Port Vale Director of Football is no quick fix but shows long-term thinking

Rob Fielding says that while he can understand fans’ frustrations, there is a long-term logic in the club’s appointment as it looks to move with the footballing times.

Rob Fielding writes…

Agree or disagree with Rob’s views on the Port Vale Director of Football? post a comment at the bottom of the article

Judging by several Port Vale fans’ comments, I may be in the minority, but I think appointing a Director of Football is a good move by Port Vale.

I can understand frustrations as fans, watching poor performances on the pitch, want a quick managerial move. However, a swift appointment may not necessarily mean the right appointment. When it comes to the managerial situation, Carol Shanahan was bang on the money when she said it should be done with “speed not haste”. I’d rather see the right man come in a month’s time than the wrong man come in tomorrow.

I also think the logic of a “football” person appointing the new manager rather than non-footballing owners is a good one. If you look back at some of the previous owner’s decisions – allowing Rob Page to leave, appointing Bruno Ribeiro then Michael Brown… you can certainly get the logic. And if the Director of Football is going to appoint the manager, then he (the Director of Football) needs to be in place first.

Yes, it’s super frustrating seeing Vale underperforming right now but what more can the club do at this stage of the season? A number of unsuccessful summer signings are still on the books and the transfer window is firmly closed. It will be a little annoying to watch this season pan out for nothing but I can see the longer term thinking.

Right now, Vale’s squad isn’t fit for purpose for the new structure. It’s an ageing squad without many youngsters coming through from the junior ranks. It actually needs to be the exact opposite of that to meet the new League salary cap and squad limits…

Right now, Vale’s squad isn’t fit for purpose for the new structure. It’s an ageing squad without many youngsters coming through from the junior ranks. It actually needs to be the exact opposite of that to meet the new League salary cap and squad limits. However, that’s a big adjustment. You can’t just pay lip service to a commitment to developing youth. It’s a sea change and you can understand the argument that to manage the first-team squad, target youthful prospects and manage them all is a job for more than one person.

You don’t have to go too far from Vale Park to see how the system has worked for other clubs. Neighbours Stoke City employed Vale legend John Rudge in a similar role for some years. Here’s how Rudge described his role to the Sentinel: “I’m still involved in all aspects of the club, contracts, training, and attending matches, and I’m working with someone I get on really well with Tony Pulis, and I hope that I can just help him by taking the strain off him because I know exactly what its like to be a manager, which is a hard role; and can be often too much for one person. I’m here to lighten the load so he can focus on winning matches. My job involves sixty to seventy hours a week, it’s very time consuming.”

So, you can see the argument. If there is to be a sea change and long term thinking in how Vale recruit players, perhaps with a focus on local youngsters, it’s going to take time and effort. However, as I’ve said time and time again on here – for long term success clubs need consistency and continuity. They need to develop a plan, a system and an identity and stick with it. It’s present at other clubs – Crewe, Peterborough, Brentford all have their methods – but those processes have not come about overnight. It’s a long-term process. Indeed, Peterborough employ a Director of Football, Barry Fry, to tap the non-league market and sell players on. It seems to work pretty well for them.

Surely, this sense of identity and direction, not lurching from one managerial style to another, is what Vale fans want? Many fans will recall the days of John Rudge. Those days were seasons of continuity, where transfers made sense (the odd old head here, the odd non-league chancer there), where the style of play was set and there was steady progress. Yes, it was only one man then but that was a different football era. In recent years, we’ve had too many knee jerk moves – a revolving door of managers resulting in mass changes of players and as a result the club has stood still while hemorrhaging money. It’s time to plan, to have a production line from youth team to first-team, to have people with the right knowledge in the right positions.

However, while I can understand the logic of Vale’s system, like everything else in football, the proof of the pudding will be the results. If David Flitcroft turns out to not be the right man for Director of Football or he makes the wrong choice as Head Coach, it could all still fall apart.

So, it’s going to be a hard sell for the owners as there’s no easy way of showing a quick fix, of showing the immediate results of this move. It needs an element of faith. It’s understandable that Vale fans are somewhat short of patience after this season’s results – I just hope they give this restructuring enough time.

Agree or disagree with Rob’s views on the Port Vale Director of Football? post a comment at the bottom of the article