In this series we look back at players who only made a solitary appearance for the Valiants. On the 27th January 2024, midfielder Dan Gore made his only appearance for the Vale…
Dan Gore in numbers…
Time at club
Minutes played
2024
54
So highly rated, so rarely seen…
In the 2024 January transfer window, Port Vale were desperate for midfield replacements after losing highly rated loan duo Ollie Arblaster and Alfie Devine. The pair had been victims of their own success, their form in the early part of the season resulting in New Year recalls for the duo.
Vale looked to have pulled adequate replacements out of the bag. Goalscoring midfielder Jenson Weir arrived from Brighton and, to considerable fanfare, the club also announced the loan signing of teenaged midfielder Dan Gore. Gore had already appeared in the Premier League for parent club Manchester United earlier that season as well as making a League Cup appearances and playing two games for the Man Utd U21 side. Highly rated at Old Trafford, the Valiants were delighted with the signing. Then manager Andy Crosby said that Gore possessed “fantastic technical ability and the required competitiveness to his game to come in and immediately bolster the competition and options within our midfield.” Sadly, supporters will never know how true that statement was as Gore was restricted to a solitary Vale appearance.
The youngster’s only game came in a 1-0 home defeat to Portsmouth. It was a low key debut from Gore who played 54 minutes before being replaced by Tom Sang. Gore picked up an injury after that game and would not feature again. In April, new Vale manager Darren Moore confirmed that Gore’s injury meant he would not feature again for the club. Gore had sadly joined the ranks of fellow Vale loanees Scott Mean and Florent Cuvelier in being injured on his debut and only making a single appearance for the club while on loan.
Not up for the fight