12 minutes ago, valiant_593 said:

True. But personally I don’t think he’s good enough to be a starter in league 1. I really think some are underestimating and forgetting the difference in class. 

Everyone is entitled to an opinion.  I do think most of us have a rough idea what league 1 was like, we weren't relegated that long ago. Could be we all have dementia I guess. This squad is much stronger than we were 2 and 3 seasons ago. Way stronger than the relegated side. We won't sign someone positionally better than Debrah but with the same pace and size (unless we spot someone playing non league). A player who ticked all 3 boxes would be in The Premiership.  There will be 3 or 4 sides in league 1 who will have a lower end Championship players and reasonable depth. There are another group that have a few at that level, but will struggle if they are injured.  Being blunt Carol isn't rich enough to do a Wrexham and build a squad like Wrexham, Birmingham or to a degree Stockport. She might have enough to put together a squad of ok players at this level, add 3 or 4 bits of gold dust. Then if the football injury gods smile on us we could do an Orient, Wycombe or maybe a Plymouth. Orient in particular will struggle next season in my opinion.  Their better contracted players are out of contract. Their loan players were massive for them and will get Championship loans next season. About half our 88/89 and 93/94 sides were really no more than decent mid table what is now league 1 players (in some cases I'm being generous) at best. We had 4 or 5 players better than that who managed to stay fit. 

Maybe Byers will have a full season, Walters will be even better, Curtis reaches the level he did at Portsmouth and Tolaj reaches his potential. Add a couple of others and luck with injuries and a group of others play supporting roles well and who knows. The truth is the likes of David Riley, Alan Webb, Kevin Kent, Dean Stokes, Bradley Sandeman etc were not great technical players but they adapted their games so the few great technical players we did have could play their game. What killed us the 2 seasons in league 1 was a woeful lack of depth. We had a forward line of Massey, Butterworth and Politic for a while in 22/23, surprisingly ball ball rarely stuck up top. We had a back 3 of Robinson, Donnelly and Smith at times, even worse we played most of one game with Derek no idea how to spell it, Donnelly and Smith. 23/24 was even worse. At times we had 4 of Lomax, Dipepa,  Shorrock, Walters and Plant on the pitch at the same time. 4 of those 5 weren't even 18. Even then we'd have stayed up if we'd just beaten Burton at home! We'd have stayed up with just a couple more lower league journey men pros in the squad, not releasing Pett and Worrall would have kept us up.

1 hour ago, valiant_593 said:

Tough position to find quality, Hall was never that impressive last season yet made team of the season. 

For me though, in an ideal world I’d want 3 new cbs. I know that won’t happen but I’d guess we will get a Cb and then a RCB over replacing Hall

Connor Hall is a captain and a leader in the team. No way he will be replaced this season, nor should he. 

It would be madness to replace him AND Smudge in one summer.

28 minutes ago, johnjeffersfanclub said:

As an LCB, Tankard would be great in today's game.

Carragher, Mills, Tankard and Hughes would all be fine as fullbacks. Tankard played centrehalf a few times, Carragher quite a lot. Mills might struggle at wingback as he wasn't that quick but he'd be good with a side playing with a back 4. The other 3 could also play wingback. Alan Webb wouldn't do well at fullback, couldn't even imagine him at wingback, but he'd be a decent right centrehalf in modern football in leagues 1 and 2. 

4 minutes ago, MBE said:

Connor Hall is a captain and a leader in the team. No way he will be replaced this season, nor should he. 

It would be madness to replace him AND Smudge in one summer.

He will be.

He got found out very quickly at league one level last time which is why he quickly went to Colchester.

The same goes with Smudge 

12 minutes ago, kevin_struggles said:

we will defend better in every area of the pitch than we did last time and we have a very potent threat up top so teams will be less likely to throw caution to the wind and camp on the edge of our box bombarding us like they did last time. Debrah will be fine he has improved from last time, hall is an excellent league one/two level cb we just need a replacement for smith plus one to provide competition and if teams do start to bombard us we have heneghan to bring on to tighten things up aerially. Last time we had a weak midfield that got pushed back easily no threat up top and no proper wing backs its chalk and cheese and league one, apart from maybe the top 8-9 teams is not that much different to the top half of league two and we managed to finish in the top two of that league plus we are strengthening our squad with new signings so we have nothing to fear and everything to prove.

 

I think some people are wetting their pants for no reason. We will be fine, mark my words and feel free to repeat them to me at the end of next season.

 

I agree with your assessment of us last time in L1 following promotion

Disagree with you ‘not much different to top half league one’ I think there is quite a gap in quality and the way football is played. 

I do agree though we will be fine…we have the right manager with  already a good nucleus of L1 players. With probably another 4 or 5 players to come I’m not concerned about survival this time around.

2 minutes ago, Brian Johnson said:

He will be.

He got found out very quickly at league one level last time which is why he quickly went to Colchester.

