Context

[Bobnewtonian]

 Andy Crosby will go the way of all Port Vale managers and part company with the club at some point. But how that happens is as of yet unknown despite the rantings of a few on  here who seem to have some strange urge  to make things as difficult as possible for him and in some ways for other supporters such as me who actually like and look forward to going to the games.

We are mid table in 1 having reached a quarter final of the league cup with our top scorer and best midfielder both having recently signed extended contracts, due in no small part to the manager. We have attracted better youngsters from premier league teams than ever before, the money on the pitch looks to have worked as by now it would normally be cutting up, we are actually selling talented youngsters to premiership teams and have young players of our own on the verge of the 1st team. We are trying to change the way we play into a more possession based game so that we can attract better players and the foundation / youth set up is better than ever.

Of course it doesn't mean we are 100% happy with our club as supporters we should always try and drive it forwards with support but basically if you are that unhappy with the club in its current state you need to find yourself a new hobby and not bother going ...  from an overall picture point of view the club is better placed than I can remember. And I've been going since 1971 and my dad and grandad before me.

But instead of waffling on lets give it some context. 

Of the clubs who came up with us:

Forest Green (smaller than us) relegated and struggling in league 2

Exeter (about the same size club as us) below us in the league

Bristol Rovers (Larger club than us) : 2 points above us in the league.

None of the above suggests to me that we are as bad as people on here are raving on about.

We can also look at a couple of play off winners who came up the same route as us in the season before and season after us.

Carlisle : (about the same size club as us) below us in  the league

Morecambe (smaller club than us) : now back in league 2

Each to their own but I think the weaker minded people think its somehow clever to swear and run down their own club.

As I've said before we will end up with the team the supporters deserve.

UTV and here's a novelty : enjoy the game.

[grand prix pants]

We’ll end up with team we deserve?? What does that even mean? I’ve seen some shocking teams in my time at the Vale and I didn’t deserve any of them!

[philpvfc]

I’d say we are a bigger club than Carlisle and similar size to Bristol Rovers.  I’d also say we are as big a club as Oxford who are 5th, bigger than Stevenage who are 6th, bigger than Lincoln who are 9th and Northampton in 10th, bigger than Cambridge and Shrewsbury (13th &14th).

Saying that, I don’t disagree with what you are saying, Crosby is doing OK- I like his style of play bar the fact we have not got a decent striker- on the flip side, he is tactically useless, with his one style of play and his consistency of making us worse with his substitutions, his determination to play Massey who is hopeless and to play players out of position to accommodate him, his tinkering of our defence and constant playing players out of position, plus he needs to give up on Loft.

As a club we won’t particularly progress under Crosby but he will most likely keep us up this season which with our signings is an achievement in itself- he ain’t great but he is no way near as bad would make out and to get rid at this current stage of the season and to trust Flitcroft with a better replacement would be a massive gamble and a costly one as we are not going up and very unlikely to go down.

[darren1810]

44 minutes ago, Bobnewtonian said:

 Andy Crosby will go the way of all Port Vale managers and part company with the club at some point. But how that happens is as of yet unknown despite the rantings of a few on  here who seem to have some strange urge  to make things as difficult as possible for him and in some ways for other supporters such as me who actually like and look forward to going to the games.

We are mid table in 1 having reached a quarter final of the league cup with our top scorer and best midfielder both having recently signed extended contracts, due in no small part to the manager. We have attracted better youngsters from premier league teams than ever before, the money on the pitch looks to have worked as by now it would normally be cutting up, we are actually selling talented youngsters to premiership teams and have young players of our own on the verge of the 1st team. We are trying to change the way we play into a more possession based game so that we can attract better players and the foundation / youth set up is better than ever.

Of course it doesn't mean we are 100% happy with our club as supporters we should always try and drive it forwards with support but basically if you are that unhappy with the club in its current state you need to find yourself a new hobby and not bother going ...  from an overall picture point of view the club is better placed than I can remember. And I've been going since 1971 and my dad and grandad before me.

But instead of waffling on lets give it some context. 

Of the clubs who came up with us:

Forest Green (smaller than us) relegated and struggling in league 2

Exeter (about the same size club as us) below us in the league

Bristol Rovers (Larger club than us) : 2 points above us in the league.

