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.

Edited February 25, 20242 yr by JoeB2

Carol said in her letter that she had made mistakes but Flitcroft wasn't one of them. John Maynard Keynes was once asked why he had changed his mind on an issue.  He replied, "When the facts change, I change.  What do you do sir?"  Consider whether the facts have changed Carol and consider what you are going to do about it.

I expect there will be a few more twists and turns in the torrid tale of David Rasputin Flitcroft & Carol Romanov Shanahan.

At least we got this one right. 

He's sub. Can't see it benefitting him losing 5-0 every week but a great talent. 

My first alarm bell with regard to Carol's detachment from Vale fans and our fan culture was when said that a certain player got booed every time he came on. The player in question was David Amoo, she genuinely thought people shouting Amooooo was booing. 

Anyone else already feeling sick about McKirdy's hat trick for Swindon next season?

1 hour ago, Jacko51 said:

At least we got this one right. 

How so? Impress on loan, have a clause in the loan he can be recalled, have no plan to replace him and be left in the <ovf censored>? 

13 minutes ago, valiant_593 said:

How so? Impress on loan, have a clause in the loan he can be recalled, have no plan to replace him and be left in the <ovf censored>? 

We got half a season out of him which is more than we've had from some of the walking wounded we've signed.

25 minutes ago, smithie said:

My first alarm bell with regard to Carol's detachment from Vale fans and our fan culture was when said that a certain player got booed every time he came on. The player in question was David Amoo, she genuinely thought people shouting Amooooo was booing. 

When did she say this?

Does she ever speak to an actual Port Vale fan?

Yates now telling fans to shut up. Getting rid of Flitcroft after January doesn't help anyone but getting rid of Crosby after Jauary must be a Flitcroft masterstroke. Someone had a word in his ear since his pissed up rant on Radio Stoke?

11 minutes ago, Mellor! said:

Yates now telling fans to shut up. Getting rid of Flitcroft after January doesn't help anyone but getting rid of Crosby after Jauary must be a Flitcroft masterstroke. Someone had a word in his ear since his pissed up rant on Radio Stoke?

My old mate 'shut up till the summer!'. It's good to see you again.

God I've missed hearing 'shut up till the summer then say something when everyone is at home and everyone is off doing other things'.

Up there with 'Rudgey would have been sacked by you lot' and 'there are no billionaires queuing down Hamil Road'.

If you get rid of the end of the season you miss out on months of prep for singing the right players. The sooner the better 

This sums up the views of the board and their mates well. We are expected to shut up and continue paying for the utter tripe we are subjected to week after week. Well we’ve had enough 

3 minutes ago, JoeB2 said:

My old mate 'shut up till the summer!'. It's good to see you again.

God I've missed hearing 'shut up till the summer then say something when everyone is at home and everyone is off doing other things'.

Up there with 'Rudgey would have been sacked by you lot' and 'there are no billionaires queuing down Hamil Road'.

If you don’t like it mate, go down the Brit.