Match Thread: Lincoln City v Port Vale

[JoeB2]

I do wonder if you add up some 'excess' spending over the last couple of years, such as electronic turnstiles, the Spain pre-season trip, 'cryogenic chambers', 'T-Zones', unnecessary overnight stays etc., how many competent League 1 footballers annual salaries that adds up to?

[philpvfc]

2 minutes ago, valiant_593 said:

I think we’ve done similar to what we did that season. Sign a load of relatively unknown players on loan hoping that one turns out to be good. 

I really don’t like it when sides sign a large amount of loanees, it never works. They’re in the majority not that good, if they are the parent club has them back and they go onto better things and i think it affects how fans see the team. 

Looking at last season, our big wobble came when we signed crap players on loan, Holy, copper ect. When dropped we improved. It’s really no surprise to me that we’ve struggled when we’ve built our squad on loan players. Far too many, in that we can’t even put them all in the squad, and all in key areas where they aren’t good enough. Stinks of Michael brown under Norman in league 2. I’ll never believe that all of these loanees have been scouted properly and were genuine targets. 

Totally agree- we are in a relegation battle with Oxford for which we have 2 loaned players from who are employed by Oxford and will return to Oxford at the end of season. Deep in heart, who would they prefer to stay up?

[Howjy04]

3 minutes ago, Santa said:

“Relegation my àrse”?

Correct.

[Biddulph_PV]

23 minutes ago, PV1973 said:

Come on, you seriously think that if we go down it’s because of the 2 red cards yesterday? That’s just an overreaction. A season is made of many decisions that end up in teams doing well or not as the case may be. How about the club deciding no more investment in January? How about missed chances costing us points in games or mistakes in defence costing us points?  How about poor recruitment? The season doesn’t boil down to just yesterdays game. 

You are absolutely correct.

The counter-argument is that in life, every now and then you come to a crossroads where a single decision can have massive implications….the so-called ‘sliding doors’ moments.

Yesterday was one of those such “moments” and irrespective of Conlon’s or Robinson’s “back stories” should have been pretty obvious to them as soon as that first red card came out for their goalie. That’s what comes with being a professional footballer, whether they like it or not. 

So you are correct, that neither is completely to blame for the overall position we found ourselves in at 3.26 yesterday afternoon.

However, their totally unprofessional actions yesterday undoubtedly caused us to drop points / a point which could have profoundly huge implications for the longer-term health of the club. 

[philpvfc]

3 minutes ago, JoeB2 said:

I do wonder if you add up some 'excess' spending over the last couple of years, such as electronic turnstiles, the Spain pre-season trip, 'cryogenic chambers', 'T-Zones', unnecessary overnight stays etc., how many competent League 1 footballers annual salaries that adds up to?

Don’t necessarily agree with you there. A lot of improvements are needed in Vales infrastructure plus we want our team to have the best preparation for all games. Our owners have driven the club forward immensely and made us in to a professional outfit which we certainly did not have under Smurf. I do agree, there needs to be the right balance spent on improving the squad as well as off the pitch and I think our recruitment team has had plenty of support and funding at times, but the players we have brought in have not been good enough and down to bad recruitment not lack of funding. I would have it a guess our player salary is higher than last season and DC was allowed to bring in plenty of players at the start of season without the need of getting rid of our best players.

[Santa]

2 minutes ago, Biddulph_PV said:

You are absolutely correct.

The counter-argument is that in life, every now and then you come to a crossroads where a single decision can have massive implications….the so-called ‘sliding doors’ moments.

Yesterday was one of those such “moments” and irrespective of Conlon’s or Robinson’s “back stories” should have been pretty obvious to them as soon as that first red card came out for their goalie. That’s what comes with being a professional footballer, whether they like it or not. 

So you are correct, that neither is completely to blame for the overall position we found ourselves in at 3.26 yesterday afternoon.

However, their totally unprofessional actions yesterday undoubtedly caused us to drop points / a point which could have profoundly huge implications for the longer-term health of the club. 

