24 minutes ago, PVFC FAN said:

I didn't say they had to be from league 1. Look at tolaj and paton

They don't even necessarily have to be to young. Around 25 is good

Probably not strengthened your argument by adding Paton. It is a different situation now. Tolaj is pretty clearly established as a first choice. When we signed Paton and Tolaj there was a clear position up for grabs. We missed out on Harry Smith to Macclesfield a few years ago purely because Tom Pope was clearly going to be first choice.

Someone Moore may bring in on a 12 month contract is Kobei Moore. Come up through Villa's books when Moore was doing youth work at WBA. Got some league experience at Fleetwood.  We haven't got a young centreforward coming through. I'm sure there will be a experienced striker through the door but probably not 2 with Paton and Curtis is the squad.

1 hour ago, PVFC FAN said:

Not convinced he is worth it

We can’t be sure one way or the other based on our own scant knowledge.

We CAN be pretty sure that we now have scouting and player assessment capabilities to match any other club in EFL1.

1 minute ago, JRC said:

Probably not strengthened your argument by adding Paton. It is a different situation now. Tolaj is pretty clearly established as a first choice. When we signed Paton and Tolaj there was a clear position up for grabs. We missed out on Harry Smith to Macclesfield a few years ago purely because Tom Pope was clearly going to be first choice.

Someone Moore may bring in on a 12 month contract is Kobei Moore. Come up through Villa's books when Moore was doing youth work at WBA. Got some league experience at Fleetwood.  We haven't got a young centreforward coming through. I'm sure there will be a experienced striker through the door but probably not 2 with Paton and Curtis is the squad.

I think paton still needs a chance. Look at tolaj he didn't get a proper chance and then he got given game time, he started off slow but then quickly started picking up goals.

5 hours ago, Walka003 said:

He's not got a particularly great record and he's 28. Like you say maybe we need to take a few punts on players like this as we are no longer big fish for the level. 

Good point about our status in this League. This is a significant issue for recruitment.

57 minutes ago, Splodger said:

Who knows Ruari Paton might have come back to vale invigorated and raring to go, we can only wait and see 🤔😁 UTV VTID 

Wouldnt bet on it!🤔

29 minutes ago, PVFC FAN said:

I think paton still needs a chance. Look at tolaj he didn't get a proper chance and then he got given game time, he started off slow but then quickly started picking up goals.

That's a bit of rewriting history - he scored 2 in his first 4 appearances then 1 in his next 20 for us. He actually started off quickly then slowed down. He'll get a chance in preseason but I'm not sure he'll make it in league 1 as a centreforward.  He scored 1 goal from open play all season.  I don't think you can fault his effort but he struggled to hold the ball up and lacked the pace to get in behind a defence. If we played with a 10 maybe he'd be OK.  Then again if we played with a 10 who'd you rather have - Paton, Richards or Curtis?

Edited June 11, 2025Jun 11 by JRC

1 hour ago, JoeB2 said:

I’ll break it to you mate.

No young striker who has scored 10 goals a season in League is signing for PVFC to be Stockley’s back up.

The arbitrary, unrealistic criteria some folk are setting is guaranteeing disappointment. We have a first choice forward line. Lots of agents know this.

What about signing as first choice and Stockley as back up? 

Id prefer us to give Paton another chance or another gamble from a lower league than someone proven to not score many personally. 

He also missed nearly a full year recently with a knee injury. Definitely not one we should be looking at imo. 

Edited June 11, 2025Jun 11 by valiant_593

4 minutes ago, JRC said:

That's a bit of rewriting history - he scored 2 in his first 4 appearances then 1 in his next 20 for us. He actually started off quickly then slowed down. He'll get a chance in preseason but I'm not sure he'll make it in league 1 as a centreforward.  He scored 1 goal from open play all season.  I don't think you can fault his effort but he struggled to hold the ball up and lacked the pace to get in behind a defence. If we played with a 10 maybe he'd be OK.  Then again if we played with a 10 who'd you rather have - Paton, Richards or Curtis?

I'd rather have paton over that forward hanlan. Difficult for me I think all of them are good players, I'd say Richards 

4 minutes ago, valiant_593 said:

What about signing as first choice and Stockley as back up? 

Where would that leave Tolaj 

1 minute ago, Conrad said:

Where would that leave Tolaj 

Tolaj with the new striker, Stockley on the bench 

3 minutes ago, JRC said:

That's a bit of rewriting history - he scored 2 in his first 4 appearances then 1 in his next 20 for us. He actually started off quickly then slowed down. He'll get a chance in preseason but I'm not sure he'll make it in league 1 as a centreforward.  He scored 1 goal from open play all season.  I don't think you can fault his effort but he struggled to hold the ball up and lacked the pace to get in behind a defence. If we played with a 10 maybe he'd be OK.  Then again if we played with a 10 who'd you rather have - Paton, Richards or Curtis?

I'm using stats to make an argument here which is always a dodgy thing to do... 

2024
Paton was arguably played out of position in the first-half of the season. He scored three goals by the end of 2024. 
Tolaj was arguably played out of position in the first-half of the season. He scored three goals by the end of 2024.

2025
Paton left on loan so didn't play (bar a couple of games in January) in 2025. 
Tolaj was paired as a two upfront with Stockley in 2025. He scored 12 goals in 2025. 

So, what am I trying to say... I'm saying that the formation in 2024 didn't benefit either Paton or Tolaj. Arguably there were other things too (both were new to the level of football and took time to find their feet). However, Tolaj blossomed in his natural position as part of a front two. Would the story be different for Paton if he'd stayed and managed to play in a pair upfront? Perhaps not, perhaps Tolaj is more suited to that role, perhaps Paton is not as good - but the point I am making is at the end of 2024 both Tolaj and Paton were fairly even both in terms of goals they'd scored. It was playing Tolaj in a more suitable role which helped him - he then gained confidence as he scored goals and so on. 

So, in a sliding doors world - if Paton had got that chance at the end of last season and not left would he now have more goals and confidence? I don't know what the answer is but I do think Paton has a really strong character and I don't think it's unreasonable to see him come back and fight for a place. Ultimately, he may not have the skill/qualities to be a success (that's another matter) but arguably he was unlucky with being played out of position. 

14 minutes ago, Conrad said:

Where would that leave Tolaj 

If we are playing with 2 strikers tolaj would be no1 and ideally we need a no2 to step in for Stockley as I believe we can get someone better and we need someone better, otherwise i wouldn't spend money on a stricker if we don't intend on getting anyone better than stockley. 

23 minutes ago, valiant_593 said:

What about signing as first choice and Stockley as back up? 

Id prefer us to give Paton another chance or another gamble from a lower league than someone proven to not score many personally. 

He also missed nearly a full year recently with a knee injury. Definitely not one we should be looking at imo. 

I don’t think we get a better target man than Stockley currently. He starts when fit.

The challenge is finding someone who can do similar things to him and is willing to come to be back-up. Tough. 

Perhaps a younger (21/22/23) number nine centre forward to understudy and take games from Stockley only more mobile and quicker then Tolaj and Curtis would be the supporting striker in the front two......if the system is 3/4/1/2 then could Paton be considered as a number 10 along with Rico......captain Garrity and Byers as first choice centre midfield.

Mansfield have signed goalkeeper Liam Roberts