Cole is a poacher .   You only had to look at the match yesterday to see why we struggle at home . We have a corner and THEY kept two players on the half way line , one in the centre circle and one on the side line .We had to keep 3 players back to counter this threat. Their defence kicked/headed the ball out and their forwards were already half way to our goal and chasing on our Goal. They have a corner and we pull all 11 into our penalty area or very very close . When we cleared the ball in the second half from these events Cole managed on at least 3 occasions to get the ball quite near our penalty area and he had to run(jog) towards their waiting defender on the half way line , when he got there he was on his own as no other Vale player could run that far and their defenders just crowded him out . Time after time this happened . 11 in the box at every corner FFS.  Far too ultra defensive 

17 minutes ago, darren1810 said:

I get your main point but he has scored at home v Orient and Mansfield. 

So 2 of the 3 games out of our 10 homes in which we have actually notched he has scored.

But I agree unless he scores he can look anonymous. 

I stand by what I've said before that he's a 6 yard box predator with not much of a general game about him.

Cole is the least of our worries. We have a squad with no goals in it other than him.

League goals for Vale here, not counting tier 9 or whatever or the reserve Cup. 

Walters zero, Heneghan zero. Paton 2, Waine 1, Byers maybe 2 at most. Clark 1, John zero, ojo maybe 2 or 3 at most. Debrah maybe 2 at most. These are all guesstimates. 

Virtually none of the team contribute goals. 

Curtis and Stockley can, but are sent to Coventry. Croasdale gets more than the rest of the midfield put together. 

This was as clear as day earlier in the season that none of our midfield or defence chip in with anything. 

Cole is not Tolaj. We have possibly lost one of the best players in the division. 

Get the ball in the danger zone and Cole will notch a few. He's no use scrapping for balls 30 yards out.

I can't accept him as a possible scapegoat when we have horrendous players who can't even keep the football on the pitch. 

 

Well lad had too much beer on fri night so didnt go , and said all he did was stand offside most of game .

Anyway if we all happy score 0 every game continue i could work hard up there you got show your quality v Bristol Rovers on 1 occassion he showed us all he as electric pace i didnt see it yesterday on last attack what was he doing when Faal played it too him 

Faals a better team player than Cole in my opinion and he was very poor but if can sort his feet out id play him with Stockley moving forwards in home games away fair enough 

 

We need try someone else as its clearly not working 

UTV 

Edited December 21, 2025Dec 21 by Dipepa delight

1 hour ago, Bycarsbill said:

Not sure what world you're inhabiting, but in the real world, businesses negotiate better contracts!

I’m trying to point that football players contracts are not that easy what you think it is 

20 minutes ago, pensioner said:

Cole is a poacher .   You only had to look at the match yesterday to see why we struggle at home . We have a corner and THEY kept two players on the half way line , one in the centre circle and one on the side line .We had to keep 3 players back to counter this threat. Their defence kicked/headed the ball out and their forwards were already half way to our goal and chasing on our Goal. They have a corner and we pull all 11 into our penalty area or very very close . When we cleared the ball in the second half from these events Cole managed on at least 3 occasions to get the ball quite near our penalty area and he had to run(jog) towards their waiting defender on the half way line , when he got there he was on his own as no other Vale player could run that far and their defenders just crowded him out . Time after time this happened . 11 in the box at every corner FFS.  Far too ultra defensive 

I’ve got to admit that I like Cole and the effort he puts in. He needs to be operating down the centre with the service to score goals. Exactly the same situation with Tolaj. With his pace when the GK has the ball and the opposition are mainly in our half, get the ball up the pitch to him. He’s more than capable of beating one defender possibly two, before being through on goal. IMO he’s our only hope, a suspension or injury and that’s it, all hope is gone. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t have a relegation release clause in his contract.

Edited December 21, 2025Dec 21 by Playa Amodores
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1 hour ago, Bycarsbill said:

The point of the discussion is to go back to the thrust of my original comment that had the club been more business-savvy, we would still have a player who can score goals (and I suspect even you can't disagree that we are missing that this season) and would be therefore more valuable in terms of points he would have helped us to accrue and also undoubtedly be worth a darned more than £1.2 million.  It's called good business and the club for whatever reason failed in this instance! 

How do you know they have failed with the Tolaj contract?

You do not know the ins & outs of it all

8 minutes ago, pensioner said:

Cole is a poacher .   You only had to look at the match yesterday to see why we struggle at home . We have a corner and THEY kept two players on the half way line , one in the centre circle and one on the side line .We had to keep 3 players back to counter this threat. Their defence kicked/headed the ball out and their forwards were already half way to our goal and chasing on our Goal. They have a corner and we pull all 11 into our penalty area or very very close . When we cleared the ball in the second half from these events Cole managed on at least 3 occasions to get the ball quite near our penalty area and he had to run(jog) towards their waiting defender on the half way line , when he got there he was on his own as no other Vale player could run that far and their defenders just crowded him out . Time after time this happened . 11 in the box at every corner FFS.  Far too ultra defensive 

He couldnt poach an egg. Yesterday!😔

8 minutes ago, Brian Johnson said:

I’m trying to point that football players contracts are not that easy what you think it is 

Just because it's football, shouldn't make it any different than constructing a sensibly weighted contract.  My point is that in this case, the contract clearly favoured Tolaj. His agent was obviously a better negotiator than whoever represented PV.

