Port vale

[Staffsgull1]

Apologies if this is reported elsewhere on here but local media in Stoke are reporting that Port Vale are in danger of going into administration. I'd be surprised if that happened immediately, but they have huge problems off the pitch, and some of the board antics are 'Robertsesque'. The taxman appears to be circling, they've defaulted on a loan from the council and apparently their shirt sponsor, and there's some very dodgy share purchases being discussed.

Whilst I didn't agree with some of the vale fan tactics earlier in the year, I have sympathy with what they're going through now after what we went through a few years back. The obvious other point is that if they do go into a administration it helps cement a play off place, as they're the club chasing Oxford.

[Aussie]

And I remember when that lot of pungent filth came down here a few years ago and their commentary bloke for their local radio station slagged Torquay right off, and said we don`t belong in The English Football Leagues! Hope it hurts like hell when you bite yourself in the arse badly! T0553RS!!!!!!

[gullintwoplaces]

Only been there once, many years ago. We lost 1-0 and experienced a lot of nastiness after the game. A horrible set of fans in a horrible ground in a horrible town (Burslem) that looks like it has been bombed randomly by the US Airforce.

[Glostergull]

Only been there once, many years ago. We lost 1-0 and experienced a lot of nastiness after the game. A horrible set of fans in a horrible ground in a horrible town (Burslem) that looks like it has been bombed randomly by the US Airforce.

I bet it was Achmed the dead terrorist

[usagullmichigan]

SILENCE

I keeeell You!

[AustrianAndyGull]

Don't mind going Vale Park at all. It is only an hour or so across the peaks for me but the last twice have been night games which is a bit of an arse. It's like having to go from Exeter to Plymouth but through Dartmoor in the dark. Not great. It is probably the closest i have ever parked to an away turnstile in my entire life! Never had any problems there personally. Would like to see them get a points deduction and go into administration because at the end of the day i'm a Torquay fan and it could ultimately benefit us. Nothing against Vale.

[Staffsgull1]

Well today they haven't been able to pay the wages, HMRC have apparently issued up a winding up order for a reported 750k unpaid tax bill and administration is now almost certain. Apparently they can't put themselves into administration though as another Director has resigned leaving them short of the legal number of Directors to make decisions.

I still don't like to see any club faced with liquidation, but Vale are now almost certainly out of the Play off frame.

[EmetEdadsBeard]

Only been there once, many years ago. We lost 1-0 and experienced a lot of nastiness after the game. A horrible set of fans in a horrible ground in a horrible town (Burslem) that looks like it has been bombed randomly by the US Airforce.

Strange that as I've been there on three seperate occasions and been met with nothing but friendly faces. Easy to park as well and they let us in for a fiver this season (mind you that turned out to be overpricing considering the quality of the game! )

[Steve23]

Only been there once, many years ago. We lost 1-0 and experienced a lot of nastiness after the game. A horrible set of fans in a horrible ground in a horrible town (Burslem) that looks like it has been bombed randomly by the US Airforce.

Burslem is a dive yes. The stadium is unfinished but as for horrible I'm not sure... But as for a horrible set of fans? I resent that, like every football club you have the pillocks. I don't like to see any club go into admin let alone one of my own, but this comment and the other comment about a 'tosser' commentator hardly makes it fair that the majority of genuine nice fans at Vale deserve to be going what they're going through now.

[Plymouth Gull]

Steve, what's actually caused all this? Sort of got an idea but haven't really followed it deeply.

All I know is it's virtually ended your Playoff challenge..

[Staffsgull1]

Steve will probably articulate it better, but a Supporters consortium who took it over a few years let power go to their heads and haven't been willing to sell their stake on to anyone despite having no money to invest and with the club obviously already in debt. A couple of attempts to oust them failed, and when the Chairman eventually resigned last year the reigns were taken over by some of his allies, with board members elected using some allegedly dubious share issues which the local press seem clear in saying were never paid for.

A deal with an American company fell over with claims of the board exaggerating the terms of the sponsorship, and then the new board started crumbling when it became clear that loans had been taken out by someone at the club with a number of different parties, including a company in Gibralter, which the new Chairman claimed he new nothing about.

The whole thing has been a shambles, and whilst I know there are some idiots at Vale and the Starve them out' campaign aimed at the original board was misguided in my view, I've got some good Vale friends who've seen their team suffer and some of the board antics have been fairly outrageous.

[gullintwoplaces]

Burslem is a dive yes. The stadium is unfinished but as for horrible I'm not sure... But as for a horrible set of fans? I resent that, like every football club you have the pillocks. I don't like to see any club go into admin let alone one of my own, but this comment and the other comment about a 'tosser' commentator hardly makes it fair that the majority of genuine nice fans at Vale deserve to be going what they're going through now.

Sorry, I went OTT, I don't think the genuine fans deserve this situation. My comment was based on one visit there many years ago, where we lost and my mate was attacked by a nasty bunch of arseholes outside the ground in the car park. His crime? Wearing a Torquay scarf. When I got him in the car, we drove off and saw the animals in front of us. I was very tempted, I can tell you, to drive straight over them, but didn't.

You don't forget days like that. I have also been attacked at Plymouth, Colchester and had bricks thrown at me at Cardiff. Those teams aren't high up my list of "likes" either! However, my uncle, George Stabb, played for Torquay, Port Vale and others in the 1930s, so I should not be so horrible! Sorry, Uncle George, god rest his soul.

[AustrianAndyGull]

I wear my colours and scarf outside the ground only before the game and inside the ground only. At other times you are risking something unsavoury happening to you at any club and it's just not worth it. Sad but true. I've been in a few scrapes with my old chums at Hull in the 90's, chums that are no longer as i quickly worked out that getting hammered and going out looking for other firms before a game was the only real interest those morons had in football, i was young then although it's no excuse but i was never involved in any direct violence. I was knocked about a few times though, had to run fast every week AND develop a learnt behaviour for avoiding thrown bottles and other missiles. Obviously gangs that go looking for football violence are numbskulls but one consolation is that the 'respected' ones at the very least seek out large groups of likeminded opposition fans and don't carry out random attacks on individuals or small groups, even if they are wearing colours.They organise it and get on with it. Sadly it's the random moronic attacks like yours at Vale Park that are the most frightening. We've all been in train stations witnessing running battles between fans but you know you're ok because they aren't looking for you or your friends.

[ferrarilover]

I wear my colours and scarf outside the ground only before the game and inside the ground only. At other times you are risking something unsavoury happening to you at any club and it's just not worth it. Sad but true. I've been in a few scrapes with my old chums at Hull in the 90's, chums that are no longer as i quickly worked out that getting hammered and going out looking for other firms before a game was the only real interest those morons had in football, i was young then although it's no excuse but i was never involved in any direct violence. I was knocked about a few times though, had to run fast every week AND develop a learnt behaviour for avoiding thrown bottles and other missiles. Obviously gangs that go looking for football violence are numbskulls but one consolation is that the 'respected' ones at the very least seek out large groups of likeminded opposition fans and don't carry out random attacks on individuals or small groups, even if they are wearing colours.They organise it and get on with it. Sadly it's the random moronic attacks like yours at Vale Park that are the most frightening. We've all been in train stations witnessing running battles between fans but you know you're ok because they aren't looking for you or your friends.

Quite the opposite. I was more than happy to wander about outside Oxford when we had that trouble a couple of years ago, with my two Torquay shirts and my blue hat on. Oddly, none of the kids with the big mouths seemed to have the bottle to back it up, now where have we seen that before?

Matt.

[Glostergull]

SILENCE

I keeeell You!