Leyton Orient (H) match thread 6th Feb

[Old School]

Unfortunately the guy with the sandwich board is right, we're doomed. The whole club is rotten from top to bottom. Considering what a short time ago it was that we won promotion at Wembley, the collapse has been incredible. I believe it is all due to two decisions made by Carol. The first one was in deciding to prioritise spending on the stadium over spending on the team, although you may wonder that being the case how we ended up with the 2 main stands without adequate toilet facilities. The second and even more disastrous was not only appointing Flitcroft, but being totally taken in by his plausible excuses for his staggering lack of ability in the job. The result is now barring a miracle, relegation. I foresee the club circling the waggons and communications effectively ending. When it is too late Carol will throw Flitcroft under the bus, then announce that due to threats from disgruntled fans she cannot take any more and is putting the club up for sale.

All very sad and all very avoidable. 

[Guitar Ray]

Just now, Vtid said:

I think they all had valid points 👍🏻 

Apart from Ben….. he thinks cuz they ring him up he knows it all.  Clueless.

[Vtid]

Just now, Brian Johnson said:

What did he say?

A load of crap apparently 🙄 just says it how it is. It’s on Carol etc etc Flitcroft needs to go, the team isn’t good enough for this level. Get Gareth ainsworth in. Pretty much what I was thinking so I must come out with some tosh 😂

[valefan79]

Dreadful display but like on Saturday , not even angry any more, it is like everyone connected with the club has given up and accepted that we will be playing league 2 football next season.  The transfer window was even worse than under Smurthwaite, I still lay the blame at Flitcroft for this but I really want to know from Carol have we got no money and that is why no one came in on deadline day when anyone who has been watching us knew we needed at least 3 players to be competitive.  It was so abject again, no better than Saturday and for me a lack of effort as well, Orient just passed through us at will with no challenges being made.  There was a spell with 3 or 4 minutes to go and we never put a challenge in for what seemed like 2 minutes, put a tackle in make a foul anything.  

I don't know where we go from here other than down and those who were saying we will be comfortable, can you honestly say that after witnessing that tonight and our window, I don't see where a goal will come from never mind a win.

I just can't believe I have wasted another £50 on Peterborough next Tuesday, need get some help after that tonight.

[JoeB2]

Carol Shanahan has got a really important decision here.

I imagine she was sat in the directors box, or at least watching at home, staring out across a 3/4 empty Vale Park. Sub 4,000 fans, sat mute in a funeral atmosphere. An absolutely spineless, insipid, soulless performance, led by a poor bloke who woke up this morning expecting a day of coaching teenagers before being chucked into League 1 football. Fans going to the toilet in portaloos. Hospitality full of uneaten canapes (probably).

That was void of anything. Soul-destroying to watch. Not a crumb of anything positive. A club cascading rapidly towards relegation, an improving Fleetwood and Cheltenham below, Reading only around us by virtue of a points deduction. We are, categorically, the worst team in League 1. 11 wins in 50. No forwards. No leaders. Nowt.

Carol can continue to delegate all decision-making to the architect of this mess. A bloke without any prior experience in the job he's currently in. A bloke who spends more time talking about campuses and zones than he does assembling a competent 3rd tier team. A bloke who pinned everything on the anointment of Andy Crosby despite a lot of fans pointing out is was probably a bad idea.

She can let this bloke persist with this insane, damaging concept that we can play top-tier football on a poor 3rd tier budget, and appoint someone else to play insipid possession football. Let him continue to prioritise shiny new things to cover up the crumbling edifice behind. A lovely scoreboard in front of a condemned stand. 

Or, she can take control of the situation. She is abrogating responsibility at the minute, and it's killing everything she's built. If we go down, her tenure is around as successful as Bratt's, with better morals and intentions. A promotion and relegation from the 4th tier in 5 years isn't even close to successful. If she doesn't have the funds to put this right, then she has to sell up.

I trust Carol, and I know some have lost that. She genuinely means well. She's, again, been far too trusting of someone not up to the job. She's got about a week to save her legacy, here. A good appointment, and a lot of this goes away. A poor appointment, and we're back to square one, just £5m in debt to the Shanahan family and a disenchanted fanbase.

Carol, I know Hancock reads this forum on your behalf. Get a grip, for your own sake, or this has all been for naught. Swindon, Wembley. A complete and utter waste of energy. Put it right. Make some clear decisions. Invest the money. We can't let the past 5 years be thrown away like this. 