31 minutes ago, Bycarsbill said:

Just because it's football, shouldn't make it any different than constructing a sensibly weighted contract.  My point is that in this case, the contract clearly favoured Tolaj. His agent was obviously a better negotiator than whoever represented PV.

If the only way Tolaj was going to sign for us was that they insisted on a £1.2million release clause, what should Vale have done? Not sign him ?

Edited December 21, 2025Dec 21 by Brian Johnson

4 minutes ago, Bycarsbill said:

Just because it's football, shouldn't make it any different than constructing a sensibly weighted contract.  My point is that in this case, the contract clearly favoured Tolaj. His agent was obviously a better negotiator than whoever represented PV.

Absolute rubbish.

What contracts do you deal with to come up with that conclusion?

8 minutes ago, Brian Johnson said:

How do you know they have failed with the Tolaj contract?

You do not know the ins & outs of it all

Dah, it's obvious and we don't know the "ins & outs" of the actual contract,  but we do knowthe outcome.

Back to the stats; he alone has already scored more goals than all our players put together. There's a fair chance that we're he still a PV player we wouldn't be heading for an almost certain relegation that will undoubtedly cost us a lot more than the £1.2 mill we got for him. 

People can say what they want about Cole but he’s just another Ellis Harrison. 
Got his contract. Hit the ground running and now looks dreadful. 
A massive downgrade on Tolaj, not a young player so no improvement to come, never been prolific, and in my opinion an overpaid waste of a signing. 

 

1 minute ago, Bycarsbill said:

Dah, it's obvious and we don't know the "ins & outs" of the actual contract,  but we do knowthe outcome.

Back to the stats; he alone has already scored more goals than all our players put together. There's a fair chance that we're he still a PV player we wouldn't be heading for an almost certain relegation that will undoubtedly cost us a lot more than the £1.2 mill we got for him. 

Of course we know the ins & outs.

He wouldn’t sign for Vale without that clause being put in. 
 
Simple!

1 minute ago, Brian Johnson said:

Absolute rubbish.

What contracts do you deal with to come up with that conclusion?

Over 45 years in various types of businesses, including my own, I have been responsible for thousands of contracts and I know that if I end up worse off as a result of a badly negotiated contract there must be lessons to be learnt! 

10 minutes ago, Bycarsbill said:

Over 45 years in various types of businesses, including my own, I have been responsible for thousands of contracts and I know that if I end up worse off as a result of a badly negotiated contract there must be lessons to be learnt! 

Because of you lack of concept of how a release clause works, I’m absolutely flabbergasted at this statement 

 

1 hour ago, ValiantHan said:

I just posted this in the Darren In or Out thread but I thought I would post it on here as well.

I have been looking into DM's managerial career and it really is shocking when you look at it in context like I have done.

West Brom was placed in caretaker charge and although results improved under him they still got relegated at the end of the season, but still appointed him as manager that summer and were 4th in the Championship with 10 games to go when they sacked him due to a loss of form especially at home where they had only won 1 of their past 9 league games at the Hawthorns.

Sheffield Wednesday took over in March 2021 when they were in the relegation zone and ended up finishing bottom of the Championship that season, but despite this Mr Chansiri confirmed that DM would remain the manager the following season and they should have won the league with the squad that they had yet a dip in form at the wrong time saw them finish in 3rd and in the end they only just squeaked through the play offs. 

Huddersfield took over on the 21st of September and with the club one place above the relegation zone and after just 3 wins in 23 matches he was sacked with the chairman being very critical of the results and the playing style that DM had implemented. For context Huddersfield still went down that season but if DM had remained in charge they would have lost more games with him in charge and the playing style would have remained the same. 

Just over 2 weeks later after being sacked by Huddersfield he was appointed by us and at the time we were 2 points above the relegation zone but it took him nine games before he finally won his first game as Vale manager which was a 1-0 victory over Burton, although by then it was too late and we ended up getting relegated and just like West Brom and Sheffield Wednesday he remained in charge the following season and just like Sheffield Wednesday we should have won the league with the squad that we had as it was far too good for L2 but ultimately we had to settle for 2nd. So, if you look at his managerial career history is well and truly repeating itself and it looks like he is going to have another relegation (his 4th) on his CV and finish bottom of the league just like he did with Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship. 

Proves no one at the club looked at his record