Stickied League 2 Transfer Rumours/Confirmed Transfers 2023/24

[Conker]

Make some smart signings Peterborough.

Now with the cap at a comfortable level for a club like Mansfield, I would like to see the money JR has invested in large wages for players around or over 30 to go towards young players that we might have to pay fees for, a bit like Peterborough, with exceptions obviously.

We’ve paid undisclosed fees for George Maris (24) and Rollin Menayese (22) and obviously it’s still open to how they do, but hopefully it’s a sign of things to come, plus we sold CJ Hamilton so I imagine we are in the positive when it comes to transfer fees this summer.

 

[masi51]

He was absolutely bang average at RWB for a team chasing automatic promotion. He replaced Haydn White who got injured and is still a available btw, I imagine he’s more sturdy at RB because he didn’t really seem to have much pace or crossing to be in a more attacking role.

He’s not a bad signing at this level but there’s several better in other teams.

We had Haydn White as a youngster and would have welcomed him back over our other rwb Jak Hickman
Thrown out of Coventry, but given a chance to redeem himself.

 

[Son of Cod]

Who's the best RB/RWB in the divison now Perry NG is no longer down here? Luke Hendrie probably a top ten contender, but I'd imagine there are plenty better out there still.

 

[Conker]

Rate Gethin Jones as a right back, but he certainly isn’t pacy. Not slow, but not what I’d describe as quick.

It’s a bit like the Farman signing, He’s okay at this level but you know you can get better. The twitter reaction to him signing was a bit bizarre.

 

[SirNat]

Now with the cap at a comfortable level for a club like Mansfield, I would like to see the money JR has invested in large wages for players around or over 30 to go towards young players that we might have to pay fees for, a bit like Peterborough, with exceptions obviously.

We’ve paid undisclosed fees for George Maris (24) and Rollin Menayese (22) and obviously it’s still open to how they do, but hopefully it’s a sign of things to come, plus we sold CJ Hamilton so I imagine we are in the positive when it comes to transfer fees this summer.

Only thing you sense with Peterborough is every season they seem to lose a couple, for a profit of course, but it’s tough to push on further when that keeps happening.

They’ll lose Toney this summer and without his goals they’re further away from the play offs.

 

[Conker]

[QUOTE="masi51, post: 976143, member:117811”
We had Haydn White as a youngster and would have welcomed him back over our other rwb Jak Hickman
Thrown out of Coventry, but given a chance to redeem himself.
[/QUOTE]

Haydn White was sensational for Mansfield until he got snapped in half at Colchester, him along with Bobby Ojenik getting injured was probably the reason we didn’t go up.

Obviously Flitcroft played a part, he had a terrible January and replaced who we lost with inferior players (Ajose, Logan, Gethin Jones)

 

[masi51]

It’s a bit like the Farman signing, He’s okay at this level but you know you can get better. The twitter reaction to him signing was a bit bizarre.

Dont think Evatt plays a flat back four so will be interested to see how he accomadates Gethin Jones

 

[Conker]

Only thing you sense with Peterborough is every season they seem to lose a couple, for a profit of course, but it’s tough to push on further when that keeps happening.

They’ll lose Toney this summer and without his goals they’re further away from the play offs.

Yeah but they will spend half of what they get, sign another corker and make money again. It works really well for Peterborough

 

[darren gregory]

Now with the cap at a comfortable level for a club like Mansfield, I would like to see the money JR has invested in large wages for players around or over 30 to go towards young players that we might have to pay fees for, a bit like Peterborough, with exceptions obviously.

We’ve paid undisclosed fees for George Maris (24) and Rollin Menayese (22) and obviously it’s still open to how they do, but hopefully it’s a sign of things to come, plus we sold CJ Hamilton so I imagine we are in the positive when it comes to transfer fees this summer.

Missed the sale of Hamilton probably due to my numbness since March.
Only knew last week when we played Blackpool, cracking player.
How much was the fee ?

 

[Conker]

Missed the sale of Hamilton probably due to my numbness since March.
Only knew last week when we played Blackpool, cracking player.
How much was the fee ?

Reported around £300,000

He should do well at Blackpool, but he’s got plenty of flaws and I reckon that’s probably his upper limit. He was dreadful last season which is a shame because we were looking at 500k plus beforehand, he left the club the right way though so wish him all the best.

 

[Son of Cod]

Yeah but they will spend half of what they get, sign another corker and make money again. It works really well for Peterborough

They're also good to sell your players to, as they'll often pay £500k-1M for a L2 player and write in a sell on clause and they're good at getting sort £3M and upwards fees from bigger clubs. Barry Fry will try and buy you of the release clause for £10k or something 6 months before selling mind, but still they're one of the best clubs around to sell assets to.

