Port Vale Forum Pre Match Interview / Report vrs Swindon

[Robbie Earles Perm]

Hi,

I'm the pre-match reporter for the Port Vale Fans Forum One Vale Fan.

Part of my role is to contact fans of our forthcoming opponents to ask them a few questions and gain their views on the upcoming fixture between our sides in order to produce a report which we release on the site a couple of days prior to the game. Some of you kindly contributed to our reverse fixture article and I wondered if some posters would like to take part by answering some different questions.
   

I wondered if up to three of you have a few minutes and would kindly offer your feelings on the game by answering the following few questions;
1. Tell us a bit about yourself & history as a fan?
2. How are your team doing (current form and in relation to the expectation of fans at the start of the season)?
3. Where you think you will finish in terms of league position?
4. Who should we watch out for (one or more danger player/s)?
5. What are your thoughts on your manager?
6. What are your thoughts on your board & off field club activities?
7. Any views on the current Port Vale team & specific players?
8. Did you attend the reverse fixture earlier this season? If so what were your thoughts on the game?
9. Any views & memories of players / managers that have been involved with both teams?
10. A score prediction (and potential scorers for both sides)?

Please also feel free to include any other information you feel worthy and I will knock it into a report as per the example below regarding contribution from Wigan fans from a game with them;
http://www.onevalefan.co.uk/site/2015/09/wigan-fans-the-jurys-out-on-manager-gary-caldwell/

To enable me to produce this in good time I need a reply by Wednesday and the report should appear on the website a day or two before our fixture.

Please also let me know if you would like me to include your name on the article and if you are prepared to share one a photo of yourself we can utilise with the article.

Many thanks for your potential support in this matter.

Best Regards,



REP 

[Robbie Earles Perm]

Anyone like to take part?

[4D]

BO is getting married, so probably a bit busy.

[Sippo]

You should only expect a 25% response of a football question/survey...

[FormerlyPlymRed]

Ill do it on my way back from Burton 

[Robbie Earles Perm]

Cracking thanks as always Plymred! 

Anyone else also want to take part?

[Reg Smeeton]

Anyone like to take part?

I'll do it....no pic though.

[JoeMezz]

I'll do it....no pic though.

Snap

[Talk Talk]

I'll do it....no pic though.

I will provide the pic.

[Reg Smeeton]

I will provide the pic.

Uncanny...

[Robbie Earles Perm]

Snap

Happy with that.

[Robbie Earles Perm]

I will provide the pic.

And that....

[Reg Smeeton]

1. Tell us a bit about yourself & history as a fan?

Long of tooth, I can remember losing 1-6 to Vale in 1960 in the match fixed by Jimmy Gauld

2. How are your team doing (current form and in relation to the expectation of fans at the start of the season)?

I'd argue that most right thinking Town fans expected this season to be a bit of a struggle given the loss of players in the summer and the replacement with loans and inexperienced kids.

3. Where you think you will finish in terms of league position?

Relegation is a possibility, but not an inevitablity. January, with the window and fixtures, will give us a good idea.

4. Who should we watch out for (one or more danger player/s)?

Ben Gladwin, if he's still with us. Capable of the  sublime and the ridiculous, catch him on a good day and he can destroy you, catch him on a bad day and it's the ground infrastructure in danger.

5. What are your thoughts on your manager?

Ah dear old Lingy, got to love him, he may turn out crap as a boss, let's face it most do, but his part in Town's 4-3 Wembley win v Leicester means his place in the Pantheon of Town heroes is secure. More Theseus than Zeus, a minor deity

6. What are your thoughts on your board & off field club activities?

We don't have a Board in the traditional sense, rather an owner. Mr Power is an enigma, on the one hand there is a  school of thought, that he's a bit Dell Boy, so shouldn't be trusted, on the other he has sorted the installation of new floodlight bulbs.

7. Any views on the current Port Vale team & specific players?

Uche Ikpeazu, started the season well, but seemingly has faded a bit

8. Did you attend the reverse fixture earlier this season? If so what were your thoughts on the game?

Handing Vale a point, with a comical penalty in added on time, it's the sort of thing we're all too capable of doing this season.

