Carabao Cup 23/24

[denzel ecfc]

Very true. Good luck with Boro they are beatable

If they play like they did in the first half against us, yes. Otherwise it will be tough

 

[valefan16]

Ouch! £25.00 a ticket for the Quarter Final, that'll put a lot off the week before Christmas I would expect.

 

[valefan16]

Arguably the biggest night Vale Park has ever had in terms of a major cup quarter final (the FA Cup quarter final we had was at Orient with the following Semi Final at Villa Park, so a first major quarter final since the legendary Iron Curtain side beat Leyton Orient almost 70 years ago.

95% of Vale fans have never seen their side at this stage of a major competition before and have grown up with the names of that side, Sproson, Askey, Cheadle etc.

An injury hit Middlesbrough side provide a disappointing but ultimately winnable tie and despite under dogs yesterday’s performance should add some boost to the fans after a rough three months.

Last week over 11,000 tickets had been sold so expecting close to current capacity, hopefully the recent wins add a few more on the gate and we can get Vale Park rocking like that magical night against Swindon 18 months ago, other than the 7-1 against Burton it’s been far too rare to have Vale Park rocking.

Vale had some magical cup nights under the lights under John Rudge, beating holders Everton in the FA Cup, a penalty shoot out away for preventing Arsenal winning their first double, the 3-1 against Stoke in the replay… let’s hope we can add another. Need to stay in the game until the last 20 and then if we can who knows. Nothing to lose here, pressure all on Middlesbrough but everything to gain from a two legged tie against a Premier League side if we can get through by hook or by crook.

Was a bit apathetic towards it after the draw and with our form but yesterday with the atmosphere and performance levels we saw has got me looking forward to it.

Never know if it’s another 70 years it might literally be the only time in most Vale fans lifetime we get to experience it.

 

[GEORGE]

Arguably the biggest night Vale Park has ever had in terms of a major cup quarter final (the FA Cup quarter final we had was at Orient with the following Semi Final at Villa Park, so a first major quarter final since the legendary Iron Curtain side beat Leyton Orient almost 70 years ago.

95% of Vale fans have never seen their side at this stage of a major competition before and have grown up with the names of that side, Sproson, Askey, Cheadle etc.

An injury hit Middlesbrough side provide a disappointing but ultimately winnable tie and despite under dogs yesterday’s performance should add some boost to the fans after a rough three months.

Last week over 11,000 tickets had been sold so expecting close to current capacity, hopefully the recent wins add a few more on the gate and we can get Vale Park rocking like that magical night against Swindon 18 months ago, other than the 7-1 against Burton it’s been far too rare to have Vale Park rocking.

Vale had some magical cup nights under the lights under John Rudge, beating holders Everton in the FA Cup, a penalty shoot out away for preventing Arsenal winning their first double, the 3-1 against Stoke in the replay… let’s hope we can add another. Need to stay in the game until the last 20 and then if we can who knows. Nothing to lose here, pressure all on Middlesbrough but everything to gain from a two legged tie against a Premier League side if we can get through by hook or by crook.

Was a bit apathetic towards it after the draw and with our form but yesterday with the atmosphere and performance levels we saw has got me looking forward to it.

Never know if it’s another 70 years it might literally be the only time in most Vale fans lifetime we get to experience it.

Saw Roy Sproson play many times for Vale in the 60's.

 

[denzel ecfc]

Arguably the biggest night Vale Park has ever had in terms of a major cup quarter final (the FA Cup quarter final we had was at Orient with the following Semi Final at Villa Park, so a first major quarter final since the legendary Iron Curtain side beat Leyton Orient almost 70 years ago.

95% of Vale fans have never seen their side at this stage of a major competition before and have grown up with the names of that side, Sproson, Askey, Cheadle etc.

An injury hit Middlesbrough side provide a disappointing but ultimately winnable tie and despite under dogs yesterday’s performance should add some boost to the fans after a rough three months.