 

[shoddycollins]

He was absolutely bang average at RWB for a team chasing automatic promotion. He replaced Haydn White who got injured and is still a available btw, I imagine he’s more sturdy at RB because he didn’t really seem to have much pace or crossing to be in a more attacking role.

He’s not a bad signing at this level but there’s several better in other teams.

And his crossing was about the best in our team last season.

 

[Devon_Lad]

It is often forgotten that we achieved all we did last season without arguably our best player the year before in Manny, hope he can get fit!

Only thing is who do you take out that midfield as all three have been excellent... and lets remember our fans were moaning about "burgess!" Turned out alright.

Manny is your best player? Christ. I need to go change my l2 prediction table. The reason we got rid of him was because he was dreadful

 

[darren gregory]

Manny is your best player? Christ. I need to go change my l2 prediction table. The reason we got rid of him was because he was dreadful

The caveat is that he has played about 10 games in 18 months. Prior to that he was a revelation .

 

[Valiant Tyler]

Manny is your best player? Christ. I need to go change my l2 prediction table. The reason we got rid of him was because he was dreadful

Although I'm not as big on him as some Vale fans, he's had the odd game where he looks a cut above League Two. His issue are injuries and fitness along with consistency. But on his day he's been close to unplayable for us in midfield. But when he's not match fit he can look none league.

 

[valefan16]

Maynard new offer was significantly down, there’s not much in his offers.

BTW, There was a link on Stagsnet to the Vale
Forum, I’ve spotted a few posts from you, I knew you had a hard on for Mansfield lol I’ve also found out Port Vale fans have this weird notion they are this amazingly run club, that’s massive, and therefore must see attraction for all top lower league players, bizarre.

The good news is whatever happens to Maynard, you’ve signed a good player today.

I have pretty much said what I have said on here,if he’s not value for money then we need to move on. It’s not worth us taking up the whole budget for with the salary cap, Theo has a better goal to minute ratio over the past season or so and probably cost half what Maynard cost so I think it’s a good move for us.

Don’t really have much on Mansfield to be honest. We haven’t really come across you much down the years. You spend big wages, far bigger than the club size but what your club does is nothing to do with us.

In terms of ownership we’ve had two awful regimes the last nearly killed our club, Carol spent three times the club value plus the money owned from the Hugill transfer to rescue it, what they have done since is transform the club, we’d had our lowest league finish two years on the trot after having a league one play off challenge to that in a season and a bit.

There won’t be many owners as good as them and what they are doing for the fans, club and community, not to mention their selfless acts for other clubs in the pandemic by sacrificing our great form and chance of a play off spot.

We love them, you guys are being heavily financed and dare say love your owners after years of struggle and non league football so you surely see why we are happy?

In terms of club size, we are fairly sizeable for this league and have a very good history, of course people mid 30s onwards grew up watching one the golden eras for the club, narrowly missing out on the Championship play offs, beating the lardies, WBA, Wolves etc with Rudges exciting football and legends of the club such as Guppy, Bogie, Ainsworth etc etc. So some want and crave that back but money has made the gap a lot bigger now although it can be reached being competitive without massive investment is highly unlikely.

That said we’ve had about three Or four good years in the last 15 and some of the stories on Norman would be soap opera material! Taking advise of our previous chairman oddly six months after he’d died, to being mysteriously run over to the most ridiculous over reaction to a cup defeat to a side a league below that’s ever been seen! Club nearly died and easily could of gone the way of Chesterfield (thank you Ben Whitfield!) so after last season there is finally some positivity back, some great memories but don’t think any Vale fan after what we’ve been through believes we have a Devine right to anything... but we finally have a chance to try and earn something... which we’ve not had for years.

 

[Valiant Tyler]

We are a big club for League Two. We have one of the best stadiums, even more so since work has been done on it since the owners took over last year, a history that includes a long period in what is now the Championship and just as importantly now have a squad of players to be relatively proud of. The owners genuinely have been nothing short of amazing and are the best thing to happen to the club in a very long time even if they haven't got millions to throw away. But all of that guarantees nothing and is why we are still playing our football on League Two. And there are some other genuinely big clubs in League Two, the likes of Bolton, Blackpool and Bradford.

 

[valefan16]

Although I'm not as big on him as some Vale fans, he's had the odd game where he looks a cut above League Two. His issue are injuries and fitness along with consistency. But on his day he's been close to unplayable for us in midfield. But when he's not match fit he can look none league.

In an awful team Manny was outstanding... there was that crazy stat that we didn’t win without him for months and think Boxing Day was our first loss when he played.

