Martin Tideswell skriver från Vale Park
Det har blivit en positiv stämning i och kring Port Vale i och med att folk har fått lärt känna den tilltänkte nye ägaren Keith Ryder sedan han presenterade sig vid ett öppet möte i förra veckan. Lokalen var alldeles för liten och många fick vända i dörren. Ryder tog sig dock tid att ha två likadana möten under samma kväll så att alla fick möjlighet att höra vad han hade att säga.
Vi återgår här till hur den kände journalisten och krönikören Martin Tideswell beskriver stämningen i Burslem efter mötet med Keith Ryder på sin blogg. Många supportrar känner nu att man fått en ledare som man är villig att följa och som förstår det stora missnöjet med de tidigare styrelserna under de senaste åren och behovet av att nu enas. Supporterföreningarna har nu tagit honom till sitt hjärta och man bland annat tryckt upp muggar med hans namn på.
Vi har även fått möjlighet att göra en intervju med honom och som vi kommer att publicera vid ett senare tillfälle där han besvarar frågor om dagens fotboll i England både på klubb och landslagsnivå.
Hans skriver bland annat
“There have been plenty of false dawns at Vale Park in recent years… Valiant 2001. Harlequin. Ameriturf. Blue Sky. So many, in fact, that it’s actually incredibly hard for supporters to put their faith in anyone or anything.
But maybe, just maybe, in a few years’ time people will look back on this week’s open fans’ forum with Keith Ryder as a watershed moment and say: ‘I was there’. Yes, the club is still in administration and there are certainly no chickens being counted in Burslem just yet. But the impressive turnout by fans to welcome the preferred bidder to the club on a cold, wet, Wednesday night spoke volumes for Port Vale’s potential.
As did the atmosphere in the meeting which was heavy with optimism. There was a sense that, after years in the wilderness, perhaps there was a brighter future ahead for the other football club in the Potteries. One of the most pleasing aspects of the meeting was the way the main man conducted himself. Clearly nervous at first, obviously not relishing his moment in the limelight, he palpably grew in stature and confidence as the evening wore on but never lost that initial humility. When he spoke he was respectful to his customers, didn’t promise the earth and acknowledged that there was a great deal of work to be done to resuscitate Port Vale.
He seemed to me to give an honest, measured assessment of where the club is at present and he gave glimpses of where Vale could be if managed properly. What’s more, Keith Ryder clearly understands the damage caused by previous regimes and the need for an ongoing dialogue with the supporters who have rescued it from oblivion.
All in all, to quote one member of the audience, he was ‘a breath of fresh air’ after years of posturing, prevarication and self-interest by smug suits who put themselves before the Vale. It is, of course, still early days and – as we have seen many times before – talk is cheap. But no-one who attended Wednesday night’s meeting could, in all fairness, pick fault with what they heard.
If Keith Ryder continues in this vein, if he is as good as his word, then he will be able to tap into a huge reservoir of goodwill and I’m convinced the lapsed fans will flood back to Vale Park. What is certain is that, united, Vale fans are stronger and – who knows – in this unassuming Lancashire businessman we may at last have found a leader worth following.”
Hela hans blogg återfinns på
http://martintideswell.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/in-keith-ryder-vale-fans-may-at-last-have-found-a-leader-worth-following/
