Of course after Popey had floored him in the first week he might come into line and be an asset. If Askey made that call I’d back his judgement.

 

17 hours ago, Paul6754 said:

Would like to have seen Will Atkinson offered a contract, decent player at this level and can cover at Right Back, maybe he's one of the players Carol said Vale would have liked to keep but financial reasons dictated otherwise. Pleased Luke Joyce has accepted, would love to see Jake Taylor and Mitch Clarke back on loan next season if funds are available. Hope all the 7 players offered contracts accept.

 

It would be amazing if we could get Taylor and Clarke back but you never know. There's been a paradigm shift with coronavirus and clubs, players and fans will all have to change their expectations. As we've seen this season, many lower league clubs are already struggling and those that have spent beyond their means are going to find that they can't cope any longer. We may also find that even premiership and championship clubs will be releasing many more players than previously and moving to much smaller squad size. 

So we are going to see the unexpected and attracting the calibre of players we could previously not have afforded may indeed become a reality.  

Don't want to even guess at wages .

But I'd still prefer to kick a ball around for 9 months a year on 700 quid a week than work 50 weeks a year for 400 quid. 

Hopefully players are now more realistic and also society as a whole shouldn't mean that driving around a race track entitles you to 50 million in the bank even if you come 12th every race. Likewise scoring 25 a season for Liverpool doesn't mean 150 grand a week is right.

We'll see if society changes , I very much doubt it but the life of a lower league player has to change otherwise they won't have a job. 

I get what people say about McKirdy, I was never keen when watching him.

However, one of our model professionals is David Worrall, who I witnesseed (live) swing for a player at the end of the away game at Scunthorpe. People can dispute it with blurry video evidence, but I saw it, and immediately said 'that's him banned'. The bloke had been winding him up for a while and had his part to play but Worrall got a red card and a ban.

Pope got himself needlessly sent off at FGR by getting in the face of a player on the ground, and he was a long-time captain and club legend. Mitch Clark put in a horrendous challenge in the same game and got a deserved red. This is just within the last season.

Point being, footballers do daft things in the heat of the moment. Chucking players over hoardings, diving etc is irritating but its not Gary Roberts levels of lacking professionalism. McKirdy is young, impressionable, full of himself, and probably needs a bit of guidance.

Questions I'd ask; does he train well? Is he reliable? Does he fit into the squad? Does he represent the club well off the pitch?

I'd back our dressing room to sort him out. I'm not that keen on him, mind, but he's the sort of player we lack; 20 goals and assists last season for a p!ss poor team. That bit of guile to help us finish teams off.

Edited May 19, 20206 yr by Joe B

1 hour ago, darren1810 said:

Bellamy, Savage, Speedie for the older ones amongst us.

I wouldn’t compare him to any of those lads. More Ryan Burge.

He minces around with his socks pulled down as a look at me attempt. Get on with the match son. 

More importantly, he’s stoke scum. You don’t risk getting done by the ref for the two handed push of Whitfield over the barrier because you want the throw in 5 seconds quicker. 

Edited May 19, 20206 yr by Doha

9 minutes ago, Joe B said:

I get what people say about McKirdy, I was never keen when watching him.

However, one of our model professionals is David Worrall, who I witnesseed (live) swing for a player at the end of the away game at Scunthorpe. People can dispute it with blurry video evidence, but I saw it, and immediately said 'that's him banned'. The bloke had been winding him up for a while and had his part to play but Worrall got a red card and a ban.

Pope got himself needlessly sent off at FGR by getting in the face of a player on the ground, and he was a long-time captain and club legend. Mitch Clark put in a horrendous challenge in the same game and got a deserved red. This is just within the last season.

Point being, footballers do daft things in the heat of the moment. Chucking players over hoardings, diving etc is irritating but its not Gary Roberts levels of lacking professionalism. McKirdy is young, impressionable, full of himself, and probably needs a bit of guidance.

Questions I'd ask; does he train well? Is he reliable? Does he fit into the squad? Does he represent the club well off the pitch?

I'd back our dressing room to sort him out. I'm not that keen on him, mind, but he's the sort of player we lack; 20 goals and assists last season for a p!ss poor team. That bit of guile to help us finish teams off.

I see what you’re saying mate, I really really do. But I’ve decided that I hate him and I will go down with that ship 😅

3 minutes ago, Doha said:

I see what you’re saying mate, I really really do. But I’ve decided that I hate him and I will go down with that ship 😅

Just let Popey have a quiet 'word' on the first day of training. Then put him on the left, Worrall on the right, big Dave Amoo of the bench, and storm the tinpot league. Easy.

I agree with what has been said regarding the retained list. I think it's spot on and it's not very often so many people agree with the manager on it. Hopefully the players on there will sign. 

As for O Connor I think his wages will be high and he could well slow our midfield down. Also he left for "commuting reasons" so can't see him coming back. As for Neal I think again he will have high wages and may not want to be number 2. He's also towards the end of his career like Brown and I think we would be better getting a youngster in who has potential to replace Brown in the future. 

I think the club is a much more attractive place to come now and we are in a much better postion thanks to the owners and managers. We had a good season and we have good squad morale in the dressing room even for the players who don't make the starting 11. Yes it is disappointing not to go up but it's better to have solid growth than jump up then come back down.

I trust Askey's judgement in quality and quantity of signings (again haven't said that for a long while) and think 6 should do us to become more competitive next year. I agree that it would be good to see Taylor and Clark back too.

Edited May 19, 20206 yr by ginge

Great interview with Carol; goes into COVID, how she's running the Vale, her views on Burslem/Stoke-on-Trent. Might need moving to another thread:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/813047/3817373-survivors-port-vale-and-the-zero-income-game

Did Ben Garratt get a club after he had a short spell training/keeping fit at Vale last Summer? If not, he won't have played competitive football for a good while, so I wonder if he would reduce his wage levels/aspirations to join Vale, even as second choice?

1 minute ago, The Kalamazoo Kid said:

Did Ben Garratt get a club after he had a short spell training/keeping fit at Vale last Summer? If not, he won't have played competitive football for a good while, so I wonder if he would reduce his wage levels/aspirations to join Vale, even as second choice?

Burton. Played a few games.

8 minutes ago, Joe B said:

Great interview with Carol; goes into COVID, how she's running the Vale, her views on Burslem/Stoke-on-Trent. Might need moving to another thread:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/813047/3817373-survivors-port-vale-and-the-zero-income-game

New ticketing system has been postponed.

I’ve just read through this topic twice.

It’s so nice to be talking about football again. 😀😀

Just let Popey have a quiet 'word' on the first day of training. Then put him on the left, Worrall on the right, big Dave Amoo of the bench, and storm the tinpot league. Easy.

Be even more tinpot if they go regional

33 minutes ago, Guitar Ray said:

I’ve just read through this topic twice.

It’s so nice to be talking about football again. 😀😀

We're probably not going to come close to signing Harry McKirdy but I'm thoroughly enjoying the debate