Darrell Clarke has Port Vale fans dreaming but can he deliver long-term success?
One could argue that it is slightly unfair to question whether a manager who was brought in to ensure relegation didn’t take place was able to deliver long-term success the day after achieving his remit. That is the downside of the instant gratification culture that has become ingrained in football; there perhaps isn’t enough time allocated to appreciate miracles at the bottom of the table.
Indeed, Darrell Clarke’s miraculous winning streak has seemingly come out of nowhere and has left those teams below Port Vale green with envy. Relegation battles are meant to be torture until the last weekend of the season but Clarke has soothed any fears by overseeing five wins in a row. In fact, the latest football betting doesn’t even list Port Vale as a contender to go down anymore in the League Two relegation markets – Barrow, Colchester, Southend and Grimsby populate that list now. What a difference a month can make, indeed.
FT:
Vale’s winning run continues as we record five straight league victories for the first time since 2010!#PVFCLive pic.twitter.com/djiU1IfMlf
— Port Vale FC (@OfficialPVFC) April 5, 2021
Can Vale fans expect this run of form to carry on when the 2021/2022 season begins and is it wise to pin the hopes of promotion on the 43-year-old Clarke? Time will reveal all of this in due course but based purely on the numbers we can use as the best indicator so far, it does feel like Clarke is beginning to get Port Vale to tick in a similar way he got Bristol Rovers to during their promotion to League One.
During Clarke’s time at the Memorial Stadium, he achieved 1.51 points per game over the course of 244 matches. After just 12 games in charge of Port Vale, he is averaging 1.50 points per game. Over the course of 46 games, that works out to be around 69 points a season, which is just short of the playoff positions. Crucially, though, those figures are slightly distorted given that the Gas slumped into the relegation places in League One before he left the club in 2018. Basically, his average points-per-game stat was badly affected over a short time of poor results. However, on the whole, the 43-year-old had Bristol Rovers consistently competing at the right end of the table.
Indeed, that was one of the two promotions that Clarke enjoyed at the Memorial Stadium after guiding Rovers to League Two following promotion from the Conference. It was a memorable four years in the south west of England and the results should give every Port Vale fan a lift when considering what might happen next season.
Four years ago today, Darrell Clarke took charge of Bristol Rovers. He’s now the 10th longest-serving manager in the top four leagues, and has led Rovers to two promotions… #utg pic.twitter.com/yW8N6hsOVm
— Jack Vittles (@JackVittles) March 28, 2018
Additionally, in a short space of time, we’ve seen Clarke get the best out of Theo Robinson, who most of the fan base had given up on. The transformation of the forward at 32-years-old is further evidence that Clarke is able to get the maximum out of underperforming players. This is an invaluable trait to have when a club doesn’t have the luxury of buying the cream of the crop when the transfer window comes around.
In conclusion, Port Vale have hired the best man to get them out of League Two and he’s already proving that he is more than capable of repeating past successes at Vale Park.