The predictability of random events. The notion that reality as we know it, past, present and future is actually a mathematically predictable preordained system.

[Rodge]

Not that it matters now, but has it been confirmed what Conlon’s red card was for? I saw him get kicked on the halfway line and missed our 2nd goal. Someone near me said he reacted with a push and I then saw the liner come on to the field of play. But later someone said it was foul and abusive language. Both completely stupid actions but I was just curious.

[darren1810]

9 minutes ago, valiant_593 said:

I think we’ve done similar to what we did that season. Sign a load of relatively unknown players on loan hoping that one turns out to be good. 

I really don’t like it when sides sign a large amount of loanees, it never works. They’re in the majority not that good, if they are the parent club has them back and they go onto better things and i think it affects how fans see the team. 

Looking at last season, our big wobble came when we signed crap players on loan, Holy, copper ect. When dropped we improved. It’s really no surprise to me that we’ve struggled when we’ve built our squad on loan players. Far too many, in that we can’t even put them all in the squad, and all in key areas where they aren’t good enough. Stinks of Michael brown under Norman in league 2. I’ll never believe that all of these loanees have been scouted properly and were genuine targets. 

Small Mccarron Stevens Taylor Mipo Butterworth Donnelly Politic 

Have I missed anyone? 

4 disasters, and 4 maybe meh . 🤔. 

[Santa]

6 minutes ago, Rodge said:

Not that it matters now, but has it been confirmed what Conlon’s red card was for? I saw him get kicked on the halfway line and missed our 2nd goal. Someone near me said he reacted with a push and I then saw the liner come on to the field of play. But later someone said it was foul and abusive language. Both completely stupid actions but I was just curious.

I saw their player kick out at Conlon off the ball. Clarke and Crosby surrounded the white haired old duffer running the line directly in front of their dugout while the attack was developing. At least one of them was stood on the field of play while we were scoring. All it served to do was draw the officials attention to Conlon so they were able to witness what he was doing in retaliation.

It probably would have been a red card for both players if he hadn’t sent one of theirs off earlier but the ref bottled reducing them to 9.

[JSValiant]

19 minutes ago, Vale Ball said:

My problem with the Vale is after listening to these pod cast interviews all you hear is analysts talking about the preparation they do, the recruitment team how they plan sometimes 2 windows in advance, the medical team on how they have data so players can recover to me there's a lot of talk and very little action.

The recruitment team want sacking off it has been a lazy last two windows.

And as for the analysts 2 wins in 18 ain't a very good recommendation for that position is it ?



Sent from my SM-A217F using onevalefan mobile app
 

I totally agree with you.

All talk and no action. 
All Clarke can say is he is disappointed and frustrated etc, but each game is a Project and we move onto that.

The simple facts are we have a great set of fans.

We have an Owner who has saved the club but Football Wise hasn’t got much idea.

We have a Poor Recruitment Team.

We have Poor Management !

We have in the main Poor Players !

We have a Rubbish Pitch !

What was Carol thinking of when she said Championship Ready earlier in the Season !

Oh being a Vale Fan but never mind we are having a New Scoreboard.!

 

[Rodge]

I saw their player kick out at Conlon off the ball. Clarke and Crosby surrounded the white haired old duffer running the line directly in front of their dugout while the attack was developing. At least one of them was stood on the field of play while we were scoring. All it served to do was draw the officials attention to Conlon so they were able to witness what he was doing in retaliation.
It probably would have been a red card for both players if he hadn’t sent one of theirs off earlier but the ref bottled reducing them to 9.

That’s how I saw it, I expected yellow or red for both but as you say the ref bottled it.

[CambridgeDon]

1 hour ago, TJHValiant said:

Another observation for me is all this talk of the need of big stadium investment didn’t seem to have obviously taken place at Lincoln yesterday. Do they look championship ready any time soon? 
 

They have one side of the ground with a big, decent but oldish stand but the other side has one literal bus shelter to a stand, one Central mess of scaffolding for another and then another tiny shed at the far side. 
 

