Feeling Very Optimistic

[1]

We’ve not just freed up space, but also freed up wages from (assumes) bigger earners. Worrall already signed new terms once, so would have been well paid. Wilson, Proctor, Pett we’re experienced pros when they joined so would have been 3 or the top earners. I’ll breathe easier when we have an exciting GK in place, as I really do think the back line were ok and we lost 10+ points from frustrating goalkeeping errors. If I had to bet, I’d say Garrity won’t renew but if not then we’ll be fine. 

[Vale Ball]

Contributed to what exactly? Promotion? Staying up in league 1? What is your point? 

I don't think Joe likes the fact that Carol rewarded the staff with a holiday for their efforts in getting promotion.

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[SFBT]

47 minutes ago, Paul6754 said:

Until Vale have signed a number of new players I can't be optimistic.

If anything given we've recently lost two of our most skillful players and need to sign at least 5-7 experienced Lge 1 quality players and given DF's patchy record of signing quality players at the Vale I'm a tad concerned at the moment.

 

You're on the wrong thread then 😀

The last few months were pretty unpleasant, largely because Carol pulled in the purse strings.

Seemed like a reasonable call, but further events made it a call a bit too close for comfort.

However, the players transferred then, plus those released now mounts up to a fair wedge surely?

Money that wasn't available last summer due to league two players still being on contracts.

Recruitment last summer was severely curtailed by achieving promotion a year ahead of the plan.

I'm pretty confident that last season's strategy was to survive and then reset in the summer.

Which is what seems to be happening.

Hence I feel fairly hopeful.

[darren1810]

1 hour ago, 1 said:

We’ve not just freed up space, but also freed up wages from (assumes) bigger earners. Worrall already signed new terms once, so would have been well paid. Wilson, Proctor, Pett we’re experienced pros when they joined so would have been 3 or the top earners. I’ll breathe easier when we have an exciting GK in place, as I really do think the back line were ok and we lost 10+ points from frustrating goalkeeping errors. If I had to bet, I’d say Garrity won’t renew but if not then we’ll be fine. 

I know what you mean by freeing up wages from big earners.

But......surely we have to pay similar to attract a similar calibre of player.

Let's play devil's advocate and say Worrall was on 1500 a week. We aren't going to get an adequate replacement on a grand a week?  So the economics should remain the same unless we really are in bargain basement territory. 

[Paul6754]

2 hours ago, SFBT said:

You're on the wrong thread then 😀

The last few months were pretty unpleasant, largely because Carol pulled in the purse strings.

Seemed like a reasonable call, but further events made it a call a bit too close for comfort.

However, the players transferred then, plus those released now mounts up to a fair wedge surely?

Money that wasn't available last summer due to league two players still being on contracts.

Recruitment last summer was severely curtailed by achieving promotion a year ahead of the plan.

I'm pretty confident that last season's strategy was to survive and then reset in the summer.

Which is what seems to be happening.

Hence I feel fairly hopeful.

You can theorize all you like SFBT but until players are signed then I can't be optimistic or pessimistic on Vale's footballing prospects next season, I'm a realist.

When  Ribeiro/Smurthwaite did their hatched job on Rob Page and his squad and signed a dozen or so overseas players mainly from lower leagues, I was pessimistic about the Vale's chances of staying in Lge 1 and even Lge 2 if Ribeiro had remained with that group of players and posted so on OVF. I am not suggesting DF will do a "Ribeiro".

There were some OVFers who thought Vale were going to walk Lge 1 with that group of players and some players would be sold for millions, well we all know how it worked out and thank heaven Ribeiro left when he did.

The only reasons to be optimistic about the club as a whole at the moment is Carol and the stability and professionalism  she's bought to the club and the fact we remained in Lge 1.

 

 

[Boslem's Brazil]

14 hours ago, JoeB2 said:

I think Luton are a sign of how the fundamentals need to be right to climb the leagues. Dipping your toe into things that the bigger-budget clubs do is a waste of money.

They play in one of the few grounds in more need of an uplift than our own, but have invested their money in the playing budget and appointing good managers.

Their training ground is a bunch of fields they leased when they were in League 2. They only built an indoor gym last year.

It's very cool and trendy to do 'long-term infrastructure stuff' in football these days, with a litany of DoFs talking about philosophies and values, but I'm still of the belief that if you're a club working on a smaller budget then the way to grow the budget is win games of football by employing good managers and funding a competitive playing budget. There's no other tested way of increasing your fanbase.

