That is the question ! In the past I have accused Port Vale of not being an interesting place - to the point that it doesn't even exist ! ( it's in the district of Burslem which is one of the 6 boroughs of Stoke ). It appears that my excursions to this 'never ' land will plague me - almost to the point of being interesting. You will recall that a previous trip ended in the local yobs kicking the coach door and disabling the ignition - causing the fans to walk the last half mile or so - with senior and disabled supporters missing the first few minutes of the game. It would seem that the Kings Ferry Coaches were not going to suffer the same fate this time. As we neared the ground, the coach did a detour - to go around the 'back' of the stadium, and past the ground before 'doubling back.' As we approached the ground we expected to be parked (as usual), in the large car park next to the 'away' end. But there was a group of stewards in Hi Viz vests preventing our passage. They stood, jabbing a finger to 'shoo' us away. None of their number had the power of grunt - let alone speech. If I didn't know better, I would say that a group of monkeys could be trained to do the same -- perhaps that is what Hartlepool should have done instead of hanging the poor animal ! So the drivers (TWO), continued down the road and both managed to fail to see the coach parking sign at the next turning - now driving towards 'bandit territory'. This probably registered with the man at the wheel - because we made a sudden turn into a one-way road that clearly quickly narrowed. The driver must have been in a bit of a panic- because he suddenly stopped and then started to reverse back into the main road - and causing some alarm ( and that was just amongst us passengers )! The driver wasn't helped by the initial reluctance by the local motorists to 'pull over' to give us more room to complete the manoeuvre. We then went back up the road - and AGAIN the TWO drivers managed to miss the turning for the coach park, and headed towards the 'away end car park.' - but the monkeys - sorry, I meant the stewards just jabbed their fingers at us. We then went further along the road and reached a crossroads - where the driver decided to do a U turn. Of course this didn't cause problems for all other traffic ( I also tell lies ). At this point I complained to Peter Lloyd. I hadn't realised that we had arrived at Alton Towers (15 miles away), and that the ride was making me sick. I think the driver began to lose his sense of humour. He went back down the hill at a dangerous 'white-knuckle' speed - probably hoping that the delightful and totally unhelpful stewards would not see us go past them (AGAIN) and laugh - no such luck for the chap. eventually we turned into the coach park - which was behind the 'home end' - and we trudged up the hill to the ground - why we wasn't allowed to park behind the away end - or at very least - allowed to alight from the coach, is beyond me. Oh - You want to know something about the game ? Well - we started quite brightly. We were gifted a free kick on 16 minutes, after the keeper picked up a back pass. Dack smashed the ball in the net for 1-0. This prompted a quite unique song as far as goal celebrations are concerned. Anyone who wants the exact words can pm me - but they related to Bradley's recent (alleged) activity of sexual persuasion ! The fans were expressing their approval that Mr.Dack should be permitted to conduct any 'solo performance' in any place of his liking. I am sure you can WorK it out for yourself ! Fairly soon afterwards we got 3 yellow cards in quick succession. This appeared to unsettle our defenders - who, from then onwards, appeared to slightly hesitate in their tackles. This basically allowed Vale to seize the initiative. They probably should have scored more and won the game. I nearly forget - the answer is 6 including all accidental detours.
Sounds like a shambles journey yet again. Something needs to be done about these hi-vis monkeys, seriously! It's like a traffic light that always stays red, do you obey it or just drive straight on through.
In our case - you drive straight through the red light - as did our coach driver yesterday ! ( It wasn't Roger - he's retired ). Oh - let's not forget the rolling backwards on 'hill starts' As for the monkeys - after the game - they allowed the coach to park on the MAIN road adjacent to the away end to pick up the fans. The car park still had a huge amount of room for the coach to be parked INSIDE it - and NOT cause the problems in the road because it was now blocking the road as well as making it visually dangerous for the many pedestrians who needed to cross the road. I advised Peter Lloyd that, for the sake of common sense, on future occasions, Kings Ferry need to contact Port Vale to allow the coach to park inside the grounds - if only to let off and pick up the passengers. I was reminded by PL that there is no common sense in football. I then apologised for my silly suggestion - but he still saved the last cup of hot chocolate for me !
Having experienced the problems at Port Vale previously, although no fault of the club on that occasion, I really think Vale should be looking at their procedures by the sounds of it this time. I think it is about time this madness stopped. How many occasions can we think of that stewards themselves put supporters at risk, as well has on one occasion even their own employee's. Wolves is one example i would give, the hi-viz that insists on walking the coach at Swindon in an attempt to get himself run over, the list just goes on. Mis-judgement etc, happens i accept, but stupidity of the yellow jacket brigade instructions is another matter! And sometimes the police are no better, remember Orient?...while coppers stand around for a chin wag, while a bloody great coach is trying to negotiate a tight turning with oncoming traffic. Supporters over the decades have received a lot of stick for behaviour, now it seems the nutters in authority are running an asylum. The usual shut up, sit down and don't complain syndrome, how dare common sense ever rule the day. After all when did you ever see someone in a high viz break sweat, the only thing that ever moves on them is their brainless gob and pilthering little fingers...like robbing female supporters the content of their hand-bags...remember that! - it's about respect and I really struggle to have any respect for the illuminant brainless idiots. Now i will put my soap box away
It was my first time to Vale Park actually, and it would have to be a very worthwhile game for me to want to go back! Burslem is an interesting place to say the least. I got to the ground about half an hour before the gates opened and was stared at by every home fan as if i was an alien, was it because i only had ten fingers? Or just because i had a Gills shirt on. A good hard fought point at a tough place to play, Vale to their credit are a lot better this season then i thought they would be. I am however a bit concerned about our lack of creating and taking chances, i even thought this after the Sheffield United game wehereby 3 out of the 4 goals came from horrific defending. Apart from Dack, no one in the starting 11 on saturday looked like they could create anything, now don't get me wrong people had very solid games, i though Josh Wright was brilliant for example, however we lacked a cutting edge. I was dissapointed that the subs were made so late, McGlashan could have thrived earlier on in the game, giving him 5 minutes is pointless. Overall as i say a good point, but i absolutely feel that we need further squad reinforcements and soon, it's been well documented that we have to travle a lot this season, the first few weeks are a testament to that. Our young squad will start to falter and i thought we looked tired in the last 20 minutes on saturday. 2 more players int he squad will really help us to push on, for me a striker and a winger are what we should be looking for.
A few unfortunate cards for our defenders changed the match - we had to be wary of not picking up a red card or two - in so doing, we had to allow Vale more time on the ball before we could commit to a tackle - not that Vale didn't look good at times on the ball. Regarding McGlashan - I too thought he should have come on sooner - but I expect that JE had become defensively minded long before McG came on. I am sure that if the threat of a red card wasn't so great, McG would have come on with 15/20 minutes to go - and we could have gone on to win the game. Regarding wingers - we have enough pace in the team - Jackson, Garmstron, Dickenson for example are all quick - and can be used in attack as well as defence. Unfortunately, on Saturday, Dickenson was dropped to left back - and we became more defence-minded - leaving the toitally useless Williamson up front. He hardly moved - and this didn't help on the few occasions we got the ball in the Vale half --- I definitely would expect to see Donnolly replace him at Bradford. I do agree that we need to try to find another half decent striker.
I agree in regards to Williamson, i thought he looked good against Brighton and was really looking forward to seeing more of him - but since then he has been pretty non existent. Hopefully it's just a slow start from him, however a look on the Vale forum doesn't fill me with confidence.
