Port Vale v Southend

[JJ1532]

But for me, he undermines his point by saying that he's never met or heard the bloke. And is it a good idea, after getting into arguments with the Staffordshire Police and the Sentinel, to start a fight with Radio Stoke? He seems intent of getting into unnecessary arguments.

 

[MJA]

But for me, he undermines his point by saying that he's never met or heard the bloke. And is it a good idea, after getting into arguments with the Staffordshire Police and the Sentinel, to start a fight with Radio Stoke? He seems intent of getting into unnecessary arguments.

Whether he has met or heard him or not is pretty irrelevant really as what he's said is correct. Everyone who can listens to the shoddy station on a Saturday afternoon will know exactly what a bitter individual Williams is.

My question to you would be, is it actually unnecessary arguments? I am sure he would stand up for any of his other businesses if other corporations were causing problems for it so why not with Vale? Staffs Police have always made a nice little earner out of policing Vale home matches without ever really doing anything except wash their hands of any problems that may occur. The Sentinel is what it is, a local rag which fails to show any impartiality. It seems to be a place for local journo's to spout their own beliefs, just as us 'normal' supporters would do on the terraces, in pubs or indeed on football forums, instead of actually providing news as it is. Seems to me that the Sentinel are still playing along to this 'hero' tag they gave themselves for the 'part they played in getting rid of V2001' even though they had spent months before defending them to the hilt.

 

[leedsvaliant]

Thought we were all over the place first half to be honest and very disjointed (not helped by a lot of stop start, niggly fouls). Fortunately Southend were very poor on the day and bar about 10 minutes before we scored, where they applied a bit of pressure, they didn't look like scoring. Confidence looked to be shot, which is worrying in only the second league game.

Once we scored, we looked the better team, without ever looking like scoring a hat full. Tavares looks a good player and I think Forrester looks like a good footballer with a good touch. Knops did ok but Mac-intosh looked poor on the other side. De Freitas looks like he has real ability. It was a really comfortable victory in the end.

I can't believe Southend still rely on Barrett at the back, he's got the turning circle of a cruise liner. McGlashan looks like he should be really good but then actually delivers nothing, Cox offers nothing and Mooney looks past his best. I did laugh when the Southend fans were singing 'Phil Brown for England' - he's such an overrated manager who clearly has a high opinion of himself and it seems to me he has shown more interest in his media work and also touting himself as an assistant to Allardyce. He should be sacked for what appears to be neglecting Southend's pre-season build up alone.

 

[mozzavale]

Great win and a very welcome 3 points to calm the nerves. Hopefully we can crack on from here.

As for Smurf and Radio Stoke, the bloke just goes from one mistake to another. Why publicise it? He's a muppet. Ray Williams is negative and I'm often left annoyed after listening to him on RS. But where does Smurf think we are, North Korea? It's called a free press, they often report things that may or may not reflect well on the club. They were here before Norman (in the Sentinel's case, before Port Vale even existed) and will be way beyond his departure.

Yet again, regardless of what side of the fence you sit on regarding Smurf, within hours of something positive happening at the club, he pipes up on twitter (which he previously said he'd never use again) and everyone's attention is focused on something else. He clearly refuses to learn from his mistakes, which is why I have very little faith in him.

 

[valefan16]

To be fair from reading Twitter I believe Smurf was annoyed at Ray referring to us as a load of foreigners first half (rather than Port Vale) and then randomly changed it when leading to "theres something being built here"

Ray is entitled to his opinion though as is Smurf.

Southend will go down without big change on another point, Brown was clearly wanting the Bolton job... now England assistant and seems to have lost it with Southend. They were just hoofballing it aimlessly at times and bar a short spell first half did very little. Mooney has always been class against us and Cox has been great at this level in the past but I didn't notice either Saturday they didn't get a look in.

Barrett was a thug who got mugged by Tavares, was a decent League Two defender but seems out his depth at this level on the two times I have seen Southend past 7 months.

 

[MJA]

Ray is entitled to his opinion though as is Smurf.

This is the thing here. Williams has expressed his own opinion via a public domain and no-one has said anything, Smurf has done the same and he is lambasted for it

 

[mozzavale]

This is the thing here. Williams has expressed his own opinion via a public domain and no-one has said anything, Smurf has done the same and he is lambasted for it

Ray is, literally, being paid to offer his opinion. It's his whole purpose for being there.