Fancy pre-season trips, cryogenic chambers, and 'Head of Coaching' roles who look to 'align the club's philosophy' are a complete waste of money. Get back to basics and use all of resources in finding good footballers.

Small minded summary, expected better from you. 

[worldsendvalefan]

I think Luton are a sign of how the fundamentals need to be right to climb the leagues. Dipping your toe into things that the bigger-budget clubs do is a waste of money.
They play in one of the few grounds in more need of an uplift than our own, but have invested their money in the playing budget and appointing good managers.
Their training ground is a bunch of fields they leased when they were in League 2. They only built an indoor gym last year.
It's very cool and trendy to do 'long-term infrastructure stuff' in football these days, with a litany of DoFs talking about philosophies and values, but I'm still of the belief that if you're a club working on a smaller budget then the way to grow the budget is win games of football by employing good managers and funding a competitive playing budget. There's no other tested way of increasing your fanbase.
Fancy pre-season trips, cryogenic chambers, and 'Head of Coaching' roles who look to 'align the club's philosophy' are a complete waste of money. Get back to basics and use all of resources in finding good footballers.

Agree, totally

[dishydave]

Luton aren't run sustainably by the time they got promoted from league two they owed 18 million to the owners and lost 6 million last year alone. There is no way to run a club sustainably at any level even Brentford who everyone aspires to be owed 74 million before they got to the premier league. We need a seriously rich owner or a lot of time before we can progress much further than we already have.

[SFBT]

8 hours ago, Paul6754 said:

You can theorize all you like SFBT but until players are signed then I can't be optimistic or pessimistic on Vale's footballing prospects next season, I'm a realist.

When  Ribeiro/Smurthwaite did their hatched job on Rob Page and his squad and signed a dozen or so overseas players mainly from lower leagues, I was pessimistic about the Vale's chances of staying in Lge 1 and even Lge 2 if Ribeiro had remained with that group of players and posted so on OVF. I am not suggesting DF will do a "Ribeiro".

There were some OVFers who thought Vale were going to walk Lge 1 with that group of players and some players would be sold for millions, well we all know how it worked out and thank heaven Ribeiro left when he did.

The only reasons to be optimistic about the club as a whole at the moment is Carol and the stability and professionalism  she's bought to the club and the fact we remained in Lge 1.

 

 

I'm with you there. 

My aim is to make some sense of what's happening, just like everyone else.

There seems to be a logic in what's happened to date, although it did get pretty uncomfortable.

To add to the mix, with DC going, an extra level of instability was introduced, so the task became more complicated.

This is where the club is.

Like you, I feel neither optimistic nor pessimistic, merely hopeful that those who have the reins do a good enough job.

[The man in the pub]

Not got a problem with either of those. Have never mentioned any of those as a problem. 
Like it or lump it, Carol had to spend way more than she should have done in recent years. There are things we spent money on that, looking back, were over the top and unnecessary which undoubtedly contributed.

The redundancies that we heard about before Xmas. Additional staff that were taken on in backroom roles that were let go once Carol realised she was overspending. All eat into the playing budget.

[Warren]

I'm happier that the residual players are aligned with the manager. There was evidence in some later games last season under DC that certain players were not committed or had bad attitude towards the club and fans. There is a clean slate for next season. 

 But the manager has identified all the issues last year that need to be addressed this transfer window. Only when the squad is replenished with new signings will we be able to tell if they are likely to have been addressed. Obviously just at the moment the squad has lost quality with Worrall and Wilson departing and that aspect also needs addressing by way of new signings. The residual squad has good enough players but needs reinforcement with good new players to climb the table. 

I'm optimistic without grounds presently. I hope to be optimistic with grounds by the start of the season. 

[dishydave]

I think it's safe to say we are all optimistic aren't we, because let's be honest if we were being realistic none of us would be here.

[LancyTony]

On 18/05/2023 at 21:04, Santa said:

I think both of these threads are a little bit silly.

I’m neither up nor down.

If anything I’m enjoying the break.

?????? You only work 1 day in the year!! That's 1 long break!

[The man in the pub]

Genuinely feel we need to do much better than this last season. OK mission accomplished as we stayed up but we only just squeaked over the line. You have to be optimistic that we will do better and hope the management team realise that this was acceptable for our first season in this division. There is however little margin for error should we do any worse next season.