Ryan Loft.

[DaneValiant]

28 minutes ago, Wrex said:

People say that about Martin Paterson. People said that about Reggie. No doubt they'll say it about whatever sucker Flitcroft pulls out of his arse to lead the line for us next season in League Two.

Leave Reggie out of this 😁 5 goals in 35 appearances Wikipedia says. Loft has 5 goals in 76 games across 4 seasons. 

[Spunk Trumpet]

3 hours ago, PV1973 said:

Cant be done with this singling out of players. Must be really easy in your head to say pay him off and get rid or just ostracise him completely from the squad. At times I think our fan base is terrible and this is another instance of it. 

I agree he’s been playing poorly. But Ryan Loft isn’t the reason why we are where we are. He isn’t the one that built the squad around him. He isn’t the one that didn’t bring in any wing backs (our supposed creative outlet). He didn’t decide not to buy a strike partner. He didn’t fill the squad full of players with hardly any goals to their career names. He isn’t the one making defensive mistakes.

We don’t create any chances for anyone to get on the end of. Nothing. Not a thing.  Ryan Loft isn’t the problem. He’s just the target of boo boys and the scapegoat at an unfortunate time in our history where we are scrutinising all of Flitcrofts signings. 

Anyone with a brain can see from his stats that he isn’t a goalscorer by any stretch. He is the foil to a goalscorer. The guy to come on run the channels and cause problems for defenders with his strength and pace. We don’t play him like that.  Why is he being heralded as the guy to find the net when throughout his career he’s hardly got any goals? It’s down to the recruitment team, not him.

Look how we utilised Proctor in the promotion season, wingbacks and centre midfielders linking with him to get the ball behind for cut backs. We don’t even have a pattern of play where we play up to a striker and play off  him.  We don’t go long and turn teams around. I couldn’t even tell you what we’re trying to do or what our style of play is. He isn’t the issue and no one is going to come in and be any better or worse because of the squad we’ve built and the way we play. 

Another Vale fan TOTALLY missing the point.

Ive never booed the guy. I don’t condone it. 
The sad fact of the matter is that he is a cause of David Flitcrofts ineptness AND rightly or wrongly, every week, a bad touch, a bad pass, a warm up it seems, gets boos and groans from fans. 
 

Like it or not he is the villain. That’s not me saying it is right. It is fact.

Half a year without a league goal and some horrific performances have painted him that.

So what I’m suggesting, is because we have a dozen or so games to save our league one status, we take him away from the spotlight for the good of him, the team, the fans and most IMPORTANTLY the predicament of our league table status.

This is not a hate on Ryan Loft but it’s abundantly clear that both he and the fans, not all may I add, but enough to make it a problem, are making the situation worse and let’s face it, his exclusion from match day squads going forward won’t be a miss at this moment in time.

Yes. There are others. Infact the problems run deep. But for the next so many games to save our league status I don’t want to be seeing a player that every time he touches the ball he gets groaned at or every time he comes on as sub I’m on eggshells with the reception.

Rightly or wrongly this is happening.

Ive never ever known a situation, possibly other than Exodus all those years ago, where fans just have no hope in a player. And if that player comes on as a sub and then at full time can’t be arsed to clap the fans, like he’s done today, then I’d suggest that relationship between player and club needs termination.

He doesn’t want to be here.

The fans don’t want him here.

We have a relegation battle on our hands and need no distractions.

And again. That’s not me digging out the lad. But it is so <ovf censored> painful to watch this relationship between player and fans.

Horses for courses. And Vale Park ain’t his course I’m afraid to say. 

[valeparklife]

Really silly post this.

The whole team is shocking.

Loft isn't great, but why don't we have any other options?

How many chances have we created for Loft?

How many times has a wide player picked him out from a cross?

How many times has a midfielder threaded a ball through to him for a 1 on 1?

How many times has someone set him up for a shot?

What could any striker do when we just aimlessly pass it about at the back, and then launch it into the channels?

He tried a lot more than golden boy Wilson today.

[Raveninblack]

6 hours ago, Spunk Trumpet said:

Another Vale fan TOTALLY missing the point.

Ive never booed the guy. I don’t condone it. 
The sad fact of the matter is that he is a cause of David Flitcrofts ineptness AND rightly or wrongly, every week, a bad touch, a bad pass, a warm up it seems, gets boos and groans from fans. 
 

