Don't know the situation with Trickett-Smith signed by Smurthwaite a year and half back never played always loaned out and seemed to be out of favour or unwanted somewhat but the lad is what 25 and was once highly rated so there might be a player in there....Hurst though is an Askey signing and seemingly Askey rated the lad and at 21 Hurst could prove to be a usefull squad player this season or break through like Burgess last season maybe....seems to be highly rated and well thought of has already played competitive mens football and done the loan thing so must be ready to work hard an take the next step should the chance  arise.

Anyway the midfield pool of possible choices to play a role if needed is .....Burgess/Joyce/Conlon/Oyeleke/Whitehead/Worrall/Mills/Hurst/Trickett-Smith.....of the nine Burgess/Conlon/Hurst are early twenties young the rest six players are over 25......would seeem enough cover in a 4/3/3.

36 minutes ago, Burslem Academicals said:

Don't know the situation with Trickett-Smith signed by Smurthwaite a year and half back never played always loaned out and seemed to be out of favour or unwanted somewhat but the lad is what 25 and was once highly rated so there might be a player in there....Hurst though is an Askey signing and seemingly Askey rated the lad and at 21 Hurst could prove to be a usefull squad player this season or break through like Burgess last season maybe....seems to be highly rated and well thought of has already played competitive mens football and done the loan thing so must be ready to work hard an take the next step should the chance  arise.

Every player that you mention is 'highly-rated' - the latest one for you to incessantly bang on about being Hurst.

I'm still waiting for James Lawrie to come good - after all, he was the 'family silver' wasn't he?! (or was it 'golden egg'?.....or maybe 'crown jewel'? - it was something like that......he was 'highly rated' anyway! 😆 )

I think Trickett-Smith, or Trinket-Smith as someone accidentally called him on here, was one of Nomans potential money spinners rather than a serious squad member for our team. He must be in the last chance saloon at Vale.

2 hours ago, valiant_593 said:

Just hope manny stays / gets fit. Otherwise think we’re short in midfield. 

I presume that with salary caps and reduced squads, it's going to become a problem for clubs to have any players who have issues with injuries. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that Manny comes out of this latest one fit and ready to go. 

27 minutes ago, The Kalamazoo Kid said:

Every player that you mention is 'highly-rated' - the latest one for you to incessantly bang on about being Hurst.

I'm still waiting for James Lawrie to come good - after all, he was the 'family silver' wasn't he?! (or was it 'golden egg'?.....or maybe 'crown jewel'? - it was something like that......he was 'highly rated' anyway! 😆 )

Vale have been a league 1/2 (3/4) yo-yo team for pretty much all the post war period, with the exception of Rudge's tenure. Whether Hurst proves to be any good most of our better sides have been and will need to be in the future funded by sales of players. Chamberlain funded the McGrath promotion and countless sales of players gave Rudge the finances to keep the likes of Foyle and Glover. The Gordon Lee promotion (I was born but don't remember) and Micky Adams both followed similar patterns where we initially did OK but finances weren't available to consolidate promising starts and lead to relatively prolonged declines. Ultimately we do need to find a way to get good under 24 players into the team and sold for decent fee if we are to have a sustainable club financially which is also going to be more successful than oscillating between mid table league one and league two. Getting promoted is very much a short-term fix because our attendances really indicate we should be among the 30 lowest placed teams in the league. The reality is solving the conundrum of generating revenue from the sale of young players is probably the most important one to be resolved by the new owners because otherwise it will end up being a money pit that will require significant injections of cash to meet supporter expectations. Getting players ready to sell by 22 or 23 ultimately needs to involve getting them into the team and ultimately that involves identifying them but also taking the risk of playing them and giving them a run in the team.

17 minutes ago, robf said:

I presume that with salary caps and reduced squads, it's going to become a problem for clubs to have any players who have issues with injuries. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that Manny comes out of this latest one fit and ready to go. 

With league 2 squads getting reduced to 20 over 21s next season if he doesn't come out fit I suspect his career will be, sadly, finished. Nobody is going to want a player in a 20 man squad they don't feel can give them 30 games a season. With 11 starters and 3 subs the average appearances in a 20 man squad will be between 36 and 37 cup and league games (assuming no games from under 21 players).  With a 22 man squad it still means they all average a little over 33. Put into perspective last year if the season had finished only 13 of our squad could have reached 33 appearances and 10 37 appearances if they'd played in all the games and last year we avoided any really critical injury crisis.

Edited August 27, 20205 yr by JRC

"Incessantly banging on about" ......Hurst is an Askey signing therefore rated by Askey and likely to get games.....if anything it is "banging on" about Askey obviously thinking highly of this player and reminding fans that like Burgess last season perhaps Hurst can be considered an option in midfield that Askey will use and bring through well.

