Just now, Gooders said:

Stockley was awful when he came on.

Stockley in my view is worse than Faal. He has completely lost it and shouldn’t be anywhere near the 11 or the squad (neither should Faal) 

Just now, JoeB2 said:

If Carol can’t be trusted to make the obvious call and sack him, can we trust she’ll choose the right replacement?

Where are the CEO and Directors she has at the club.  Matt, Claire, Marian and Robert should be talking to her about the state of the club, fans feelings.  Even Rudge should be talking to her to start making plans for a replacement manager.

NO that's not the Vale way - sack him too late.  Then spend ages thinking about process to appt a managers and then finally make a manager choice.  Oh look after 2 months, the window has closed and the new manager has nothing to work with or change.

How do other clubs do it.  Oh yes they start the prep work and then sack the manager and within a week there is a replacement.  Some times even the next day - that would be novel idea at Vale Park to have done the prep work and appoint a manager quickly.

5 minutes ago, JoeB2 said:

I continue to be baffled at how Ruari Paton starts games ahead of Jayden Stockley.

A good lad and a grafter but non-league. His finishing is appalling.

Paton’s movement and control is even worse than his finishing.

He has lovely technique striking a ball  but sorry he’s just not a league standard player.

At least he was given a chance this season.

 

 

7 minutes ago, JoeB2 said:

I continue to be baffled at how Ruari Paton starts games ahead of Jayden Stockley.

A good lad and a grafter but non-league. His finishing is appalling.

Tbh I thought Stockley was very poor and didn't offer anything when he came on at least Ruari was trying as he was the one having shots and tbh out of all our strikers on the pitch today he is the one who offered the most. 

8 minutes ago, werstayinup said:

I wouldn't be opposed to DM moving upstairs and being the football person at the club unless he appointed a manager who played his type of football,that would be my worry

No There needs to be a clean break 

Darren's doesn't deserve to even be the bog attendant at the club cos he'd probably f#ck that up as well # Carol refusing to act is bloody insane 

2 minutes ago, PVFC764 said:

Where are the CEO and Directors she has at the club.  Matt, Claire, Marian and Robert should be talking to her about the state of the club, fans feelings.  Even Rudge should be talking to her to start making plans for a replacement manager.

NO that's not the Vale way - sack him too late.  Then spend ages thinking about process to appt a managers and then finally make a manager choice.  Oh look after 2 months, the window has closed and the new manager has nothing to work with or change.

How do other clubs do it.  Oh yes they start the prep work and then sack the manager and within a week there is a replacement.  Some times even the next day - that would be novel idea at Vale Park to have done the prep work and appoint a manager quickly.

Of all those people you’ve mentioned, the only one of them who has any more idea about football than you or me is Rudge, and he’s in his 80s and been out of the game for decades.

We are an IT company in a football club’s outfit.

Would anyone else take over a complicated business in an entirely different sector - let’s say, from hospitality to software - and just bring over all the hospitality staff and have no software expertise in the building?

Tbh I thought Stockley was very poor and didn't offer anything when he came on at least Ruari was trying as he was the one having shots and tbh out of all our strikers on the pitch today he is the one who offered the most. 

Correct. We had 3 shots on target today. Ruari had 2 of them. The remaining 9? Less said the better

7 minutes ago, werstayinup said:

Maybe he then gets the Bradford game to try and turn things around 🙂 

How many games does Carol need to see us lose 

Before the penny finally drops 

Just now, philmpv said:

4 minutes ago, ValiantHan said:

Tbh I thought Stockley was very poor and didn't offer anything when he came on at least Ruari was trying as he was the one having shots and tbh out of all our strikers on the pitch today he is the one who offered the most. 

Correct. We had 3 shots on target today. Ruari had 2 of them. The remaining 9? Less said the better

Yes and those two were dreadful finishes directly at the keeper. I honestly back most of the crowd to place it better. Same as Northampton. 

Lad is costing us points through the fact he’s getting games and isn’t anywhere near League 2 standard, let alone League 1.

10 minutes ago, Gooders said:

Stockley was awful when he came on.

