17 minutes ago, Iron Curtain said:

 

It's a tricky one but with Clark still out and our current league position I'd be happy to have seen him come back. We are very short at wingback.

 

34 minutes ago, saintvaliant said:

Beryly Lubala has left Burton at the expiry of a short term deal.

Career has never really got going, in part due to some legal issues, but scored 5 league goals in 17 starts for a struggling Burton side this season

Given our lack of forwards it might be worth taking a punt on an 18m deal?

They offered him a big pay rise to stay and he turned it down. He's certainly off somewhere. 

58 minutes ago, werstayinup said:

Wasn't he in the youth team at Vale... name sounds familiar 

Close. He came out of the West Ham academy and we gave him a one year deal, but he never played for us

1 hour ago, werstayinup said:

So if Cambridge sign Bodvarsson and Gibbons it will show that teams around us are starting to strengthen with experienced players to try and get them out of a relegation battle and thats a worry

More of a worry is there is only Loft, Wilo & Dipepa as our attacking options , if we don't get some forwards in before the deadline we are screwed cos you can't just rely on Wilo to get the goals god help us if he gets injured again which is a distinct possibility. Loft is a lost cause and Dipepa is still learning his trade at the moment 

Edited January 29, 20242 yr by Nippy Naylor

1 hour ago, Wrex said:

Don't think we can afford 18 million mate

That’s how I read it first time, had to read it again.

1 hour ago, MBE said:

Agree. I think we are being quite arrogant with our approach. Perhaps a reflection of the DOF’s personality but either way this squad will get relegated without strengthening with a few senior players.

A Gibbo type of character is missing on the pitch and Bodvarsson would have been an ideal replacement for Uche.

 

Leaving personalities out of this, if the powers that be truly think that adding a couple of untried starlets to the ranks will guarantee our safety then it does smack massively of arrogance.  We’ve got major injury issues, our top scorer now listed among them, loads of young players we’re trying to bed in and a strike force that doesn’t actually strike.  Bare minimum we need a forward who’s got some experience and more importantly a record of scoring in and around this level.  Beyond signings we need a huge turnaround of luck with injuries.

1 hour ago, werstayinup said:

He has already stated that he has to do more around the club now

I agree with him, but will he? Why not before? I mean I totally agree with currying his favour and think it is a good move but I think we will be disappointed. I think, over the years, the Vale have given him far more than he has put in. He gets free games and lords it up in a box named after him. He was allowed to use the club for a charity gig which was to fulfil his personal ambition to play at Vale Park, yet he left the pitch in a right state. 
 

Yet the greatest manager in the history of the club has to write a book to pay for his own statue! Sounds totally unfair to me and Robbie will probably get a statue at Vale before Rudgie. 
 

I just think Carol is a bit of a Robbie fan and the whole thing is a big celebration of him. 

4 minutes ago, TJHValiant said:

I agree with him, but will he? Why not before? I mean I totally agree with currying his favour and think it is a good move but I think we will be disappointed. I think, over the years, the Vale have given him far more than he has put in. He gets free games and lords it up in a box named after him. He was allowed to use the club for a charity gig which was to fulfil his personal ambition to play at Vale Park, yet he left the pitch in a right state. 
 

Yet the greatest manager in the history of the club has to write a book to pay for his own statue! Sounds totally unfair to me and Robbie will probably get a statue at Vale before Rudgie. 
 

I just think Carol is a bit of a Robbie fan and the whole thing is a big celebration of him. 

Just playing devils advocate here: do you really want and expect the club to fork out hundreds of thousands on a statue, as things currently are the only place that really matters?

6 minutes ago, TJHValiant said:

I agree with him, but will he? Why not before? I mean I totally agree with currying his favour and think it is a good move but I think we will be disappointed. I think, over the years, the Vale have given him far more than he has put in. He gets free games and lords it up in a box named after him. He was allowed to use the club for a charity gig which was to fulfil his personal ambition to play at Vale Park, yet he left the pitch in a right state. 
 

Yet the greatest manager in the history of the club has to write a book to pay for his own statue! Sounds totally unfair to me and Robbie will probably get a statue at Vale before Rudgie. 
 

I just think Carol is a bit of a Robbie fan and the whole thing is a big celebration of him. 

Where do u get he left the pitch in a right state from?? 
The pitch was <ovf censored> anyway and they had it covered 

I have only ever heard u say it 
 

2 minutes ago, Danish Valiant said:

Just playing devils advocate here: do you really want and expect the club to fork out hundreds of thousands on a statue, as things currently are the only place that really matters?

Not the club, and I don’t think Rudgie would want that either as he said that himself. 

Will the presence of RW affect our negotiating with other clubs? 

Just now, TJHValiant said:

Not the club, and I don’t think Rudgie would want that either as he said that himself. 

Okay 🙂

So it's Rob you want to pay for it?

26 minutes ago, Guitar Ray said:

Leaving personalities out of this, if the powers that be truly think that adding a couple of untried starlets to the ranks will guarantee our safety then it does smack massively of arrogance.  We’ve got major injury issues, our top scorer now listed among them, loads of young players we’re trying to bed in and a strike force that doesn’t actually strike.  Bare minimum we need a forward who’s got some experience and more importantly a record of scoring in and around this level.  Beyond signings we need a huge turnaround of luck with injuries.

The club must surely move position on the signings front from last week, This squad as it stands will get relegated, relying on other teams kids to compete and our own kids to change the game from the bench with no goals in the team is a recipe for disaster.
 

 

Edited January 29, 20242 yr by MBE

8 hours ago, Hot Rat said:

I would imagine that they spent well into six figures on the pitch in the summer for starters. 

Flitcroft said pitch cost 250k

11 minutes ago, Rockape99 said:

Flitcroft said pitch cost 250k

Good point, and something I'd forgotten about.

Probably explains why were a bit short of cash currently, although 100% agree with the reasoning for upgrading the pitch.