Last week over 11,000 tickets had been sold so expecting close to current capacity, hopefully the recent wins add a few more on the gate and we can get Vale Park rocking like that magical night against Swindon 18 months ago, other than the 7-1 against Burton it’s been far too rare to have Vale Park rocking.

Vale had some magical cup nights under the lights under John Rudge, beating holders Everton in the FA Cup, a penalty shoot out away for preventing Arsenal winning their first double, the 3-1 against Stoke in the replay… let’s hope we can add another. Need to stay in the game until the last 20 and then if we can who knows. Nothing to lose here, pressure all on Middlesbrough but everything to gain from a two legged tie against a Premier League side if we can get through by hook or by crook.

Was a bit apathetic towards it after the draw and with our form but yesterday with the atmosphere and performance levels we saw has got me looking forward to it.

Never know if it’s another 70 years it might literally be the only time in most Vale fans lifetime we get to experience it.

I presume Boro have sold out their allocation, tremendous support, though their jeering of Mitchell as he was taken off with a season ending injury left a bit of a taste. Hope you beat them

 

[valefan16]

I presume Boro have sold out their allocation, tremendous support, though their jeering of Mitchell as he was taken off with a season ending injury left a bit of a taste. Hope you beat them

They have yes, 3100.

 

[kieran_vale]

Just got to give it our best shot. The good news for us is it feels our never ending injury crisis is coming to an end with only Mitch Clark and James Plant out long term now. Would go a similar starting lineup to yesterday but maybe put Iacovitti in for Balmer who had a bit of a wobble second half. I’m putting it mostly down to tiredness there but won’t get away with it against these.

Essentially it’s a mid table Championship team against a mid table L1 team so Boro should be favourites and they picked up a win yesterday as well. Glad the game is here now, it’s felt like one eye has been on this cup game all along. Looking forward to welcoming back Bernie Slaven though, was only with us a short while but was one of my favourite Vale players growing up such was his impact.

 

[thewwfc]

Hoping for a heroic but draining Vale performance to go through to the next round, meaning that none of your players can be arsed in the league any more lest they get injured in advance of THE BIG GLAMOUR TIE next round.

 

[valefan16]

Hoping for a heroic but draining Vale performance to go through to the next round, meaning that none of your players can be arsed in the league any more lest they get injured in advance of THE BIG GLAMOUR TIE next round.

Well we did extra time midweek and Wigan were chilling at home and you’d have think they’d played extra time yesterday morning!

Good thing is though in fairness this competition doesn’t have extra time so no excuses with that.

 

[kieran_vale]

Hoping for a heroic but draining Vale performance to go through to the next round, meaning that none of your players can be arsed in the league any more lest they get injured in advance of THE BIG GLAMOUR TIE next round.

You’ll probably beat us next Saturday anyway. Just one of them teams we don’t seem to do well against. With the caveat most of the games that come to mind were Akinfenwa being a one man wrecking crew against us.

 

[K-Win]

Good luck, Vale

 

[kieran_vale]

Anyone would think this is a Potteries Derby the amount of dibble out in force tonight. Bit of overkill but hey any excuse for overtime pre Christmas. They’ve already “advised” the club to not go through with the BOGOF deal on beer in the fanzone so can see what they’re going to be like tonight.

Anyway just have a go tonight. Play with a bit of freedom and never know what can happen.

 

[valefan16]

Just got here was looking for the pints offer that explains that! Biggest crowd for many years tonight id think? 12300 sold as of yesterday I think.

Anyone would think this is a Potteries Derby the amount of dibble out in force tonight. Bit of overkill but hey any excuse for overtime pre Christmas. They’ve already “advised” the club to not go through with the BOGOF deal on beer in the fanzone so can see what they’re going to be like tonight.

Anyway just have a go tonight. Play with a bit of freedom and never know what can happen.

 

[valefan16]

Self inflicted wounds there. Ridiculous over playing in our own half.