The away end felt far older than the 1990 build suggests with a scruffy car park and burger vans inside the small concourse, although very nice burgers I must say! 
 

Then behind the other goal a tiny old strip of  what was formerly terracing with a few directors boxes on top. 
 

Yet a very good 8,200 odd attendance, decent atmosphere and nothing flash or unnecessary. They had LED adverts around the pitch but not much else. The club shop was tiny. The ground felt near full without the capacity we have for bigger games even with restrictions. 

Old fashioned turnstiles too with none of the fancy gates that we bought under the premise they were necessary, 

I didn’t see evidence of millions being thrown at what structurally looks a vastly inferior ground to Vale Park. Yet Lincoln are the sort of club we need to overhaul if we are to establish ourselves in the league going forward. 
 

Guarantee they will spend their money this summer on the squad..not on stadium improvements. 

I was thinking the same yesterday about Luton who must have one of the most antiquated grounds in the country. I know they have been planning for a new stadium for a long time but their current stadium is a disgrace. It's over a hundred years old and I don't know how they get permission to use the Oak Road End with its access between the terrace houses.

Yet here they are on the verge of the playoffs and possibly promotion to the Prem. Why? Because their priority has been building their squad and actually climbing the leagues since they were relegated to the National in 2009 (from which it took them 5 seasons to escape).

It makes me wonder whether we've got our priorities right because, welcome though the changes to the ground are, you don't actually need a top ground to go up. Our owners have been good for the club but I still keep asking whether we've got the balance right between expenditure on the footballing side and everything else. Yesterday was perhaps a good example of that. 

Food for thought.

[worldsendvalefan]

2 hours ago, philpvfc said:

He may not applied as was told by our owners he couldn’t. Hasn’t lied to us then has he.

I am not saying he lied, as I have no idea what went on. I am just surmising. Just because he didn't apply for the job does not mean he didn't speak to personally or through a third party liaise with Portsmouth about it, or was not interested in it. So when he said he didn't apply, that would be the truth. Like I said though I have no knowledge of any facts in this matter. 

[mr.hobblesworth]

It is a worry that so many of the well-paid professionals at the club don't seem to be having much success. Barring Garrity last year, how many of the first team squad have improved since they've been with us? Stone certainly doesn't seem to have benefitted from nearly 2 seasons of gk coaching. 

Then there's the abysmal recruitment, the crappy organisation of our pre-season, the state of the pitch, the food and drink sales. Colin Garlick seemed to be the only professional below Carol who knew what he was doing, and he's been booted out.

I still think Carol is the best owner we've had in my lifetime (an admittedly low bar but I genuinely think she's great) but I worry that she's putting her trust in the wrong people / person.

[TJHValiant]

1 minute ago, CambridgeDon said:

I was thinking the same yesterday about Luton who must have one of the most antiquated grounds in the country. I know they have been planning for a new stadium for a long time but their current stadium is a disgrace. It's over a hundred years old and I don't know how they get permission to use the Oak Road End with its access between the terrace houses.

Yet here they are on the verge of the playoffs and possibly promotion to the Prem. Why? Because their priority has been building their squad and actually climbing the leagues since they were relegated to the National in 2009 (from which it took them 5 seasons to escape).

It makes me wonder whether we've got our priorities right because, welcome though the changes to the ground are, you don't actually need a top ground to go up. Our owners have been good for the club but I still keep asking whether we've got the balance right between expenditure on the footballing side and everything else. Yesterday was perhaps a good example of that. 

Food for thought.

Totally agree. Although no doubt the stadium experience at the club is much better these days. Having said that I’m sure Luton fans much prefer the standard of entertainment on the pitch to worry about comfort and access to bogs or burgers. 
 

One of the oft stated reasons for our capacity restrictions has been the lack of toilets and catering. Well Lincoln had one big line of portaloos outside the entrance and more in the concourse. Then they had beer outside the ground from a cabin, then more food inside the concourse in cabins. 
 

We could easily solve that issue doing the same.