League 2 General Chat Thread

[valefan16]

Never ever forget Rudgey in our 73/74 season. Scored some invaluable goals.

One at Old Trafford didn't he which he likes to mention!

 

[valefan16]

 

[Coalite]

How long was Fred Dibnah at Vale for?

Nice touch tbf

 

[spireite]

Did he help them climb the leagues?

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

View attachment 20912

Very classy and rightly so.

 

[LS Bantam]

“Howwwwwzaaaaatt?” “He’s given it”

 

[valefan16]

Did he help them climb the leagues?

Rudge took us from a struggling 4th division side to challenging for a place in the Premier League, multiple giant killings, promotions, Wembley trips and then 6-7 glorious years in the second tier.

The 90s are the halcyon days for us and the likes of Steve Guppy, Gareth Ainsworth, Foyle, Naylor etc etc.

Not to mention regular derby victories and for a period the dominant side in the city, in 98 our win v Huddersfield kept us up as Stoke and Man City went down.

JR is to us what say Clough, Ferguson, Shankley would be to their clubs. 16 mostly glorious years and we’ve not looked like repeating them since.

 

[valefan16]

“Howwwwwzaaaaatt?” “He’s given it”

Famous for his flat cap! But does make him look like an umpire I guess!

 

[spireite]

Rudge took us from a struggling 4th division side to challenging for a place in the Premier League, multiple giant killings, promotions, Wembley trips and then 6-7 glorious years in the second tier.

The 90s are the halcyon days for us and the likes of Steve Guppy, Gareth Ainsworth, Foyle, Naylor etc etc.

Not to mention regular derby victories and for a period the dominant side in the city, in 98 our win v Huddersfield kept us up as Stoke and Man City went down.

JR is to us what say Clough, Ferguson, Shankley would be to their clubs. 16 mostly glorious years and we’ve not looked like repeating them since.

Sorry mate it was just a shit joke around the post above saying it's Fred Dibnah. Great touch though for a club legend.

 

[valefan16]

Sorry mate it was just a shit joke around the post above saying it's Fred Dibnah. Great touch though for a club legend.

There’s the history behind it I guess for anyone interested.

Monumental effort as paid for by the supporters who’ve clubbed together to raise the 100k and a few grand by Reading supporters who’ve donated after their fans got our game at their place abandoned last season after 15 minutes for their protest as a thank you for the understanding and support shown.

Good to see it finally in place.

 

[EnglishRed]

It's early to start discussing the make up of League Two for 25-26, but are we ready for Shrewsbury coming back down? Them, Crawley, Cambridge and Burton look in big trouble early doors.

Every time I've seen Shrewsbury this season they look awful. In their match against Exeter the other day they had improved but still had nothing up front. Id be shocked if they stay up. Cambridge too. No idea why Burton are so bad as they are financially backed now.

If Lindsay had stayed at Crawley I'd think they would be ok (and they looked decent when we played them in September) but now I don't know. They also seem to be doing dodgy transfer things- they apparently spent 6 figures on a Nigerian international from the Tanzanian league who appears to have been 22 for some time. All very odd.

 

[Wootball]

It's early to start discussing the make up of League Two for 25-26, but are we ready for Shrewsbury coming back down? Them, Crawley, Cambridge and Burton look in big trouble early doors.

Burton and Shrews would be good to have down just for locality. With Vale getting promoted (to nobody's surprise given lower Championship spending in League Two) we need more local games back.

 

[valefan16]

Burton and Shrews would be good to have down just for locality. With Vale getting promoted (to nobody's surprise given lower Championship spending in League Two) we need more local games back.

You don't get promoted in October!

 

[Conker]

Shrewsbury are a bog standard L2 side already, good at holding their shape and that’s about it.

Burton are really dangerous going forward but defensively remind me of Notts County last season. They signed a ridiculous amount of players so that’s probably why.

Edit - Burton just sacked the manager!

 

[Wootball]

You don't get promoted in October!

It's as good as nailed on though, let's be realistic. It is the way it is.

 

[AdamStag]

Every time I've seen Shrewsbury this season they look awful. In their match against Exeter the other day they had improved but still had nothing up front. Id be shocked if they stay up. Cambridge too. No idea why Burton are so bad as they are financially backed now.

