Summer transfer targets/rumours, retained list etc

[Iron Curtain]

An interesting night for the OvF Prophets of Doom.

Working hard to find some negatives on a Striker who we have paid a fee for and has scored Goals in this division and has played so well for DC before he got a £750k move.

Then leaping on the keeper being a loan and not performing well after illness last year.

Can they claim that waiting wasn’t worth it?

Will they demand a hat-trick and a clean sheet with wonder-saves on Saturday before the consider themselves “glad to be wrong”? 

Just how heavily will they rely on 3 games Jake Taylor when we get down to the “is the squad stronger now than at Wembley” debate at the end of the window.

Tune in to find out on the next “opinion” riddled episode of …

PROPHETS OF DOOOOOOOOOOOOM

😂

[hamilboy]

41 minutes ago, TJHValiant said:

Typically loan goalkeepers don’t tend to work, especially at Vale and especially in recent years. Some old guy may give the example of Neville Southall but that’s the exception. Generally you want your own player in goal who can build a relationship with the defence and cares about the club. Our best goalkeepers like Mussy, Grew even Alnwick stayed around for a bit.  

This old guy can throw Ray King and Ken Hancock at you the goalkeepers you mentioned would not be fit enough to lace their boots.

[johnjeffersfanclub]

How can anyone be disappointed in the Stevens signing? Only downside is he's on loan, but he's a gun keeper and one who will make big saves. 

[Aguar61]

2 minutes ago, johnjeffersfanclub said:

How can anyone be disappointed in the Stevens signing? Only downside is he's on loan, but he's a gun keeper and one who will make big saves. 

Does he need a licence to be a gun keeper?😉

[prof]

7 minutes ago, hamilboy said:

This old guy can throw Ray King and Ken Hancock at you the goalkeepers you mentioned would not be fit enough to lace their boots.

I can't remember Ray King but Ken Hancock was always a favourite. I'm not sure, though, how you would measure them objectively against Mussie, etc. They were all great players...

[Guitar Ray]

1 hour ago, NorthwoodValiant said:

I went to the liberty of finding out th height of every premier league goalkeeper for you, albeit this is 20/21

Goalkeeper	Height
Adrian San Miguel (Liverpool)	190cm (6-3)
Alex Runarsson (Arsenal)	185cm (6-1)
Alisson Becker (Liverpool)	193 cm (6-4)
Alphonse Areola (Fulham)	192cm (6-3½)
Kepa Arrizabalaga (Chelsea)	189cm (6-2½)
David Button (West Brom)	192 cm (6-3½)
Willy Caballero (Chelsea)	185cm (6-1)
Kiko Casilla (Leeds)	190cm (6-3)
Karl Darlow (Newcastle)	190cm (6-3)
Ederson (Man City)	188cm (6-2)
Lukasz Fabianski (West Ham)	190cm (6-3)
Fraser Forster (Southampton)	201cm (6-7)
David De Gea (Man United)	192 cm (6-3½)
Vicente Guaita (Crystal Palace)	191cm (6-3)
Dean Henderson (Man United)	188cm (6-2)
Sam Johnstone (West Brom)	191cm (6-3)
Caoimhin Kelleher (Liverpool)	188cm (6-2)
Bernd Leno (Arsenal)	190cm (6-2½)
Hugo Lloris (Tottenham)	188cm (6-2)
Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa)	193 cm (6-4)
Alex McCarthy (Southampton)	193 cm (6-4)
Edouard Mendy (Chelsea)	197 cm (6-5)
Illan Meslier (Leeds)	193 cm (6-4)
Robin Olsen (Everton)	198cm (6-5½)
Rui Patricio (Wolves)	189cm (6-2½)
Bailey Peacock-Farrell (Burnley)	193 cm (6-4)
Jordan Pickford (Everton)	185cm (6-½)
Nick Pope (Burnley)	198cm (6-5½)
Aaron Ramsdale (Sheffield)	188cm (6-2)
Darren Randolph (West Ham)	188cm (6-2)
Marek Rodak (Fulham)	188cm (6-2)
Mathew Ryan (Arsenal)	184cm (6-0)
Robert Sanchez (Brighton)	197cm (6-5)
Kasper Schmeichel (Leicester)	189cm (6-2)
Zack Steffen (Man City)	191cm (6-3)

 

11 of the 36 goalkeepers are 6'2 or less, so it's not a statistical anomaly, Goalkeepers don't have to be massive

Instead of wasting your valuable time on this why didn’t you get your teeth into the short Vale outfield players who’ve appeared in goal list?  In ascending order of height would be nice.

