Crosby is Out NOW !!!

[Guppys left peg]

9 minutes ago, Mellor! said:

Genuine question - Would people prefer to be a 'boring' League 1 team finishing 16th every season, never really in danger of relegation, with the odd good win and shocking loss.

Or would people prefer to be a bit like Northampton. A 'yo-yo' club. Go down, spend the season around the League 2 play-offs, next season go up. Spend the next season around the League 1 relegation zone, then go down the next season. Rinse and repeat...

Interesting question but the former. Never know you might get that one season where you strike it lucky and make the Championship like Wycombe for example. Doing the latter option would be more excitement but each time you end up in L2 you are only one terrible season from dropping out the EFL altogether.

[DazFred]

I don't expect Flitcroft to engage with fans because he will just let the situation run it's course. Why would he? There's nothing for him to gain from it from his perspective.

There's rumours that Ian Donaldson wants to invest in the club. As someone who already has,and has his company's name just about everywhere at the stadium,can he comment on it?

If Vale fans want Crosby out,who would they want instead? How would that manager alter the way the team plays?

The way I see it is that far too many fans got extremely carried away when we were joint top. At that time we had a settled team and much fewer injuries. The success in the cup competitions has come at a price.

Our 2 starting midfielders are injured/out. Yak and Wilson are just back from long injury lay offs. Plant,Clark and Jones are out. 

Garrity has been immense,Debrah has improved,Devine,Blaster and Chislett have been positives,Wilson is back,we have a genuine shot stopper in Ripley. Shorrock,Lomax, Dipepa and Walters show promise. 

What do the fans expect? Free flowing football,thrashing everyone in sight with a depleted squad? I don't...I expect effort and commitment on the field. The Blackpool game showed this plus moments of quality that won the game.

I don't expect moaning Minnies booing our own players and manager..it's embarrassing. Shrewsbury,Bristol,Orient,Cambridge,Exeter,Northampton,Burton, Fleetwood ,Cheltenham,Carlisle,Stevenage,Oxford. These are the teams who I feel are similar to Vale...not a huge fan base,but if we finish above these types of teams,we will be nearer to the top than the bottom.

We are halfway through the season on 29 points. I urge the fans to get behind the manager and the players. We aren't marooned at the bottom of League 2,or on our 3rd manager of the season.

 

[JoeB2]

Looking more long-term, we've made two (imo) important moves this year:

• Shown young players that you can either be sold to a top academy (Lawrie, Mills) or have a proper path to first-team minutes (Plant, Shorrock, Walters, Dipepa, Lomax)
• Shown Category 1 academies that we are, at least, competitive in providing EFL experience for good young players. Arblaster's comments and securing Devine are evidence that we might be looked at as a good option by loan managers

We've not been good at this for a long-time. I think a next step is showing talented non-league players that we are a good platform to get EFL minutes.

[DazFred]

26 minutes ago, Mellor! said:

Genuine question - Would people prefer to be a 'boring' League 1 team finishing 16th every season, never really in danger of relegation, with the odd good win and shocking loss.

Or would people prefer to be a bit like Northampton. A 'yo-yo' club. Go down, spend the season around the League 2 play-offs, next season go up. Spend the next season around the League 1 relegation zone, then go down the next season. Rinse and repeat...

What do the fans expect?

Some of them sound like entitled fans from Borlton,Derby,Pompey,Charlton.

We are where we are and I'd rather be in this division than with the dross in the division below with Bradford and Swindle

[valiant_593]

4 minutes ago, DazFred said:

What do the fans expect?

Some of them sound like entitled fans from Borlton,Derby,Pompey,Charlton.

We are where we are and I'd rather be in this division than with the dross in the division below with Bradford and Swindle

Who sounds entitled? I’m happy with e the position but the football has been dreadful at times. Performances like Saturday aren’t acceptable 

[Danish Valiant]

23 minutes ago, DazFred said:

We are halfway through the season on 29 points. I urge the fans to get behind the manager and the players. We aren't marooned at the bottom of League 2,or on our 3rd manager of the season.

 

He has to do something to get people behind him, as do the players. And for every Blackpool game, there are 5 or 6 Barnsley, Wycombe etc That's why people are feeling down and low!

[Hoppers]

Our form is probably classic lower mid table form - win, lose, draw lose win draw  rinse and repeat

its a long time since we had a boring season - its seems to have been relegation or promotion battles for the last few seasons; we are used to as a fan base having our adrenalin fueled - and this season, its just mmostly middle of the road bllllegghhhhhh for me at present.

Although could deffo live without a run like the last 15 or so games 👍👍

 

[Brian Johnson]

1 hour ago, Mellor! said:

Genuine question - Would people prefer to be a 'boring' League 1 team finishing 16th every season, never really in danger of relegation, with the odd good win and shocking loss.

Or would people prefer to be a bit like Northampton. A 'yo-yo' club. Go down, spend the season around the League 2 play-offs, next season go up. Spend the next season around the League 1 relegation zone, then go down the next season. Rinse and repeat...

