5 minutes ago, Rampant Zebra said:

It doesn't matter who scores the goals though, they all count...

We won’t get many goals from midfield playing the system Moore has us playing. 

28 minutes ago, philmpv said:

30 minutes ago, Conrad said:

In situations like that wouldn’t we have some sort of insurance policy?

No idea, but if we did, I imagine it would cover wages for the period of the contract, not the transfer fee

They can insure players for whatever and I believe it’s for a market value in most cases. 

2 minutes ago, Rampant Zebra said:

It doesn't matter who scores the goals though, they all count...

I agree - but only if you have enough of them and we don’t. The only midfielder capable of scoring more than 10 per season is Garrity but - so far - Moore plays him defensively. Only DC played him in an attacking role and look how he prospered. 
 

I hope we get back to that! 

So in terms of senior (over 21 players), we have 1 spot left by my count:

PVFC First Team

GK (Do not need to be registered):

Gauchi, Marosi, Amos, Davies

 

Max 22 Outfield Players over 21:

1. Gabriel, 
2. Mitch
3. Headley, 
4. Gordon
5. John
6. Debrah
7. Humphreys
8. Heneghan
9. Hall
10. Hart
11. Shipley, 
12. Byers, 
13. Croasdale,
14. Garrity,
15. Ojo
16. Curtis,
17. Stockley, 
18. Waine
19. Faal, 
20. Paton
21. Plant

 

U21 (born on or after 1 Jan 2005) are not needed to be registered:

1. Walters
2. Rico
3. Shorrock
4. Lomax

 

So for me that leaves the LCB if we get one and a striker — I see Dane Scarlett rumoured who would count as a senior player which doesn’t seem to be going down well. 
 

I’d like to get Hart gone and bring in a third player as well. Might need to send Faal back in that case though, but assume Plant doesn’t get registered to play. 

Edited August 31, 2025Aug 31 by NW9Valiant

12 minutes ago, Rampant Zebra said:

It doesn't matter who scores the goals though, they all count...

I'd say we need a bare minimum of around 50- 55 goals to give us a decent chance of staying up so far in 6 games we have scored two. Last season none of our midfielders scored more than 5 in league two. I get what you are saying but if we are going to rely on our midfield to make up the bulk of our goals I think we will be at the wrong end all season.

13 minutes ago, NW9Valiant said:

So in terms of senior (over 21 players), we have 2 spots left by my count:

 

PVFC First Team

GK (Do not need to be registered):

Gauchi, Marosi, Amos, Davies

 

Max 22 Outfield Players over 21:

1. Gabriel, 
2. Mitch
3. Headley, 
4. Gordon
5. John
6. Debrah
7. Humphreys
8. Heneghan
9. Hall
10. Hart
11. Shipley, 
12. Byers, 
13. Croasdale,
14. Garrity,
15. Ojo
16. Curtis,
17. Stockley, 
18. Waine
19. Faal, 
20. Paton

 

U21 (born on or after 1 Jan 2004) are not needed to be registered:

1. Walters
2. Rico
3. Plant
4. Shorrock
5. Lomax

 

So for me that leaves the LCB if we get one and a striker — I see Dane Scarlett rumoured who would count as a senior player which doesn’t seem to be going down well. 
 

I’d like to get Hart gone and bring in a third player as well. 

Should read born after Jan 2005 so Plant is 21  for registration rules and only one spot free

I’m not convinced that another loanee up top is the answer if we do manage to bring in Dane Scarlett. That would leave us with three players, all 22 or younger, who could all be gone by January. That scenario doesn’t exactly inspire confidence, especially when it leaves us with Curtis, who’s ineffective as a central striker, Stockley, a largely one-dimensional player, Waine, who looks completely out of place, and Paton, who remains unproven.

On paper, Scarlett seems like a decent signing—highly regarded at Spurs, and there’s potential there. But the reality is, he feels more like the kind of signing you'd make to complement a core of permanent players who have proven themselves at this level. Ideally, you’d have a front line of players with a decent goal-scoring record and real experience in the lower leagues.

The more I think about it, the more it feels like we’ve dropped the ball with the forward line. I can’t shake the feeling that we didn’t really have a plan in place for what to do if Tolaj left.

These next 24 hours are massive.

1 minute ago, Fosse69 said:

Should read born after Jan 2005 so Plant is 21  for registration rules

Correct. Apologies, I’ll amend. Stupid ChatGPT using last years sources! 

19 hours ago, MBE said:

Faal looked disinterested today to be fair to him I think generally he’s looked ok. I think we have to bear in mind he is effectively a cheap Stockley backup.

The more I look at our squad the more I think we should play predominantly with 3 up front, with a 3 or 4 at the back.

Cheap Stockley back-up...? Wrexham paid half a million for him. How much did Stickley cost. Again give him some time 

Edited August 31, 2025Aug 31 by Osh

Can anyone tell me why Scarlett is of interest to us. Looking at his record, not a signing that I would rush to get and no different or better than we already have. 

5 minutes ago, Baldy said:

Can anyone tell me why Scarlett is of interest to us. Looking at his record, not a signing that I would rush to get and no different or better than we already have. 

“Looking at his record”, I really hate this lazy analysis — he’s bloody 21. Not aimed at you Baldy, but I see this argument a lot when we are targeting development players and it’s just very frustrating to read. 

He’s an England U21 international and played in European competition. I’d guarantee he is streets ahead of Mo Faal in technical ability.

If that isn’t a good enough indicator to offset the stats “issue”, I don’t know what would. 
 

Imagine if we just looked at records, teams wouldn’t be signing players like Liam Delap before his Ipswich transfer… 

Young players just won’t have the stats on the board, and typically, experience costs much more money. Club have mentioned many, many times they want to be a development club so we will tend to use younger players. 

19 hours ago, MBE said:

Faal looked disinterested today

Or alternatively lacking sharpness... he's had a long injury lay-off with a hamstring injury and missed  pre-season. Prior to joining us his last start for Wrexham was in February. For me, he needs time (something we don't have much of) to get that match fitness/sharpness back. 

4 in 20 (mostly sub) apps last season a league above is decent. 
 

Although he had an op in May so not sure how fit he is?

4 hours ago, ValiantHan said:

As I said last night I think we were expecting Lorent to leave in January and not this Summer. We were also taken aback by Plymouth's approach because they had missed out on a lot of their targets before eventually deciding to get Lorent and he was probably not even in their top 5 list of the strikers that they were after this Summer, so as a result of Plymouth missing out on so many targets they essentially panic bought him IMO. 

Where has it been stated openly about Vale being taken aback by Plymouth's approach?

Regardless, it's irrelevant. Tolaj would have been tracked by every other club in league one and most of the league above.

Not having a just in case plan for him would be a total dereliction of duty.

1 hour ago, philpvfc said:

We won’t get many goals from midfield playing the system Moore has us playing. 

We conner score full stop 😲