Match Thread: Bradford City v Port Vale

[boslemportvale91]

5 minutes ago, Portvale4 said:

Yeah. He won’t be here in a week or so. 

Shouldn't have been signed in the first place. Dreadful player

[OLDNorfolk Enclue]

10 minutes ago, ollyandpatch said:

Lose tonight and Frank Sinclair is our new manager.. 

Hello Mr andpatch. Or Olly if I may. Do you mean Acting Manager? Perhaps just keeping the seat warm 'til we appoint someone proven for the top job. Like for example , oh I don't know, thinking off the top of my head, Mr Adams of Morecambeshire. He inna doin' owt tonight Carol, give him a bell Duck

[boslemportvale91]

5 minutes ago, PV1973 said:

If one of those youth lads is a left back what’s happened to RCG? 
 

IMO if Robinson were to go I think there would be league two takers for him based on his overall Record.

 

Don't think askey rates RCG. Which is a shame since we never really got to see him play,few people rated him as well 

[Biddulph_PV]

It doesn’t really matter who’s on the bench, he doesn’t make substitutions anyway. That’s about as “good” a line up as he might have expected, just hope Burgess and Whitehead actually do something tonight because the pair of them were absolutely shocking on Saturday. 

I just cannot see us getting anything tonight and my original score predictions still stand.... either a comprehensive 4-0 to them or a heart-breaking 1-0 defeat with a 95th minute winner.

[The Kalamazoo Kid]

12 minutes ago, Doha said:

does anyone truly believe Askey could going forward win an EFL promotion and actually perform to an acceptable standard in L1? 

I fear he's too technically limited. 

That's essentially what the Manager Poll thread and vote should be (/is) about, for me - do those voting Askey In believe that we can/will ever get promoted with John Askey as manager? (...that is, promoted into League 1, and not back into League 2 after he's overseen a relegation to the National League! 😆 )

[Iron Curtain]

Without anyone shouting at me, this is just a question. For confirmation... I have no insight as to what’s happening behind the scene. 
 

But does no McKirdy and Robinson point to the fact these Bad Egg rumours may be true?!?! Too much of a coincidence?

 

[Bycarsbill]

2 minutes ago, Iron Curtain said:

Without anyone shouting at me, this is just a question. For confirmation... I have no insight as to what’s happening behind the scene. 
 

But does no McKirdy and Robinson point to the fact these Bad Egg rumours may be true?!?! Too much of a coincidence?

 

I have no more insight than you, but it does all point towards that doesn't It?

[Joe B]

17 minutes ago, Doha said:

Here's the elephant in the room.

It wasn't as if we weren't moaning last season about the lack of plan B. And the bizarre approach to subs. And the poor signings.  But we went on a crazy run in the new year and the frustration was glossed over. Still grumbles now and then but Worrall/Amoo/Pope/Taylor was clicking enough to keep it from being too loud. Askey was incredibly fortunate to get hold of Taylor. 

Even if they avoid defeat tonight and he gets a few more games, does anyone truly believe Askey could going forward win an EFL promotion and actually perform to an acceptable standard in L1? 

I fear he's too technically limited. 

I've long had a theory that the scrappy 8 game unbeaten run (in which the only game we looked really good was Colchester at home) did a lot of damage in terms of expectations and a belief that we should do the exact same as last season, and should expect the same result.

As a consequence, we went for continuity over progress, and as many fans lauded the amount of starters we were keeping, I got a bit of stick for pointing out that there is very little correlation between % of minutes played still at the club from last season and success. Teams who overhaul, who progress and innovate, have just as much success as teams like us who just try and repeat the previous season with largely the same 11 and tactics, especially in League 2. Bar Crewe, the entire top 7 last year had a lot of squad turnover as they improved their 11 with good signings.

That's not me saying that I wasn't pleased to keep Worrall, Smith et al, but the signs throughout the summer were the first 11 would stay the same and we would build the cliched 'depth'. Of course, this was a good idea in theory predicated on the presupposition that the elder statesmen of the squad could continue at such high standards (Legge played every single minute last season), and that Askey's tactics wouldn't be figured out by any dweeb with a laptop employed by the 23 other clubs. It also warranted these 'depth signings' to be good, which most of them blatantly are not.

If we'd finished a point outside the top 7, as we did, but were on an 8 game winless run, the changes would have been implemented. Alas, a few dodgy draws with Walsall, Salford, and Scunny, a sh!thouse win where we were largely batted at Northampton, and an excellent but isolated win against Colchester, and we thought we'd dress the 19/20 season up in a new dress and have her win the beauty contest (or whatever the analogy is).

Hopefully this fiasco underlines that we can not stagnate again and football moves far too quickly. The club needs to move forward. 

[Joe B]

6 minutes ago, Iron Curtain said:

Without anyone shouting at me, this is just a question. For confirmation... I have no insight as to what’s happening behind the scene. 
 

But does no McKirdy and Robinson point to the fact these Bad Egg rumours may be true?!?! Too much of a coincidence?

 

It does, and it's just bizarre. 

McKirdy I get, but Robinson? I've never rated him but the lad is 32, 500 games under his belt, 80 of them in the 2nd tier, and now he chooses to be a trouble-maker?

Bizarre, but another two to add to the pile of 'Askey signings that wasted Carol's money', I guess.

[boslemportvale91]

1 minute ago, Joe B said:

It does, and it's just bizarre. 

McKirdy I get, but Robinson? I've never rated him but the lad is 32, 500 games under his belt, 80 of them in the 2nd tier, and now he chooses to be a trouble-maker?

Bizarre, but another two to add to the pile of 'Askey signings that wasted Carol's money', I guess.

Or Possibly Askey realised he's crap and wants rid or maybe Theo isn't happy with not enough first team football.

Whatever the answer is, its a waste of a two year deal. Askey has had a nightmare this summer regarding recruitment 

[OLDNorfolk Enclue]

5 minutes ago, Iron Curtain said:

Without anyone shouting at me, this is just a question. For confirmation... I have no insight as to what’s happening behind the scene. 
 

But does no McKirdy and Robinson point to the fact these Bad Egg rumours may be true?!?! Too much of a coincidence?

 

I couldn't shout at you Iron Curtain. Even if I wanted to. The most I could manage, I suppose would be to reply to your posts in CAPITAL LETTERS. But that'd be rude. 

[Doha]

4 minutes ago, Joe B said:

we thought we'd dress the 19/20 season up in a new dress and have her win the beauty contest

Hasn't Vale got a lovely bottom

[Santa]

12 minutes ago, Iron Curtain said:

But does no McKirdy and Robinson point to the fact these Bad Egg rumours may be true?!?! Too much of a coincidence?

I'm sure he bombed McKirdy and Robinson out before, fuelling the rumours. Then the next week they reappeared on the bench. God alone knows.

16 minutes ago, Biddulph_PV said:

It doesn’t really matter who’s on the bench, he doesn’t make substitutions anyway.

My thinking exactly, naming a full complement of subs is pointless really. JA could have given the young lads the night off in the warm, they could put their feet up in front of the telly watching the proper football.

[andy jones]

We have 3 from the Academy on the bench tonight and what a fantastic achievement that is.

Win, lose or draw tonight we are seeing the start of the new Vale.

[Vale1995]

Heres a thought what it mckirdy clarke robinson arent the problem maybe its the manager himself a manager should be able to manager personalities which he clearly is not able too the way we are performing suggests quite a lot of the squad are turning on him not just 'problem players'