I agree @Goodershe was awful and didn't offer anything when he came on. Whenever he played against us he was always a menace in the air as we usually could never cope with him and he was always a threat, last season for us he was a menace as defenders couldn't cope with him but now he is massively struggling and no longer poses a threat like he used to and although he has never been blessed with pace it looks like his legs have completely gone now. I mean I don't think he has got anywhere near to scoring a goal for us so far this season. 

Edited November 22, 2025Nov 22 by ValiantHan

By post match Lincoln we could be 8 points adrift. Madness. I’m bored of it. Utterly bored.

2 minutes ago, JoeB2 said:

Yes and those two were dreadful finishes directly at the keeper. I honestly back most of the crowd to place it better. Same as Northampton. 

Lad is costing us points through the fact he’s getting games and isn’t anywhere near League 2 standard, let alone League 1.

Watch the game on TV now. Lots of international players not scoring easier chances. That's why goal scoring is hard and they get paid more.

1 hour ago, Baldy said:

Just seen Haaland effort against Newcastle....has he heard we are in for him 🤔. He will never make anything. 

Darren would play Haaland at centre half.

Or in goal.

There's a number of reasons that we find ourselves where we are:

1) Carol and the board were wooed by the big name Moore. I believe Carol is from the West Brom area, so will have been fully aware of him and his work at West Brom. There was no interview process or assessment of his suitability. The general consensus was we were 'lucky' to have him. A quick look at his previous clubs and there's very few, other than a well backed Sheffield Wednesday, who are complementary about him. In fact most of his previous clubs say that they are still recovering from the damage he inflicted.

2) I have always had the impression that Moore feels that this job is a bit beneath him. I guess after managing a huge club in Sheffield Wednesday, this is a bit of a comedown but he's never seemed fully emotionally invested. When he first joined and had a mate come and watch us instead of himself, alarm bells rang.

3) Further alarm bells rang when we gave the entire football responsibilities to Moore. Who is checking his signings? His performance? His tactics and ideas? His training methods? Carol isn't putting her wellies on and checking, so who's he answerable to from a footballing perspective?

4) I like the CEO. He seems a bright lad. But previous to that he was head of community at Burton. Where's his experience and acumen to take on such a role? It's a key role and needs experience and knowhow, particularly when things are going wrong. He's what, late 30s/early 40s in age? Just doesn't have the gravitas for that role yet. It's perhaps why our preferred signings haven't always got over the line and we've had to 'make do' . You've got to be a tough negotiator in that job.

4) I don't want to sound rude and it's a point I don't really want to have to make but I said before we got Moore that he didn't strike me as the most erudite or intelligent of people. I'm not expecting him to be mastermind but he often uses the wrong vocabulary in interviews and doesn't strike me as one of football's great thinkers. Do you have to be super intelligent to be a good manager? No. But look at how the most successful managers across all leagues articulate themselves. They're able to get their point across clearly and have the intelligence to understand and try new things if not working.

5) We've made the same mistakes as before. We've signed way too much quantity over quality. We have 7 strikers, why? Have 4 on the books, two of high quality and then reasonable back ups. We've got 8 million wingbacks. Yes, I know most of them are injured but we should have had a back up formation that doesn't rely on wingbacks so that we didn't need to stockpile them.

6) Much as I hate to criticise Carol, she is ultimately answerable to us as fans...we still invest into the club but obviously not on her scale. But she's not immune from criticism. She's a nice lady but once again her niceness is her downfall. She's become mates with yet another manager and it becomes difficult to sack from this point. I have nothing against positive working relationships but maintain that professional distance. I've worked for bosses who I got on with but I always knew that they were the boss and I was their employee. Again, she told a story of going to the theatre and having a meal with Darren and his family after the Wimbledon game. It's just too familiar. She had the nice walks with both Clarke and Crosby and was chummy with Askey before that. You don't have to be a heartless tyrant but just set the boundaries early on.

It's all culminated in weak decision making with poor checks and a complete lack of football expertise throughout the club. That's why we are in this position today.

Ok. Here's my take.

We are getting beaten by poor teams and hammered by good ones. I accept the latter but not the former. Moore's tactics confuse me as do the constant rotations.

There are at least 3 players, who are fan faves, who are just not up to this level .  C Hall, Garrity and Paton. Why not play Stockley and let Cole run on to his knock-ons? .

Our next 2 league games are against 3rd and 2nd in the league. Do we want Moore in charge for those?