Two minute guide to: Fleetwood Town
We present another of our quick guides to the opposition – Tuesday night’s opponents Fleetwood Town.
Man in charge
Former Bristol City and West Brom player Micky Mellon is in charge at Fleetwood. The 40 year-old has been in charge since 2008 and guided the club into the Football League last season.
Man to watch
Giant striker Jon Parkin has earned cult status in the lower leagues. But he is more than a mere figure of fun having netted a hat-trick against Morecambe this campaign. Manager Micky Mellon thinks Parkin is being unfairly targeted this season and withdrew the striker half-an-hour into the win over Northampton because he was worried the big forward would be sent-off. Mellon said: “I just felt the referee thought he had to make a decision every time Jon went for the ball and I thought it was inevitable he was going to get another yellow card for persistent fouling.” Nevertheless, Parkin is favourite to start against Vale.
Last time we met/overall record
This is the first time the two clubs have met.
Featured connection
Much-maligned left winger Paul “best player at the club” Edwards also had a brief spell with the Cod Army in 2011. Edwards was one of a number of high-profile Martin Foyle signings in the summer of 2007. None of the new signings made much of an impact and Edwards was transfer-listed in January 2008. The move prompted the memorable Sentinel interview in which Edwards claimed he was the best player at the club (he subsequently said he was misquoted). Edwards was booed by fans at Vale’s next game. Edwards lasted another season and was offered a contract extension. But the arrival of Micky Adams saw him depart the club in the summer of 2009 and joined Clue Square side Barrow later that year.
Connections
Former Valiant Scott Brown had a brief spell at Fleetwood in 2011. Brown, who was not a success at Vale Park, made four appearances for Town. A third former Vale player Phil Charnock had a spell with Fleetwood.
Team news
Vale are highly likely to be unchanged once again but it’s not a sure thing. Micky Adams has suggested that the impact of the side’s substitutes has given him food for thought. That means the likes of Ryan Burge (pictured) and Rob Taylor have an outside chance of forcing a change to Vale’s starting XI.
Opponents Fleetwood have a clean bill of health with the exception of long-term victim Anthony Barry (knee).
What they said
“I’ve not changed the side for seven games, but that doesn’t mean to say the other players are not in my thoughts.”
– Micky Adams
“We’ll look on Monday to see if we need to use the squad but we’re not going to be too reckless. We want to keep things fresh and keep things moving forward.”
– Micky Mellon
Trivia
The current Fleetwood club was founded in 1997 but a club in Fleetwood has existed since 1908 and has variously been called Fleetwood Wanderers, Fleetwood Freeport and Fleetwood FC.