John Rudge: legend backs Neil Aspin’s transfer market ability
Port Vale legend John Rudge has backed manager Neil Aspin and says he has the ability to bring in non-league talent but the priority right now is to stay in League Two.
Aspin brought through striker Jamie Vardy and Lee Gregory while in non-league but Rudge says it’s more difficult to snap up emerging talent these days.
It is a very difficult task now getting players to come here to make the team better. But we have to strive to do that…
Rudge told a fans forum on Thursday: “He has that knowledge and can bring players into the club for a small amount of money. We are not going to have a large amount of money, if any money, to be able to buy players. But that £3,000 I paid for Andy Jones would now be £300,000 or maybe £500, 000 so that would be out of the window, we wouldn’t be able to do it.
“So, it is a very difficult task now getting players to come here to make the team better. But we have to strive to do that.
“I was lucky, I managed to get some decent players. I can assure you a manager is only as good as his players. If you haven’t got the talent in the players you won’t be that successful. So, recruitment of players is vital.
“We are trying to look for players for next season but the most important priority is to make sure we get back in a winning streak – which we had in December – make sure we stay in the league and then start afresh from there.
“All I am interested in is seeing if I can help Neil in any way possible because he did a fantastic job for me when we had a great team. I hope we can stay in the league, get the club on a much more solid foundation and then go from there.”