Port Vale manager Darrell Clarke talks at length about the club’s spending and transfer policy
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Port Vale look unlikely to match the amounts of money they have spent in previous windows before Tuesday’s transfer deadline as the club takes stock mid-way through their first season back in League One after promotion.
Owners Carol and Kevin Shanahan have invested in both the squad and the club’s infrastructure, such as the ground and staff, since they took over in May 2019.
With money still needed for infrastructure, such as improvements to the Vale Park pitch, the club is unlikely to be committing large amounts to the squad in this January window.
That was something discussed at length by manager Darrell Clarke at his Friday press conference, answering questions from BBC Radio Stoke’s Phil Bowers and The Sentinel and StokeonTrentLive’s Mike Baggaley. Here are the key questions and answers regarding the transfer window.
WHAT IS THE NEXT STEP TO BRIDGE THE GAP? (to competing at the top end of League One and getting into the Championship)
Darrell Clarke: “There are a lot of things, we have come so far as a football club but there are also certainly aspects of the football club that need to be improved. The family has done amazing, the Shanahan family, the support and the money they have put into the football club. But we are still a fair distance away from trying to get into the Championship….the pitch, the training ground, all these areas need to be improved but that comes over time.
“I know it’s always a key question, you guys and everybody wants to know about the transfer window. But it is important the message has to come out there that it’s not just about money spent on the pitch. The money has to be spent in all areas of the football club to try to keep improving it.
“That has to come into consideration. The support we get has been outstanding but sometimes you have to have a good reset, look where we are at, look where we need to go and do it in the right manner and try to build a sustainable football club. That’s what we want to do.
“Since I have been here for 23 months there have been a lot of areas of the football club that have improved, getting the new training zone, ice baths, heating baths…. all things that have added to give us points on the football pitch.
“So, at times it can’t always be spent on first team players. I know everyone wants to see that, but we have to keep growing the other side, everything else in the business, to make sure that, when we do feel we can really compete and get ourselves into the top six in the division, that we are ready as a football club.”
IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU UNDERSTAND THE INFRACTRUCTURE IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS THE ELEVEN PLAYERS YOU PUT OUT THERE ON A MATCHDAY. FROM YOUR EXPERIENCE IN THE GAME AS A WHOLE, WHAT DOES THAT LEAD TO IN THE LONG TERM IF YOU GET THAT IFRASTRUCTURE RIGHT?
“A selfish manager…. and managers are graded on results…..the way I look at it, I am not a selfish manager. If it meant money being spent on the first team pitch which needs to be improved, but that has to come off the playing budget, then that has to be done because that is the best for the football club. If the training ground needs to improve because, like I say, that has to be the way because that is how it should be built.
“But it’s not the flavour is it that everyone wants to see? They want to see the big signings coming on the pitch, they want to see big name players coming in the club and building that way where we still have a lot of work to do.
“We don’t take our eye off the ball there. Recruitment is working very hard to get the right players that we need into the club at the right price. But we also have to have an understanding as a football club that there are all other areas that need money.
“You can already see the money that has been put into the football club in the Robbie Williams suite upstairs, the training zone. We need to balance it up correctly. This is no disrespect but we are never going to be able to compete with the League One top ten financially in my opinion in this league.
“But what you can do is get building towards that with getting the correct structure and infrastructure in place and that is what we are working hard as a football club to do.”
HE ADDED: " I think it’s the biggest jump now, from League One to try to get to the Championship. The gulf, and there are some big clubs in here, is massive. But it can be done. That is why I get out of bed. We have hungry people in this football club…..myself, David Flitcroft and my staff that want to keep making sure that we do get better and better and hopefully be able to compete.
“We are competing, let’s make no bones about it. For 80 minutes, we were toe to toe against a very good Derby team so, without a shadow of a doubt, we are improving and we want to keep doing that.”
AND IT’S A MATTER OF GETTING THE RIGHT PLAYER RATHER THAN WITH A WEEK IN THE WINDOW TO THINK WE HAVE ONLY GOT ONE IN SO WE NEED THREE OR FOUR?
“Yes. You can stockpile. There are loads of players out there. But at the levels we are, at you can quickly put players in your team that don’t improve us. So, we keep on searching for the right sort of players to come in and improve us.
“That is key because these lads have done tremendously so far. We want the better calibre players to improve us.”
DARRELL, WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT THE INFRASTRCUTRE AND HOW FAR THE CLUB HAS COME, I GET THE IMPRESSION THAT MAYBE THERE WON’T BE THE MONEY SPENT BEFORE TUESDAY THAT THERE HAS BEEN IN PREVIOUS WINDOWS. IS THAT FAIR OR MILES OFF?”
“No, I wouldn’t say you are miles off there. I think the club is having a mid-season review to see where we are at and that is ongoing. Like I said, there are all different areas of the football club that needs money.
“The family are great supporters of the football club. We have to spend our money very carefully and wisely, and we have done.
“You can probably look at the last three windows. There was a lot of very good work done to get us to where we are now. Now the hardest thing is kicking on and getting that players that come in but are better than the ones we have got.
“With that, a lot of the time, comes a lot more money on wages. So, we have to be clever with our pound shall we call it Mike, and do things very wisely.”
IS IT GENERALLY EASIER TO DO THAT IN THE SUMMER RATHER THAN THE JANUARY WINDOW?
“Yes, January is always a tough window anyway, at the best of times. But when you are looking to improve on a team that has been in mid-table and the top half for a fair bit then it is difficult. I am not going around that but the recruitment team are putting in plenty of hours work to try to get that done.”
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