Who do you get rid of?

[robf]

10 minutes ago, man in the pub said:

The interesting question is that following relegation and the resultant lower season ticket sales , how the hell are we going to sign a prolific striker over the Summer when we will be in an even worse position?

I suspect one person at the club will say it's through the loan market... 

[Emile]

45 minutes ago, robf said:

Here's a front page opinion piece on the contract situation:

Opinion: lengthy contracts may prevent an extensive Port Vale summer squad revamp - onevalefan.co.uk

WWW.ONEVALEFAN.CO.UK

 

I think we need 10 players without even losing anyone who is under contract. 4 free transfers, 4 loans and fill the two obvious holes from January 24, summer 23 and January 23.

[man in the pub]

6 minutes ago, robf said:

I suspect one person at the club will say it's through the loan market... 

What really worries me Rob is the fans disconnect with the club at the moment. We have owners that are way better than we have had and I'm sure most fans would agree have had the best interests of the club at heart. However there is a massive divide over the DOF between the fanbase and Carol. When people like Dicko who runs the buses is walking away then alarm bells should be ringing with Carol as a shrewd business person.  Her business is shedding customers at an alarming rate as the falling attendances testify.Loyalty is one thing but this goes beyond that. Her message to the fans read like a desperate teenagers love letter in support of Dave Flitcroft. Her blind support of him is damaging the club and unfortunately Carol is the only one who cannot see it . Very sad.

[Brian Johnson]

Stoke have just sacked their version of Flickers

[Vtid]

Those down the road have finally seen sense! Livin la Vida loca 👋🏻 

[Shropshire_Valiant]

I guess a lot will depend what division we are in, if we go down(or perhaps that should be when on current form!😞) . i've not given up hope but admittedly it looks grim.  The decisions to give Loft a 2.5 year deal and Jones 2 years(injury record alone, whatever the debate on his ability) were shocking beyond belief. 

I'm all for giving players a chance and do think Vale fans have to have a scapegoat at times.  (Massey and previously Benning before he left have fallen into that category to varying degress, and going back 15 odd years people booed Constantine when he was half decent!?)I'll never barrack him when playing but Loft truly is one of the poorest footballers I've ever seen and to think we paid around 75k for him!😱  I'd hope to move him on but who would honestly take such a poor standard of player, even NL clubs would probably laugh!  As an aside I didn't particularly rate Pope the season before his 33 goals which was one of the biggest transformations in a player I've seen but even he offered more than Loft(I think he got 4 or 5 goals)!

We may just have to hope he can act as some sort of foil for a.n.other forward we bring in as a hold up man even if he managed 5 goals in league two.  Then again I say another forward but based on Flitcroft's record we could be waiting years before we ever sign (a decent) one!🙄

I honestly think we'd have Bob hope of keeping both Garrity and Chislett if we went down, maybe 1 at a push but both have proved they can score goals from midfield in league one, I suppose at least we'd get fees if we sold either/both?  One plus is the young academy lads will have had some experience in League One so you'd hope they could put that to use in the lower level of league two to make some impact.

The attack and defence(to a slightly lesser degree, what are Debrah and Iacovitti's contract situs, they should be decent enough in league two?) would need a hell of an overhaul whatever division we are in!

[Rampant Zebra]

15 minutes ago, Vtid said:

Those down the road have finally seen sense! Livin la Vida loca 👋🏻 

Lets hope they don't try to poach our DOF 😁

[man in the pub]

3 minutes ago, Rampant Zebra said:

Lets hope they don't try to poach our DOF 😁

Apparently he's a great guy.

[Mellor!]

6 minutes ago, Rampant Zebra said:

Lets hope they don't try to poach our DOF 😁

Stoke have made many mistakes but employing David Flitcroft would not be one of them.

[robf]

2 hours ago, man in the pub said:

What really worries me Rob is the fans disconnect with the club at the moment. We have owners that are way better than we have had and I'm sure most fans would agree have had the best interests of the club at heart. However there is a massive divide over the DOF between the fanbase and Carol. When people like Dicko who runs the buses is walking away then alarm bells should be ringing with Carol as a shrewd business person.  Her business is shedding customers at an alarming rate as the falling attendances testify.Loyalty is one thing but this goes beyond that. Her message to the fans read like a desperate teenagers love letter in support of Dave Flitcroft. Her blind support of him is damaging the club and unfortunately Carol is the only one who cannot see it . Very sad.

I do think there are two options which could work both for Carol and the fans.

1) If DF is doing a grand job with infrastructure and planning then keep him, but make that his job - "Head of Football Development" or such like. Take away recruitment and the coaching staff and make them the responsibility of the manager. If you're worried about any embarrassment by effectively demoting him (or admitting errors) you can always make it "due to other commitments David's remit has had to change" or such like...

2) I wonder if the worry from the club is that removing DF stops the long-term vision (and all the money/time invested in it)? But it doesn't have to. If they want to continue with the exact same model of Dof then surely there's no reason why a replacement, with better ability in the transfer windows, could not come in and continue the work that has been set up. (note: Ricky Martin need not apply!)

However, the current option - do nothing and not acknowledge any failures doesn't seem to be the right choice as far as I am concerned.

I guess it may be that the club wait till the summer to make any changes (if any). 

[man in the pub]

1 minute ago, robf said:

I do think there are two options which could work both for Carol and the fans.

1) If DF is doing a grand job with infrastructure and planning then keep him, but make that his job - "Head of Football Development" or such like. Take away recruitment and the coaching staff and make them the responsibility of the manager. If you're worried about any embarrassment by effectively demoting him (or admitting errors) you can always make it "due to other commitments David's remit has had to change" or such like...

2) I wonder if the worry from the club is that removing DF stops the long-term vision (and all the money/time invested in it)? But it doesn't have to. If they want to continue with the exact same model of Dof then surely there's no reason why a replacement, with better ability in the transfer windows, could not come in and continue the work that has been set up. (note: Ricky Martin need not apply!)

However, the current option - do nothing and not acknowledge any failures doesn't seem to be the right choice as far as I am concerned.

I guess it may be that the club wait till the summer to make any changes (if any). 

The Summer could be too late Rob,sadly might even be too late if it happened now.

[Heatwave]

2 hours ago, man in the pub said:

 However there is a massive divide over the DOF between the fanbase and Carol.

Speak for yourself. I still don't think Flitcroft is the problem here; just a bad choice as manager this time last year. Yes Flitcroft made a mistake in choosing AC, but who hasn't made a mistake? For me it's not enough to hang him for, and I'm not joining in an ill informed witch hunt.

[robf]

7 minutes ago, man in the pub said:

The Summer could be too late Rob,sadly might even be too late if it happened now.

I totally agree. 

I'm only writing what I think the club is thinking not what I think they should do. 

[robf]

1 minute ago, Heatwave said:

Speak for yourself. I still don't think Flitcroft is the problem here; just a bad choice as manager this time last year. Yes Flitcroft made a mistake in choosing AC, but who hasn't made a mistake? For me it's not enough to hang him for, and I'm not joining in an ill informed witch hunt.

Who signs the players? 

How many forwards do we currently have?

[Heatwave]

1 minute ago, robf said:

Who signs the players? 

How many forwards do we currently have?

1. The manager selects the players to play his system; the DoF agrees the salary and signs the contract.

2. See 1.