An Open Letter from Carol

[Coyney Valiant]

4 hours ago, JoeB2 said:

Genuinely I think that everyone within the club, especially Carol, got carried away after promotion and the ludicrous amounts of positive press she received. She believed her own hype. OBE, award-winning darling of football.

Dissent was removed from the club. Fans, and their opinions, were shut out and resented. Flitcroft was deified in her eyes. They could do no wrong and they were going to inexorably build to the Championship and everything would continue to go well as they’re all brilliant. Anyone with any doubts could leave. The letter is a microcosm - we are right, you don’t get it. We are brilliant. She imposed a model onto the club that the fans didn’t want or need. 

A sad, cautionary tale about ego, arrogance, and humility. A classic tragedy - the rise, the hubris, the fall.

League 1 status was never a given. It needed sensible hard-work, constantly reflecting and improving. The nuts and bolts needed to be secure. There should have been zero talk of the Championship, of daft infrastructure, until a really solid, reliable League 1 core had been assembled. Carol thought she’d cracked football, had solved it. Look how great she was doing! 

We will go down, and right now Carol is in the denial stage of delusion. Her speech last night showed the first cracks appearing. The penny is dropping, far too late, and she’s trying to convince herself based on chats with the family of the new coaches. It’s desperation. 

I still think she’s a well-intentioned, naive woman who got far too full of herself and Flitcroft as DC delivered on the pitch. She equated DC and AC’s excellent management with something a lot bigger. She genuinely trusted Flitcroft to sort everything out, and has become way too dependent on him. She’s made mistakes the same way all of us have in work. 

I sincerely hope this summer is a reflective period for her. Take some time away. Go to Supporters Club meetings and listen to Dicko and Porter. Get some critical, cynical, experienced figures in the club. Reorient the finances to focus heavily on the first-team budget. She can still salvage a positive legacy, but she has squandered the legendary status she was assured in June 2022.

We’re can you listen to her speech 

[davehartshill]

can we have a striker now, please?

[MrButton]

We officially spent on 1 player (jesse) and he was paid from non league i believe. I cant imagine rovers asking much for loft, he has no goals and wasnt used, they probably give him away for cheap to get him off the wage bill.

For all the blaming of flitcroft its the budget that should of been looked at, the only squad expenses were 95+%  a wage bill. You cannot tell me flitcroft has bags of money to work with, you only need to look at this and what the people carol has hired to run the club have said about the budget, people are scared to death to say the slightest thing about the owners. Instead they need an escapegoat.

Edited February 27 by MrButton

[Tamworth]

7 minutes ago, MrButton said:

We officially spent on 1 player (jesse) and he was paid from non league i believe. I cant imagine rovers asking much for loft, he has no goals and wasnt used, they probably give him away for cheap to get him off the wage bill.

For all the blaming of flitcroft its the budget that should of been looked at, the only squad expenses were 95+%  a wage bill. You cannot tell me flitcroft has bags of money to work with, you only need to look at this and what the people carol has hired to run the club have said about the budget, people are scared to death to say the slightest thing about the owners. Instead they need an escapegoat.

 

That doesn't consider all the missed targets though, does it? I agree that the Owners may not have made enough money available for our needs but to get none of your targets is unacceptable, as we can see from the results each week.

[Doha]

1 hour ago, MrButton said:

We officially spent on 1 player (jesse) and he was paid from non league i believe. I cant imagine rovers asking much for loft, he has no goals and wasnt used, they probably give him away for cheap to get him off the wage bill.

For all the blaming of flitcroft its the budget that should of been looked at

The rumour is that Loft was £75k.

In one breath you're saying "Rovers wanted rid of Loft for cheap, he doesn't score" implying he was a dire signing, which he was, and in another you're saying "Don't blame Flitcroft for the calibre of his signings." Which one is it?

[MrButton]

1 hour ago, Doha said:

The rumour is that Loft was £75k.

In one breath you're saying "Rovers wanted rid of Loft for cheap, he doesn't score" implying he was a dire signing, which he was, and in another you're saying "Don't blame Flitcroft for the calibre of his signings." Which one is it?

That figure cant be confirmed and its a rumour so i wont take that as fact, but from how he plays and his goal scoring record he wouldnt of gone for much and they would of wanted him their wage bill so he wouldnt of cost much, which goes in line with what i said, having no money in the budget.

If the budget is low and no one wanted to sign based on what we offer, financially and other wise, then what realistically do you expect flitcroft to do? Mortgage his own house out for a striker? He has to sign someone with what hes given.

[Doha]

33 minutes ago, MrButton said:

 and they would of wanted him their wage bill so he wouldnt of cost much

Assumption, not fact.

The club have said several times there is money available, we're open to free agents. We need a LWB and ST in January, DF said. He failed to bring anyone in despite there being money available.

Meanwhile

January window signings

-----
Burton
-----

Hackford ST Sheff Utd loan
Hugill ST Man Utd loan
Ola-Adebomi ST Palace loan
Hudlin ST Huddersfield loan

Leko RW Franchise loan

Bola LB Rotherham loan

Nsiala CB free agent

4 strikers, 3 from the PL including Man Utd, 1 from the championship

-----
Cambridge
-----

Taylor ST Wycombe free
Bonne ST Gillingham loan

Gibbo RWB Rovers loan

-----
Carlisle
-----

Armstrong ST Harrogate paid
Kelly ST Rotherham released

Diamond LW Sunderland loan

-----
Cheltenham
-----

Taylor ST FGR free
Nuttall ST Oldham loan

Harrop CAM free agent

-----
Exeter
-----

Eisa ST Franchise loan

Harris CAM Fulham loan

-----
Fleetwood
-----

Taylor ST FGR free
Nuttall ST Oldham loan

Harrop CAM free agent

 

Should I go on?