 

[valefan16]

Less arsed about the result than what looks an awful injury for Blaster

 

[thewwfc]

Not liking PVFC getting thumped here, don’t be going and taking the backlash out on us now.

 

[kieran_vale]

Fair fucks to Boro. Simply too good for us in the end. I haven’t watched much Championship football recently or much less care as why would I but the gap in a mid-ranking side in that division and a mid-ranking side in this league like us is a fucking chasm. The intelligence, movement and finishing is levels above.

Just got to hope Ollie Arblaster is ok but any time they call for the stretcher it’s not a good sign. Hope it’s not the last we’ve seen of him in a Vale kit.

 

[leedsvaliant]

In general play, they didn't look that much better, particularly in the first half. But their speed once they knicked possession to transition into a dangerous attack was just far quicker than we're used to.

Having said that, we should have treated it as a blood and thunder cup tie but it was a pretty poor effort in the end, lacking intensity. The second half was like a training session.

What it highlights is that Boro are a thoroughly average championship team but we're absolutely a million miles off that. It makes me think that we'll never get back to the levels of the mid 90s. You need an absolute fortune spending just to tread water and we're never going to do that with our current setup.

 

[valefan16]

It was flat, fluke early goal knocked us but the second after a huge error between Ripley and Balmer sucked the life out the home ends and we were dead from there. Massey scores a sitter and it’s game on but he didn’t and we never looked that arsed after that, second half was a disgrace in terms of application.

Problem is we have this football philosophy now which is great in league one but on a huge carpet like pitch that Vale Park is to try and out football a side like that was suicide, add in we didn’t get anywhere near the levels of Saturday and it was an under whelming night. Needed to be more ugly than that.

That said Boro were very good, shows we are miles away from a Championship ready club, in fact considering they are bang average in that division anyone going up this season has a massive amount to reach close to that level.

Main concern though is Ollie, cut down to the bone apparently so the worry is ligament damage, huge loss and could be the last we see of him in a Vale shirt, what a player he’s been if it is. Will 100% be a Premier League footballer.

It’s been a good run just a shame it was a flat end to it and the frustration remains that we didn’t make any money really nor get a plumb tie in getting as far as we did.

 

[BRFC_Gas]

In general play, they didn't look that much better, particularly in the first half. But their speed once they knicked possession to transition into a dangerous attack was just far quicker than we're used to.

Having said that, we should have treated it as a blood and thunder cup tie but it was a pretty poor effort in the end, lacking intensity. The second half was like a training session.

What it highlights is that Boro are a thoroughly average championship team but we're absolutely a million miles off that. It makes me think that we'll never get back to the levels of the mid 90s. You need an absolute fortune spending just to tread water and we're never going to do that with our current setup.

This is is exactly mate. As much as we'd all like to have a crack at the Championship I think anyone going up from L1 will come straight back down.
Ipswich were another level last season but they are an exception I think as they were spending 1M on a left back!
Ive seen a number of managers get promotion ahead of their time and then get axed when things inevitably dont go well the following season.
I think competing in the top half of L1 is the aim next for us, and will suit me for now.

 

[valefan16]

This is is exactly mate. As much as we'd all like to have a crack at the Championship I think anyone going up from L1 will come straight back down.
Ipswich were another level last season but they are an exception I think as they were spending 1M on a left back!
Ive seen a number of managers get promotion ahead of their time and then get axed when things inevitably dont go well the following season.
I think competing in the top half of L1 is the aim next for us, and will suit me for now.

100% put Bolton or Pompey in there with their current squads they'd be nowhere near, just look at Wednesday for instance, Ipswich spent ridiculous money and are the only side i've seen in our 18 months here that looked remotely close to as good on the ball as Boro yesterday.

Anyone going up will have to really spend to do anything but scrape for survival at best.

That said the main anger and disappointment in our fan base is to get to the last 8 for the first time in any major cup since 1954 and we didn't look up for it and showed them too much respect... it was a very Crosby Vale performance... as someone said under DC or Micky Adams we'd have played high intensity in their faces and made it difficult and had Vale Park rocking but it was a really flat ending.