Smurf on the other hand, is representing our club. He should always, always act professionally, and yet he never does. His every word is scrutinised as it could in some way effect us. This wasn't a public forum where he was asked his opinion and spoke off the cuff, he wasn't responding to someone's query, he instigated the whole thing when he had time to consider his actions. If he had a complaint, take it to the BBC. It's up to them to deal with it then behind closed doors. Instead, he decided to throw his weight around and act like God demanding that the BBC "sort it out". Who does he think he is??

All discussions should have been about our first win, 2 consecutive league clean sheets, Forrester's appearance, Smith, Foley, Grant, anything but off field events, but yet again everyone is talking about Smurf because he can't keep his trap shut. It's a common occurrence, and the fact he simply doesn't learn, speaks volumes.

 

[valefan16]

To be fair if the most we have to worry about is Smurf being negative about a pundit then things cant be too bad!

 

[MJA]

Ray is, literally, being paid to offer his opinion. It's his whole purpose for being there.

Smurf on the other hand, is representing our club. He should always, always act professionally, and yet he never does. His every word is scrutinised as it could in some way effect us. This wasn't a public forum where he was asked his opinion and spoke off the cuff, he wasn't responding to someone's query, he instigated the whole thing when he had time to consider his actions. If he had a complaint, take it to the BBC. It's up to them to deal with it then behind closed doors. Instead, he decided to throw his weight around and act like God demanding that the BBC "sort it out". Who does he think he is??

All discussions should have been about our first win, 2 consecutive league clean sheets, Forrester's appearance, Smith, Foley, Grant, anything but off field events, but yet again everyone is talking about Smurf because he can't keep his trap shut. It's a common occurrence, and the fact he simply doesn't learn, speaks volumes.

Williams is not being paid to make comments like the one he did, have I read somewhere that the station seemed to panic in the aftermath of his 'foreigners' comment? It also speaks volumes of Radio Stoke that they continue to employ someone who consistently spouts bile about anything the club does and finds it impossible to say anything positive purely because of his personal feelings towards things that have happened in the past.

I agree that maybe Smurf should look at other avenues if he has a genuine grievance but maybe he has more important things to worry about with regards to his businesses than spending an age lodging a complaint with a shoddy local radio station who will probably do nothing about it anyway. The biggest annoyance for me with issues like this is purely that is gives Smurf's doubters or those that will never see any good in the bloke a perfect excuse to have another moan

 

[valefan16]

Williams is not being paid to make comments like the one he did, have I read somewhere that the station seemed to panic in the aftermath of his 'foreigners' comment? It also speaks volumes of Radio Stoke that they continue to employ someone who consistently spouts bile about anything the club does and finds it impossible to say anything positive purely because of his personal feelings towards things that have happened in the past.

I agree that maybe Smurf should look at other avenues if he has a genuine grievance but maybe he has more important things to worry about with regards to his businesses than spending an age lodging a complaint with a shoddy local radio station who will probably do nothing about it anyway. The biggest annoyance for me with issues like this is purely that is gives Smurf's doubters or those that will never see any good in the bloke a perfect excuse to have another moan

It was the comment which offended Smurf and totally unnecessary. Smurf is abrasive we all know that and will vent his opinion if angry but don't see much wrong with the tweet about Williams.

 

[mozzavale]

The biggest annoyance for me with issues like this is purely that is gives Smurf's doubters or those that will never see any good in the bloke a perfect excuse to have another moan

I'd call myself a doubter, admittedly, but would not put myself into the category of never seeing any good in the bloke. I couldn't give a flying f**k who the person is, if their actions benefit the club I'll praise, if they don't I'll criticise. I think that's fair enough, we support Vale not Smurf. Whether we agree about the content of Smurfs tweet or not, we both share the annoyance that this issue has arisen and people are now either "moaning", backing Smurf up, basically becoming ever more divided. That's my point, it seems as though everything Smurf does is so ill thought through, that he fails to predict the outcome every single time. If it was once, maybe twice, fine. Learn from your mistakes, but he never does. He's too divisive.

Even if you're right about him not having the time to evoke a prolonged complaint against Ray, just catch one of the producers, Blakeman, anyone from RS the next time he sees them and have a quiet word. Act professionally basically, with a bit of class. But no, he has to go on twitter again to satisfy his ego, it's gone public and now people are arguing again.