Three things Port Vale have got right this season (and one area to improve on)
Rob Fielding reflects on the Port Vale season so far and picks out four areas which have caught his eye so far.
Rob Fielding writes…
Quality over quantity in the loan market
The loan additions this season are in direct contrast to last season’s signings. Wheras last season’s loan players were (with the exception of goalkeeper Jack Stevens) bench warmers and squad fillers, this season’s additions are very much in contention for regular starts. The club over-compensated in 2022-23 signing eight loan players over the season, when only five could be included in the matchday squad. This season has been a different story with just four players on loan but (with the exception of the injured Kofi Balmer) all immediately showing their worth. The likes of Josh Thomas, Alfie Devine and (in particular) Oliver Arblaster are a clear class above the likes of Thierry Small, Liam McCarron and Mipu Odubeko.
A clear progression path for the club’s youngsters
The club’s commitment to developing their own talent seems to be taking a further step forward this season. We’ve had the valuable sale of youngster Michael Mills to Newcastle United. We’ve had James Plant’s progression to a regular starter. We’ve had Tommy McDermott sent on loan to the National League to give him gametime and we’ve had Jack Shorrock and Rhys Walters given gametime in the Football League Cup. Obviously, not every youngster will make it, but there’s now a good pool of youthful talent coming through to supplement the more experienced first-team players.
Goalkeeping stability
What a signing Connor Ripley has been – in my opinion he’s been the best signing of the summer by a country mile! He’s clearly the club’s best goalkeeper in years and a massive improvement on last season’s often shaky duo of Stevens and Stone. Not only that but in addition to his presence and stature Ripley’s bonus is his penalty saving prowess. He’s been a magnificent signing and I wonder how many points he will save the club this season? Let’s hope he remains Port Vale’s number one for years to come.
Problems with the “basics” keep cropping up
The club is clearly making some big strides in terms of infrastructure – in recent seasons we’ve had improved turnstiles on the Railway, a new big screen, the improvements to the Fanzone and the switch to the Hamil Road stand. However, as posts on the forum in recent days have shown there still remains issues with the basics at the club. Those issues include – problems with online ticketing, car parking and queueing before the match. If anyone at the club is reading this and is unaware of the problems, a quick look at the forum should be their first port of call. Yes, there are complaints aplenty but there’s also some sensible and simple solutions on there. I think as fans we can see more positives than negatives at the club and we also know that no-one is perfect and there are often teething problems. However, these issues seem relatively simple to fix and doing so will help make the matchday experience more enjoyable for many of us.
I didn’t want to end on a negative note, so my final point is congratulations to Andy Crosby, who has recovered from that opening day hammering to currently possess the best win ratio (52%) of any Vale manager in history. Let’s hope it looks even better at 5pm on Saturday.