Summer transfer targets/rumours, retained list etc

[NEWPORT VALIANT]

PORT VALE have the right ingredients to sustain for next season and build gradually. Let's look at when Darrell Clarke first arrived at the club. Vale held their own, then with David Flitcroft's expertise and knowledge and also Darrell Clarke slowly but surely the duo placed the right bricks in the right places. What has to date has been achieved to date has been incredible. Players who the vast majority of fans had never heard of have joined and have made an incredible impact. The players have gelled really well and have shown comradeship, passion and desire. Something often lacking. Even the loan players have loved playing for Vale. For me YES a few quality editions are vital to stamping your authority on the upgrade the team has made and too keep The Vale clear of relegation.

 There are players still available even though Vale have been involved in the play offs. Aziz Newport County loan player from Aston Villa looked a good fit for me. Dom Telford at the right price. Ebanks-Landell from Shrewsbury possibly. But like stated earlier David Flitcroft is very switched on and will pick up some gems.

 Some older players will unfortunately have to be moved on. But as a footballer it comes with the terroritory.

 "In FLITCROFT we trust".

[ollyandpatch]

35 minutes ago, rob1983 said:

38 minutes ago, ollyandpatch said:

Only skipped over a few posts but remember Stockport are now playing under EFL rules and have to cut their cloth accordingly. They won't be paying silly money.

No wage cap in league two pal.

WELL THERE SHOULD BE. !! 😇

[bomber]

For all the money Wrexham have thrown at players not done them any good ! 

[Joe B]

Don't think anyone is suggesting we sign no-one, there was just one or two posts earlier in the thread which suggested we'd need major work in order to survive.

[darren1810]

1 minute ago, bomber said:

For all the money Wrexham have thrown at players not done them any good ! 

See Salford 

[Guitar Ray]

7 hours ago, LancyTony said:

There's a difference between "need" and "want" - as i used to tell my daughter about shoes! Given that we've probably beaten around half of those teams, in recent seasons...and that the best players over the decades didn't necessarily have much pace - except they saw the game quicker and with more clarity than the speed merchants...I reiterate that we're not suddenly up against Bundesliga or Serie A quality, but against many of the teams we have played against for  years I don't see where the desperation to get more pacy players comes from? I'm not saying we shouldn't improve what we have if the players become available - but my feeling is this squad...which won't be a collection of strangers having to learn systems and combinations...could well be good enough to have a good season? I doubt whether many players could have matched Sir Mal's burst to get to Wozza's cross for the 3rd goal - so late in the game - by those who will be in Lge 1 next season?

Good advice for your daughter, but in this case if we want to improve we need some better player in the first team, not on the bench.

Nobody is suggesting we smash the whole thing up and start again, although if DC did that I don’t think anyone would question it, having done the same thing last season.

I take your point about Mal and Wozz but that’s just one game.  In the context of the whole season Mal has been excellent these last few games, but not featured much prior.  Wozz, playing through injury, has been below par second half of the season and faced criticism from sections of the fan base.  I’m a fan of both players by the way.

[Trumpingtonvale]

The salary caps (2.5mil an 1.5 mil for L1 and L2 respectively) were abandoned in Feb last year following a legal appeal from the PFA.  So I believe clubs can pay what they think they can afford - or not if you’re Derby, Reading, Swindon etc.

  Nothing in place yet but EFL (see below) are looking at bringing in a new cap based on income (wage bill <70% of income) as early as this Summer but phased over 3 years along with ‘fairer’ financing between the Prem and Championship - getting rid of parachute payments etc.  So in the meantime I’d imagine some clubs (Stockport?) may still want to gamble on paying inflated salaries irrespective of their current league status to get as far up the pyramid as possible before restrictions come in.

https://www.insideworldfootball.com/2022/04/11/efl-considers-salary-cap-part-reform-club-financial-regulations/

 

[Guitar Ray]

1 hour ago, Clayts said:

Absolutely, on average L1>L2, not disagreeing at all, just saying that the idea that there is a gulf between L1 and L2 is not based on any real evidence I've seen.

It's a continuum in terms of quality from Prem to Conference and beyond, with some overlap at any given point in time between bottom end of one league and top of another. Between Prem and Champ, that overlap is only a couple of teams, between Champ and L1 you could maybe swap the top and bottom 5 or 6, but between L1 and L2 the overlap is much bigger (and probably bigger still L2 to Conf).

Yes, there is a massive gap between playing MK Dons/Sheff Wed and Stevenage/Barrow, but are Accrington, Cambridge, Burton, Cheltenham (all 12th-16th L1) really any better than FGR, Exeter, Gas, Northampton? Not based on games we've played against those teams recently. 

I think we need to view Accrington, Cambridge, Burton and Cheltenham as established League 1 teams, who, if they were to play the 4 promoted teams in current form, would be more than competitive and would win more than they’d lose.

[Playa Amodores]

I’m not sure anyone has mentioned this but if so then I’ll apologise now. What about offering Wilson a new deal as I think he’ll be able to leave on a free next season

[bomber]

I would really hope our current squad embrace what we have and what they have achieved TOGETHER ! One or two prima donnas do not alway make a team ! Unfortunately heads can be turned by the lure of money, but I hope the bulk of our squad stay together and achieve together.

[Phantom Lord]

I've heard that the retained list has to be released no later than 4 days after their play off final

[Walka003]

In my eyes we need, as of right now :

A new right sided CB (either to start or back up gibbo)
A new left sided CB (to back up hall)
A back up "stopper" middle CB (to cover smithy and look to move Martin on)
A back up LWB (cover for Benning and look to move Hussey on)
At least two new strikers.

That's at least 5 ins before we know the retained list. If Woz is let go a back up RWB would be needed. If smith and/or Gibbo go we will really need to start shopping.

[Shropshire_Valiant]

3 hours ago, saintvaliant said:

All 4 of the teams who went up from L2 last year survived. 3 did so very comfortably finishing 9th, 14th and 15th.

Lazy pundits and bookies will always see the playoff winners as the “weakest” of the promoted sides. In our case such would ignore the fact we had a good record against our fellow promoted sides and did well against several L1 sides last year as well.

Strengthening certainly required in certain areas (keeper, centre half, another striker) but the nucleus of the squad is already decent enough to compete in L1.

Indeed, unbeaten against the top 2 and 1 win 1 loss against Bristol.  I think there was only Newport of the challenging pack we lost twice to? Once with no forward line.  We've shown on our day we have a very good top end league two if not mid-table league one ability squad.  I think the problem was when we were "off" in games we were very poor(Walsall obviously the main example(or is it just written in the scriptures that we blackout against them🙄?), Colchester away another one).  Some of the other defeats could perhaps be a result of our bad luck with injuries though as others have mentioned(Newport away for one).

[SFBT]

I'm hoping/ expecting more entertaining, open games at Vale Park.

Far more teams will come at us, rather than shutting us down. A feature that seems to suit us better.

[robf]

22 minutes ago, Walka003 said:

A new left sided CB (to back up hall)

For me, we have that in Jones. His long passing and long throw also give the team a point of difference if he is used.

I suspect I will get some replies saying he isn't up to L1 standard but I'm talking about him being a back-up to Hall NOT first-choice.

I thought he was decent at the start of the season but unsurprisingly hasn't had a look-in since Hall came in (and also due to injury). Jones also looks to be a good character to have around the squad which the management puts a lot of emphasis on.

Jones is under contract so unless the feeling is he really isn't up to it, it would make sense to keep him for the next season, in my view.