Who’s to blame?

[Valiant in Brum]

We only have one more card to play , and that is sacking the Manager , and hope for a bounce. To do nothing is not an option. The players can save him by taking 6 points from the next two home games , anything less , for the sake of the club , he sadly has to go.

In reality it should have happened before the window opened so a new manager can bring his own players in. Again looking at what we signed we haven't really got a budget. The finances are propably stable but there is nothing. The youth playerd signed really are not going to cut it, as look at the Football League Trophey.

[Warren]

Crosby. 

[Vital Spark]

Flitcroft is stealing a big wage from a precious budget. He’s had the owners over a barrel.

[Mellor!]

[JoeB2]

Cannot believe how thick I've been.

Long been a sceptic of Flitcroft and his BS but decided to force positivity over the Christmas period - spent time listening to interviews and wanted to give this plan chance to play out.

Dunno what came over me.

We've won 3 in 21, 11 in 49. The worst team to spend the entirety of 2023 in League 1.

We have no recruitment strategy - in the summer, it was physicality, then we became a possession team. They panic on deadline day every year and end up with tat. We can't even research why the CB from Liverpool wasn't playing at Aberdeen. We set public targets and fail to meet them.

Two stands don't have working toilets, but the club is in no rush to sort them - letting pensioners use portaloos in the middle of winter. Meanwhile, if you've got a spare few quid and are in the club's good books, you can hobnob with pop stars in a new hospitality suite which must have cost hundreds of thousands. No open invite - special few only!

There's a deep resentment between the hierarchy and the fans. I genuinely don't think they have a lot of time or respect for us. Now, we all know that Vale fans can be extremely daft at times, but they've been here for the last 100+ years and will continue to be so for the next 100. The relationship between player and fans is at a record low - in 2013, Hughes, Purse, Pope, Griff were all out in Burslem post-promotion. In 2022, the players were locked away in the Valiant Suite with the fans milling around closed pubs. 

Carol is being conned by a man with no recruitment experience. Look at Blackpool's Sporting Director - Head of Recruitment at Sheffield United, two major roles in recruitment at Aston Villa. Flitcroft hadn't even done work experience in recruitment and strategy, he just fancied a go at it and sweet-talked his way into a cracking gig where he faffs about part-time pretending he's Billy Beane, until he somehow lands a full-time role as things get worse than ever. 

There's only one person ultimately responsible, and ultimately able to sort it out. Carol. I've long believed she is a net positive for the football club, but right now she's approaching net negative - if she can't make the right decision and get the solution spot on.

Of course, we'll win Tuesday and some folk will pretend all is right. We're not going where we need to go, at all, whether we stay up this year or not.

[onestepatatime]

It is clear in most fans minds that Vale need to rebuild- a team/ confidence in the Club/ a system that doesn't rely on only 1 tactic/ vision for the future etc, etc.   Quite simply are AC and DF the ones we can rely on to secure that rebuild? Categorically NO.

[Killersrevenge44]

23 minutes ago, JoeB2 said:

Cannot believe how thick I've been.

Long been a sceptic of Flitcroft and his BS but decided to force positivity over the Christmas period - spent time listening to interviews and wanted to give this plan chance to play out.

Dunno what came over me.

We've won 3 in 21, 11 in 49. The worst team to spend the entirety of 2023 in League 1.

We have no recruitment strategy - in the summer, it was physicality, then we became a possession team. They panic on deadline day every year and end up with tat. We can't even research why the CB from Liverpool wasn't playing at Aberdeen. We set public targets and fail to meet them.

Two stands don't have working toilets, but the club is in no rush to sort them - letting pensioners use portaloos in the middle of winter. Meanwhile, if you've got a spare few quid and are in the club's good books, you can hobnob with pop stars in a new hospitality suite which must have cost hundreds of thousands. No open invite - special few only!

