Crosby is Out NOW !!!

[Hoppers]

21 minutes ago, Nippy Naylor said:

Howjy , let me answer that for you because Pete wild can actually manage a football club on a shoe string budget while his teams play good attacking football not like Bings tactics sit back and hope for the best.

Is this you BJ - asking for a friend 😍😍😍

[philpvfc]

5 hours ago, valiant_593 said:

Pretty sure that poll is way out of date. It will be 80/20 in favour of him going 

Maybe, but a lot of assumptions and of those that want him gone, how many want him gone now or would prefer to wait until the end of the season?

[Hoppers]

I think any new manager should be given a year, (unless they are Wayne Rooney 🤣🤣🤣)  and hence a couple of transfer windows since they will be inheriting players from the previous regime 👍👍👍

[Walka003]

I think any new manager should be given a year, (unless they are Wayne Rooney )  and hence a couple of transfer windows since they will be inheriting players from the previous regime

While I agree with the sentiment, we've brought in 15 new players since Crosby came in. 16 if you include Willow coming back. We've released or sold 11 (I think).

This is his team.

[valefan16]

On 02/01/2024 at 13:27, darren1810 said:

My own take on this is I thought Joe made a very good post earlier comparing the Page era. It was boring particularly away where many games were shocking. Odd exception obviously. 

Finishing 14th is fine by me. There can't be many level headed Vale fans expecting a play off challenge. Maybe our fast start of 5-1-1 did us no favours.

However the reason I'm disillusioned is the football has been dire. I really enjoyed the more direct approach v Blackpool.  I can accept defeat . Goodness knows I've seen enough in 50 years. I really can't put my finger on it . Forget the so called Happy Clapper brigade or the moaning Minnie's. Let's try and understand why fans are disengaged. 

Just why are so many of our fanbase feeling this way. It's not a few dissenting voices either. I saw versus Barnsley with my own eyes a guy who does absolutely loads for the club pleading with Carol to get rid as we trudged off to a catcall of boos. A guy who puts a lot of coin Vale's way. 

We have not got entitled opinions of grandeur. We're Port Vale. But why are there continued concerns and calls for change when we are where we should be ?

It's the mind boggling team selection. Square pegs in round holes. The baffling substitutions which make no sense. And the reluctance to deviate from this new found Port Vale way. 

I'm fed up of your Lincoln and Carlisle scenarios where both were avoidable yet nobody was surprised we conceded so late.

I'll be there Saturday, I'll be at Reading the weekend after. But it's a struggle watching some of the performances. 

It's not actually about the be all and end all of winning. I'd like us to get me off my seat and have a go. If we lose so be it. But some of the football has driven me to despair. That's why I'm disillusioned. 

 

Good post.

I've just found myself trapsing up from Leicestershire and sitting there "bored" is probably the word I would use. Games we've sat back and over respected opponents.

Summed it up one of the biggest games in our recent history in the QF and after half hour I was bored stiff, nothing was happening. There is so much focus on possession, knocking it around, Barcelona used to bore me because it was holding the ball, but often backwards and slow, only difference is they had world class players so could do it without losing the ball and often wore down the opposition to score... we dont have that luxury.

I find everything frustrating, the same mistakes we make, the same injury crisis all the time but nothing seems to be happening, no movement on Crosby leaving or being backed, very little word from the DOF even. Everything just seems to have gone very flat and stale.

I am wary though of "what you wish for" as the Page era displayed, we did have some scintillating home games under Page early that season mind, Uche and Andoh tearing sides apart but away was usually a dire 1-0 defeat... felt a missed opportunity that season as a half decent effort away would have got us a play off spot.

At the moment though it does feel yet again that we are at the point of apathy and I go because I feel i have to rather than excitement at whats to come, everytime we seem to turn the corner (Wigan/Blackpool) we follow it up with a flat performance (Carlisle/Boro/Bolton).

 

 

[Hoppers]

15 minutes ago, Walka003 said:

While I agree with the sentiment, we've brought in 15 new players since Crosby came in. 16 if you include Willow coming back. We've released or sold 11 (I think).

This is his team.

Fair point mate  👍 but given that many new players, then do you not agree they need a fair amount of time to "gel"

How long do you think a new manager should be given (apologies if you have already stated this) 👍👍

[Hoppers]

3 minutes ago, valefan16 said:

apathy

This is the word that has been bouncing around with me for the last quarter of the season 👍👍👍 (AKA cant be arsed) 

[Danish Valiant]

15 minutes ago, Hoppers said:

This is the word that has been bouncing around with me for the last quarter of the season 👍👍👍 (AKA cant be arsed) 

To me it feels like the higher ups at the club, is apathetic as well.

If they're happy with what they're watching and the obvious trajectory we've been on for months, the only answer has to be, they're apathetic about it. Simply don't care anymore.

Matt Hancock saying time and time again in the summer, that they evaluated and learnt from the stop in communication last season when the <ovf censored> hit the fan. Yet here we are a year later, the <ovf censored> has hit the fan again, and communication has seized yet again. So what exactly did they learn, from all their evaluation? I just want to hear from someone not AC, if the club is happy with what is going on and what the plan is going forward for the manager and the transfer window.

The silence just make it seem like they couldn't give a damn. 

[Vale1995]

1 minute ago, Danish Valiant said:

To me it feels like the higher ups at the club, is apathetic as well.

If they're happy with what they're watching and the obvious trajectory we've been on for months, the only answer has to be, they're apathetic about it. Simply don't care anymore.

Matt Hancock saying time and time again in the summer, that they evaluated and learnt from the stop in communication last season when the <ovf censored> hit the fan. Yet here we are a year later, the <ovf censored> has hit the fan again, and communication has seized yet again. So what exactly did they learn, from all their evaluation? I just want to hear from someone not AC, if the club is happy with what is going on and what the plan is going forward for the manager and the transfer window.

