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Predictions 2008-9 - 11th Port Vale
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.

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.

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.

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.

Season depends on - Marc Richards

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.

RochdaleAFC.com Prediction

11th - Mid table

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.

Photo: Action Images



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