Clarke looks to the future as Vale aim to finish on a high

Having had a successful 2021/22 League Two campaign, with Port Vale securing a fifth place finish in the table in the regular season and then going on to lift the Play Off Trophy title after a number of trials and tribulations in the short season extension, everyone knew manager Darrell Clarke had a tough 2022/23 ahead of him as we made the step up back to life in League One

For all intents and purposes it has been a very good year for the club as we have more than consolidated our position back in the third tier of professional English football and as the end of the campaign edges ever closer, we sit pretty comfortably in 15th place in the table having picked up 44 points, and we enjoy an eleven point buffer zone right now to the relegation spots and the drop zone.

With another year in League One almost mathematically secured with ten matches left to play in the calendar, (plenty of Betting.co.uk/offers would give good odds of us achieving just that) Clarke’s thoughts are slowly turning more to the coming 2023/24 campaign and as he recently spoke to the media, whilst a strong finish to the year is his top priority, he is also hoping to give some of our talented younger players some good minutes to bring their development on further ahead of next season.

Tommy McDermott, James Plant (both out on loan with Salisbury for greater experience), Will Forrester and Sammy Robinson will probably be the four names that more instantly come into the minds of fans when Clarke talks about the future, and those four are clearly in his plans.

“It is all about winning, it is always about winning football games. We are not at a development stage as in results don’t matter. I never look at it that way. You can’t look at it like that as a first-team manager. But there might be one or two opportunities. Will Forrester has come into the team and done very well, James Plant and Tommy McDermott are doing very well on loan. There might be opportunities for one or two coming into the team from now to the end of the season. We will look at it on a game to game basis but at the minute it is beneficial that those two are out playing men’s football and keeping their match fitness up, so we will see.”

A strong end to the campaign would obviously be very welcomed by all Vale fans, and it would, of course, be tangible proof of further improvement under Clarke given it has been five years since we were last at this level. Given our current spot in 15th place, a few more points on the board pushing us a few more places up the table, could also mean our highest finish in the Football League since former gaffer Rob Page led us into 12th spot in this very division way back in the 2015/16 campaign.

It has been a tough couple of years for the Valiants with both on and off pitch issues to deal with, but everybody will be looking towards next season with renewed optimism given the latest improvements, even if there is still plenty more to improve upon.