There's a deep resentment between the hierarchy and the fans. I genuinely don't think they have a lot of time or respect for us. Now, we all know that Vale fans can be extremely daft at times, but they've been here for the last 100+ years and will continue to be so for the next 100. The relationship between player and fans is at a record low - in 2013, Hughes, Purse, Pope, Griff were all out in Burslem post-promotion. In 2022, the players were locked away in the Valiant Suite with the fans milling around closed pubs. 

Carol is being conned by a man with no recruitment experience. Look at Blackpool's Sporting Director - Head of Recruitment at Sheffield United, two major roles in recruitment at Aston Villa. Flitcroft hadn't even done work experience in recruitment and strategy, he just fancied a go at it and sweet-talked his way into a cracking gig where he faffs about part-time pretending he's Billy Beane, until he somehow lands a full-time role as things get worse than ever. 

There's only one person ultimately responsible, and ultimately able to sort it out. Carol. I've long believed she is a net positive for the football club, but right now she's approaching net negative - if she can't make the right decision and get the solution spot on.

Of course, we'll win Tuesday and some folk will pretend all is right. We're not going where we need to go, at all, whether we stay up this year or not.

You are spot on. 

But many have noticed this since the dark days of v2001. 

I remember going back to 1987 fans digging in their pockets for a buy  a player fund. The funds bought a player for 27k

Nowadays, the funds are not so needed, but the fans still remain the steel which holds up the club. 

Since the Shanahans took over, admission prices have gone up, even though an extra 4,000 walk up on the day support is still within Vales reach, they choose not to promote inclusiveness to the unemplyed and students in the worst cost of living for decades. 

Where is the desire to reach out to the poorer parts of the North end of the city? Look at Wembley in 2022. No where near the interest levels of attendance in 1993. 

Vale need those supporters back or the club will continue to hob along in league one survival mode whilst it suits Flitcroft and others to Rob the club of a huge wage. 

They are on their hols in May. Do you think they care? 

Well, they should. Or Carol et Al should sell up and give it to a chairman who does care

 

[WV]

28 minutes ago, JoeB2 said:

Cannot believe how thick I've been.

Long been a sceptic of Flitcroft and his BS but decided to force positivity over the Christmas period - spent time listening to interviews and wanted to give this plan chance to play out.

Dunno what came over me.

We've won 3 in 21, 11 in 49. The worst team to spend the entirety of 2023 in League 1.

We have no recruitment strategy - in the summer, it was physicality, then we became a possession team. They panic on deadline day every year and end up with tat. We can't even research why the CB from Liverpool wasn't playing at Aberdeen. We set public targets and fail to meet them.

Two stands don't have working toilets, but the club is in no rush to sort them - letting pensioners use portaloos in the middle of winter. Meanwhile, if you've got a spare few quid and are in the club's good books, you can hobnob with pop stars in a new hospitality suite which must have cost hundreds of thousands. No open invite - special few only!

There's a deep resentment between the hierarchy and the fans. I genuinely don't think they have a lot of time or respect for us. Now, we all know that Vale fans can be extremely daft at times, but they've been here for the last 100+ years and will continue to be so for the next 100. The relationship between player and fans is at a record low - in 2013, Hughes, Purse, Pope, Griff were all out in Burslem post-promotion. In 2022, the players were locked away in the Valiant Suite with the fans milling around closed pubs. 

Carol is being conned by a man with no recruitment experience. Look at Blackpool's Sporting Director - Head of Recruitment at Sheffield United, two major roles in recruitment at Aston Villa. Flitcroft hadn't even done work experience in recruitment and strategy, he just fancied a go at it and sweet-talked his way into a cracking gig where he faffs about part-time pretending he's Billy Beane, until he somehow lands a full-time role as things get worse than ever. 

There's only one person ultimately responsible, and ultimately able to sort it out. Carol. I've long believed she is a net positive for the football club, but right now she's approaching net negative - if she can't make the right decision and get the solution spot on.

Of course, we'll win Tuesday and some folk will pretend all is right. We're not going where we need to go, at all, whether we stay up this year or not.

Cheltenham were worse in 2023. 

