22 minutes ago, Sandyford_Lion said:

If the same comments as the above few pages still apply after the Rotherham game then we really do have a major problem and i believe they probably will.

On another thread people are suggesting their line ups, who to play and who to leave out. What it confirms to me is what an awful squad we are left with. Yes the more we can clear out the better, whether under contract or not, get rid...

All this will be determined not by Brady but by the budget Carol gives our manager. Not sure how much more money Carol, or should i say the family, will have available to Brady in the summer. He may be forced to keep certain under contract players or sign players who will be the cheap option to allow a few better signings. We need goalscorers in midfield, out wide and up front aswell as center half and goalkeeper. They will cost money or we will take big risks signing unproven players.

This is where the BIG problem has to be answered first :

Do we want a team for a shot at promotion instantly and if yes will the players we sign, who will be under contract for 2 or 3 seasons be good enough to play in Div 1.......... If answer is yes then how much will that cost ? £6 million loss last year tells me it will need to be a huge amount.

Or do we want a team to start a rebuild in Div 2 that will take 3 years to achieve a promotion. Will we have a ' plan ' to take the club forward with steady growth. Less budget needed for players maybe but what if that fails. How will fans react. What will be the lost revenue.

This seasons cup success would have been absolutely perfect, had we had a decent team for Div 1 and we could have achieved steady safety, ready to rebuild. Unfortunately the decisions made by Carol and the team at the top were poor decisions and we are having to pay the price.

One final point. Need a real hard look at staff outside of on the pitch. Are they the right people, in the right positions and do we need them all.

Spot on this.

Personally,  if it's going to take 3 years and its done in a thought out, strategic way, I honestly don't mind that at all.  In fact, it makes way more sense than just chucking more cash it at.  I just want to go on a saturday knowing that I'm going to see us going about it with some identity and purpose.  I want to watch a team that knows what its going for in games.

As you rightly point out, the problem they have now is that people will be way more reluctant to give them that time.  Had they done that last time out, there would be more leeway.

Its the off field we need to sort.   Massive clearing of the decks required and bring a Dof type role who knows what they're doing.  Recruitment is everything in the lower leagues. You need hungry, hardworking teams with a few gems in there.

With the current set up off field I can't see it unfortunately. 

What we do off field will tell us everything imo.

The problem is carol admits to not knowing how to run a football club so who picks a dof.

she brought in matt hancock to run the club but he has no exprenice in running a lge cluband the 

so people with a back ground in football as a player ,coach ,manager can tell her anything and she takes it at face value they can do this that and the other but they need money to do it same with agents i can get you this player to play for you just cross my palm with silver  she tried to do the right thing but a lot of football people will see her as a soft touch.

35 minutes ago, rsb said:

The problem is carol admits to not knowing how to run a football club so who picks a dof.

 

Jon Brady : worked with Tin Foyle at Northampton : Simples

I'm not in work this week but will remind all the Lardies that Vale have still won more games this season than the Mighty Potters

We lost to Chelsea and Arsenal in the cups

They lost to Bradford and beat Walsall on pens and won the league in August

Edited April 6Apr 6 by DazFred

12 hours ago, Osh said:

I don't think it was - he stepped across into Magloire.  Foul on Magloire

You see players step across each other all over the pitch to invite a foul. If that was the other way round  we would be screaming for that. Clever play because he’s invited Magloire to kick through the back of him. 

Edited April 6Apr 6 by PV1973

Just now, PV1973 said:

If that was the other way round  we would be screaming for that. 

Of course we would. 

In the end it doesn't matter the ref/VAR gave it. The rest is history 

Can people please stop banging on about the fact that that we were playing the "World Club Champions" as if that has some great significance. Most European clubs regard this as a pain in the ar*e competition that they don't really give a rats a*se about. We were not playing Barcelona or Real Madrid, but a club currently sitting sixth in the premiership with only one win in the last six league games and a fanbase getting peed off with current performances.

Yes as I have said previously the odds of beating them were limited but while the players put the effort in we were trying to beat them playing nicely. That is why people are saying there was no fight. We could only ever get any kind of result by playing really ugly. We didn't once try to upset them. It all seemed an exercise in let's be nice to our Premier league hosts. I know it seems a daft kind of stat but with today's card happy referees the fact that there was only one yellow card all match, shows how little physical competitiveness was going on. We didn't fight, we didn't want to upset them, we didn't try to get under their skin. Chelsea are not close to the level of Arsenal, Manchester City or Villa.

I just can't accept people not being bothered over the fact that we got thrashed 7 - 0 with a totally limp performance and regarding it as a great day out. I don't blame the players, they stuck to the formation and way to play because that was what they were told to do by the Brady. Like leaving the one player who was tearing us apart all game, their right winger, totally unmarked for the whole game. Brady would have told them to do that

Im over it now 

Gauci you just dont do that 30 secs in versus a team whos confidence was so so , the fans are bouncing and he does that ,and then we ok until Gordon lost his battle and Pedro finished superbly and then we gave another goal away when a little flick left someone flat footed 3 -0  3 massive errors  

Any team can be good if you let them be ....

Lets face you dont give a leg up too quality footballers we gave them 3 in first half .

After that obviously our confidence had gone and its damage limitation then .

Last 3 games hugely disappointing for me ,not once have i seen attacking worth seeing ,

 If you dont score what chance have you got ,none at all get Hernandez on , right  back when he does get on hes not a right back he is a player who takes players on , lets see Vale going full pelt v   last 8 opponents ,give  him a chance up front  ,surely him and Gray /GHall 3 up front is  the way too  go,be brave  ,stop boring the faithful , he puts faith in sherif who first game v Reading im thinking he as summat about him ,since either he isnt interested ,or he isnt good enough, ,no good play ,no flick ons ,no hold it and play it through the lines ,Gray as proven with  through ball  for Waine run onto v BC and he does have  glimmers  of top quality he as 8 games show it five or six times a game ,surely he could show 90 mins of his pedigree its league 1 not championship  /premier .

