1 hour ago, Dipepa delight said:

How on this earth can anyone predict a league, when no ones seen any team play in it yet .

Fair point but there is a certain irony posting this on a message board full of opinions on Vale and football 😄 

30 minutes ago, PV1973 said:

I avoid all that stuff. They all think they’re experts and frankly I find myself feeling embarrassed for them. Like you say it’s proper cringe. 

Yep. Unfortunately too many people think YouTubing is a viable career. I can’t think of many worse things to spend my time watching personally. 

30 minutes ago, NW9Valiant said:

Fair point but there is a certain irony posting this on a message board full of opinions on Vale and football 😄 

Yep. Unfortunately too many people think YouTubing is a viable career. I can’t think of many worse things to spend my time watching personally. 

I couldnt agree more, unfortunately everytime I wander on youtube, some Ghost video will appear on my "you might like" list, and Im then headbanging for the next two hours 🙈🙈🙈 

its role reversal in our house - our littlen (she is 25) bangs on her floor above my man cave shouting turn it down dad 🙉🙉🙉🙉

Edited July 30, 2025Jul 30 by Hoppers

1 hour ago, NW9Valiant said:

Fair point but there is a certain irony posting this on a message board full of opinions on Vale and football 😄 

Yep. Unfortunately too many people think YouTubing is a viable career. I can’t think of many worse things to spend my time watching personally. 

Always folk will have a opinion on each players ,and team ethic,performance levels  etc where they may finish but nobody knows for sure unless havesay the quality of a big club who spend millions.

 Even then you could be paying a player 300 k a week ,but one bad tackle well its over ,especially if its the player who makes the team tick and therefore the team loses its purpose .

Bit like us, when Ollie went and Devine all of a sudden lost our way, and the team as a whole went from top to getting relegated with no goals in them, not that Ollie and Alfie scored weekly , but they made us a good side as top place confirmed .

Just imagine with seasoned pros, how Vale do and folk who can score .

Hence D Cole would be a fantastic acquisition as he scores goals like his dad used too 

 

 

Edited July 30, 2025Jul 30 by Dipepa delight

Are we getting Devante Cole in from the Baggies on a two year deal or what ?? [emoji848]

Antwoine Hackford gone to Wimbledon on a 2 year deal. Interesting to see if he can do it in L1. Good luck to him though, he ended up doing a reasonable enough job for us last season.

1 hour ago, Davo666 said:

Are we getting Devante Cole in from the Baggies on a two year deal or what ??

DM addresses this in his post match from last night in The Valiant Newsletter. Basically says nothing in it.

Never a league 1 player. I thought he was poor for most of last season in league 2. Wish him well, but I’ll be shocked if he can cut it at this level 

6 minutes ago, valiant_593 said:

Never a league 1 player. I thought he was poor for most of last season in league 2. Wish him well, but I’ll be shocked if he can cut it at this level 

Scored some pretty crucial goals for us though. I suspect you’re right he probably lacks the all around skillset for L1 but in his defence the times he struggled were when we were just firing the ball long and in the air to him and that is not his game to do what Stockley does. Get him on the shoulder of the defender and running through like when he scored against Salford is what you have to do with him.

2 minutes ago, Guppys left peg said:

Scored some pretty crucial goals for us though. I suspect you’re right he probably lacks the all around skillset for L1 but in his defence the times he struggled were when we were just firing the ball long and in the air to him and that is not his game to do what Stockley does. Get him on the shoulder of the defender and running through like when he scored against Salford is what you have to do with him.

True. I still can’t see him being any use at this level. Maybe back in league 2 if you set up to suit his style

3 minutes ago, Guppys left peg said:

Scored some pretty crucial goals for us though. I suspect you’re right he probably lacks the all around skillset for L1 but in his defence the times he struggled were when we were just firing the ball long and in the air to him and that is not his game to do what Stockley does. Get him on the shoulder of the defender and running through like when he scored against Salford is what you have to do with him.

Spot on

The equalizer at Accie

The winner at County

I thought he did ok considering a lot of the time he was on his own up front

I thought he was still under a contract at Sheffield United as he signed a new deal which didn't expire until the Summer of 2026 yet it looks like they terminated his contract as Wimbledon have signed him on a free transfer. Also, I thought he would have gone Notts County considering he was on trial with them but either that move for whatever reason fell through or Notts decided against signing him permanently.  

 

Edited July 30, 2025Jul 30 by ValiantHan

1 hour ago, ValiantHan said:

I thought he was still under a contract at Sheffield United as he signed a new deal which didn't expire until the Summer of 2026 yet it looks like they terminated his contract as Wimbledon have signed him on a free transfer. Also, I thought he would have gone Notts County considering he was on trial with them but either that move for whatever reason fell through or Notts decided against signing him permanently.  

 

There is something there but he's probably fallen foul of squad limits as he no longer counts as under 21. He also needs to go somewhere to play regular football and probably get a gym membership; as he was far too easily knocked off the ball. He has the potential to bounce back up the leagues at some point. 

The lad grew on me. First time I saw him I thought he'd won a competition to play. By the end, he was a dangerous player who scared defences.  

I think he'll struggle at L1 level but at 21 there's plenty of scope for him to develop into a handful. 

2 minutes ago, jjvale_03 said:

I think he'll struggle at L1 level but at 21 there's plenty of scope for him to develop into a handful. 

I agree I think he'll struggle at L1 level (he didn't do much when he was on loan at Burton) but will improve as he gets older and become a very good striker it's just at this moment in time he is still very raw.