35 PL players were loaned to L1 clubs in the Jan window, 7 are strikers. Did those clubs need DF to sign those players? Fleetwood signed 5, and Burton signed 3 on their own including Joe Hugill from Man Utd.

DF's own words -
 

Quote

 

What we have got to do is the PL2 and look at the younger players and build relationships with clubs. The best time to recruit is in the Summer when you have done your work on players.

We have been looking at a good few non-league players, Ireland, Scotland - we have better people in these places to scout these players.

We aren't in the place that we want to be yet when players have the likes of Derby to choose from, but that's what we're aiming for.

 

19 of those 35 players went to smaller clubs than Vale. Wycombe, Fleetwood, Burton etc. 

"when players have the likes of Derby to choose from" doesn't stack up if it was an answer to the question why did we not bring any strikers in. We actually lost 4 players in net terms!

Edited February 27 by Doha

[Railwayman]

30 minutes ago, MrButton said:

That figure cant be confirmed and its a rumour so i wont take that as fact, but from how he plays and his goal scoring record he wouldnt of gone for much and they would of wanted him their wage bill so he wouldnt of cost much, which goes in line with what i said, having no money in the budget.

If the budget is low and no one wanted to sign based on what we offer, financially and other wise, then what realistically do you expect flitcroft to do? Mortgage his own house out for a striker? He has to sign someone with what hes given.

Flitcroft himself said we had gone in big for other players, so that tells you there was money there he just spent it badly

[MrButton]

5 minutes ago, Railwayman said:

Flitcroft himself said we had gone in big for other players, so that tells you there was money there he just spent it badly

Well clearly they weren't accepted, whats his context of big? big for this club? if they didnt come here you would imagine they were outbidded and weren't "big" enough.

He said in the podcast they wanted to spend big on a player who was seen as an investment, if that truly was the case, i can imagine any huge signing would have to be greenlighted by the real boss as she would have to fund it, he also said they missed alot of targets, but if you arent paying you arent going to land any are you.

[MrButton]

20 minutes ago, Doha said:

Assumption, not fact.

The club have said several times there is money available, we're open to free agents. We need a LWB and ST in January, DF said. He failed to bring anyone in despite there being money available.

Meanwhile

Are you going to claim loft went for huge money? I dont understand your argument, If it was for huge money or even normal money it would of been disclosed like a normal transfer.

Both flitcroft said they exceeded and overachieved given the budget and matt handcock said the club operates on below a league one budget, thats stated on the official podcasts, by staff carol has hired and backs to the death.

I mean this image in its self shows the club doesnt buy players, theres no spending power or taking players, its all player wages from free agents and loans, thats not a good budget or even an average budget. We can agree to disagree.

Edited February 27 by MrButton

[Doha]

12 minutes ago, MrButton said:

Are you going to claim loft went for huge money?

 

I trust the source for the £75k claim.

12 minutes ago, MrButton said:

I dont understand your argument, If it was for huge money or even normal money it would of been disclosed like a normal transfer.

When was the last time Vale disclosed a transfer fee?

12 minutes ago, MrButton said:

Both flitcroft said they exceeded and overachieved given the budget and matt handcock said the club operates on below a league one budget, thats stated on the official podcasts, by staff carol has hired and backs to the death.

She was on RS in Dec 22 gushing about how quote amazing the fans are. 16,000 shirts sold. Great ST sales after promotion. All those youth players sold for 'record fees', they couldn't wait to get that in the press. Where's the money going?

Edited February 27 by Doha

[Rampant Zebra]

I think we are carefully wasting it on overpriced/unnecessary work on the infrastructure. 🤠

[Railwayman]

21 minutes ago, MrButton said:

Well clearly they weren't accepted, whats his context of big? big for this club? if they didnt come here you would imagine they were outbidded and weren't "big" enough.

He said in the podcast they wanted to spend big on a player who was seen as an investment, if that truly was the case, i can imagine any huge signing would have to be greenlighted by the real boss as she would have to fund it, he also said they missed alot of targets, but if you arent paying you arent going to land any are you.

Or maybe the DOF is nowhere near as good as he thinks he is, his usual spiel of getting the right characters into the club is clearly garbage judging by the complete lack of character in the current squad

[Brian Johnson]

1 hour ago, MrButton said:

Are you going to claim loft went for huge money? I dont understand your argument, If it was for huge money or even normal money it would of been disclosed like a normal transfer.

Both flitcroft said they exceeded and overachieved given the budget and matt handcock said the club operates on below a league one budget, thats stated on the official podcasts, by staff carol has hired and backs to the death.

I mean this image in its self shows the club doesnt buy players, theres no spending power or taking players, its all player wages from free agents and loans, thats not a good budget or even an average budget. We can agree to disagree.

Ryan Loft is a Valiant | News | Port Vale

WWW.PORT-VALE.CO.UK

 

[Brian Johnson]

1 hour ago, MrButton said:

Are you going to claim loft went for huge money? I dont understand your argument, If it was for huge money or even normal money it would of been disclosed like a normal transfer.

Both flitcroft said they exceeded and overachieved given the budget and matt handcock said the club operates on below a league one budget, thats stated on the official podcasts, by staff carol has hired and backs to the death.

I mean this image in its self shows the club doesnt buy players, theres no spending power or taking players, its all player wages from free agents and loans, thats not a good budget or even an average budget. We can agree to disagree.

And you believe everything that comes out of the clubs mouth?

They call it spin to try get the fans onside.

It's well documented that we have League One budget. Baggers mentioned it and even opposition managers have mentioned it