Match Thread: Lincoln City v Port Vale

[mr.hobblesworth]

1 hour ago, Granville said:

Clarke is the one getting stick, but shouldn't be the one to shoulder all the blame himself when he has a Director of Football who is turning Port Vale into his own fiefdom and is under little, if any, scrutiny. 

That's key for me.

[Granville]

29 minutes ago, MBE said:

Disagree mate. Clarke signs off on all players for his squad. The recruitment team identifies players for the system manager wants play, Flickers signs off the list to  present to Clarke, Clarke  has the final say after his Richardhead test. That’s our process. It was confirmed at the fans forum.

Clarke’s job is to manage a squad of players, motivate them and make sure they are coached well to his formation and tactics. After the disastrous run of games this is firmly at Clarke’s door. Only has himself to blame if we had been found it why have we not tried something different?

Clarke has done very little tactics and formation wise ito change it around. Same tactics and pretty much same formation every game. 

Motivation is the key, our players downed tools 2 months ago and that firmly sits with Clarke.

He is no longer getting a positive reaction from his group of players.

 

I have heard very much contrary things to that. More to the extent that Clarke is given Hobsons Choice with players from our "recruitment team", which is largely Flitcroft's contacts book and mates he wants to do a favour for.

When the manager does have some input we tend to get better players

Our top scorer had nothing to do with Flitcroft's contacts and he's one of our better players. 

Many of Flitcroft's darlings - Benning, Stone, Robinson, Massey etc are players we've maligned for much of the season.

[Valiant62]

To be fair, in a different context, I’d be pointing out the top quality of their first two - very hard for anyone to defend against and our second was a great pass and finish. 

[valeparklife]

3 hours ago, Vital Spark said:

Can someone explain/justify Flitcrofts role to a club like Vale.

If he steers the ship properly, then I can see why we have him.

But it's absolutely criminal he didn't prioritise a new keeper in January.

It was glaringly obvious we needed better, and the stats backed this up.

Surely we could've cancelled the loan of Stevens and got someone better in?

For me, if we go down, it's all on him and this decision. And should leave the club immediately.

[darren1810]

9 minutes ago, Vale 1971 said:

Oh my that is bad however I enjoyed some parts of that season .
2 nil down to Oxford Reggie getting equaliser.
We were poor though and had a run similar to this season once Grant and Alnwick were sold .
Took me years get over how bad that side was.
Smith was a beginner in the game and he got young player of the year .
Who would have thought that he still be here and we be doing it all over again .
On the back of Wembley excellence aswell .
Deary me how to move a football club which was flying along to standing still and then heading back to where they come from disgracefully

Similar trajectory. 

I remember beating Scunthorpe early doors in a belting game where Jerome Thomas had a blinder. We then went off the boil but still won at MK with a Jones penalty rebound on Sky and were in a play off position. 

The wheels came off. Bruno went. Brown was even worse somehow. 

Then at the death we mustered a couple of wins I think Wimbledon maybe and the Eagles goal at Walsall. 

Fleetwood we went down with a whimper. Hooper subbed early on as didn't fancy it and finished the game with the likes of Kelly and Dan Turner .

This seasons squad ought to be way better than that rabble. 

Stats suggest we aren't. 

 

[Granville]

8 minutes ago, valeparklife said:

If he steers the ship properly, then I can see why we have him.

But it's absolutely criminal he didn't prioritise a new keeper in January.

It was glaringly obvious we needed better, and the stats backed this up.

Surely we could've cancelled the loan of Stevens and got someone better in?

For me, if we go down, it's all on him and this decision. And should leave the club immediately.

I believe there is a cost associated with cancelling a loan midway through, meaning if we were tightening up the cash flow, then we probably didn't want to pay out to cancel Stevens loan and THEN pay a fee or the wages for another goalie. 

Not to say that is the right thing but it'd be consistent with what was said about the January window. Plus at the time Stevens was first choice and we were only a few points off the play offs so the club probably didn't see any reason to do so 

[PV1973]

3 hours 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. 

Equally you have Ojo the before getting himself a 3 game ban. But where do you draw the line for those sliding doors moments?  Do we apply the same logic to Taylor who misses chance after chance or to Stevens who makes a mistake for a goal or to anyone else who does something “wrong”? Also there’s every chance that the Conlon card could be appealed too. 

[mr.hobblesworth]

16 minutes ago, valeparklife said:

If he steers the ship properly, then I can see why we have him.

But it's absolutely criminal he didn't prioritise a new keeper in January.

It was glaringly obvious we needed better, and the stats backed this up.

Surely we could've cancelled the loan of Stevens and got someone better in?

