To provide a little balance - The budget

[onestepatatime]

I don't believe a single word that comes out of the club these days.

Afraid I feel the same. So many attempts at hoodwinking the very sole of the Club, us fans. Anyone believing anything that is uttered/twittered/Facebooked or any other means from the Owner or his management team live in a different world to me. No amount of bullcrap or comments coming out of Vale can convince me otherwise that all means are being exercised in attempts to brainwash the fans and get them to stand down on any protests. Pathetic. Only one thing is factual....that is this Club can go nowhere with the unliked, untrustworthy person currently in charge.

[TheSage]

I don't find that anything to crow about and it's probably about right but I'd guess we were more like 13th or 14th than 10th in the list.

I don't think anyone has ever said our budget is lower than the likes of Morecambe & Macclesfield, so what is the point of it all? To defend NS I suppose.

 

I would estimate roughly that the following all have a higher budget than us -

 

Lincoln City

Mansfield

Bury

Forest Green

Carlisle

MK Dons

Colchester

Notts County

Swindon

Oldham

Northampton

Crawley

 

We're probably in the next group of teams like -

 

Exeter

Port Vale

Tranmere

Stevenage

Grimsby

Newport

 

And then there's -

 

Crewe

Cheltenham

Cambridge

Yeovil

Morecambe

Macclesfield

 

Of course, it isn't only the budget that determines transfers but also the reputation of the Club and the owner.

And we of course have had the Hugill windfall that most others haven't had.

[PV1993]

The article reports that we have the 'tenth biggest budget' but Garlick actually states it is top ten, so it could really be higher than that.

 

This is a budget that basically comes from our own means with no help from the chairman, so if we had someone competent at the top we would be top oend of this league, like we should be with our size.

 

However, you still can't legislate for Aspin if we do have a top ten budget - he should really have bought better. When you look at the squad, it's not hard to see where money is being wasted:

 

Goalkeepers:

 

Scott Brown

Sam Hornby

 

Defenders:

 

James Gibbons (RB)

Mitch Clark (RB - in on loan)

Leon Legge (CB)

Connell Rawlinson (CB)

Nathan Smith (CB)

Theo Vassell (CB)

Joe Davis (CB)

Kyle Howkins (CB - in on loan)

Adam Crookes (CB/LB - in on loan)

 

Midfielders:

 

David Worrall (RW)

Harry Benns (RW - out on loan?)

Anthony Kay (CDM)

Luke Joyce (CDM)

Manny Oyeleke (CM)

Tom Conlon (CM)

Luke Hannant (CM)

Danny Pugh (CM)

Michael Tongue (CM)

Callum Whelan (CM - in on loan)

Mike Calveley (CM - out on loan)

Cristian Montano (LW)

Ben Whitfield (CAM)

Toby Edser (??? - in on loan)

Daniel Trickett-Smith (??? - out on loan)

 

Attack:

 

Tom Pope

Ricky Miller

Danny Elliott

Mark Harris (in on loan)

Dan Turner

Dior Angus (out on loan)

 

32 players there and very little width. Aspin can spot a player but he didn't have a clue what positions to fill. Shame Askey couldn't come in at the start of the window because if he likes wingers he's in for a surprise. Looking at that team, I'd say that budget is wasted.

[RailwayRowdy]

I don't believe a single word that comes out of the club these days.

 

Here, here Smugsy !

 

If anyone from Vale told me today was Wednesday, I’d still check the calendar first.

 

Even if this were to be true (which I doubt) it means sweet FA without quoting figures. Vale’s budget could still be puss poor, but 14 clubs budget is even lower !

 

To me, this is yet again another non story from Smurfthwaite’s puppet.

[cheshirevaliant]

It might be true, I suspect TheSage's figures are probably not far off. The issue is who is spending the budget. Why are we the only club with successive managers scouting the sixth tier of the Spanish league?

[valefan16]

Carlisle have a low budget as they pretty much rinsed the budget in the summer according to their fans hence losing a lot of players.

 

Crawley's wont be that high these days.

 

Our budget I have no doubt is probably top ten but the issue is its been spent on a bloated squad again and deadwood like Davis, Tonge etc who are not getting a look in the team.

[valeparklife]

Having 30+ players on a small wage isn't the same as having 23 on a decent wage.

 

Smurthwaite promised quality over quantity (again).

 

Yet again we have quantity over qualify.

[mattyboolay]

WOW!! Bragging about having a top 10 budget in the 4th Division

 

Smurthwaite/Garlic (Liars Inc) Pathetic!

