Contract talks with eleven players on hold
The Sentinel is reporting that the Valiants will delay contract talks with eleven first-team players as the club waits to see which division Vale will be in next season.
In total, there are fourteen Vale players out of contract in the summer although Tom Pope, Lee Hughes and Darren Purse are all believed to have the option of a further season with the Valiants.
However, that still leaves eleven players who will not know whether their future lies with the Valiants until the summer.
Among those who will be keen to make an impression are new signings Calvin Andrew, Chris Birchall and Liam Chilvers, whilst Kingsley James and Clayton McDonald will hope to impress during loan spells away from Vale Park.
The club are confident that they will be able to hold on to the players it wants, but this tactic does run the risk of players opting to seek a more lucrative move elsewhere. Last summer, Anthony Griffith, Marc Richards and Sean Rigg all turned down summer contract offers for better offers elsewhere although at the time, Vale’s finances were decidedly worse off than they are now.
Assistant manager Mark Grew told the Sentinel: “If you get promoted it’s a different ball game with different finances.
“Nobody has spoken about contracts, we’re just going to wait to see what happens.
“The lads are enjoying where they at the moment. Their minds are set to help Port Vale get promoted and we’ll worry about contracts when the time comes.”
Summer decisions:
The following players are all out of contract in the summer: Calvin Andrew, Chris Birchall, Ryan Burge, Liam Chilvers, Lee Hughes *, Kingsley James, Doug Loft, Sam Johnson, Clayton McDonald, Sam Morsy, Tom Pope *, Darren Purse *, Adam Yates, Ben Williamson
* Note: Pope, Hughes and Purse are understood to have clauses in place with an option for a further season
Under contract:
The following players have contracts beyond the summer: Joe Davis, Richard Duffy, Ryan Lloyd, John McCombe, Jennison Myrie-Williams, Chris Neal, Chris Shuker, Rob Taylor, Ashley Vincent