Which one would you prefer?

[TJHValiant]

58 minutes ago, Guppys left peg said:

Interesting question but the former. Never know you might get that one season where you strike it lucky and make the Championship like Wycombe for example. Doing the latter option would be more excitement but each time you end up in L2 you are only one terrible season from dropping out the EFL altogether.

Oldham were the most boring league 1 club. They were the longest serving members of the division before they went down to league 2 and eventually out of the league. Gates dipped, fans go fed up and it just all became so tedious for them. 
 

In the modern age, if you stay in League 1 or 2 for too long, as we did, you get left behind. Very few clubs in the Championship except Rotherham ,Preston, Plymouth and Bristol City have not been in the modern Premier League. 
 

It is a hard balancing act, but there is no doubt that even if we had 1 season in the championship we could generate far more money than years in league 1. The problem is when you spend too much to compete, like Yeovil certainly did. 

[princesslear]

21 hours ago, Gooders said:

And very disrespectful to a professional. And someone in a job none of the rest of us could dream of achieving! 

Absolutely - as Connor stated ' they're human beings working, with families'. If any read some of the nasty, hurtful comments on social media I wdnt blame them not wanting to perform but they're professionals & know that probably 95% are supporters who want to be there thro the gd & bad

[Mellor!]

22 minutes ago, Brian Johnson said:

Which one would you prefer?

At this moment in time the second one. See what the transfer window brings...

I think some Vale fans (me) are that used to turmoil, protests, etc, we just get a bit bored when things are middling. 

[Wozza4England]

48 minutes ago, DazFred said:

What do the fans expect?

Some of them sound like entitled fans from Borlton,Derby,Pompey,Charlton.

We are where we are and I'd rather be in this division than with the dross in the division below with Bradford and Swindle

What do fans expect?
 

I’ll speak for myself and those fans sat around me in Lorne Street against Middlesbrough and Barnsley.

Fans expect to be entertained and excited, to be on the edge of their seat and out of it too. To be throwing their arms in the air as shots narrowly miss the target or produce excellent saves from opposing keepers. They expect crunching tackles and one-twos on the edge of the box to create space for a cross to be fizzed along the six yard box.

What did I see when I looked around me? Fans looking down at their phones, reading the programme. Fans gazing blankly at away fans in the Bycars. Fans looking over to the technical area and wetting themselves at Crosby’s flailing arms trying to instruct his players where to stand, where to throw the ball, to move 5 yards up the pitch, no not 6 feckin yards…. 5, 5, 5 feckin yards!!! Heads held in hands as a Vale free kick on the half way line leads to the ball going back to Ripley who throws it to a player who isn’t good enough to control it and one pass, one shot, we’re 2-0 down. I saw fans counting how many times the ball was passed back to Ripley; 19 times in the first half and passing back under direct pressure wasn’t included.

In the words of Robbie as Vale take to the pitch; entertain us! That’s what fans who turn up in wind, rain, freezing temperatures, expect.

 

[philpvfc]

2 hours ago, Mellor! said:

Genuine question - Would people prefer to be a 'boring' League 1 team finishing 16th every season, never really in danger of relegation, with the odd good win and shocking loss.

Or would people prefer to be a bit like Northampton. A 'yo-yo' club. Go down, spend the season around the League 2 play-offs, next season go up. Spend the next season around the League 1 relegation zone, then go down the next season. Rinse and repeat...

I’d rather we establish ourselves as a solid Div 1 team and then push forward to becoming a division 1 team contending for promotion. 
 

how many teams who get promotion try to push for a European spot? Don’t they try and establish themselves as a solid Premiership team first. Would you prefer to be a Norwich or a West Ham?

[Trumpingtonvale]

2 hours ago, JoeB2 said:

Looking more long-term, we've made two (imo) important moves this year:

• Shown young players that you can either be sold to a top academy (Lawrie, Mills) or have a proper path to first-team minutes (Plant, Shorrock, Walters, Dipepa, Lomax)
• Shown Category 1 academies that we are, at least, competitive in providing EFL experience for good young players. Arblaster's comments and securing Devine are evidence that we might be looked at as a good option by loan managers

We've not been good at this for a long-time. I think a next step is showing talented non-league players that we are a good platform to get EFL minutes.

We’ve perhaps already taken the first step JB regards your non-league showcase with Jesse D and if he moves on to better things it shows we’re a good platform/stepping stone for ambitious non-league players too.

[philpvfc]

2 hours ago, valiant_593 said:

Who sounds entitled? I’m happy with e the position but the football has been dreadful at times. Performances like Saturday aren’t acceptable 

Totally agree but there has been very few seasons when we haven’t seen plenty of performances like that. That’s what comes with being a Vale supporter, and I’d rather support the Vale than some  stuck up team like Liverpool with its plastic fans that think they are better than anyone else.