So, after grabbing the attention last week with our “back where we belong” motif, we thought we’d try and get back to what we’re good at. One of those things is finding willing opposition fans to waffle on about football, what they think of us, pies and anything else that grabs our fancy.
This week, Robbie Earle’s Perm (no relation) walked onto our forum to ask us questions, so it only seemed fair to return the favour. REP started supporting Vale in early 1983 and his favourite player is somewhat unsurprisingly Robbie Earle.
He fell asleep during the first ever game he attended and still has his Vale hero’s shorts from the play-off win in 1989 when the Valiants made it back to the promised land of what is now the Championship. He is the roving reporter at One Vale Fan and has held the prestigous role for a little over 2 years regularly talking to fans of Vale’s opponents for OVF’s Opposing Views feature
1. How do, it’s been a while since Port Vale have been round these parts, how’ve you been fairing? Is Matty Carragher still playing for you?
Great to see you all again and thanks for asking! After 10+ years of decline on decline we were rescued from admin by our current owner, affectionately known as Smurf (who sadly now potentially wants out) and gained promotion thanks to his money and Micky Adams unique ability to build a team against all odds. The last couple of years have seen consolidation in league 1 which sets us up nicely for our glorious run to promotion via the play off final in May when Carl Dickinson will be the first Vale captain to lift a trophy since…Matty Carragher!
2. Is it nice to have us back in the lower divisions? What do Vale fans really think about the 2016 version of Wigan Athletic?
I can only speak for myself but it’s always exciting to see ‘bigger clubs’ in the league as there is the added incentive to topple a ‘modern day giant’ as we did in the return fixture (sorry for bringing that up!). League 1 has been fortunate over relatively recent times to enjoy Man City, Leeds, Wigan, Wolves, Sheffield United and some tin pot team from the south end of our city and generally there is always a little more of a buzz surrounding these games. You guys seem to be doing things the right way by buying up the best talent from the lower leagues and your manager seems savvy in going so.
Jeff Stelling caused a bit of a stir amongst Latics fans the other week with his quip about our downfall, can you help us with a bit of a survey over the next two questions?
3. Would you rather be at Gresty Road or Old Trafford? Why?
Anywhere we can win so either ground I guess at the moment!! Really don’t mind in all honesty though I do love relatively local games where we take a large contingent of Valiants.
4. I have one wish left on this Genie I found at the panto I took the kids to. He’s only offering an FA Cup win or a couple of years in the Premier League, which are you going to take, and why?
Has to be a trophy without question, I can’t really comprehend those fans who would take a champions league place over an FA Cup Final win. I watched a BBC documentary on the FA Cup presented by Gary Lineker on a recent flight where the question was asked would Wigan fans give up the win in favour of staying in the PL, it would be crazy in my mind to go for anything other than the trophy as that’s in your trophy cabinet forever, I’m not so sure you win a trophy for finishing 17th and surviving!
5. We’d better not forget the game, how’s it going to go tomorrow? Who are you worried about in our team, who should we be worried about?
Disappointed to be missing it due to overseas work commitments. Had you asked me for a prediction a few weeks ago I’d have said we would be in for a spanking given our awful away form and negative tactics away from Vale Park but recent signs are encouraging having secured wins at Blackpool and Donny (hardly Wigan I know but signs are promising and being a football fan is all about hope after all). Our danger man has to be the unlikely figure of AJLS (10 in his last 14 games surpassing his previous career best of 9 in 44 for Crewe a few years ago). In terms of quality look out for Michael O’Connor in the middle of the park and our very new loan signing winger Matty Kennedy.
For you I guess Sammy Morsy, formerly of ST6, can be a little pocket dynamo and has the potential to play higher as I’m sure you will find, I’ve also always really liked Max Power, Will Grigg and our former loan signing Craig Davies but like many Vale fans our favourite current Wigan player has to be Leon Barnett, we are all hoping he helps us out again tomorrow! 😉
6. And the important stuff, what’s your favourite half time pie? How do you go about eating it and is a pie with a creamy filling really a pie, or is it just a wet quiche?
I’m not much of a pie eater to be honest, I’d much rather a Bovril and Staffordshire oatcake (you must experience one if you’ve not had the pleasure) filled with cheese and beans or bacon.
Thanks a lot REP, we wouldn’t say no to a cup of Bovril ourselves, but we’ll stick to a good old chunky steak if you don’t mind. It’s good to see that we’re not the only set of (apparently) deluded idiots that favour the traditional achievement of actually winning something over featuring on Middle Eastern TV on a Saturday, maybe it’s a North-West thing, eh?
Good luck for the rest of the season, after this afternoon of course.
Until then, have fun…
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