League One - Annual table | Transfermarkt

WWW.TRANSFERMARKT.CO.UK

not that it matters a great detail but I keep seeing you state it and it’s not quite true. What can you expect when the owner won’t spend on the pitch where it counts. 

[andy jones]

30 minutes ago, JoeB2 said:

Cannot believe how thick I've been.

Long been a sceptic of Flitcroft and his BS but decided to force positivity over the Christmas period - spent time listening to interviews and wanted to give this plan chance to play out.

Dunno what came over me.

We've won 3 in 21, 11 in 49. The worst team to spend the entirety of 2023 in League 1.

We have no recruitment strategy - in the summer, it was physicality, then we became a possession team. They panic on deadline day every year and end up with tat. We can't even research why the CB from Liverpool wasn't playing at Aberdeen. We set public targets and fail to meet them.

Two stands don't have working toilets, but the club is in no rush to sort them - letting pensioners use portaloos in the middle of winter. Meanwhile, if you've got a spare few quid and are in the club's good books, you can hobnob with pop stars in a new hospitality suite which must have cost hundreds of thousands. No open invite - special few only!

There's a deep resentment between the hierarchy and the fans. I genuinely don't think they have a lot of time or respect for us. Now, we all know that Vale fans can be extremely daft at times, but they've been here for the last 100+ years and will continue to be so for the next 100. The relationship between player and fans is at a record low - in 2013, Hughes, Purse, Pope, Griff were all out in Burslem post-promotion. In 2022, the players were locked away in the Valiant Suite with the fans milling around closed pubs. 

Carol is being conned by a man with no recruitment experience. Look at Blackpool's Sporting Director - Head of Recruitment at Sheffield United, two major roles in recruitment at Aston Villa. Flitcroft hadn't even done work experience in recruitment and strategy, he just fancied a go at it and sweet-talked his way into a cracking gig where he faffs about part-time pretending he's Billy Beane, until he somehow lands a full-time role as things get worse than ever. 

There's only one person ultimately responsible, and ultimately able to sort it out. Carol. I've long believed she is a net positive for the football club, but right now she's approaching net negative - if she can't make the right decision and get the solution spot on.

Of course, we'll win Tuesday and some folk will pretend all is right. We're not going where we need to go, at all, whether we stay up this year or not.

Joe. We are all disappointed mate. Even those of us in posh seats as we are all Vale fans.

The one aspect of your post I massively disagree with is your comments towards our owner. The owners you should criticise is those who have owned the club since the day the ground was built who invested nothing into the physical infrastructure with the exception of the incomplete Lorne Street.

With regards to the RW suite I suspect it's creating profit for investing elsewhere in the ground.

Despite results I am immensely happy to support a genuine community football club with a local owner who cares deeply about the fans and local community.

What I am not a supporter of is a glib tongued and misguided, DoF who, in Carol's own words at the time when he came for an interview for the Manager's job and within 10 minutes convinced her we needed a DoF.

His mission of creating a club that from top to bottom is designed to implement a Premier League skill philosophy and style of play into 3rd division footballers is about as catastrophic a project as I could possibly imagine and is destined to ruin the owner's ambitions for our club whilst driving the fanbase to despair and total boredom.

 

[Brian Johnson]

1 hour ago, Mellor! said:

Does this mean that he can sack himself ?

[pete vale]

1 minute ago, Brian Johnson said:

Does this mean that he can sack himself ?

Who heads the "Talk the hind legs off a donkey" department?

[trentvale]

45 minutes ago, Killersrevenge44 said:

You are spot on. 

But many have noticed this since the dark days of v2001. 

I remember going back to 1987 fans digging in their pockets for a buy  a player fund. The funds bought a player for 27k

Nowadays, the funds are not so needed, but the fans still remain the steel which holds up the club. 

Since the Shanahans took over, admission prices have gone up, even though an extra 4,000 walk up on the day support is still within Vales reach, they choose not to promote inclusiveness to the unemplyed and students in the worst cost of living for decades. 

Where is the desire to reach out to the poorer parts of the North end of the city? Look at Wembley in 2022. No where near the interest levels of attendance in 1993. 