Like it or not he is the villain. That’s not me saying it is right. It is fact.

Half a year without a league goal and some horrific performances have painted him that.

So what I’m suggesting, is because we have a dozen or so games to save our league one status, we take him away from the spotlight for the good of him, the team, the fans and most IMPORTANTLY the predicament of our league table status.

This is not a hate on Ryan Loft but it’s abundantly clear that both he and the fans, not all may I add, but enough to make it a problem, are making the situation worse and let’s face it, his exclusion from match day squads going forward won’t be a miss at this moment in time.

Yes. There are others. Infact the problems run deep. But for the next so many games to save our league status I don’t want to be seeing a player that every time he touches the ball he gets groaned at or every time he comes on as sub I’m on eggshells with the reception.

Rightly or wrongly this is happening.

Ive never ever known a situation, possibly other than Exodus all those years ago, where fans just have no hope in a player. And if that player comes on as a sub and then at full time can’t be arsed to clap the fans, like he’s done today, then I’d suggest that relationship between player and club needs termination.

He doesn’t want to be here.

The fans don’t want him here.

We have a relegation battle on our hands and need no distractions.

And again. That’s not me digging out the lad. But it is so <ovf censored> painful to watch this relationship between player and fans.

Horses for courses. And Vale Park ain’t his course I’m afraid to say. 

I have watched every game loft has played and he has scored one goal and doesn’t look like scoring again and he is contracted until the end of 2025 and he will take us down again and Carol has given complete control of football matters to an idiot who has taken every club he has been involved with into relegation and one into bankruptcy which we are in danger of

 

poor old Moore; relegation is a certainty and with no money and Flitcroft in control we are heading into oblivion and season ticket sales will plummet and there will be no money from television rights 

 

why is Cass on loan to a team that will be promoted 

 

some of our players are awful like jones, loft and Massey and on such long contracts that we can’t get rid of them and who would ever buy loft or jones and I fear gerrety and ripley will be on to their agents and be gone to other clubs to fund our deffesits and goodbye division two

 

carol saved my club but her ego has blockher common sense and division two is a certainty now 

 

as Crewe, Stockport and Wrexham are promoted 🥲

[PV1973]

@Spunk Trumpet 

 

It doesn’t matter whether you boo Ryan Loft at a game or not, here you are social media creating something that comes across as a hate on Ryan Loft, that will in turn generate more hate as people jump on the bandwagon. You’ve even said hes garbage and we should pay him up or keep him away from the squad. But you’re the one missing point about him if you think he’s a striker who’s going to come in and be a goalscorer, look at his record, he isn’t and never has been. What did our recruitment team look at? But then look at what we create as a team, which is nothing, we haven’t scored or created much across the board. We have no identity in how we want to play to get people in to the box or play off strikers. 

The crowd are toxic because of flitcroft and Loft is the one bearing the brunt of it, we have no strikers and he’s the one who’s been brought in by him. I think he’s trying, it’s not for lack of effort IMO but it seems to me a lot of the fans don’t know anything about Loft as a player or his past record and are expecting something that he’s never been. 

[DaneValiant]

45 minutes ago, PV1973 said:

@Spunk Trumpet

… if you think he’s a striker who’s going to come in and be a goalscorer, look at his record, he isn’t and never has been. What did our recruitment team look at? 

That’s the bit I don’t get. They must’ve had a plan in mind for him - target man, supporting striker etc etc. So why not play him that way instead of sticking him up front on his own when he has little pace, agility, heading, ball control.

It’s not like he was a famous aging marquee player signed even though he is probably past his best. Used to get 20 a season and maybe will again. 

Has stats show he’s not a goalscorer. Watching him play shows he’s not a goalscorer. Flitcroft brought him in last summer, so what was their plan? Was there a second signing needed to play alongside him that we failed to get or something?

[PV1973]

1 minute ago, DaneValiant said:

That’s the bit I don’t get. They must’ve had a plan in mind for him - target man, supporting striker etc etc. So why not play him that way instead of sticking him up front on his own when he has little pace, agility, heading, ball control.

It’s not like he was a famous aging marquee player signed even though he is probably past his best. Used to get 20 a season and maybe will again. 