We had Tonge, Kay and Pugh as our central midfield options the year before so he was a huge upgrade although he would struggle to get in with the form of Conlon, Burgess and Joyce who had been probably our strong point last season.

Laurie Wilson came from a promoted Bolton side to us and we all thought he was going to be the dogs and was fucking woeful and gone by Xmas so judging any signing Vale make on their past is a dangerous game... still recall the Darlo fans on here laughing at us for signing Akpo Sodje and then Anthony Griffith...

 

[Valiant Tyler]

In an awful team Manny was outstanding... there was that crazy stat that we didn’t win without him for months and think Boxing Day was our first loss when he played.

We had Tonge, Kay and Pugh as our central midfield options the year before so he was a huge upgrade although he would struggle to get in with the form of Conlon, Burgess and Joyce who had been probably our strong point last season.

Laurie Wilson came from a promoted Bolton side to us and we all thought he was going to be the dogs and was fucking woeful and gone by Xmas so judging any signing Vale make on their past is a dangerous game... still recall the Darlo fans on here laughing at us for signing Akpo Sodje and then Anthony Griffith...

The thought of Tonge, Kay and Pugh makes me shudder. I've seen roadkill move quicker than those three! We've come a long way in a short space of time. If he gets us promoted Askey should have a stand named after him for the job he will have done!

 

[valefan16]

We are a big club for League Two. We have one of the best stadiums, even more so since work has been done on it since the owners took over last year, a history that includes a long period in what is now the Championship and just as importantly now have a squad of players to be relatively proud of. The owners genuinely have been nothing short of amazing and are the best thing to happen to the club in a very long time even if they haven't got millions to throw away. But all of that guarantees nothing and is why we are still playing our football on League Two. And there are some other genuinely big clubs in League Two, the likes of Bolton, Blackpool and Bradford.

League Two has changed I would say from our spell 2008-13 to this, then you had some real big clubs and it was a tough old league with Brentford, Bradford, Gills, Bournemouth, Luton, Rotherham, Plymouth, Swindon but now you do have more of the smaller clubs spending big that you don’t usually expect such as your Lincoln’s, Mansfield’s, Salford’s, so it isn’t easy and probably tougher to compete in.

It’s a bigger challenge certainly, that’s not to say it’s necessarily a bad thing, Salford aside maybe!

 

[valefan16]

The thought of Tonge, Kay and Pugh makes me shudder. I've seen roadkill move quicker than those three! We've come a long way in a short space of time. If he gets us promoted Askey should have a stand named after him for the job he will have done!

He already has one at his previous club! Bit weird his side playing away and the fans in his stand! He has done an excellent job when you consider the mess he was left with, although arguably as much of a legend as he is a player equally shows how bad Aspin was.

He is the best since Micky Adams but he has little competition... but if Sir John doesn’t have a stand no other manager of our club should really!

 

[Andy Proctor]

Robinson stats say he has had a mixed career. He has had seasons where he has scored 5 goals in 30 games and other seasons where he has hit double figures with his best being 16 in a season. It will be interesting if he starts or if Cullen does not much to choose between them in my opinion.

Regarding our squad we let go bennett lloyd Evan's Kennedy atkinson archer and brought in whitehead mills rodney and robinson so I'd say that's an improvement. I think we need a back up keeper and a left back and we have a squad that should make the top 7. We wont be beating sides 3 or 4 nil when we win it will be 1 nil or 2 1 I reckon. We may struggle against players with pace based on what I saw in the Blackpool friendly as smith legge joyce arnt the quickest of players.

 

[Valiant Tyler]

Robinson stats say he has had a mixed career. He has had seasons where he has scored 5 goals in 30 games and other seasons where he has hit double figures with his best being 16 in a season. It will be interesting if he starts or if Cullen does not much to choose between them in my opinion.

Regarding our squad we let go bennett lloyd Evan's Kennedy atkinson archer and brought in whitehead mills rodney and robinson so I'd say that's an improvement. I think we need a back up keeper and a left back and we have a squad that should make the top 7. We wont be beating sides 3 or 4 nil when we win it will be 1 nil or 2 1 I reckon. We may struggle against players with pace based on what I saw in the Blackpool friendly as smith legge joyce arnt the quickest of players.

There won't be many sides with the quality of Blackpool though to be fair. We aren't the quickest in the middle of the park granted no matter who we play there, but we do have Amoo and Browne offering pace out right, and both Robinson and Cullen are quick enough up top.

We have a strong squad now. A left-back and a couple of astute loan signings throughout the season if required and I see us being a tough side to beat. If we can just convert a few of the draws we had last season into wins then we'll be there or there abouts.

