Its All Going Drastically Wrong

Yet another home defeat, this time at the hands of the mighty Lincoln City. Where has it all gone so badly wrong? The finger has to point at the Board of Directors…

I’m hugely relieved that I had other plans for Friday night, and thus was fortunate enough to miss the lamentable 1-0 defeat at Vale Park to Lincoln City. From all accounts it was another dismal display from us, with all the usual components present and correct – a lack of anything approaching a cutting edge, and a soft goal conceded from a corner.

You can’t really blame the players. They try hard, but so many of them are simply not good enough even for this level of football. I wouldn’t even blame Manager Dean Glover, sure he doesn’t know what he’s doing – his selections, his formations and his tactics are all bewildering, and at times smack of desperation. However, the Board knew exactly what they were getting when they appointed him, Glover was by no means an unknown quantity, and yet they were still happy to give him the Managers job.

No, its the Directors. They are utterly clueless. Devoid of any understanding of what this Club needs.

Incompetent, unprofessional, inadequate, addled, myopic, shambolic. You could go on and on finding words to describe just how horrifically dire our Board of Directors have become. Their decision making is truly appalling, as is their treatment of the Fans.

Of course, its only fair at this point to raise the fact that this Board did indeed save Port Vale Football Club from extinction a few short years ago, and we have to be eternally grateful to them for keeping Port Vale alive. But clearly they do not have what it takes to run Port Vale Football Club, or any other Club for that matter. Even they must know this.

The question they should be asking themselves is this: Does the fact that they saved this club give them the right to cling on to power and continue as the Directorship?

The answer is no. Particularly when you consider the volatile feelings towards them from a large majority of Fans.

To draw some perspective on the situation consider this analogy: You are walking along a river or canal and you see a child drowning. You immediately jump in and save that childs life. Quite rightly you are a hero, and deserve all the tributes that come your way. But would you then have the belligerence to consider yourself the rightful guardian of this child? That you – and you only – can have the best interests of this child at heart? Hopefully the answer is no, because that would be a ridiculous notion.

But that is exactly the attitude our Board are displaying. They have to see that they need to relinquish the reins and take a big step back. Let someone with the right skills and knowledge take control, because right now they are taking us full steam ahead towards non-league football.

The sad thing for our Board is that they could have spent the rest of their lifes as true Port Vale heroes. The people who saved us at the eleventh hour. Instead they look more likely to be viewed as the selfish half-wits who turned Port Vale into a Blue Square outfit.