BBS Saturday 5pm.

If I were guessing wildly, I would suggest that at the above time on Saturday afternoon this site will be in one of two places. Either, we're going to pi55 the League or, this is the worst Board we've had in our history (quite a claim!) and they all need to **** off.
Still....it's a 'get out of jail' card for the new Coach - at least for a few weeks.

 

We'll be reight, win t'morra, win the league, an the Board will still be Morons.

 

Remember when Moore sat on the sidelines ready to go, we beat Fulham and things were great. That soon changed.

 

Could still **** the league but wouldn’t praise the board

 

My personal opinion, "we've dropped on a right laiker in that Andy Dallas".

 

The sad thing is,there will be some on here hoping we lose on Saturday just to prove a point.

 

Noone wants that. Id be happy with any win even if 1-0 or 2-1

 

I'm saying either "What's the point in signing Dallas if we don't play him", or "Can't believe we got rid of Norwood for him."

Apologies for stacking the deck in my favour by going for two...

 

To be honest I'm not optimistic about tomorrow so I'll go for:-
Tinpot
Jokewell
Fire sale
Lower league rubbish
Something something flatbreads

Ooh and amateur.

 

Add
Something something car park
Something something Beevor Court
Nudgers bridge
Fan zone
Beer pumps
Sprinklers
Luton will be in for Dallas
Connell ain't ill, seen in Swansea
Catering
Fast flow pumps out of order
Oakwell lane
They dunt wanna go up

 

And they're just my observations

 

Normally first games if the season have actully no bearing on the season as a hole.
But if we win 5-0 t'morra like you say it will be 'James who' and we'll p155 this league. Lose 2 or 3 nil and everything things 5'hit.
I saw where skybet had us down for a mid-table season 13th I think. That may not be far off.. the transitional season a lot of us expected last time, looks like it may appear this season.
I really hope we can win t'morra to give Collins a bit time to bed in. Players perform different in friendlys and training to matches, especially if things aren't going well.
Give Collins a bit of time to see who he can rely on and who he can't..

And get behind em t'morra..

 

I don’t want us to lose tomorrow.

I don’t think we will, Port Vale won’t be a strong team in the league. If we are outplayed by them and deservedly lose then to be honest there would be a bit of a problem and the reaction that would come on here, whilst in some cases probably over the top, wouldn’t be completely uncalled for.

We will probably still do ok this season that said. We’ve some very good players at this level.

But that doesn’t change that this summer has been pretty poor and on the face of it we appear weaker.

I say this as someone who has no issue with us having signed players from non-league. They are as likely or likelier to be successful than experienced league journeymen. But they do need help.

The world and his dog knows we need a centre back with a bit of experience. Doesn’t have to have played 150 games in league one, but to have played a good number at a decent level. Still not signed one. Kitching will likely be the new captain but I feel he needs help organising the back line, someone to play in the middle, a talker and a cool
Head.

Norwood was the senior pro at the club, a leader, and looking at the social media replies to his leaving post, clearly someone the younger lads had a lot of time for and looked up to. The presence of that kind of player shouldn’t be underestimated, nor should the impact on the remaining squad of getting rid of him on the eve of the season.

That’s all before you even consider what he brought to the team on matchday - whilst not a prolific goalscorer, his energy, workrate, shithousery, mastery of dark arts and refusal to give opposition back lines a breather is not replicated by anyone else currently at the club. It was in no small part his endeavour that led to the chances that others, like Cole and Phillips, got on the end of. To sell him is probably a poor decision, but to do so two days before the season kicks off, with no prospect of a quick replacement (and suspicions he won’t be replaced by anyone not already at the club), it just seems absolutely crazy. Misguided at best.

I have never been against the mantra of signing young talent on longer deals, and being able to sell the ones that gain a lot of value to keep the club going. It’s a reality for a club like ours. Not always nice but we all get the selling of people like Mads, potentially Styles if the bids come, and going again with young lads, a few punts on players here and there.

But it has been seen time and time again that to be successful doing so the kids will need an older head or two to have the nous to get through games and help them develop. It isn’t long ago the club was forced into the panic signing of Sollbauer, a concession against the ‘plan’ which completely turned the season. There are enough people in and around the board to remember that and know we are short going into this season.

Cole and Cadden aren’t kids, Kitching has played a lot of games for us. But I still feel we are missing an experienced pro in the squad.

So whilst I’ll be at the well tomorrow as passionate as ever wanting and expecting a win, supporting whoever plays, I still feel people are perfectly valid in criticisms of the club and the board as it seems to me that they have gone backwards by three or four years and learnt absolutely nothing from what caused our failures nor the differences that created successes in that time.

 

Why not both?

 

Fair points. Like you, I’ll be there tomorrow. I don’t expect to learn much, until a few weeks in, as players need to bed in. So irrespective of the result, I won’t be making any knee jerk reactions.

 

We won 4-0 but should have had 6

 

I said very similar last season - but this time around, who needs to bed in?

There’s a new manager and probably a slightly tweaked system. Fair do’s. So they do need some time. We are also missing at least one, probably two if Connell is ill, of what is likely to be our first choice midfield.

But that said, we will likely only have one, maybe two outfield players in the starting eleven tomorrow that are new signings. As such I’m not of the same thought I was this time last season when I felt we had to give Duff ten or twelve games.

The foundations are already there, we aren’t on a hugely downward momentum and we should be well equipped to go again, even with a new gaffer. The vast majority of the players know the league and eachother inside out and judging on preseason will line up in a very similar way to last season formation wise. Oven ready if you like, to coin a phrase from a two hat of the highest order.

Which is the main reason why the last second sale of Norwood and lack of replacement so far for Mads is so infuriating.

 

Same, always open-minded early doors.

Unless - and it doesn't mean a trouncing - PV beat us by looking stronger, fitter, faster and ultimately ......... better prepared. That will mean knee-jerk is not only probable, but deserved.

On the flip side, a decent performance and win after a crappy week will allay some fears and give cause for optimism. A REALLY decent win will possibly lead to folk booking Premier Inn Wembley.

Bring it on.

 

"Teams like Port Vale"

 

Baildon? A few of us informally called ourselves Aire Valley Reds for a laugh. We recently renamed ourselves @Hicksy @Micky Finn