 

[masi51]

There won't be many sides with the quality of Blackpool though to be fair. We aren't the quickest in the middle of the park granted no matter who we play there, but we do have Amoo and Browne offering pace out right, and both Robinson and Cullen are quick enough up top.

We have a strong squad now. A left-back and a couple of astute loan signings throughout the season if required and I see us being a tough side to beat. If we can just convert a few of the draws we had last season into wins then we'll be there or there abouts.

Blackpool are in lge 1

 

[Valiant Tyler]

Blackpool are in lge 1

We played them in our first pre-season game and lost 2-1. They looked a pretty good side and we played well enough in the day. I don't think there'll be many teams of that quality in L2.

 

[valefan16]

There won't be many sides with the quality of Blackpool though to be fair. We aren't the quickest in the middle of the park granted no matter who we play there, but we do have Amoo and Browne offering pace out right, and both Robinson and Cullen are quick enough up top.

We have a strong squad now. A left-back and a couple of astute loan signings throughout the season if required and I see us being a tough side to beat. If we can just convert a few of the draws we had last season into wins then we'll be there or there abouts.

Squad is improved no doubt; kept the squad of last season that did so well and added goals in Theo, a natural right back to compete and push Gibbo, another central defender and decent midfielder to add to the options we have there.

We threw away so many wins late on or lost from leading positions (20 odd points or something) so we need to be mentally stronger and more ruthless to kill teams off ideally.

We should challenge the top 7 easily enough BUT only have to look at Mansfield, Notts, Chesterfield, Scunthorpe to see being favoured doesn’t always translate to success. A lot of good sides and some of the poorer performers like Mansfield and Walsall for instance should be improved. It will be far from easy... either way it’s nice to be positive rather than praying we can scrape close to 50 points and keep alive for another season!

 

[masi51]

We played them in our first pre-season game and lost 2-1. They looked a pretty good side and we played well enough in the day. I don't think there'll be many teams of that quality in L2.

have you down to finish third, not getting Maynard wont alter that one way or the other
We played them in our first pre-season game and lost 2-1. They looked a pretty good side and we played well enough in the day. I don't think there'll be many teams of that quality in L2.

 

[Valiant Tyler]

Squad is improved no doubt; kept the squad of last season that did so well and added goals in Theo, a natural right back to compete and push Gibbo, another central defender and decent midfielder to add to the options we have there.

We threw away so many wins late on or lost from leading positions (20 odd points or something) so we need to be mentally stronger and more ruthless to kill teams off ideally.

We should challenge the top 7 easily enough BUT only have to look at Mansfield, Notts, Chesterfield, Scunthorpe to see being favoured doesn’t always translate to success. A lot of good sides and some of the poorer performers like Mansfield and Walsall for instance should be improved. It will be far from easy... either way it’s nice to be positive rather than praying we can scrape close to 50 points and keep alive for another season!

Indeed. Just because we were very unlucky not to make the play-offs last season doesn't mean that anyone should take for granted that we will this season, or even be around them again. We do have a good team and there should be an ambition by all at the club that we can make the top 6, but we won't do that if anyone starts to be complacent, that's for sure.

That's why I'm quite happy in a way that we didn't sign Maynard. Expectation would have gone through the roof. Some fans would have been demanding and expecting a top 3 finish, and for Maynard to bang in 20+ goals. Football is rarely that easy and expectation can be a killer. I'm more than happy to go into a season only cautiously optimistic.

 

[kieran_vale]

Having given it some thought I quite like the idea of it despite his previous loan spell. Robinson just seems more of a John Askey type player than Maynard ever did to me (not underselling Maynard as he's a fantastic player just not convinced he'd work well in our system).

I like the fact we have four forwards who all offer something different. Of them for me Cullen is the first choice at the start just because I really like a lot of his clever movement off the ball and link up play as well as the finishing ability. Having Rodney and Robinson gives us some pacy alternatives though.

Still some issues such as left back and more generally can we just try and be a bit more ruthless against teams when we have the advantage on them next season. For a large part of last season it was ridiculous how many times would let teams back in to games on the stroke of half time or in stoppage time at the end of the game when should have just been looking to kill the clock. That naivety cost us a playoff spot last season.

 

[Conker]

We’ve hardly come across, so I might have a false impression on the sheer size of Port Vale, genuinely, but why are you guys so far behind the likes of Bolton, Blackpool, Bradford when it comes to your sub 5k attendances?

I mean, last season, despite Mansfield finishing 21st and Vale 8th you only managed a few hundred more than little Mansfield, and the season before you were actually averaging a few hundred less!

Is it a pricing issue? Do you have a high ifollow match pass percentage? Maybe the fans are staying at home, switching the stream on and having a beer instead? This needs to be investigate immediately.