None of the above suggests to me that we are as bad as people on here are raving on about.

We can also look at a couple of play off winners who came up the same route as us in the season before and season after us.

Carlisle : (about the same size club as us) below us in  the league

Morecambe (smaller club than us) : now back in league 2

Each to their own but I think the weaker minded people think its somehow clever to swear and run down their own club.

As I've said before we will end up with the team the supporters deserve.

UTV and here's a novelty : enjoy the game.

You can't just cherry pick teams. 

We were bigger than Rotherham until they had their new stadium. Likewise Reading and Bournemouth. 

It's not the ramblings of a few is it. Actual diehards who went to Wycombe were dissatisfied at the fare on offer. 7 points from 9 and still discontent speaks volumes.

I truly want him to succeed but the dour turgid dross is alienating the fanbase. Somehow the last 2 away games we have accrued 4 points with about 3 shots in 180 minutes of football. 

It's not going to be Wigan every week that's obvious but the amount of dire games I've witnessed has lessened my appetite for going. 50 years I've gone.

Take Stevenage. I went away. Then some would say bizarrely I didn't go to the replay. 

Why was that ? It wasn't money . It was pure tedium. I just couldn't face a dreary cold night of dull football. Turns out it wasn't a bad game despite the result. But if people like me are swayed against going we have no chance of keeping the day tripper fans. 

Most of what you said rings true apart from the cherry picking of other clubs. But there is a general sense of disillusionment and apathy. We have to ask ourselves why .

[Another shropshire valiant]

Fair post "Bobnewton" Oxford and Stevenage are punching above there weight at the moment, just as we were in the 90's, most clubs at our level ebb and flow but when you look at average attendances things, things pretty much level out, the teams with the bigger budgets are at the top.

Sky Bet League One | Average Attendances | Home Matches | Football Web Pages

WWW.FOOTBALLWEBPAGES.CO.UK

 

[smithie]

25 minutes ago, darren1810 said:

 

Most of what you said rings true apart from the cherry picking of other clubs. But there is a general sense of disillusionment and apathy. We have to ask ourselves why .

The truth of the matter is that mid-table football at any level below the Premier League is a tough sell to all but the diehards. Personally I'd be more worried by a lack of effort from the team but I'm definitely not seeing that. 

[Birches Head Fred]

I never quite understand this "we are bigger then X, or smaller than Y" mentality.

I'll happily admit that I can't argue that Man City, Chelsea, even Stoke and West Brom are bigger than us, nor that we are bigger than Aldershot, Torquay or, say Chester.

But the only relevance is our league position, teams in our league are, in my opinion no bigger or smaller than us, we are on an equal footing and merely competing against them for league points.

Some may have larger budgets and attract more fans, some less but they are ALL in this league for the same reason we are - that's the level we are all at.

I understand the opening post and agree with the basis of discussion, after nearly 50 years of supporting the club I've seen plenty of highs and more than enough lows and can assure anyone that the fare on offer at the moment may not be the best, but it's a transitional phase at the moment and as such that's why I think so many fans are frustrated.

We saw last Tuesday the gulf between lower league one and mid table Championship and let's be fair, Boro never really got into 3rd Gear neither.

Conversely we managed to get that far by being better than the teams we did beat - all below us in the league pyramid. This if nothing else is an indicator of exactly where we are.

I'm not for hanging Crosby out to dry, we are moving (slowly I'll admit) in the right direction, I think we can all see that we are one or two players short of a team capable of higher standing - I hope that in January we may well bring in the players that can push us on and I'm happy to wait and see.

Up the Vale, see you all there at 3.  

[Hoppers]

4 minutes ago, Birches Head Fred said:

We saw last Tuesday the gulf between lower league one and mid table Championship and let's be fair, Boro never really got into 3rd Gear neither.

Conversely we managed to get that far by being better than the teams we did beat - all below us in the league pyramid. This if nothing else is an indicator of exactly where we are.

Really well put mate - like it 👍👍👍👍

[JoeB2]

1 hour ago, Bobnewtonian said:

As I've said before we will end up with the team the supporters deserve.

