 

You're either too young or have a short memory, but we regularly pulled in sub-3000 gates in the late 70s/early 80s, when we were last in this position. I take your point about younger fans not being attracted to Vale but it was the same then as well - a situation that turned round when we started improving under John McGrath and Rudgey.

 

Don't order the wreath just yet. Hopefully he'll be telling us that he's sold the club to someone who'll take us forward.

[Howjy04]

The owner will say about the manager the fans asked for him so I got him for the fans don't blame me.

 

And Micky Adams told him to give to the fans what they want- Aspo.Neil will become a double legend.