Has stats show he’s not a goalscorer. Watching him play shows he’s not a goalscorer. Flitcroft brought him in last summer, so what was their plan? Was there a second signing needed to play alongside him that we failed to get or something?

Exactly this and fans are booing him because he isn’t scoring and yet we aren’t playing a system that can suit him. Well we don’t look to be playing any system to be honest. 

Edited February 25 by PV1973

[onestepatatime]

1 hour ago, valeparklife said:

Really silly post this.

The whole team is shocking.

Loft isn't great, but why don't we have any other options?

How many chances have we created for Loft?

How many times has a wide player picked him out from a cross?

How many times has a midfielder threaded a ball through to him for a 1 on 1?

How many times has someone set him up for a shot?

What could any striker do when we just aimlessly pass it about at the back, and then launch it into the channels?

He tried a lot more than golden boy Wilson today.

I'm with you mate about golden boy Wilson . An absolute "luxury" we cannot afford in a team allegedly fighting for life. Maybe get one or 2 touches out of him per game but IMO total waste of a shirt in our predicament. 

[Wrex]

10 hours ago, DaneValiant said:

Leave Reggie out of this 😁 5 goals in 35 appearances Wikipedia says. Loft has 5 goals in 76 games across 4 seasons. 

Yeah he wasn't that bad but a lot of fans said he was comically bad, never a professional footballer, out worst ever signing, amongst other things.

Ville Viljanen was another one.

Every few years a player comes along and people say he's the worst they've ever seen.

They've all got something in them though, even if their confidence is shot by the boo boys. Who knows, maybe Loft will go on to score a hat-trick in th Champions League like our formerly "worst ever player" big Reggie did after he left Burslem?

[Jacko51]

I suspect the squad is as pissed off with the DoF as the fans are. Surely they were expecting some reinforcements up front in the window yet of the four brought in, only one played yesterday.

Darren Moore should have bought his job on Amazon then he could have exercised the 30 day return option when he’d unwrapped it and saw what he’d been given. 

[andy jones]

1 hour ago, PV1973 said:

@Spunk Trumpet 

 

It doesn’t matter whether you boo Ryan Loft at a game or not, here you are social media creating something that comes across as a hate on Ryan Loft, that will in turn generate more hate as people jump on the bandwagon. You’ve even said hes garbage and we should pay him up or keep him away from the squad. But you’re the one missing point about him if you think he’s a striker who’s going to come in and be a goalscorer, look at his record, he isn’t and never has been. What did our recruitment team look at? But then look at what we create as a team, which is nothing, we haven’t scored or created much across the board. We have no identity in how we want to play to get people in to the box or play off strikers. 

The crowd are toxic because of flitcroft and Loft is the one bearing the brunt of it, we have no strikers and he’s the one who’s been brought in by him. I think he’s trying, it’s not for lack of effort IMO but it seems to me a lot of the fans don’t know anything about Loft as a player or his past record and are expecting something that he’s never been. 

Superb post.  

I thought the fans support was very good yesterday.

Has PV1973 says he is not a goalscorer. Words like Toxic are far too easily used. If you were in a real toxic situation you would realise the vast majority of fans at Vale are far from toxic. Gutted and disappointed yes, but not toxic.

At the moment we have a simple job to do. Support all the players in our team. 

[pete vale]

53 minutes ago, Jacko51 said:

I suspect the squad is as pissed off with the DoF as the fans are. Surely they were expecting some reinforcements up front in the window yet of the four brought in, only one played yesterday.

Darren Moore should have bought his job on Amazon then he could have exercised the 30 day return option when he’d unwrapped it and saw what he’d been given. 

Been to the fans forum, heard the recent podcasts, viewed Carol's stage performance yesterday. There is an air of arrogance about the club, suggesting something we are not. carol has been a media darling for a number of years and rightly so. I can see she is struggling and believe she has been for some time. So many wrongs sadly, most surrounding the playing side, some affecting the experince as a whole for fans. "Flickers" as she fondly refers is nothing more tha a clever salesman, selling his dream at the cost of a decent well-meaning family. They are now digging themselves in deeper and I can only hope that someone at the club be it John Rudge or Ian Donaldson,etc are offering support and puttinga level-headed perspective similar to most of the remaining fanbase on affairs. Carol and Kevin have already lost many millions, continuing in the same vain will cost many more as well as presenting a real threat to their physical and mental health wellbeing. For me it's as bad now on the pitch as it as ever been. Flitcroft must go. Sadly relegation may only be the start of the unravelling of Port Vale FC as we know it. A shocking, deeply shocking level of performance yesterday and of many months is totally unacceptable. So sad.