[Cheeky Cheddy Whites]

If we believe this top 10 budget claim, then surely the recruitment process comes into question? Player acquisition has followed the same process for multiple seasons, under multiple managers... including last weeks debacle where we had no manager in place. Its proven that Smurthwaite likes quantity over quality. And if you factor in the cost cutting behind the scenes - no physio, short on coaches, club shop, kit, transfer money not materialising etc, I'd be mortified if the playing budget wasn't in the top half of this league.

[Santa]

Perhaps the term 'playing budget' means something completely different to the Leicester Lothario.

[Family Stand Terrier]

Top 10 budget confirmed for the league so hardly doing things on the cheap;

https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/port-vale-playing-budget-garlick-2512993

 

Might not suit everyone’s views and agendas but it’s clear from this it’s the players and management this season that have significantly underperformed.

 

(That said Garlick calls Askey a young man so is he really great with numbers? 😂)

 

Despite the fact that this has been explained to you, and others that defend Smurthwaite, numerous times, it just doesn't seem to sink in. I have no doubt our budget is top 10, however that's clearly not the issue. The club, for years now, has gone for quantity over quality. It was something Page was accused of. In his last interview with Radio Stoke Page raised this very issue, it was before the Walsall game. He said we needed a smaller squad with more quality. Days later he left. We then had Bruno. Huge squad, no quality. We had Brown, huge squad, no quality. Aspin, huge squad, no quality.

 

Are you seriously trying to tell me that each of those Managers came in and thought to themselves, I've just replaced someone that went with a huge squad lacking quality....I tell you what this club needs, a huge squad with no quality?

 

There's been one consistent feature during that time, Mr Norman Smurthwaite. This is a man that said for the money Pope gets he could get 2 Tom Popes. Now surely there's a big fat massive clue as to the driving force behind this clubs recruitment policy. I didn't think Gunning was Messi, by any means, but our manager wanted to keep him, and we lost out. Why? It was, the wage structure. We've lost out on numerous players over the last few years and time and time again we hear the term, wage structure.

 

The reason behind this is blatantly obvious. Smurthwaite wants another cheap player, that he can get millions for. Another Hugill. It doesn't matter if the club plummets down the leagues in the meantime. His motivation is clear. Get loads of players in for next to nothing, in the hope that one of them will turn out to be worth a fortune. Not to Vale, but to Norman Smurthwaite.

 

It's pretty simple stuff, it's pretty blantantly obvious...and yet, it just doesn't seem to sink in with you does it REP?

[The Kalamazoo Kid]

Now surely there's a big fat massive clue as to the driving force behind this clubs recruitment policy. Smurthwaite wants another cheap player, that he can get millions for. Another Hugill. It doesn't matter if the club plummets down the leagues in the meantime. His motivation is clear. Get loads of players in for next to nothing, in the hope that one of them will turn out to be worth a fortune. Not to Vale, but to Norman Smurthwaite.

 

Absolutely bang on (I would add "the money" to the end of that, but Smurthwaite's taken it all!)

[Robbie Earle's Perm]

Having 30+ players on a small wage isn't the same as having 23 on a decent wage.

 

Yet again we have quantity over qualify.

 

Couldn’t agree more. Sadly it seems when you appoint inexperienced managers they don’t trust their judgement on players so always go for as many options as possible in case the players they want fail.

 

Inexperienced league managers (the last 4 failures) and massive squads clearly isn’t the way to go and waste good budgets.

[Santa]

Couldn’t agree more. Sadly it seems when you appoint inexperienced managers they don’t trust their judgement on players so always go for as many options as possible in case the players they want fail.

 

Inexperienced league managers (the last 4 failures) and massive squads clearly isn’t the way to go and waste good budgets.

How unlucky must Sex Man have been to employ three or four managers who all make exactly the same mistake? Especially the later ones who knew it was the downfall of their predecessor?

[valeparklife]

Couldn’t agree more. Sadly it seems when you appoint inexperienced managers they don’t trust their judgement on players so always go for as many options as possible in case the players they want fail.

 

Inexperienced league managers (the last 4 failures) and massive squads clearly isn’t the way to go and waste good budgets.

This seems to happen every year, it's like those managers spend the budget but without recruiting all positions.

 

Didn't Page spend the budget but without signing any strikers?

 

And last summer Aspin started the season without any natural left backs.

 

I hope Askey has some common sense about him I really do.

 

Surely creating a squad is as simple as having 2 players for each position then some youth/chancers to bulk out in case of injuries and suspensions?

 

Why do we always get it so wrong?