For example under DC we lost to Brentford 1-4 in the FA Cup but had a real go, had them on the ropes at 2-1 and unfortunately Mbeuno just had that quality to pick us off and we could walk away heads held high (and that was a 3 league gap not 1) but last night felt like we'd just gone through the motions without really getting into any gear of our own.

 

[thewwfc]

That said the main anger and disappointment in our fan base is to get to the last 8 for the first time in any major cup since 1954 and we didn't look up for it and showed them too much respect... it was a very Crosby Vale performance... as someone said under DC or Micky Adams we'd have played high intensity in their faces and made it difficult and had Vale Park rocking but it was a really flat ending.

our play-off final v Sunderland a while back was like that, we just didn't look up for it and were totally flat and were never in the game, you just think, "wtf? how can a lower league footballer not be up for a game at Wembley?".

One of the most disappointing ways to lose a game.

 

[valefan16]

our play-off final v Sunderland a while back was like that, we just didn't look up for it and were totally flat and were never in the game, you just think, "wtf? how can a lower league footballer not be up for a game at Wembley?".

One of the most disappointing ways to lose a game.

Well thats it, the 0-3 itself doesn't bother me, they probably have 10 times the budget and played in the play offs last season in the league above so if we give it a real go and they beat us 3-0 fair play and move on. Thats the disappointment on the night as it was such a rare big occasion for the club and its hardly going to entice the day trippers who turned up to come back more often.

Suppose it happens though, we won the Play Offs the week after yours 3-0 against Mansfield and they barely laid a glove and we steam rollered them with ease. If you were a Stags fan you'd have been really annoyed at the lack of battle they had so swings and roundabouts I guess.

 

[leedsvaliant]

We basically tried to beat them at their own game but they have much better players than us. It was only going to end badly. Against higher opposition you need to be direct, physical and in their face so that they can't settle and play their normal game. That last half an hour was embarrassing....it was like we had shaken hands and agreed to just play the game out. Even the Boro fans were bored.

 

[leedsvaliant]

This is is exactly mate. As much as we'd all like to have a crack at the Championship I think anyone going up from L1 will come straight back down.
Ipswich were another level last season but they are an exception I think as they were spending 1M on a left back!
Ive seen a number of managers get promotion ahead of their time and then get axed when things inevitably dont go well the following season.
I think competing in the top half of L1 is the aim next for us, and will suit me for now.

Yep, exactly. What concerns me is that without a serious investor who is willing to lose hundreds of millions of pounds, we're going to be forever in this purgatory of not having the level of support or finance to sustain in the Championship and probably not good enough to trouble the top of this league. We'll inevitably go back down to league 2 , then spend a few years scratching about and then get promoted again....and so the cycle begins again.

It's a viscious cycle, as we're never going to increase the size of our club and fan base without some real sustained success. We've boosted our average gates by about 3000 in the last couple of years, but really we need 15-20k in every week. Look at Bolton, they were getting 4k crowds in the 80s but they've had 10-15 years in the Premier League and it has significantly boosted the amount of people that follow them, which has passed through the generations. Same with our lardy neighbours down the road, who were getting 10-12k and after 10 years in the Premier League it's now 20k. When I was at school, it was 50/50 as to Vale and Stoke fans....now it's predominantly Stoke fans in my daughters class. That's what we're up against.

As others have said, even pretty fair sized clubs in this league would be absolute relegation fodder in the league above. Feels like the gap has become 10 times bigger since the Sky money became involved.

I've said this a number of times, but we should have a draft system, because now, with the very odd exception, the teams with the most money top their respective league. It's not a game of skill, good management or good coaching anymore. You might as well decide the league places before the league has started based on how much money each club has got. It wouldn't be a million miles off the final standings. Made me a bit cheesed off with football last night has to be honest. It's just a horrible commercial venture with no heart.