Opinion: it’s obvious, but Vale need to learn the lessons from an awful January transfer window

Rob Fielding argues that a terrible January window was by far the biggest factor in Port Vale’s relegation struggle and the club need to learn from it and act quickly to address their mistakes.

Rob Fielding writes…

I think there’s a general consensus among Vale fans that it’s the club’s business in the January transfer window that has resulted in the Valiants dropping into the relegation zone. While other clubs strengthened their sides in January, the Vale were arguably the one club in the bottom reaches of League One who finished the window much worse off than they started it.

What did Vale’s rivals do?

• Cheltenham Town brought in Matty Taylor – maligned by some Vale fans after an injury hit spell at Vale Park last season. However, the veteran has helped Cheltenham move above Vale by scoring four goals in eight appearances, including one against the Valiants.
• Charlton were plummeting down the table but addressed their forward issues by January signings (Freddie Ladapo on loan) and also the free agent signing of Connor Wickham, a player that considering the paucity of Vale’s attacking options should surely have been on Vale’s radar. The result has been three wins in four games, hauling them clear of the relegation zone.
• Even rock bottom Carlisle United have better form than the Valiants thanks in part to two goals from expensive January signing Luke Armstrong.

As for Port Vale… well, not only did they fail to add a senior striker while sending back loanee Josh Thomas and losing Uche Ikpeazu to long-term injury, but they were also weakened in other areas too – notably midfield after the departures of classy loanees Ollie Arblaster and Alfie Devine.

After the window closed, director of football David Flitcroft told an official club podcast that the club missed out on several targets including one on deadline day but to me this all sounds like hollow excuses. This is a results business, we don’t want to know about failures in the window. Here’s what I think needs to be learnt from this window:

1. Don’t play a waiting game. We have been told by Flitcroft that the Vale were waiting on higher placed clubs to bring in new strikers thus freeing up the opportunity for them to release squad players to the Valiants. However, surely this is too much of a risk as January’s failures show. We didn’t have the luxury of waiting, nor should we have risked missing out when we started the window with barely any available strikers anyhow.
2. Strike early. It seems utterly ludicrous that the Valiants were still trying to find a striker on deadline day when it was clear to everyone that we needed a striker at the start of the month. Not only would an early signing have helped avoid a deadline day move collapsing and leaving the club with no-one (as happened) but the Vale could play him through January when the club were struggling for numbers upfront.
3. The domestic market is overpriced argument doesn’t wash. One of the arguments used in the Flitcroft podcast was that the English market was artificially inflated. However, if that was the case then how come clubs like Cambridge Utd, Cheltenham and Exeter City – all presumably on roughly similar budgets to Vale – were all able to bring in largely proven, domestically-based strikers? It’s also a cut off your nose to spite your face argument to not be prepared to pay over the odds in January for an essential signing when not doing so may well result in relegation. What’s worse – bringing in a player on more wages than their talent merits, who keeps the club up – or the revenue lost from dropping down a division? I’ll circle back to Charlton’s signing of free agent Connor Wickham here. The Addicks have snapped him up on a short-term deal and he was on the bench on Saturday. Surely, with the problems Vale are having they should have thrown everything they had at trying to get Wickham in? The cost of potentially paying him an inflated wage to stay until the end of the season, would be dwarfed by the potential revenue loss of dropping into League Two. Even if Wickham didn’t keep Vale up, if he’s on a short-term deal he could have potentially been released in the summer. Surely it was worth the effort and cost just in case he did provide the firepower we’re missing.
4. Experience needed. The club seems to veering away from established forwards to look at “Premier League 2” players and those from foreign leagues. This is great in theory especially, when you are looking at balance sheets. However, sometimes you need someone who is experienced and can come in and do a job from day one. I would say the top three centre forward goalscorers during the last three seasons have been James Wilson, Ellis Harrison and Jamie Proctor – all of whom are no spring chickens and who have had experience of lower league football before joining the Valiants. I can see the logic in trying to get a bargain who can be developed but you also need to to address an immediate need for goals. By all means don’t fill the squad full of has-beens with no resale value (you do need some youngsters) but surely the key is to not rely on youngsters too much. However, this season’s squad has been heavily reliant on youngsters whether that’s on loan or from the academy. That youth-focused policy seems to be at the expense of bringing in some experienced players upfront, who are ready to go.
5. Is the right person in charge of transfer policy? And of course the key question is – have we got the right person or persons targeting players? Many fans would say no as we’ve failed to strengthen upfront for three transfer windows now. Naturally the focus turns to director of football David Flitcroft, who is in charge of all footballing matters. There seems to be a reluctance from chairwoman Carol Shanahan to dispense of Flitcroft altogether as many fans want. If that is the case, then why can’t Flitcroft’s role move to developing the infrastructure, training facilities and academy – areas for which he has been praised by Shanahan and the transfer policy become the responsibility of the manager as at other clubs?
6. Act now. It’s looking grim for Vale and they can’t afford another poor transfer window. With many feeling relegation is inevitable is it time for the Vale to plan for the summer now, rather than waiting? For instance, there needs to be a plan of what players are suitable for League Two, what to do about those still under contract, when the club brings new players in (i.e. not waiting till deadline day would be a good idea) and perhaps most crucially of all, who is going to be in charge of the process.