[Fosse69]

11 minutes ago, prof said:

I can't remember Ray King but Ken Hancock was always a favourite. I'm not sure, though, how you would measure them objectively against Mussie, etc. They were all great players...

Well, Ray King was the England number 3 goalkeeper in the 1954 World Cup squad, played for the England B team in one of the games before the decision was made to only take 2 goalkeepers, so missed the chance of joining his ex Vale teammate Bill McGarry in the Finals in Switzerland.

[Budgie_2260]

Is the squad now stronger than at the end of last season?

Covolan / Stevens
Martin / Forrester & Cass
Gibbons / Massey & Small
Taylor / Ojo
Cooper / Holden
Amoo / Harrison
Harratt / tbc
Edmonson / tbc

Thoughts?

[Vale Ball]

Is the squad now stronger than at the end of last season?

Covolan / Stevens
Martin / Forrester & Cass
Gibbons / Massey & Small
Taylor / Ojo
Cooper / Holden
Amoo / Harrison
Harratt / tbc
Edmonson / tbc

Thoughts?

You would have thought so.

[LancyTony]

1 hour ago, chickensteve said:

3 hours ago, darren1810 said:

Suffered with illness hence lost his place but was number one for Oxford. 

Jack Stevens opens up on the 'toughest time' of his career

WWW.OXFORDMAIL.CO.UK  

I too have had glandular fever when I was younger. It's rare to have it and the infection markers for it never leave your bloodstream. I spent over a week in isolation barely able to move.

THat was my most common illness as a child. %0+ years on they still give me the occasional problem!

[prof]

1 hour ago, Fosse69 said:

Well, Ray King was the England number 3 goalkeeper in the 1954 World Cup squad, played for the England B team in one of the games before the decision was made to only take 2 goalkeepers, so missed the chance of joining his ex Vale teammate Bill McGarry in the Finals in Switzerland.

Yes, absolutely. What I meant was, I'm not old enough to have ever seen him play. I certainly don't mean to belittle him. History shows how good he was.

[Dr Delgado]

55 minutes ago, Budgie_2260 said:

Is the squad now stronger than at the end of last season?

Covolan / Stevens
Martin / Forrester & Cass
Gibbons / Massey & Small
Taylor / Ojo
Cooper / Holden
Amoo / Harrison
Harratt / tbc
Edmonson / tbc

Thoughts?

I think it’s a really tangible way of presenting the present versus the former. I think it’s relatively early to claim certain players are better than their predecessors. My thoughts are that it is a question that can only be answered once we see what the newcomers produce in a Vale shirt. If I were to judge the comparisons on paper then I would definitely say we are looking stronger. I hope all the new signings do well for us and become fan’s favourites, no doubt there’ll be one or two duds & scapegoats as we have never got recruitment 100% right. 
I think it would be good to post the same question around Christmas time once we have seen what they can all do.

[Topher]

Is the squad now stronger than at the end of last season?

Covolan / Stevens
Martin / Forrester & Cass
Gibbons / Massey & Small
Taylor / Ojo
Cooper / Holden
Amoo / Harrison
Harratt / tbc
Edmonson / tbc

Thoughts?

I'd probably compare Harrison to one of the strikers rather than to Amoo () but it does look a bit more promising now

[Walka003]

Is the squad now stronger than at the end of last season?

Covolan / Stevens
Martin / Forrester & Cass
Gibbons / Massey & Small
Taylor / Ojo
Cooper / Holden
Amoo / Harrison
Harratt / tbc
Edmonson / tbc

Thoughts?

Would have to agree, still a few areas to improve but we're in a stronger place after yesterday's movement. Would like to see another striker in to cover for Proctor when he inevitable gets injured. Still don't understand why Harrison couldn't be signed up ahead of the start of the season if DC knew him but he's in now so let get him into the team pronto.

I'd always thought glandular fever was just a really bad sore throat. Interesting to read up about it after the goalie signing.

[SFBT]

I think the Stevens signing highlights the difference between Vale and top end league one clubs.

They have 3 keepers, so can allow a proven player to go out on loan to get him back up to the required standard.

We, on the other hand, had one, relatively inexperienced, keeper, especially at this level.

It's little wonder that we've struggled to recruit.

It's a massive step up.

Thankfully, we had a decent base, so didn't need a complete refit.

Again, I congratulate the recruitment team on what must have been a massive task, with still more to do...

We might be getting championship ready off the field, but on the field, we're still getting league one ready.

At this point, I feel confident that we'll do ok this season.