Crosby In

[saintvaliant]

8 hours ago, JoeB2 said:

Yes, all league.

Cups this calendar year: Played 13, won 5, drawn 5, lost 3. I've included the 3 draws that went to penalty shootouts as draws in there, against Crewe and Newcastle U21s which were "wins" and against Stevenage which was a "loss". Otherwise its won 7, drawn 2, lost 4.

Of those 13, 6 were against League 2 or U21 opposition, 6 were against League 1 opposition, and 1 was against Championship opposition. 

Brings our overall, in all competitions record in 2023 as:

Played 57

Won 15

Drawn 15

Lost 27

A win percentage of 26%, which is shocking, and fan dissent has been incredibly restrained. Even if you take leaps and consider the penalty shootout wins as "won" games, our win% this calendar year is 30%. 

Those stats say it all. Abysmal year.

[TJHValiant]

20 hours ago, Valiiant said:

 

Literally neither of those teams had "financial clout". Luton's ground holds less than Vale Park and they or Bournemouth were hardly throwing millions at it while climbing the leagues.

 

Bournemouth were co-owned by billionaire Russian Maxim Denim from 2011 whose wealth rivaled Abramovich at one point. They spent more than enough and were very lucky not to be done on financial fair play one year. 
 

Luton’s consortium is fantastic. They effectively have 20 Carol’s running their club. This is the route Vale need, a similar fan consortium but with very wealthy fans working together. Robbie, Phil Taylor etc need to join forces with Carol to do little each to do a lot together. 
 

Problem is we don’t have wealthy fans and despite Luton’s ground being a dump, they do have a huge fanbase. Whole of Bedfordshire basically and I reckon with a 20k stadium they could fill it. Probably a bigger club than Watford. 

[philpvfc]

If Vale have a good replacement for Crosby which is difficult to sort out behind his back mid season then get rid. If we don’t then keep Crosby until the end of season where unless things improve convincingly we should replace him. 
We won’t go down I don’t think if he stays but we could well go down if we get rid and don’t have a replacement.

[PVFC764]

Agree with most of the views.  I wanted AC to make it as a manager - but don't think he will at this club.  Great coach, but not a manager at this level - yet.  When we play slow tappy football we are rubbish and end up causing problems for ourselves due to silly mistakes and giving the ball away too easily. 

Watching the Barnsley game with friends, they all said the players are not capable of playing that way and your goal keeper caused the 3rd goal as he thinks he is a midfielder by the looks of it.  Tappy football and trying to win the possession stats is causing problems for you.  

2nd half, they jokingly said do you put out a different side as this is not the same side that played in the first half.  We passed the ball around fast and attacked Barnsley.  Barnsley fans I know said they were lucky to come away with the points and the disallowed goal should have stood.  

This is why fans are now fed up with AC and Co style now.  Silly mistakes are our downfall and why do we have to go down a couple of goals before they realise they need to play quicker and attack.

[JoeB2]

Need to be proper Vale. Direct football. Into these. Etc Etc.

We're simply not going to afford the players required to play this possession style. We can only do it now due to loaning in players who could well be gone in a few days time. Our permanent players haven't a prayer. Look at the permanent signings:

Yak, Clark, Debrah, Sang, Uche, Loft, Lowe, Ripley, Grant, Chislett.

Of those, arguably the last two are suited to possession football. We're wedded to a style which is reliant on players which we don't own and can't guarantee their presence beyond January.

Direct, aggressive approach. Whip the fans up. It's never been any different.

Edited December 27, 2023 by JoeB2

[Smallthorne clampet]

On 26/12/2023 at 20:22, andy jones said:

As someone who, like many on here, is finding the 'Vale Way' of messing around with it at the back with tippy tappy football hard work to watch, it may seem strange I am calling Crosby in.

The reason I am is ...

Carol has stated the club must become self-supporting financially.

So our whole playing structure from Academy to first team is being taught to play to the playing style befitting the modern day Championship and higher.

It is also proving to be a very successful conduit with probably the best set of Academy lads breaking through to the first team since the Stan Mathew's years. 

Crosby is seen by the club as an excellent coach who is unafraid of putting youngsters into the first team.