Feel a bit sick.

[Brian Johnson]

4 minutes ago, Guitar Ray said:

Aaron, who’s just been on far more accurate than Ben.

What did Aaron say?

[Jim Gammon]

It was all going on in 2016….owner wouldn’t sack him then. What super power does this fraud have to stay in a job as it deffo ain’t winning games. It deffo ain’t winning hearts and minds either

[Aguar61]

1 hour ago, darren1810 said:

It's ok got all these easy games in hand yet. 

They're not games in hand, they are defeats yet to happen!

[Valient1961]

Seriously considering not taking my Grandson Saturday to VP after tonight,don’t want to feel embarrassed if they play like they did tonight , no plan , no idea , 🤦‍♂️

[Diego Maradona]

H@rsesh/t

[eh up nah]

15 minutes ago, ValeForever. said:

We're doomed. Whole club is flat as a pancake. The bad times are back, the mini revival over the past few years didn't last long. Another average side playing us off the park on our own patch.

Criminal what's happened. Such a waste. The buzz around the club was brilliant. It's gone, it's all gone. Really sad night tonight as a Vale fan. I stopped until the last man left the pitch, almost in disbelief at the capitulation of the club. We're unrecognisable. 

I'm absolutely gutted.

Exactly how I feel.

Absolutely devastated leaving the ground tonight.

It's all so needless as well.  We needed two strikers in January, could've been anyone really.  Anyone capable of doing a job and giving us enough to get 18 points on the board.  And we couldn't even do that.  Could've been a non leaguer making a step up, a loan from pretty much anywhere or even a journeyman for 3 months.

That day at Wembley seems a long time ago now.  In reality it's no time at all really is it? Flash in the pan.

We had the perfect opportunity to get on the crest of a wave and really build something.

We're back in league Two next season, 100%

And I've no confidence at all we'll rebuild it.

Mark Kennedy watching tonight.

That is the level we'll be in for.

[PVFC FAN]

2 minutes ago, valefan79 said:

Dreadful display but like on Saturday , not even angry any more, it is like everyone connected with the club has given up and accepted that we will be playing league 2 football next season.  The transfer window was even worse than under Smurthwaite, I still lay the blame at Flitcroft for this but I really want to know from Carol have we got no money and that is why no one came in on deadline day when anyone who has been watching us knew we needed at least 3 players to be competitive.  It was so abject again, no better than Saturday and for me a lack of effort as well, Orient just passed through us at will with no challenges being made.  There was a spell with 3 or 4 minutes to go and we never put a challenge in for what seemed like 2 minutes, put a tackle in make a foul anything.  

I don't know where we go from here other than down and those who were saying we will be comfortable, can you honestly say that after witnessing that tonight and our window, I don't see where a goal will come from never mind a win.

I just can't believe I have wasted another £50 on Peterborough next Tuesday, need get some help after that tonight.

Apparently they have stopped printing programs. I don't know how true this is. But it shows we might be a bit desperate for cash.

[Vtid]

1 minute ago, eh up nah said:

Exactly how I feel.

Absolutely devastated leaving the ground tonight.

It's all so needless as well.  We needed two strikers in January, could've been anyone really.  Anyone capable of doing a job and giving us enough to get 18 points on the board.  And we couldn't even do that.  Could've been a non leaguer making a step up, a loan from pretty much anywhere or even a journeyman for 3 months.

That day at Wembley seems a long time ago now.  In reality it's no time at all really is it? Flash in the pan.

We had the perfect opportunity to get on the crest of a wave and really build something.

We're back in league Two next season, 100%

And I've no confidence at all we'll rebuild it.

Mark Kennedy watching tonight.

That is the level we'll be in for.

I will be majorly disappointed if we get him 

[blackdog]

I honestly thought tonight we would do the typical Vale thing  turn up in front of the lowest crowd this season and turn Orient over.

But we persisted with a system tonight that's not working, 3 wins in 21 proves it, nothing changed because we have to play this insipid style of football.

Whoever takes this job on, it's obvious that they will have to play the " Flitcroft " way, I thought tonight we would shut up shop and be difficult to play against, but no same old same old.

The owners are going to have to take the bull by the horns and sack Flitcroft off because his vision is slowly but surely strangling the club.

 

[Guitar Ray]

4 minutes ago, Brian Johnson said:

What did Aaron say?

Without going into detail, he talked a lot more sense than Ben….as did Aaron…..or whatever his name was.