The same goes with Smudge 

I don’t buy into the he got found out last time. From my memory I think he took a little period of adjustment and then started to play decent before his move to Col. We struggled a lot more without him than with last time that’s for sure.

Unlike Smudge he can handle movement which is why I’m unconcerned.

2 hours ago, JoeB2 said:

Crewe away. Hemmings clean through. Debrah gains about 15 yards in 3 seconds and performs a goal-saving last ditch tackle.

As you say, you can’t coach that up. It’s rare to have in a centre half. All the stuff he’s less good at, meanwhile, is coachable.

It was a great recovery. I do seem to remember Debra was very poor initially and the reason why hemmings ran through. He makes a lot of mistakes. 

I think Debra will be a very good player once he becomes experienced at the moment he is still very much in the improving with game time category. Having pace and strength allowing him to recover is probably key to him getting the opportunity to build on that experience.

Just now, Brian Johnson said:

He will be.

He got found out very quickly at league one level last time which is why he quickly went to Colchester.

The same goes with Smudge 

He went to Colchester because he had the biggest bust up ever with Clarke. He was poor initially and was deservedly dropped. When he came back he did well and we had a run when we didn't concede many. The whole being closer to home had a small element of truth but wasn't the reason he left, one of Hall or Clarke had to go. The wheels literally came off the game after Hall left. I think we were 10th at the time. We conceded 13 goals in his last 15 games in his first stint. We conceded 42 goals in 22 games after he left!

The issue he had was trying to get infront of his forward and getting turned. Looks good when it comes off but it didn't come off ever!

24 minutes ago, Brian Johnson said:

He will be.

He got found out very quickly at league one level last time which is why he quickly went to Colchester.

The same goes with Smudge 

I felt that he struggled initially but was starting to find his feet just when he left. Or record in defense plummeted once he left, obviously there were lots of reasons for that.

51 minutes ago, Osh said:

I see McGoldrich has turned down Notts County. Would love him here for a year or two. Totally class player 

 

Yes - but I can also see why they offered a lower contract. Seemed like Notts had bad luck with a lot of their better players getting injured all the time, or unable to play double game weeks. 

Realistically a 38 year old in the football league shouldn't be your main striker.

44 minutes ago, kevin_struggles said:

we will defend better in every area of the pitch than we did last time and we have a very potent threat up top so teams will be less likely to throw caution to the wind and camp on the edge of our box bombarding us like they did last time. Debrah will be fine he has improved from last time, hall is an excellent league one/two level cb we just need a replacement for smith plus one to provide competition and if teams do start to bombard us we have heneghan to bring on to tighten things up aerially. Last time we had a weak midfield that got pushed back easily no threat up top and no proper wing backs its chalk and cheese and league one, apart from maybe the top 8-9 teams is not that much different to the top half of league two and we managed to finish in the top two of that league plus we are strengthening our squad with new signings so we have nothing to fear and everything to prove.

 

I think some people are wetting their pants for no reason. We will be fine, mark my words and feel free to repeat them to me at the end of next season.

 

Not wetting my pants at all, just stating that this is a considerable step up. I expect us to be fine, probably lower mid table. But some seem to be suggesting it’s the same standard as league 2 and that is not the case. 

47 minutes ago, Brian Johnson said:

He will be.

He got found out very quickly at league one level last time which is why he quickly went to Colchester.

The same goes with Smudge 

Guess what 

Your wrong again 😂

2 hours ago, JRC said:

I'd take a bet Stoke didn't have a season in the 60s when they didn't use at least 18 players. I've looked at 2 random years in the 60s and they used over 20 in both. My guess it was the squad for a match. There were also loans allowed up to the transfer deadline, so clubs could run with smaller squads. There was also only one substitute until the mid to late 1980s. You only needed 11 fit outfield players.

In the early 60s there were NO substitutes . I remember when they came in as I was still at school .... Was it around 64/65 . Think the first Vale sub might have been Eric Mcgee but not sure on that . 

 

5 minutes ago, Packmoor_vale said:

Guess what 

Your wrong again 😂

Guess what??  You are a clueless knob 🤷🏻‍♂️

Edited May 31, 20251 yr by Brian Johnson

56 minutes ago, JRC said:

He went to Colchester because he had the biggest bust up ever with Clarke. He was poor initially and was deservedly dropped. When he came back he did well and we had a run when we didn't concede many. The whole being closer to home had a small element of truth but wasn't the reason he left, one of Hall or Clarke had to go. The wheels literally came off the game after Hall left. I think we were 10th at the time. We conceded 13 goals in his last 15 games in his first stint. We conceded 42 goals in 22 games after he left!

The issue he had was trying to get infront of his forward and getting turned. Looks good when it comes off but it didn't come off ever!

Where’ve you heard that. Sounds absolute rubbish.

Edited May 31, 20251 yr by Powerline