We are one win off being mid-table which would be in most fans eyes ... progress. Particularly with the number of youngsters coming through from the Academy.

As the club say ... we are not the finished article. But I think we have started along the road of becoming a successful club that not only finances itself but whose league position improves year on year.

That's why I think Carol will stand firm and not be moved by current results at Vale Park. 

The best set of Acadamy lads were scouted about 8 years ago under the old regime .

[Smallthorne clampet]

21 hours ago, ValeForever. said:

Agree Crosby in. I just do not understand the logic in getting rid of him at the moment. He's basically just not a very fashionable manager & ppl don't like it. He doesn't have the zest of DC. Darrell is doing a great job at Cheltenham as we all knew he would, but he's gone in there to fight fires & keep them up at all costs. Crosby's brief is very different. We are attempting to build something to give us a shot at competing towards the top end of this league in years to come.

Do I like some of the stuff we do? No absolutely not.

Are some of our tactics questionable? Yes, definitely.

One thing I will never ever get my head around for instance, is when we have a throw mid way in the opposition half, & we go back to the wide CB & then to the keeper & try & switch the play. I definitely think we need to be playing more percentages in those kinds of areas. There were a few occasions today 1st half where big Jesse has gone up to take a long throw, Alfie is screaming for him to give him the ball short. It was a 2v1 opportunity every single time, but Jesse was clearly under strict orders to launch it into the box.

We're far from perfect & we can be bloody awful to watch at times, but when we up the tempo & play on the front foot we look as good as any side I've seen in this league. The next step is to play like that for 90+ mins or atleast on a consistent basis. Fast forward passing, playing between the lines & quicker movement is key. We'd also do well to spend some time focusing on our set pieces, that's throw ins as well; we're tactically inept in that department. 

As I've said before, we're one of a cluster of teams in mid table, all of which are a couple of wins from top 10 or a few losses from dropping close to the bottom 4. I'm not sure I was expecting much else this season, we're kind of where I thought. I don't think anybody else would have us much higher up & for me he's doing okay. 

Reality check required. We're in our 2nd season in League 1. We were never going to waltz our way through the leagues like a Luton or a Bournemouth. We don't have the financial clout. We have to build slowly, which I believe we are doing. We've changed the style of play & we've introduced more technical players alongside youth. That's the brief!

 

If we dont have the financial clout , we need others to invest .

[ValeForever.]

15 hours ago, TJHValiant said:

Bournemouth were co-owned by billionaire Russian Maxim Denim from 2011 whose wealth rivaled Abramovich at one point. They spent more than enough and were very lucky not to be done on financial fair play one year. 
 

Luton’s consortium is fantastic. They effectively have 20 Carol’s running their club. This is the route Vale need, a similar fan consortium but with very wealthy fans working together. Robbie, Phil Taylor etc need to join forces with Carol to do little each to do a lot together. 
 

Problem is we don’t have wealthy fans and despite Luton’s ground being a dump, they do have a huge fanbase. Whole of Bedfordshire basically and I reckon with a 20k stadium they could fill it. Probably a bigger club than Watford. 

Correct.

People just can't be arsed to do their homework before passing comment, which is why I didn't bother replying to the response to my original post. We're a totally different club with a totally different ownership model.

Nobody has yet answered my question either, I'd hazard a guess it's because they know they're talking <ovf censored>... Where would we need to be in the league table right now, for Crosby not to be having his head called for?

Top half maybe?? We're 3 points off 12th with games in hand.

There's just zero patience in football anymore. Ppl harping on about our 2023 results, I totally agree not good enough on the whole, but Crosby wasn't in charge for over half of it. Darrell was.

He deserves a 2nd transfer window atleast & he shouldn't be going anywhere until the summer at the earliest. He's had 1 x transfer window & 22 league games. We're clear of the bottom 4 by 7 points. We're 3 points off the top half. Look at the league table. The top 7 are in a league of their own points wise, then there's a host of clubs including ourselves occupying the middle of the table.

Edited December 28, 2023 by ValeForever.

[WV]

17 hours ago, andy jones said:

I certainly aren't endorsing him, although I am sure i would love it if he proved me wrong,

I started the thread because there has to be a reason why he is still in the job.

