Predictions 2008-9 - 11th Port Vale Monday, 4th Aug 2008 10:50
Prediction time yet again, and this time we feature Port Vale who we've tipped to finish in 11th place.
Port
Vale |
last
season at a glance |
It would be an exaggeration to describe the season as
being anything other than a complete and utter disaster, and it was only
down to the points deduction given to Luton Town that prevented Port
Vale finishing bottom of the pile. The FA Cup didn't prove to be much
better, with defeat in the first round to a team called Chasetown.
Twelve points from their last seven games still left them twelve points
from safety which gives you an indication of how bad they were last
season.
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The
gaffer - Lee Sinnott |
|
It's probably a little bit difficult to judge Sinnott on his time as a manager
so far. He came to Port Vale in November 2007, having performed miracles at a
non league level with Farsley Celtic over previous seasons. He was certainly a
gamble for the Vale directors as managing at non league is a different beast to
managing at league level, tho' there seems in recent years to be examples of
successes. Sinnott's record as Vale manager is a poor one. He's been in charge
for 35 games, and they've just won five of those, but the question will come
down to how much of that is down to his responsibility or did he take over at a
club which was in such a mess that no manager in the world could have made a
difference. I guess we'll see that this season.
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Reasons for a better season |
One thing which should be certain for this season
is that Port Vale will score goals this season. They've got a collection
of strikers who are arguably better than at any other club in the
division. Marc Richards we know about from his time at Dale, Luke
Rodgers we know about from firework displays and they've recently signed
Louis Dodds recently from Leicester City, who we also know about from a
loan spell at Spotland. When you have a strikeforce who you can
guarantee will get you goals, then you always have a chance at whatever
level you play at.
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Reasons for a worse season |
Looking on last season, they are a
club in absolute freefall, and that late run of games from last season
will possibly deflect any attention as to how bad they actually were.
The big question will be what sort of mindset will they possess when
they drop down. We've seen it before from many a relegated side who
assume that playing at a lower division will sort everything out, and
they've nicely settled into the bottom half of the table and resided
there ever since.
All the talk will be about bouncing
back at the first attempt, when their main priority should be to ensure
that they stop the rot. Until that rot is stopped, then they will only
continue to get worse. Defeat to Chasetown last year showed what a level
their side was at.
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Season depends on - Marc Richards |
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You could argue that its not so much about
whether the former Dale striker Marc Richards has a good season
or not for Port Vale, but rather whether he decides to stay at
Port Vale. At time of writing, Port Vale have received an offer
for his services which due to a Perkins style clause, they were
forced to accept. At time of writing, it seems to be dragging
on and he might not be on his way to Cheltenham, but it has
certainly highlighted his availability to many other teams after
a proven striker, and the right offer might just tempt him away.
There's no doubting his class. During his brief loan spell
with us, you could see that was there even though he was clearly
not fit at the time. And he's proved that during his spell with
Barnsley scoring goals at a higher level.
He's done well since joining Port Vale. His five goals might
not sound up to much, but it was pretty much a season to write
off for the whole club, and dropping down to this level should
see him score goals by the bagful.
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RochdaleAFC.com Prediction |
11th - Mid table
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Reasons for our prediction |
It could be a season which goes either way for Port
Vale. We don't think they've got enough about them to challenge at the
top end. It's just too big a turnaround from a side who were hopelessly
short last season to one capable of doing something this year. I know
you can say that it's at a different level, but promoted sides from
League Two have more than held their own in League One in recent years,
suggesting the difference might not be as big as some might imagine it
to be.
In fact, Port Vale have got everything about them which usually sees
us tip a side like that to continue their downward spiral, and find
themselves in a second successive relegation battle, especially when as
a club they've spent a long time above this division. The overconfidence
has been the downfall of many a side.
But due to a combination of the teams who'll be competing from a
negative points tally, and the Chesters of this world, there's no chance
of that happening. Indeed, with the strikeforce that they have, they
should be well clear of anything like that.
Sinnott could well prove us wrong. Given our assumption that they'll
score goals, it might not take too much tweaking to ensure that things
get turned round. But the lack of signing of Simon Heslop due to budget
constraints suggested to me that things aren't all as peachy creamy as
they could be, and that Sinnott hasn't been able to make all of the
changes that he'd have liked to have done.
For that reason, we think they'll fall short but they stop the rot,
and use this as season to start building for the 2009-10 season.
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Photo: Action Images
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