I think Shipley will be a starter. 

Who's he starting over though? Walters defo doesn't deserve to be out at the first chance. He was better than the other 2 in a lot of the games he played.

Glad to see JL, chizzy, NS RH TS et al have got fixed up with clubs 👏

Wonder where James Wilson will end up next 🤔 - wherever, i really hope he enjoys a few injury free years towards his twilight; I'll never forget his run in form at the end of our Wembley promotion 👍

1 hour ago, Fosse69 said:

Home or Away? Defensive or Attacking opposition?

I'm not Burslem Academicals 😅

1 hour ago, Dol Boy said:

I think Shipley will be a starter. 

Can't see it. That's not to mention Croasdale either. We have a strong squad now.

The only way Shipley plays I think is if Garrity misses the start of the season

5 hours ago, Burslem Academicals said:

Sorry Embleton is but a "name supplied" example other midfielders are available 'cause surely Ojo will be moved on.....also the trialist  keeper Foster is an odd one if they knew they were signing Marosi anyway....but finally on squad numbers is it 25 senior players allowed and then reading the future there could still be room in the squad for Noordamus .

No it's 22 in leagues 1 and 2 - 25 in The Championship. 

10 hours ago, MBE said:

This looks like our profile of player target.👀 

I saw this and thought the same thing! But he's a RB so probably rules us out.

10 hours ago, JoeB2 said:

Callum Paterson leaving Wednesday. Has literally played in every position bar centre half.

I don't know why, but I thought Paterson was about 36!

Surprised to see he's only 30.

Maybe it's the grey hair?!

I know this is a really left-field shout for a Stockley backup, but Luke Armstrong from Carlisle has some amazingly consistent data on "aerial duels won" across L1/L2 in recent years.

I appreciate the usual brigade will check his Wikipedia and proclaim "we need a proven goalscorer", but I'm sure he'd jump at the chance to leave non-league and be a backup for a L1 club?

We know Vale look at data as part of our recruitment process, so I wonder if he's appeared on their radar?

Walters Byers Garrity is the starting midfield imo.

Croasdale will be used in tough games and to give Garrity rests - we can’t have him being injured for 10-12 games again.

Shipley the Byers replacement - again, he will need his games managing.

45 minutes ago, valeparklife said:

I know this is a really left-field shout for a Stockley backup, but Luke Armstrong from Carlisle has some amazingly consistent data on "aerial duels won" across L1/L2 in recent years.

I appreciate the usual brigade will check his Wikipedia and proclaim "we need a proven goalscorer", but I'm sure he'd jump at the chance to leave non-league and be a backup for a L1 club?

We know Vale look at data as part of our recruitment process, so I wonder if he's appeared on their radar?

After watching the way he manhandled Hall,Smudge and Debra, I would be happy with his team mate Georgie Kelly. Looked unplayable in the 1st half.

I think he suffered a lot of injury issues last season.

12 hours ago, jjvale_03 said:

Go on then @Robert1888, smash pre season and make it impossible for Darren to ignore you. Get yourself playing between the posts and be more selfish. 

Am I missing something, is this actually Paton?

I missed Walters out no idea why as he was terrific generally in his 60 minute cameos during end of seaaon ,also Shorrock missed him too for a very  young pro  developing fantastically ,big ask though  league 1 last time ,maybe going into it a bit more ready than the last campaign, where at home shone but away struggled alarmingly .

Be interesting see how does this time .

Shipleys done it in championship, so with right conditioning he could be the best signing of the summer .

Gabriel watched a Blackpool game on me stick last season he was  there most potent threat throughout 

He is canny is Mr Moore know  nowt about Waine but if he has real pace then Byers has the vision to put him in .

I think Vale be a slow start then move around 11th and 15th throughout the middle part of the  season, finishing with a 9th placed finish as really move through gears as season evolves .

Play offs im not asking for that ,promotion no not that ,goal attempts gamely and excitement YES 100 per cent

UTV 

Edited July 2, 2025Jul 2 by Dipepa delight

2 hours ago, valeparklife said:

I know this is a really left-field shout for a Stockley backup, but Luke Armstrong from Carlisle has some amazingly consistent data on "aerial duels won" across L1/L2 in recent years.

I appreciate the usual brigade will check his Wikipedia and proclaim "we need a proven goalscorer", but I'm sure he'd jump at the chance to leave non-league and be a backup for a L1 club?

We know Vale look at data as part of our recruitment process, so I wonder if he's appeared on their radar?

Armstrong was surprisingly terrible when we played against Carlisle last season. I remember thinking how far he was off Stockley for a player with supposedly similar strengths. However one forward i would certainly take from Carlisle would be Georgie Kelly, he was outstanding when we played them at their place and a suitable backup/competition for Stockley 

1 hour ago, Con2Pvfc said:

Am I missing something, is this actually Paton?

1888 is Celtic's year of establishment. Robert starts with the same letter as Rauri. 2+2 = 5?

8 hours ago, JRC said:

No it's 22 in leagues 1 and 2 - 25 in The Championship. 

Thinking further about this, with 25 players per squad also in the Premier League, that totals -

24*22
24*22
24*25
20*25

- which equals 2,156 senior professionals in the 92 English League clubs.

Yet, as of 2023, England had 5,582 professional players -

https://inside.fifa.com/legal/news/fifa-publishes-professional-football-report-2023

How does that work, even if you add in another 24*22 for the National League?
(Making a total of 2,684 senior professionals across the 5 divisions.)

And also, why then is it so difficult and expensive to sign professional players, when there are more than 2 English professional players available for every English job?

Before we even start to consider the worldwide availability of professional players -

    128,694 professional male footballers at 3,986 clubs in 135 countries around the world

Yes, I know that it actually is difficult and expensive to sign professional players for English teams, I'm just wondering why this jobs market doesn't regulate itself?

Answers on a postcard ... 🙂