The only reason i can come up with is that Carol and Flitcroft are thinking longer term than the results since the first international break.

Hence the continuing, no Plan B 'Vale Way' is not based on the match in hand it's all part of a bigger picture to bring youngsters through fully trained in a style of football that befits the modern day Championship and Prem teams.

Unfortunately, IMHO a number of the senior players do not have the confidence or ability to play that system well.

But sticking to, and implementing, the bigger picture is what Flitcroft and Carol are doing and they believe Crosby is the right man for the job. I think they are loath to change the structure or personnel unless the trap-door beckons.

They may well be proven right in the long run. I hope so.

 

 

 

I think the reason he is still in a job is because there is going to be a big change in January and they want any new owner/major shareholder to be able to bring in their own man. 

 

Either that or we genuinely can't afford to sack him, which doesn't bode well for bringing in players to improve the first team. 

[Brian]

16 hours ago, Smallthorne clampet said:

The best set of Acadamy lads were scouted about 8 years ago under the old regime .

And developed largely by the new regime

[Valiiant]

18 hours ago, andy jones said:

I certainly aren't endorsing him, although I am sure i would love it if he proved me wrong,

I started the thread because there has to be a reason why he is still in the job.

The only reason i can come up with is that Carol and Flitcroft are thinking longer term than the results since the first international break.

Hence the continuing, no Plan B 'Vale Way' is not based on the match in hand it's all part of a bigger picture to bring youngsters through fully trained in a style of football that befits the modern day Championship and Prem teams.

Unfortunately, IMHO a number of the senior players do not have the confidence or ability to play that system well.

But sticking to, and implementing, the bigger picture is what Flitcroft and Carol are doing and they believe Crosby is the right man for the job. I think they are loath to change the structure or personnel unless the trap-door beckons.

They may well be proven right in the long run. I hope so.

 

 

 

So basically you told a mate he was useless and then posted something different here just so you get a few likes from the Happy Clapper bacon and cheese oatcake club? Got it.

Edited December 28, 2023 by Valiiant

[PVFC_4_EVA]

I’m still in the Crosby in camp and I’m hoping for a slice of luck with injuries and a good LWB and another striker in the transfer window. I’m not expecting miracles but would be happy to finish 15th or above. People can call me happy clapper but I’ve actually quite enjoyed the football this year. We are progressing and small tactically changed have helped these past few games. However there is no excuse for the first half the other day and the manager has accepted that.

I’m not criticising the Crosby out camp and can certainly understand their point of view. I just hope the team can win them back around with a good string of performances and results.

[Valiiant]

5 minutes ago, PVFC_4_EVA said:

 However there is no excuse for the first half the other day and the manager has accepted that.

 

Is that the same as he accepted there's no excuse for the 7-0 loss on the opening day of the season? The same one in the tepid performance against an injury ravaged Middlesborough side at home recently in a game we lost at a whimper? Or the loss at home to Stevenage in the FA Cup when his substitutions and in-game management lost us a 2 goal lead with 10 minutes remaining?

Excuse. Excuse. Excuse. Spin. Spin. Spin.

Edited December 28, 2023 by Valiiant

[Guitar Ray]

1 hour ago, WV said:

I think the reason he is still in a job is because there is going to be a big change in January and they want any new owner/major shareholder to be able to bring in their own man. 

 

Either that or we genuinely can't afford to sack him, which doesn't bode well for bringing in players to improve the first team. 

How do you come to these conclusions?  Maybe we’re just trying to improve each window, to use an often quoted phrase, in a way that’s financially sustainable. 

[ValeOfYork]

(Some) Vale fans frustrate me. On Tuesday I witnessed booing when the ball was played across the defence or played back to Ripley, despite us keeping possession, but the same fans also booed when the ball was played long and was picked up by the opposition. We are not Man City, so we don’t have world class players and we all have to accept that mistakes will be made - but I’d rather us at least try to play a modern style of possession-based football than go back to the hoofball that we played in the 80s, which was awful but was in-keeping with the style at the time. Any half-decent team that’s above grassroots level, nowadays, is coached to play in this modern style, so it’s not going to change and we need to accept it, warts and all.