For me, if we go down, it's all on him and this decision. And should leave the club immediately.

We should have never have had to resort to Stevens in the first place. I don't give a <ovf censored> about mealy-mouthed excuses regarding a short pre-season, it was clear that we needed a new keeper after Covolan's dismissal against Swindon and options should have been identified well before August. DF conducting zoom interviews sitting on his arse in Spain won't have helped the process either. I said all this at the start of the season and was slated by the usuals on here, @Iron Curtain repeatedly called me "disrespectful" for stating the obvious. And I bet we haven't identified any targets even now. 

People tied themselves up in knots trying to defend the shambles of the pre-season and us having to play games without a striker. "Oh, we always go out of the league cup early, it's fine basically throwing the game.", "Oh, DC's clubs always start slow, it's fine." "Actually, you'll find Thierry Small can play up front, it doesn't matter that we haven't got any fit forwards." <ovf censored> idiots.

Unfortunately, Flitcroft seems embedded in the club now and his extravagances are having a massively detrimental effect on the whole club. 

[valiant_593]

18 minutes ago, PV1973 said:

Equally you have Ojo the before getting himself a 3 game ban. But where do you draw the line for those sliding doors moments?  Do we apply the same logic to Taylor who misses chance after chance or to Stevens who makes a mistake for a goal or to anyone else who does something “wrong”? Also there’s every chance that the Conlon card could be appealed too. 

You could, I think the one difference is that yesterday was there to be won, literally don’t do anything stupid and we win and secure survival. Over the course of the season; if we go down, then the likes of Stevens and Stone will be very highly accountable in my opinion. 

[philpvfc]

2 hours ago, dazzerjames said:

Well one scored for us yesterday and the other didn’t play … I’m speechless at some of the garbage on this thread, but had to respond to this nonsense.

What is nonsense about it? Should remain speechless if you don’t think that is a valid question.

[Biddulph_PV]

24 minutes ago, PV1973 said:

Equally you have Ojo the before getting himself a 3 game ban. But where do you draw the line for those sliding doors moments?  Do we apply the same logic to Taylor who misses chance after chance or to Stevens who makes a mistake for a goal or to anyone else who does something “wrong”? Also there’s every chance that the Conlon card could be appealed too. 

Well the game was gone for a start in Ojo’s case. But I take your point. And for Taylor and Stevens, being crap is not in itself a disciplinary matter.

Gobbing off to an official and/or lamping someone (Conlon) and scything someone in half when already on a yellow (Robinson) is, not to mention just rank unprofessional given the delicacy of the game / our season as a whole at each particular point. 

I guarantee you that Conlon’s red will not get overturned. 

[philpvfc]

2 hours ago, Granville said:

I have a degree of sympathy for Clarke. I think he's been sold down the river with recruitment. He has a say, but I don't always think its the final say. Flitcroft should shoulder a lot of the blame for this.

If he has crap players who aren't at the standard and a shrinking budget, how is he supposed to set up a team to win?

Conversely, these are the same players that got us to 9th before Christmas, so something has happened that will no doubt stay in house. 

I think Clarke is a decent enough manager at this level but did the best with what he had up until Christmas then was hoping for some reinforcements in Jan that would have allowed us to vary how we play, instead we went backwards, and he is trying to do what's best with players who have been sussed out. 

Clarke is the one getting stick, but shouldn't be the one to shoulder all the blame himself when he has a Director of Football who is turning Port Vale into his own fiefdom and is under little, if any, scrutiny. 

Agree with you. Clarke does not seem the same man as he did before January, something has happened. I honestly don’t know what Flitcroft does but it does seem that he is making all the big decisions and these decisions are screwing the club up and he is bringing in his mates to work at the club. I understand Carol may struggle to make key decisions on running a football club but it does also seem that who she is paying to make these decisions is failing miserably. But ultimately Clarke is still on charge with the players he has and his tactics and team selections have been very questionable this year.

[philpvfc]

1 hour ago, Port Vale Paul said:

That best preparation  that has cost the club though hasn't  improved anything on the pitch though, has it. Re the post couple of pages back we have 1 point more than the 2017 team for the same amount of games played. Let that sink in. Or should i say the cost of progress hey.

True but that is down to very bad recruitment not so much down to the funds given to the recruitment team.

[mr.hobblesworth]

4 minutes ago, philpvfc said:

True but that is down to very bad recruitment not so much down to the funds given to the recruitment team.

I hate to say it but I completely agree with you. *shudders*

[philpvfc]

1 minute ago, mr.hobblesworth said:

I hate to say it but I completely agree with you. *shudders*

Always easy to agree with me 😃