9. Any views & memories of players / managers that have been involved with both teams?

Barn Door Billy (Paynter). Remember him missing a couple when Town were 3 down at Vale Park, before we came back to get a point at 3-3. I liked Billy, his partnerships with Simon Cox and then Charlie Austin were very decent for Division 3.

Bobby Smith...manager who produced one of our finer sides in the late 70's into 80. Did he really sign David Peach for £150K, because he fancied his missus?

Ken Beamish...achieved our lowest ever league position in his one season in charge....cheers.

10. A score prediction (and potential scorers for both sides)?

2-2

[Robbie Earles Perm]

Cracking reply thankyou, last chance for anyone else also to contribute....

[Ells]

1. Tell us a bit about yourself & history as a fan?

Nothing exciting really - 24, only been a town fan for about 14 years but it has aged me terribly. I've had a season ticket pretty much ever since I told my Dad that I actually hated going shopping on a Saturday.

2. How are your team doing (current form and in relation to the expectation of fans at the start of the season)?

Our current in-out model doesn't really allow for any reliable predictions. Our best players were inevitably going to be sold in summer, but they were in essence replacements themselves, which rendered the "will they be adequately replaced?" question a bit of a mystery until kick off. Off the back of last season I don't think anyone knew really what to expect, but I don't think anyone (apart from Reg) expected us to be quite as bad and uninspired as we have been at times. An incredibly long injury list just seemed to keep getting longer, and we've seen far too many first team regulars fresh out of non-league and nappy nights. We've experienced a brief resurgence under Lingy (including the 4-0 at Chesterfield), which has given a bit of optimism, but who knows where we'll go from here now he's gone.

3. Where you think you will finish in terms of league position?

I think we'll survive the drop. I would say mid-table, as our performances have shown potential, but with the current upheaval I'm not sure.

4. Who should we watch out for (one or more danger player/s)?

Ajose is the obvious answer, having scored 9 goals in a weak team. He's also formed quite an impressive partnership with Jon Obika when we've been playing 2 up top, which we have been lately under Ling, but well..

5. What are your thoughts on your manager?

I'll let you know as soon as I find out who he is.

6. What are your thoughts on your board & off field club activities?

We've spent most of our history seemingly being run by rich men, poor men, or crooks, and I think the majority of our fans are still trying to figure out just what combination current owner Lee Power (the great dictator, as some people tediously refer to him as) is made up of. Personally, following the Di Canio era of ridiculous spending, I find it quite refreshing that we're aiming for sustainability, even if he's not so great with the media and is a bit megalomanic. It's like we all went on a massive weekend holiday with coke and champagne and strippers, and it was great, but it's quite nice to just put your slippers on and watch Only Connect for a bit, you know?  

7. Any views on the current Port Vale team & specific players?

To be honest, no. Although I did have a dream Louis Dodds scored against us the other day..

8. Did you attend the reverse fixture earlier this season? If so what were your thoughts on the game?

I did. Being relatively early on in the season I'm not sure how much of a reflection it was on either side now, but I think we were the better side and was furious at the time!

9. Any views & memories of players / managers that have been involved with both teams?

Paynter will of course be unforgettable, not least for his abiliy to go from being Super Billy to Barn Door Billy in such a short space of time. His partnership with Austin, including 3-0 home and away victories vs Leeds where he scored 4 were both highlights for me in a fantastic season.

And Dany N'Guessan, I suppose.. not a bad little player but I think if there was a round on Swindon or Port Vale on "Pointless" you'd be doing well to name him. Sorry Dany.

10. A score prediction (and potential scorers for both sides)?

2-1 - Dodds, Leitch-Smith, Ajose

P.S. My picture would be very similar to Reg's but with tits.
P.P.S Go to bed, it's nearly 2 in the morning!
P.P.P.S. I realise my initial P.S. is probably the reason you're still awake. Make it a kitten or something, I don't mind.