I really hate to break it to you mate but that'll have absolutely no bearing on matters. I'm not even sure what it means - how can the supporters deserve something? By that logic, Bury FC fans deserved liquidation. It's absolute tripe.

We'll end up with the team that is reflective of the quality of management and the efficiency of the budget spent. Not a lot else.

[Bobnewtonian]

9 minutes ago, JoeB2 said:

I really hate to break it to you mate but that'll have absolutely no bearing on matters. I'm not even sure what it means - how can the supporters deserve something? By that logic, Bury FC fans deserved liquidation. It's absolute tripe.

We'll end up with the team that is reflective of the quality of management and the efficiency of the budget spent. Not a lot else.

You ve kind of answered your own question though…. The number of fans through the gate dictates a large portion of the budget… 2000 for an fa cup replay and 10000 for a league cup semi final is pretty pathetic really. 
It’s a saying used by many pro s in the game…. Constant running down of the club and foul mouthed chanting will deter families from attending and increasing our supporter base so we aren’t  covering ourselves in glory are we from a supporter point of view. 
 

utv

[bomber]

Without question 2023 has been a difficult watch for our fans! After Wembley we have had very few decent performances! Some of the abject performances have really knocked the stuffing out of a lot of fans. We have a decent team now and some half decent prospects but we a still hampered by long term injuries. I don’t for one minute think we are consistently getting the best out of our team! We really do need to step up on a more consistent basis and give the fans some hope. Loosing consistently at home is not going to endear fans or encourage them to attend . We must do better.

[Bobnewtonian]

1 hour ago, darren1810 said:

You can't just cherry pick teams. 

We were bigger than Rotherham until they had their new stadium. Likewise Reading and Bournemouth. 

It's not the ramblings of a few is it. Actual diehards who went to Wycombe were dissatisfied at the fare on offer. 7 points from 9 and still discontent speaks volumes.

I truly want him to succeed but the dour turgid dross is alienating the fanbase. Somehow the last 2 away games we have accrued 4 points with about 3 shots in 180 minutes of football. 

It's not going to be Wigan every week that's obvious but the amount of dire games I've witnessed has lessened my appetite for going. 50 years I've gone.

Take Stevenage. I went away. Then some would say bizarrely I didn't go to the replay. 

Why was that ? It wasn't money . It was pure tedium. I just couldn't face a dreary cold night of dull football. Turns out it wasn't a bad game despite the result. But if people like me are swayed against going we have no chance of keeping the day tripper fans. 

Most of what you said rings true apart from the cherry picking of other clubs. But there is a general sense of disillusionment and apathy. We have to ask ourselves why .

I feel neither apathy or disillusionment.

i didn’t cherry pick clubs I deliberately picked clubs who were promoted at the same time as us as I felt they were a fair comparison. Hence the title of the thread was context.

I m suprised you ve been going 50 years and think this is the worst football you ve seen… amazed actually.

No idea why you say we had 3 shots in the last 2 away games… unless it suits your agenda. I m sure the actual number of  shots would be around 15 at a guess but I m sure someone will check.

UTV. Enjoy the game.

[Brian Johnson]

1 hour ago, smithie said:

 Personally I'd be more worried by a lack of effort from the team but I'm definitely not seeing that. 

Wait until you get your illegal stream of the games up & running

[Brian Johnson]

2 hours ago, Bobnewtonian said:

 Andy Crosby will go the way of all Port Vale managers and part company with the club at some point. But how that happens is as of yet unknown despite the rantings of a few on  here who seem to have some strange urge  to make things as difficult as possible for him and in some ways for other supporters such as me who actually like and look forward to going to the games.

 

Its not just a few of us on here. Look at other Port Vale social media platforms & look / listen to the fans that went to Wycombe on Saturday that were chanting "Crosby out"

He's made life difficult for himself by persisting with the same formation, the same labouring way we play football and constantly playing players out of position.

He's got no in-game management at all

[Brian Johnson]

22 minutes ago, Bobnewtonian said:

I m suprised you ve been going 50 years and think this is the worst football you ve seen… amazed actually.

 

He's not said its the worst football that he's seen