The silence just make it seem like they couldn't give a damn. 

I think this window is going to be telling. Have we heard from our director of football once since the season started?? Is this normal? Just feel so disconnected from the club. And listen if we were told that were looking to improve and stick with us because they are working to implement new things and its not quite clicking yet then may be fans would be more patient. Could it be this season is all about creating sellable assests (sharrock, planty, lomax etc etc) and as long as we maintain league one then this is deemed job done by the club and then with the money from the sales we can push on next season? I dont have any idea of what we're trying to do so it's hard to get behind. Which then makes the tedius football even harder to deal with.

[Walka003]

Fair point mate  but given that many new players, then do you not agree they need a fair amount of time to "gel"
How long do you think a new manager should be given (apologies if you have already stated this)

If you see positive signs, then you stick with it. Blackpool and the first half at Wigan aside, I've seen nothing to suggest this experiment is going positively for months.

I think both him and Clarke last year have been dealt bad hands by incompetent recruitment, but at least last year I always felt like there was a bit of hope with Clarke in charge. Now I'm just bored to tears by the football and waiting for the inevitable sacking after the transfer window when it's all too late to change anything.

[Danish Valiant]

8 minutes ago, Vale1995 said:

I think this window is going to be telling. Have we heard from our director of football once since the season started?? Is this normal? Just feel so disconnected from the club. And listen if we were told that were looking to improve and stick with us because they are working to implement new things and its not quite clicking yet then may be fans would be more patient. Could it be this season is all about creating sellable assests (sharrock, planty, lomax etc etc) and as long as we maintain league one then this is deemed job done by the club and then with the money from the sales we can push on next season? I dont have any idea of what we're trying to do so it's hard to get behind. Which then makes the tedius football even harder to deal with.

Can only compare to my Danish team Brondby. There the DoF is interviewed on TV regularly in relation to matches. If not every week, then at least every other. Actually here in Denmark, all DoF are regularly on tv, as the media understands that the head coaches are interviewed about on the pitch, and the DoF about off the pitch. Not that the head coaches are not asked about ins and outs, but that is mainly asked to the DoF. In Brondby he's on official club media regularly and on the biggest fan podcast (like AleandtheVale) for 2 big pods twice a year and if something extraordinary happens. He's also available to them for comments when necessary. 

As I said, I just want to know what their plan is. That's not demanding to much or thinking I'm entitled to anything. That's just basic nurturing of the fanbase.

[Valiiant]

 

Despite my calls now and again for him to be sacked, I think Crosby will and and should be given to the end of the season. The odd home win which we've shown we are capable of against the bigger sides in the league will be enough to keep us up. But a serious rethinking must be done in the summer, in my opinion. People at the club are trying to run before they can walk and to a large extent it's just not working, or likely to work. Until we have the right players for it, this passing game needs to be knocked on it's head. It doesn't matter how much you might do in training, you're never going to turn players like Nathan Smith into a ball playing centre-back. The performance against Blackpool was far more like it in regards to what we should be doing game after game. Getting the ball forward quickly and using Ikpeazu to bring the likes of Garrity, Devine and Chislett into play as much as possible. Play to your strengths, and our strength isn't passing and even more so without Arblaster.

[Danish Valiant]

5 minutes ago, Valiiant said:

 

Despite my calls now and again for him to be sacked, I think Crosby will and and should be given to the end of the season. The odd home win which we've shown we are capable of against the bigger sides in the league will be enough to keep us up. But a serious rethinking must be done in the summer, in my opinion. People at the club are trying to run before they can walk and to a large extent it's just not working, or likely to work. Until we have the right players for it, this passing game needs to be knocked on it's head. It doesn't matter how much you might do in training, you're never going to turn players like Nathan Smith into a ball playing centre-back. The performance against Blackpool was far more like it in regards to what we should be doing game after game. Getting the ball forward quickly and using Ikpeazu to bring the likes of Garrity, Devine and Chislett into play as much as possible. Play to your strengths, and our strength isn't passing and even more so without Arblaster.

I agree and I said that on twitter as well. We just have to come to terms with the fact, that he's not going anywhere until he chooses to do so himself. 

If he were, he'd been gone at least a month ago. 

The club must be happy, if they'd just tell us and why 🤷‍♂️

[JoeB2]

21 minutes ago, Danish Valiant said:

Can only compare to my Danish team Brondby. There the DoF is interviewed on TV regularly in relation to matches. If not every week, then at least every other. Actually here in Denmark, all DoF are regularly on tv, as the media understands that the head coaches are interviewed about on the pitch, and the DoF about off the pitch. Not that the head coaches are not asked about ins and outs, but that is mainly asked to the DoF. In Brondby he's on official club media regularly and on the biggest fan podcast (like AleandtheVale) for 2 big pods twice a year and if something extraordinary happens. He's also available to them for comments when necessary. 

As I said, I just want to know what their plan is. That's not demanding to much or thinking I'm entitled to anything. That's just basic nurturing of the fanbase.

The DoF/Sporting Director model is very different on the continent with regards to communication.

[Danish Valiant]

1 minute ago, JoeB2 said:

The DoF/Sporting Director model is very different on the continent with regards to communication.

I agree.

But I think that is because the DoF role, has only hit the EFL on a broader basis, within the last couple of years. We're into decades here.
Even in the PL, they still interview the head coaches as if they're still managers. They are simply not as involved in the scouting/signing process, as they were a decade ago. 

Here in Denmark I can name the DoF for at least half the clubs in the best league of the top of my head. I can name 2 in the entire UK pyramid: DF and the one at Spurs, and that's only because he's Danish and I've worked with him 15 years ago 🤣