14th : Can Vale Madrid improve in League 2?
By Nathan Jackson
July 26 2008
Port Vale are new to this division following relegation from League One last season. Virtually relegated by February, Port Vale were rated by many League One fans as being the worst team they had seen in ages and they will more than likely have to settle for mediocrity now that they are in League 2.
WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?
Now, I'm sure the first question you're going to ask is "Why have you refered to them as Vale Madrid?" Well this is a story from League One message boards. Port Vale fans have a reputation of automatically stating that any new player is single handedly capable of winning promotion for them. This certainly seems to be the case as they have said this about Louis Dodds, despite most of them have never seen him play, and he has had very mixed reviews from the fans of club's he's played for in this division. Just for the record, Dodds did play up front at City for 3 months and scored three goals.....an average of nine per season, not exactly a record that "guarantees" promotion.
I think Port Vale fans are being extremely unrealistic if they're expecting simply to challenge for promotion. You can't be a good team if you gained less actual points than every other team in your division (Luton gained five more points than Port Vale but then had ten taken off) and yet somehow still be a decent side. Port Vale were the only side to fail to reach double figures in terms of games won and lost 26 matches, considerable worse than any other team in League One and the second worst record in the bottom two divisions.
Not to forget that Lee Sinnott's record as their manager is extremely poor, a winning record of less than 25% makes it surprisingly that he is still at Vale Park. It wouldn't surprise me if he was the first manager sacked in this coming season.
Now, after this damning report, you're probably surprised that I'm putting Port Vale to finish 14th. The reason for this is that they have a very average squad. There are no stand out players, but on the other hand there are none that you'd consider crap. For this reason alone, I'm giving an average squad a prediction of being distinctively average.
lincoln shitty are going down going down going down
Some or alot of us were there in the fa cup !
I do the facts about your club :
'Vale Park is surprisingly big, in terms of capacity. With Lorne Street finished it will seat 22,000 fans. Not bad for a refurbished provincial division one club. It is just a real shame that they have never really had big crowds, and apart from a really good spell in the early nineties of tier two football and sometimes five figure crowds, they now struggle to get above the 5,000 mark. They have always played poorer relation to Stoke City, strictly in terms of attendance and pulling power, but its catchment area is potentially huge, and with Robbie Williams investing in the club recently you might think a few more fans would be drawn in.'
And....... along time ago since you had your 'best season '
'Vale’s best season by far was in 1953/4 when they won Division 3 North by a landslide, losing just 3 games and conceding a division record low of 21 goals in 46 games, including an incredible 5 in 23 unbeaten home games. They also got to the semi-finals of the FA Cup, losing to the winners West Brom. They had quite a reputation for a few years as the ‘Iron Curtain’ defence.'
Over 50 years ago since your best season !
And as for the real fan thing, I helped raise money for the club when we were on our knees and I paid for a season ticket in a summer when it looked impossible that we would have a club that season. I'll admit that the way I put things makes me seem like I'm just waiting for the team to screw up, but that's out of frustration because I know this team could do so much better.
Also, it will be three years ago on Tuesday since I last missed a game and that was only because I had just started a new job and had to work. I was one of the few fans who were attending when we were regulars around the relegation zone. Infact, since the middle of the 2001/2 season, I've missed just two games, one was the aforementioned game and the other was because my wallet was stolen in Skeg Vegas. So, do you care to rethink your "not a real fan" thing?
Anyway, the reason I said "supposedly holds around 18,000" is because it just doesn't look like it. Don't get me wrong, it certainly isn't one of the worst grounds I have ever visited, afterall it couldn't possibly be worse that Dagenham, Accrington or Chester. And as for your season ticket holders, just like Bradford City I wonder how many you would have sold if you had put them at normal prices and not at a ridiculous low price.
Also, I've read your board and there seems to be a bit of confusion regarding the "Vale Madrid" and where it comes from. It's a nickname that was given to your fans on TFF in the League One after the fans on there were constantly "bigging up" every single player that you brought into your club.
Don't get me wrong, I honestly couldn't give a toss how Port Vale did. I couldn't care less if they finished bottom or top, but I just find it curious that the ground holds 18,000 when it doesn't look like it.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008:08:10:12:41:14 by Nathan Jackson.
At the end of the day it's only your honest opinion.