Lawrie was a Port Vale youth graduate who went on to represent Northern Ireland at all levels something like 26 times and so must have once upon a time been rated highly enough for honours......also that youth team won the double two years in a row if memory serves......so in terms of representative International Honours while at the club and silverware won a polite well done to the gent.

 

Hope Notts Forest don't use this video footage for training purposes. Seen better footage at a non league club 

https://mobile.twitter.com/OfficialPVFC/status/1299067086648545280

Edited August 27, 20205 yr by boslemportvale91

2 hours ago, JRC said:

Ultimately we do need to find a way to get good under 24 players into the team and sold for decent fee if we are to have a sustainable club financially which is also going to be more successful than oscillating between mid table league one and league two

I understand where you are coming from but I don't think this football model really applies anymore at our level. The real talented young lads are stolen pre 18 years old by the big fish. The way L1 & L2 run are generally run now 1-2 years are the standard length of contracts so there is not much value in the players contracts . Add to that the gulf between the Championship, L1& L2 is getting bigger, which will be exasperated by the salary cap, there aren't too many players knocking around under 24 which clubs are prepared to pay a decent fee to take a chance on at Championship level and above. 

There is very little money in transfers at our level for players moving up into Championship and beyond unless its a player in the academy.  You are basically left with players identified as not good enough for the top level in your academy and players who dropped out of the system in non league scene. I know there are always exceptions but they a very few and far between.

 

Edited August 27, 20205 yr by MBE

5 hours ago, Burslem Academicals said:

Even with Oyeleke out injured the midfield that finished the season strongly was Burgess/Joyce/Conlon then there is now Whitehead and Hurst not to forget Trickett-Smith but also Worral can play midfield and Mills can play holding midfield....so that is a strong first choice midfield three with five possible choices as cover even without Oyeleke....thinking Askey has got it covered somewhat although a fit Oyeleke would certainly be a big bonus.

Not sure that I agree that it’s strong. 

Manny is our best Cm. 

Conlon inconsistent if last season is to go by. 

Joyce steady. 

Burgess very promising but young. 

Whitehead. Complete unknown, he may well be class he may not. 

Then hurst and ts who probably won’t be good enough. 

For me have 4 out and out centre midfielders that have a chance of staying fit for the full season. Considering we only play 1 up front, 3 are likely to play. I’d still like to see someone come in just in case simply because of the fitness issues with manny. 

Few ex vale players on the move.

Theo Vassell has signed for Wrexham (probably his right level) 

And Anthony Kay has signed for Welsh side Bala town who funnily enough won their europa qualifier game tonight. 

Few ex vale players on the move.
Theo Vassell has signed for Wrexham (probably his right level) 
And Anthony Kay has signed for Welsh side Bala town who funnily enough won their europa qualifier game tonight. 

Kay played and got booked.

This squad is really balanced right now. I NEVER usually say that!

It's always "we don't have enough wingers", "we haven't got a LB", "why have we got 8 central midfielders" etc etc.

Feels like there are at least 2-3 player options per position.

 

 

I see Forest are splashing the cash. I think JT will struggle to get a squad position as they’re going for proven experience. Hopefully they’ll let him go out on loan again and let us have first choice, rather than insist on placing him with an L1 team, even though that would be the most sensible thing for them and JT.

13 hours ago, valiant_593 said:

Not sure that I agree that it’s strong. 

Manny is our best Cm. 

Conlon inconsistent if last season is to go by. 

Joyce steady. 

Burgess very promising but young. 

Whitehead. Complete unknown, he may well be class he may not. 

Then hurst and ts who probably won’t be good enough. 

For me have 4 out and out centre midfielders that have a chance of staying fit for the full season. Considering we only play 1 up front, 3 are likely to play. I’d still like to see someone come in just in case simply because of the fitness issues with manny. 

My God, you're hard to please. Whitehead is clearly a decent player. He's not unknown at all, and is experienced at this level. Both Conlon and Burgess are good players already with the potential to get even better. Joyce isn't just "steady" at all. He's a quality player in this league for what he offers the side and you don't get out of the league without having players like him in your team. But you need legs around him and that's exactly what we have. Oyeleke isn't our best midfielder because he spends so little time on the pitch. Despite of his ability he would be the first one of our midfielders out the door for me if we had to let go of one.

You seem to be obsessed with Jake Taylor even though we did just as well without him and his goals once he got injured and missed a ton of games.

Edited August 28, 20205 yr by TylerB