Edited February 25 by pete vale

[smithie]

54 minutes ago, onestepatatime said:

I'm with you mate about golden boy Wilson . An absolute "luxury" we cannot afford in a team allegedly fighting for life. Maybe get one or 2 touches out of him per game but IMO total waste of a shirt in our predicament. 

He conjured our best effort on target yesterday after beating two or three defenders. Their keeper pulled off a superb save from it to stop us going level.

He's our best and maybe only hope of scoring, as it's going to be asking a lot of Ben Garrity to resume his form soon enough to help us.

[Rudgies Flat Cap]

The squad is so unbalanced that you wonder how anyone involved in football in a professional capacity could put it together and still be in a job. Loft has never been prolific anywhere he’s played. In fact, he rarely scores at all, which for a striker is huge red flag. Booing the guy isn’t going to help his situation but fans are frustrated and unfortunately certain players get singled out. Loft is that guy, but he was actively pursued by Flitcroft for an extended period of time, so he must have seen something in him. However, now he’s here, we don’t play to his strengths at all. No crosses for him to use his height to get on the end of. No quick number 10 to play off him and move into the spaces a big target man should create by occupying defenders. No runners to latch on to his flick-on’s.. We needed a Tony Naylor or Martin Foyle type to play alongside him but players of that quality would cost at least £2-3m in the current market. We can’t pay anywhere near that, so we need to look at non-league, not YouTube. There are Andy Jones’s types out there waiting for a chance, we just need to look. We’d be better paying more scouts than having a DoF. A L1 side doesn’t need a set-up like ours. The manager should be responsible for the first team, Ryder is covering the Academy. We just needed someone to cover the non-playing operational side. And not Synectics staff or family members either. Experienced people with a background in football operations who can take us forward as a football club. With emphasis on the word ‘football’.

Also, we have to be fair to Loft and say that even Erling Haaland would probably struggle to score goals in our side given the lack of service, so somebody with lesser talents is clearly going to struggle. We create very little and our passage of play is so pedestrian that it’s painful . Loft isn’t the problem. He didn’t buy himself for the club. Flitcroft did. And Flitcroft’s signings have for the most part been not of the required standard. The fact that Ben Garrity, somebody many thought might struggle for game time when we were promoted, is now our main man, is an indictment of where we are.

I’ve seen relegation squads at Vale before, and this is up there with the worst of them. Bringing Moore in with no chance to sign any players was a waste of time and realistically I think we are gone. The goal difference is a problem and we don’t look like winning more than 2 or 3 of our remaining games. I hope I’m wrong and Moore turns it round but I’ve seen enough football to see a team in deep trouble. 

It looks like we’ll also miss out on a Potteries derby too with Stoke looking certain to drop down to L1. The biggest games we will ever have are against Stoke and the fans won’t forgive the DoF or the owners if they miss out.

Fans are not mugs. We know what we see and treating us like fools is divisive and ill advised. The owners have been brilliant for us but they are custodians, that’s all. Vale is more than the owners, the managers, the players. Vale is the fans, those who will be Vale no matter what, whether we play in L1 or the National League or below. The open letter was a misstep and our ‘what’s all the fuss about’ moment. Carol clearly cares but so do the thousands who part with what bit of cash they have, to keep the club going by turning up week after week. And all we ask in return is for 100% effort from the players, honesty and integrity from our managers, ownership of mistakes and accountability from our DoF, and the occasional bit of entertainment to cheer. We know we’ll probably never get to the Premier League but we’ll support the club anyway. Just don’t mug us off. That’s all we ask. And 3 points on Tuesday would be nice too. UTV.

Edited February 25 by Rudgies Flat Cap

[Walka003]

Loft has become a lightening rod for the wider hatred of Flick. He's crap, but it's not his fault we threw 70k and a 2 year deal at him. It's the muppet in charge of recruitment that did that.

Unfortunately for him he's become a symbol of everything that's wrong with the club atm.