If Lindsay had stayed at Crawley I'd think they would be ok (and they looked decent when we played them in September) but now I don't know. They also seem to be doing dodgy transfer things- they apparently spent 6 figures on a Nigerian international from the Tanzanian league who appears to have been 22 for some time. All very odd.

I think wrexham and mansfield have opted out for the 25/26 league 2 edition

Shrewsbury were the worst side i’ve seen at FM this season by some distance, but still better than most we’ve played in L2 last season - cambridge have won their last 2.

Burton just don’t have any decent players, and any they did have we’ve nicked, oh and they can’t defend.

 

[kieran_vale]

It's as good as nailed on though, let's be realistic. It is the way it is.

We’ve yet to negotiate the clubs greatest enemy though - the January transfer window! Too many times I’ve seen things blow up in our faces during and after that.

Regards coming down Shrewsbury it seems have been treading water for some time. Only so long you can do it. Might do them good to go down and have a reset. Looks like Orient and Northampton having a bit of a case of second season syndrome up there so maybe one of them will be in the mix at the end as well.

 

[valefan16]

We’ve yet to negotiate the clubs greatest enemy though - the January transfer window! Too many times I’ve seen things blow up in our faces during and after that.

Regards coming down Shrewsbury it seems have been treading water for some time. Only so long you can do it. Might do them good to go down and have a reset. Looks like Orient and Northampton having a bit of a case of second season syndrome up there so maybe one of them will be in the mix at the end as well.

We'd have to really mess up January! One good thing is we are not reliant on loans which killed us last season, suppose that's the risk Walsall for example face as we found out to our cost last season.

In theory by January we should get so many injuries back it will be like a new team with Byers, Clark and Hart.

Might see Smith leave, maybe Shorrock if big money offers come in like with Dipepa but imagine the only risk is BBB and Cover but we have more than adequate players there with Clark coming back.

With Shrewsbury notice Funso has started moaning!

 

[valefan16]

It's as good as nailed on though, let's be realistic. It is the way it is.

Nothing is nailed on with Vale! All looks great at the moment and hopefully if needed with have the finance to push on in January but even if we are 30 points clear with 11 to play i'd still not consider it done!

 

[AdamStag]

Nothing is nailed on with Vale! All looks great at the moment and hopefully if needed with have the finance to push on in January but even if we are 30 points clear with 11 to play i'd still not consider it done!

What’s the difference between this season and last in terms of both you, but what you’re up against?

Good to see you doing well mind, you’ve almost somehow became a footballing brother.

 

[valefan16]

What’s the difference between this season and last in terms of both you, but what you’re up against?

Good to see you doing well mind, you’ve almost somehow became a footballing brother.

We have a league one squad this season but had a league two one last year!

In all seriousness we've just spent big largely, we had Ryan Loft and Uche as our strike force last season which was useless so addressed that.

The owners business which they started as a family business was invested for something like £180 million but it seemed to come through just after the window shut so we've invested heavily and have massive depth to choose from.

We've also seen the fruits of the investment Flitcroft put into the youth team paying off with Dipepa going Southampton and a few of the younger groups going for big money to Prem/Champ clubs.

I imagine our budget is highest, if not top 2-3 in the league, George Byers hasn't turned down top end L1 and lower Championship clubs without a very good offer.

We've spent years being skint or "cash strapped" so its nice and I trust Carol with it though, shes investing all over the club and the community and despite our big spending the Dipepa sale will probably break that even.

Put it this way, the current Vale squad is far superior to the sides we had in L1 so hopefully we can get back and make a far better fist of it this time as it felt a total waste in how we let January's bypass us twice without addressing the obvious issues we had.

In terms of opponents there is clearly a big gulf from L1 to L2, players who did struggle like Tom Sang and Jessie Debrah have been outstanding for us this season despite fans worried pre season about them, the punishment you get in L1 you can more often get away with in L2.

That said L2 is still a decent technical league these days.

All that said as great is it is at the moment Vale fans will never take anything for granted so take it a game at a time.

Great to see you guys doing well too, we've rooted for you since the Play Off Final and the class you shown towards us and DC in particular, hopefully in 12 months we can meet again in L1.