Good move for Planty. I think using him as a makeshift wing back put him back in his development. He needs to find his best position and nail it down.

The only worry for him is whether Crosby (who obviously believes in him) will stay in the job long enough.

Edited January 28Jan 28 by Santa

13 minutes ago, ValiantHan said:

James Plant has joined Tranmere on a permanent deal.

 

Fair play to him. A link up with Crosby and smudge to help settle him in 

Delighted he got his move but gutted we didn't keep him for next season 

8 hours ago, robf said:

While I can understand the sentiment of fighting till it's mathematically over, surely the Cole sale makes sense long-term. Realistically we're down. He's on (probably) sky high wages and has three more years under contract.

We can't really sustain his wages as a L2 club and when his contract ends he would be nearly 34 (and we've seen how veteran players lose a yard of pace etc).

Surely it makes sense that if we can get a reasonable fee for him now, we have to cut our losses.

Hopefully a sensible club would then use some of the fee to bring in a cheap, young striker with potential (i.e. the Rudgey transfer principle - sell when a player at his peak age for high, bring in someone cheaper to develop). It may even work out better for us long term.

Rob, A rational post and one I don't disagree with.

However, what about a scenario where Devante may want to stay for whatever reason and fancies the thought of playing in Lge 2. If the club he goes to does get promo to the Championship he could well end up benched and not happy, wages/signing on fee etc excepted.

We're more than likely down but there's next season to consider which IMHO is a huge deal.

The last thing Vale want is scrapping against relegation to the National League next season with a completely new squad of players.

I'd argue that most of the current squad have shown they're good enough to get promo from Lge 2 so I'd be looking to keep as many current players as possible (With some additions), as long as they want to stay and are motivated to play for Vale in Lge 2, Devante Cole would be top of my list.

It's tough to recruit goal scorers at any level and when you can't score goals you can't win games and the club ends up at the wrong end of the table.

Also, I'm guessing a promo season from Lge 2 would net income not much short of an average season in Lg 1.

1 minute ago, Guppys left peg said:

Nothing indicated on either our or Tranmeres announcement. I suspect at most we’ve agreed to let him go for any cut of a future sale. And their owners don’t have a pot to piss I’m outside going cap in hand to Smurthwaite.

Yeah he was contracted until next year wasn't he? I suspect it was just to free up the wage so expect future fee %, perhaps even a friendly in the summer to pay for it. I'd be surprised if much (any) cash exchanged hands. 

Wonder if Crosby fancies helping his old club out and taking Ojo and Shipley from us as well

Edited January 28Jan 28 by boslemportvale91

9 minutes ago, PVFC2001 said:he’s nowhere near good enough.

There’s an obvious retort to that

10 minutes ago, PVFC2001 said:

Getting sick of what? he’s nowhere near good enough. Just because he’s one of our own doesn’t make him up to this level 

Another player leaving? 
We will be in league 2 next season he will have been worth having part of the squad imo 

5 minutes ago, boslemportvale91 said:

Wonder if Crosby fancies helping his old club out and taking Ojo and Shipley from us as well

He should really get the band back together and throw in Debrah too. Might turn this into a successful window yet 😅

19 hours ago, londonvale said:

From memory,  isnt that what happened last relegation? Question not statement 

I don't think we had anyone decent to move on for money last time. We did let a lot go at the end of the season but I don't remember us getting money for anyone. I could be wrong but we were 90% dead wood 

Happy for him though, wish him well and I think he will be decent for them

Good luck Planty never forget how well played at Ipswich against quality opposition and the goal v Plymouth superbly taken 

Not given a chance here 

Good luck at Tranmere lad 

Edited January 28Jan 28 by Dipepa delight

More will leave yet…..

4 minutes ago, valiant_593 said:

Another player leaving? 
We will be in league 2 next season he will have been worth having part of the squad imo 

We do need to trim the squad and when morale is this bad you practically do need to work at replacing most of the dressing room to reset the mentality. 

It would go some way to allaying some fears if we could actually sign a player of some standing that isn't a loan or non-league player. Ronan Hale, or someone like that if Devante goes. Though I would not be surprised if something like Brown was turned into a permanent deal instead 😞 

I wonder if shorrock will be next ? 

33 minutes ago, Guitar Ray said:

Our huge squad should be trimmed by getting rid of squad players rather than those players who are among the first names on the team sheet, assuming they’re willing to stay.

I think you can have the best recruitment team going but they’d struggle to recruit the likes of Cole or G. Hall in any January window in our current position.  In fact we’ll struggle to recruit full stop so any recruitment should add to what little quality we have.  What will happen is that we’ll end up signing lower quality replacements, possibly at an inflated price, and we would need to replace those 2 rather than just bin them off as we could with certain other players.  Cole is our only decent forward and Hall the only player with real pace.

It’s not just about saving face.  As bad as it looks, we’re in a strange place, stick or twist, 12 points adrift but with 2 games in hand and plenty of games to play.  We could throw the towel in right now or battle on until it’s impossible.  It depends on what Brady can do with the existing players plus any he can add.  I also don’t buy into this thing that unloading these players now gives us a better chance of success next season, it doesn’t, it just gives us a bit more money now than what we might get in the summer, and even that’s not guaranteed to be the case.  Cole and Hall would still command a fee in the summer.

The unfortunate reality is other teams don't want our squad players they want our best players. Cole and, probably, George Hall will always attract interest so even if they don't go now I don't see us keeping them next season.

 

On the other hand the worst of them will struggle to find another club so we will be stuck with them until their contract ends.