FL2: Port Vale v Torquay United 28th August 2010

SBG: Welcome to the site and I hope you stick around.

Here is a bit more quoting from my post of which you selected your little bit to base your post on.

I'm sorry that it's taken me rather a while this evening to get back to you, but I have not that long got home from a twice weekly 6 hour sojourn accompanying my 9 year old son as he works his socks off trying to become a professional footballer amongst other similar lads who certainly CAN trap a ball, shoot on target and generally pass the ball at will to wherever they choose. 2 hours of hard work on the training ground and 4 hours of travelling to do it, and on Friday night he'll be playing and on Saturday lunch time voluntarily doing another hour and a half's practice which denies both he and I the chance to go and watch a professional game in the afternoon (this week it would have been The Gulls at Southend).

That's the bottom line of dedication and discipline needed to attain merely the lowest levels of the professional game, and to see people glibley pass judgement on a professional as being "disinterested" somewhat sticks in my craw.

All I have done is present the other side of the coin and maybe in the process transmitted the dismay and anger that many parents of players and players themselves feel when they read nonsense like that. In short, any professional who showed "disinterest" for even a minute of a game would be hauled off the pitch forthwith by his manager and face a very real invitation to consider his future in the game.

Now ask yourself, "did Paul Buckle bring Benyon off?" ~ answer: no
"did Buckle allow Benyon to stay on the pitch despite him showing disinterest?" ~ I'll think I'll allow you to answer that one yourself.

As Jon said.................."I do find it hard to believe that he wasn't interested"

one thing amused me on saturday,took my disabled mate and went in the disabled area,we got freindly with a couple of port vale fans,when the teams came out one of the vale fans said look at the size of your goalie,hes bloody huge,no wonder you aint conceding

Things got so bad on here we how have to quote ourselves I certainly won’t spend time reconsidering the points you made but I will add my thoughts on the matter. Information is a wonderful thing and helps us all understand things and also allows us to makes allowances when it comes to any player’s performance out on the pitch.

If a fan knows a player is just back from being out for a while injured he will make allowances for the player during the game knowing its going to take some time for him to get fully match fit again and back to his best. If a fan knows the players has only just joined the club and needs time to built up a good understanding with the other players and learn their game they will make allowances for his performance.

If a fan knows the player has joined us after only ever playing in a lower league he will know he will need time to get used to the new demands playing in a higher league brings and yes once again allowances will be made and reflected in any match reports posted on a forum.

In the case of Benyon there has been no hint from the club he has had a knee injury for the last four games and I’m sure Paul Buckle would not want the opposition manager knowing that fact, but surely the question that should have been asked is why a half fit Benyon has been picked ahead of the other strikers at the club and what does it say about their ability when such things as this happens.

At the end of the day a fan watches a game and if a player who normally chases down every lost cause suddenly does not do that and the fan has no information to suggest the players has some sort of problem, then he may well end up feeling the player did not look like he was very interested and that view would only be based on the players previous performances.

I suppose those who do write match reports could after they gave a player a poor mark or described them as not looking interested then list all the reasons that might be the case, IE injury, personal problems and that would then stop what happened on one match thread on here.

On the other hand those in disagreement could simply ask it the match report was being a bit hard on the said player and then suggest there could be reasons unknown to the writer why he performed so badly. That’s how you debate and get others to look again at what they have written without causing unnecessary upset that ends in the writer never bothering again.

The thing is that now you are seeing things from the other side and know the work and effort any young man who wants to end up as a professional football players has to go through, but you should never forget all the players you have slagged off over the years as they I’m sure put in all the same effort as did Benyon who in the past you have not spoken kindly of.

All young people who want to get to where they want to get too have to work hard and put in much effort, those wanting to be doctors of solicitors or teachers spend many years studying and work as hard if not harder than young people wanting to become footballers.

At the end of the day if they are good enough then they will succeed just like any football player and those who can’t deliver fall by the wayside after first making all the allowances necessary such as their age and experience etc.

I have read some critics review on a show here in the Bay and ended up glad I took no notice of his OPINION and still went and watched it as at the end of the day that’s all it was HIS OPINION. He was someone who was meant to be qualified enough to make a judgement of the performance on offer and yet his views were miles apart from mine and maybe I should have contacted him and told him he does not know what the hell he is talking about as it was a great and enjoyable show.

On here it is and only should be about OPINIONS, we all know we see games differently and I swear even Dave Thomas has watched a different game than I watched at times , no one on here is really qualified as such, yes some know more about football and what goes on behind the screens than others, some have watched far more games and do have a better understanding of the game and should use that greater knowledge to help others see what they have missed and far better to use the knowledge in that way then just end up telling them they don’t have a clue what they are talking about.

I have never been afraid to put in any match report if I felt a player had looked lazy and not that bothered about even playing in the game and I won’t concern myself to much about how much hard work he went through when he was young just to make it into the game, I’ll only judge him based on the fact I made the effort and paid good money to watch him and the rest of the team.

If later I discover there were good reasons then I’ll make allowances for him to a degree, but I will then also ask the question why the manager had him out on the pitch in the first place if he was aware there were things that would badly affect the player’s performance.