3 minutes ago, Guppys left peg said:

Yeah preferably with some pace in both positions. Can never have too much of that. Also frees up Grant if the mood or situation takes to have him play inside too.

Interesting comments from Flitcroft on the official announcement that Man Utd have been scouting us for a while. Opening up some doors for us that weren’t there previously. Just so long as remember we have to have our own permanent core I like the strategy.

"We have worked tirelessly to create trust and bonds with the country's best clubs and we can now present evidence of the strategy through our successful loans in the first half of the season, highlighting game time opportunities, a platform to learn and develop and support systems on and off the pitch.

"We as a club have been scouted by Manchester United over a period of time, they have interviewed us and selected us based on how we play and how we support young players”

 

I think the issue with the big clubs loaning us players is it's quite reliant on Crosby. He has a good reputation as a coach, particularly with young players. Some of it is down to Carol and Flitcroft but most decision makers will know Crosby. Does make sacking him (I'm not in the Crosby out camp) kind of hard.

What are peeps expecting from Gore. assuming Arblaster > Devine, where does  he fit in? ^ Blaster, in between, below Devine? I expect he’ll be somewhere between passing wise, slightly more lightweight than Alfie, but be more of a goal threat than either. We’ll see. If he signs. Maybe he has signed, I haven’t checked.

I told Carol after Oxford Utd away Ollie Blaster was the best loan signing and one of the best players I’ve seen in 40 years watching Vale.

If the new lads on loan from Liverpool and ManUtd …. Just let that sink in a minute….. if they are as good on paper in L1 I may have to reconsider.

It really is unbelievable how we have attracted these lads this season. Flickers PowerPoint must have subliminal messages but the proof is in the pudding,  with the way we have helped and developed Blaster and Alfie must be a very big selling point.

And to a lesser degree Balmer. Looked class and calm until he made a mistake and never shook it off, looking a liability. Palace now know more about the player and his levels now so they can act accordingly.

4 minutes ago, MBE said:

I told Carol after Oxford Utd away Ollie Blaster was the best loan signing and one of the best players I’ve seen in 40 years watching Vale.

If the new lads on loan from Liverpool and ManUtd …. Just let that sink in a minute….. if they are as good on paper in L1 I may have to reconsider.

It really is unbelievable how we have attracted these lads this season. Flickers PowerPoint must have subliminal messages but the proof is in the pudding,  with the way we have helped and developed Blaster and Alfie must be a very big selling point.

And to a lesser degree Balmer. Looked class and calm until he made a mistake and never shook it off, looking a liability. Palace now know more about the player and his levels now so they can act accordingly.

Yes and even though Balmer didn’t quite come off, he’s still in that bracket of attracting young premier league talent that other L1 clubs were probably in for. I’d love to know how many we beat for Arblaster. 

Fantastic signing this 

Welcome to the lad hope he puts a couple thousand Utd fans on the gate for sat .

Certainly great be doing business with the likes of Tottenham Crystal Palace and Man Utd Sheffield Utd too no disrespect coming for any of them clubs from me a big thank you giving us the calibre of players which should be making the Vale a overall better watch on the field

Dan Gore Danny Gore he gets the ball he is bound to score Danny Gore.

Welcome Fella see thee Sat 

40 minutes ago, ValeForever. said:

What an unbelievable bit of media that is from the club. The bloke normally announces the biggest transfers in World football. Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar etc. He has 30 million followers.

Brilliant exposure for the club. The bloke is a huge name in World football. The fact he has tweeted about us 3 x this past week is quite astonishing.

It really does feel like some of the hard work is beginning to pay off in terms of changing people's perceptions of Port Vale as a football club. It was always going to take somebody taking a punt on us to get the ball rolling, & I think we got that shot when Spurs gave us Alfie.

We clearly did a great job with him, as well as Ollie, & it has started the ball rolling. We are in a great position to be able to pretty much guarantee these players first team football at League 1 level & we now have the evidence to back those claims up. 

The tide is turning & we are clearly making progressive steps. I think there's lots of things behind the scenes that are playing a part. The loan lads all live in a house together, they have the foodie footballer going in & walking them through how to cook their own nutritious meals, look after themselves & help with recovery. We've now got the T-Zone, the ice baths, the family area where their parents & friends can enjoy the match. They are really well looked after.

I also think our run in the Youth Cup last year will have really helped. I went to the Liverpool game where we somehow got beat 1-0. We played them off the park for large parts of that game. No doubt they will have been impressed with what they witnessed & word travels fast in footballing circles.

If you'd have told me before the season that we'd have 3 current England under 20 players joining us on loan this season, in addition to a lad that's played in Liverpool's 1st team & Champions League football, I'd have laughed it off. Massive credit to the club for starting to turn the tide & change opinions to help improve us. I'm really excited for the future. I think if we can stabilise & keep making small improvements & progress in the next couple of years, we'll be in a really good position to have a go at sniffing around the higher echelons of League 1.

You articulated that far better than me. 

Great post.👏👏👏

 

Let’s not waste time playing him out of position, the realising where he works best 2 games before the end of the season.

After all the rumours and speculation, it's brilliant to see this move materialise. Not too long ago, those rumours and speculation served only to sell disappointment,  but how things have changed.

In fairness to the lad, he must have his head screwed on, not for it to be turned by some of the "bigger" clubs he was linked with, so good youth for chosing the Vale. 

I hope our fans allow him the time to adapt and not expect him to pick up where Alfie and Blaster left off, because despite the hype, he's still only 19 with a lot to learn, though of course, he's clearly very talented and because of what we saw in those two, expectation will and should be there. 

Welcome Dan, you've come to our club and we'll look after you, if you play to your ability, the fans will love you to bits and when the time comes for you to return to Old Trafford, you'll do so a better player, better person and with the fondest memories of the Vale and SVA. 

1 hour ago, werstayinup said:

Has that come off him? not a dig just wondering where that info is from as it was Alan Nixon who said he was one of the highest paid players in League One and they want him off their wage bill

Looked up on sport pay , while at Derby , Marriot was on 18k a week for the time he was there ,he moved to Peterborough on just over 5k and then to Fleetwood on 4k . 

Edited January 23, 20242 yr by aspin for england

Attracting top quality young players on loan is a highly impressive achievement.

Even moreso when considering the not too distant club history.

I also think balancing this with the many other factors that have been discussed on here in the last few days will require further very astute management.

Style of play and the short term nature of loanees being two that immediately spring to mind.

56 minutes ago, Guppys left peg said:

Guess it’s all fun and games until we find out we blew the remainder of the budget on getting Fab to shoot that video 🤣 

Lets get another wingback and forward in  and anything else then is a bonus.

Like see 2 forwards coming in 👍

39 minutes ago, philmpv said:

 

 

I have a hunch that may have been a very different outcome under Norman.

"Where are they taking all of those left over pies....?"

 

He scoffed them all is the answer 🙄😆

On 22/01/2024 at 15:53, andy jones said:

If we are good at playing football and lose surely it means the opposition are better than us at playing football...

Not necessarily - if it's an individual mistake (so many of them!,) or a bad refereeing decision (even more of those!)? You must have heard other clubs - not only us - complain that a ref's decision has cost them the game? 

Welcome Dan to the mighty Vale. All Valiants will back you to the hilt if you give your all to us. The Vale family can't wait to allow you to fulfil your undoubted promise. Thanks for choosing us to better your career.

Just imagine if Gore could have played alongside Bobby Blood, who scored a hatful of goals for Vale just after the First World War.

 

There really would have been Blood and Gore on the pitch then.