Vale need those supporters back or the club will continue to hob along in league one survival mode whilst it suits Flitcroft and others to Rob the club of a huge wage. 

They are on their hols in May. Do you think they care? 

Well, they should. Or Carol et Al should sell up and give it to a chairman who does care

 

What a load of <ovf censored>

[pete vale]

37 minutes ago, andy jones said:

Joe. We are all disappointed mate. Even those of us in posh seats as we are all Vale fans.

The one aspect of your post I massively disagree with is your comments towards our owner. The owners you should criticise is those who have owned the club since the day the ground was built who invested nothing into the physical infrastructure with the exception of the incomplete Lorne Street.

With regards to the RW suite I suspect it's creating profit for investing elsewhere in the ground.

Despite results I am immensely happy to support a genuine community football club with a local owner who cares deeply about the fans and local community.

What I am not a supporter of is a glib tongued and misguided, DoF who, in Carol's own words at the time when he came for an interview for the Manager's job and within 10 minutes convinced her we needed a DoF.

His mission of creating a club that from top to bottom is designed to implement a Premier League skill philosophy and style of play into 3rd division footballers is about as catastrophic a project as I could possibly imagine and is destined to ruin the owner's ambitions for our club whilst driving the fanbase to despair and total boredom.

 

Fair point,however Carol appears stubborn and has firmly nailed her flag to the mast of the good ship DF. We are garbage on the pitch in relation to quality, aggression, creativity, firmly dependent on young inexperienced prospects and crocks. Only Ripley, Garritty, Ojo and Chislett offer League One quality of those we own. I love Smith for his aggression, etc. Who's to blame for this? They say they are a team on and off the pitch, so perhaps they are all to blame - which means nothing will happen or change.

[andy jones]

BTW. I don't think D.C. was of a standard to Manage a club to success in league 1 either!

[MBE]

1 hour ago, JoeB2 said:

Cannot believe how thick I've been.

Long been a sceptic of Flitcroft and his BS but decided to force positivity over the Christmas period - spent time listening to interviews and wanted to give this plan chance to play out.

Dunno what came over me.

We've won 3 in 21, 11 in 49. The worst team to spend the entirety of 2023 in League 1.

We have no recruitment strategy - in the summer, it was physicality, then we became a possession team. They panic on deadline day every year and end up with tat. We can't even research why the CB from Liverpool wasn't playing at Aberdeen. We set public targets and fail to meet them.

Two stands don't have working toilets, but the club is in no rush to sort them - letting pensioners use portaloos in the middle of winter. Meanwhile, if you've got a spare few quid and are in the club's good books, you can hobnob with pop stars in a new hospitality suite which must have cost hundreds of thousands. No open invite - special few only!

There's a deep resentment between the hierarchy and the fans. I genuinely don't think they have a lot of time or respect for us. Now, we all know that Vale fans can be extremely daft at times, but they've been here for the last 100+ years and will continue to be so for the next 100. The relationship between player and fans is at a record low - in 2013, Hughes, Purse, Pope, Griff were all out in Burslem post-promotion. In 2022, the players were locked away in the Valiant Suite with the fans milling around closed pubs. 

Carol is being conned by a man with no recruitment experience. Look at Blackpool's Sporting Director - Head of Recruitment at Sheffield United, two major roles in recruitment at Aston Villa. Flitcroft hadn't even done work experience in recruitment and strategy, he just fancied a go at it and sweet-talked his way into a cracking gig where he faffs about part-time pretending he's Billy Beane, until he somehow lands a full-time role as things get worse than ever. 

There's only one person ultimately responsible, and ultimately able to sort it out. Carol. I've long believed she is a net positive for the football club, but right now she's approaching net negative - if she can't make the right decision and get the solution spot on.

Of course, we'll win Tuesday and some folk will pretend all is right. We're not going where we need to go, at all, whether we stay up this year or not.

Welcome back Joe.

I think you’ve gone off on a bit of a tangent here.

Bottom line though your spot on, Carol needs to act now.