Bradies all about the same old though more concerned with defending and bigging up opposition all the time , this is someone whos supposed be getting folk into  Vale Park .

How many 0s now this season ? 

Too many for my liking .

You have gotta go for it i know when changed it too 4 v Wycombe we werent very good ,but maybe thats because lionels come back in , and all our worst defeats have him in the side, in hindsight J Debrah should have stayed and lionel should have gone Bromley as John Debrah and C Hall are just fine when play together at back once start sticking lionel Humpfries in we concede ridiculous goals and he switches off more  than our tv which always switches itself off and im overall not impressed with his work .

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 7Apr 7 by Dipepa delight

Contrast Man City (a) in Jan 2020 with Chelsea (a) in Apr 2026.

6 years of 'progress' and £20m spent. And we've gone from a club with fairly paid players who cared about the badge, the fans, their profession to a club with vastly overpaid players (and non playing staff) who see representing the club as doing us a favour and have zero professionalism. Make no mistake, that was an embarrassment on an international scale. For fans, that hurts. Our owner (in the best seat in the house on a freebie) dances around with syncophants hoping to catch the camera. 

It all stinks. 

3 minutes ago, jjvale_03 said:

Contrast Man City (a) in Jan 2020 with Chelsea (a) in Apr 2026.

6 years of 'progress' and £20m spent. And we've gone from a club with fairly paid players who cared about the badge, the fans, their profession to a club with vastly overpaid players (and non playing staff) who see representing the club as doing us a favour and have zero professionalism. Make no mistake, that was an embarrassment on an international scale. For fans, that hurts. Our owner (in the best seat in the house on a freebie) dances around with syncophants hoping to catch the camera. 

It all stinks. 

Visiting owners and directors are always treated to the best of facilities. Hardly freebies with the money they have spent.

Just now, Fosse69 said:

Visiting owners and directors are always treated to the best of facilities. Hardly freebies with the money they have wasted.

I've been in those seats (Chelsea v Watford 2017) - fantastic service. No amount of free champagne and small plates could allow me to dance around like a prat having seen the team I love lose a football match 7-0. 

On 05/04/2026 at 16:00, NW9Valiant said:

 

Does give me a chuckle every time I read a post expecting a player to do attacking runs when their job is primarily defensive. 
We seem to criticise all of our centre mids because they aren't all marauding attacking players.  

Ojo and walters are not what I would call defensive midfielders, if they are they aren't very good at it. I know what you mean but in my opinion they are short side and back passers whose contribution to a game is mostly insignificant in both attack and defence. Possibly useful in possession based teams with better players around them but neither are capable of controlling a game or providing assists or goals and their stats prove that. Ojo looks up and I know that he sees people making runs but he checks back 90+% of the time because he doesn't back himself to make the pass, the result is as the game goes on players get frustrated and stop making runs. Walters either passes it back to whoever passed it to him, runs with the ball until he trips over it, runs into trouble and loses it or turns and passes it further back than he started. As a midfield pairing they are a disaster.

 

Every other league one team we have played has midfielders who play balls over the top and through our lines and they do it time and again throughout the match forcing us back until its one way traffic with balls peppering our box. We hardly ever do that because our midfielders dont take responsibility they mostly play the ball back for our centre backs to hit long.

 

Walters and ojo shouldn't be a thing it is Walters, garrity OR ojo with shipley or byers because for all his faults shipley is a more productive midfielder than either ojo or walters.

 

Personally at this moment I would prefer garrity or ojo and shipley as a pairing in midfield because garrity is doing nothing higher up and I really don't understand the hype around walters. I think he has a lot to learn and I'm not seeing many signs that he is learning it.

 

20 hours ago, eh up nah said:

Spot on this.

Personally,  if it's going to take 3 years and its done in a thought out, strategic way, I honestly don't mind that at all.  In fact, it makes way more sense than just chucking more cash it at.  I just want to go on a saturday knowing that I'm going to see us going about it with some identity and purpose.  I want to watch a team that knows what its going for in games.

As you rightly point out, the problem they have now is that people will be way more reluctant to give them that time.  Had they done that last time out, there would be more leeway.

Its the off field we need to sort.   Massive clearing of the decks required and bring a Dof type role who knows what they're doing.  Recruitment is everything in the lower leagues. You need hungry, hardworking teams with a few gems in there.

With the current set up off field I can't see it unfortunately. 

What we do off field will tell us everything imo.

I'd rather have a decent midfielder and striker than a dof who will likely just blame the manager anyway if it goes wrong. The likelihood of us choosing the right dof of football is about the same as our chances if picking the right manager but instead of only having to get it one right we would have to get both right at the same time and how many dof will we end up having to recruit then pay off before we get it right?  Sacking managers has cost us a fortune as it is.

Are people still going on about the bloody result on Saturday...look its gone it's in the past,we got stuffed and there's nothing you me or  anyone can do about it... unless you know someone who's got a time travelling DeLorean..roll on next season 👍😁🤔.. UTV VTID 

21 hours ago, eh up nah said:

Spot on this.

Personally,  if it's going to take 3 years and its done in a thought out, strategic way, I honestly don't mind that at all.  In fact, it makes way more sense than just chucking more cash it at.  

Would be great.

The issue is history tells us that we're a spontaneous phone call to Carol away from giving someone the keys to the club or handing out a 5-year managerial contract.