Port Vale 2015/16: Overachievers or a missed opportunity?

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With the 2015/16 campaign drawing to a close with its final two rounds of fixtures remaining, it is fair to say that now is a time for reflection on the season gone by and for building optimism ahead of the campaign to come. Theo Robinson’s opening goal in Vale’s last outing against Rochdale, only his second for the club since joining after being released by Motherwell, ensured the club registered its 6000^th League goal. The match culminated in a 4-1 win for the Valiants, taking them up to eleventh in the table but only five points adrift of a playoff berth with two matches left to play. Their tally of 65 points is the highest points total the club has managed in the third tier since the 73 points Martin Foyle’s Vale side racked up in 2004. That year the club finished seventh and missed out on the playoffs on goal difference. So no mean feat for manager Rob Page’s class of 2015/16 who before the season even began were tipped as third favourites for relegation. So by all means one may see this as a tremendous overachievement given such reckoning, but with many proverbial “what-ifs” on the lips of fans on the Vale Park terraces, and the distinct lack of quality in this year’s League One compared to recent seasons, will some supporters look back at this season as more of a missed opportunity than a success?

It suffices to say that before the season began many Port Vale supporters feared the worst, Chairman Norman Smuthwaite having reiterated his desire to reduce the playing budget from an estimated 2.4 million the previous year, to 1.7 million, sparking fears that out of contract players were likely to leave the club, since they would most likely be offered reduced terms to remain at Vale Park. The subsequent departure of local hero and leading goalscorer Tom Pope didn’t help affairs either, the striker opting against the pay cut offered by the club to sign for Lancashire rivals Bury. With the manager facing further cutbacks from the chairman and the club’s leading goalscorer for the previous three seasons already on his way, a real air of doom and gloom lingered around Vale Park ahead of the current campaign.

However despite the surrounding pessimism, Rob Page set about making his mark on the club in the build-up to what would be his first full season as manager. He had stepped up from his previous role as assistant manager and steered the Valiants from second bottom of League One at the time of Micky Adams’ resignation to the safety of an eighteenth place finish in the previous campaign. A change to the style of play would be his wider ambition for his first full season in charge, and he set about immediate changes to the backroom staff on of which would prove a masterstroke behind the scenes with the hiring of Performance Coach John Harbin. Page’s own signings soon followed in a bid to bolster the squad that capitulated towards the end of the previous season, slumping to lower mid-table after having gone to within a point of the playoffs in March 2015.

The season started with some commendable performances, including a hard-fought 1-0 home win over a strong Burnley side fresh out of the Premier League in the Capital One Cup and a 3-0 demolition of Doncaster Rovers in the league. Vale’s League Cup run would unfortunately meet its end soon after, bowing out 5-4 on penalties at the Hawthorns after a brave performance holding Premier League side West Bromwich Albion to a goalless draw after extra-time. Superb home victories over promotion contenders Wigan Athletic and Sheffield United followed in the later months, yet what soon became apparent is that despite an imperious record at Vale Park, wins on the road were somehow much harder to come by. As of the end of Matchday 44 (Vale’s most recent outing against Rochdale), a mere three sides had left Vale Park with all three points in the league, compared to an accumulation of 22 points from a possible 66 away from home, a mere third of the points on offer. Travelling Valiants weren’t spared of away day blues in cup competitions either, a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Exeter in the Second Round of the FA Cup ultimately costing the club a lucrative Third Round home tie with Liverpool, to which Chairman Norman Smuthwaite angrily responded by putting the club up for sale, stating that he felt “ashamed, humiliated and embarrassed” by the team’s performance.

Thus it is easy to identify the team’s away form as a stumbling block, if not the Achilles heel of Vale’s season. Even a slightly steadier accumulation of points away from home would have almost certainly seen the Valiants into a playoff place. Limp losses without scoring at Southend and Walsall typified the team’s negative away tactics and mentality for the majority of the season, compared to the flowing, possession football played on the wider Vale Park pitch; a contrast which baffled club management and supporters alike. However with the team only registering one defeat away from home from late February onwards and gaining eight points from a possible fifteen on the road, optimism grows anew that the underlying problem with the team’s inexplicably negative setup away from home may have been rectified. However Vale fans will be left ruing their team’s missed opportunities in the first half of the season and may be wondering just what might have been had their team found their form away from home earlier in a League One which appears much weaker than recent years.

Indeed with the absence of wealthier clubs which have graced the division over recent seasons and reasonably comfortably secured promotion, the league is not only lacking in its quality of old in Championship ready clubs, but it is also far more competitive in consequence, giving smaller clubs a real springboard to make their break for the second tier. Walsall who finished mid-table last term are comfortably sat in a playoff place and newly promoted Burton Albion are now almost a certainty for automatic promotion. Could that have been the Valiants were it not for a long string of insufficient away performances? Nevertheless, if the club is consigned to League One for another season, the upturn in away form will be of huge encouragement ahead of next season.

If the anomaly of away form left the Burslem public scratching their heads, the fitness of key personnel hasn’t provided any respite either. The first two victims of an injury hit season at Vale Park were claimed before the season even began: first choice goalkeeper Chris Neal and reigning Player of the Year Michael O’Connor, who suffered ankle and knee injuries respectively during pre-season. The latter did not regain match fitness until mid-October, but was effectively deputised by the signing of relegated Yeovil’s Player of the Year, Sam Foley. The injuries were however unrelenting, and another bitter blow was to come in the shape of a season ending injury to young left winger Enoch Andoh, a former Porto and Chelsea youth product who’d been signed for Vale’s development squad and had burst onto the scene with some superb performances in the team’s early season victories. Rumoured to have been scouted by Tottenham, his season prematurely ended with a knee injury in October in another disappointing away defeat at Colchester. It was an unfortunate case of history repeating itself for Vale, since in October 2015 a knee injury to leading scorer Tom Pope saw him out of action until late March, whilst he was the subject of rumoured interest from Millwall and Barnsley. His injury ended any chance of a January sale and he would ultimately depart on a free transfer; a fate which fans will be praying does not befall Andoh, who is out of contract at the end of the season. With on-loan Crystal Palace centre half Ryan Inniss also restricted to 15 league appearances after a season blighted by injury, supporters and management alike have been left ruing their misfortune over the course of the campaign and fingers will be crossed hoping for the club’s better players to be fit for the majority of next season.

So has it also been a case of bad luck? With cutbacks before the season and the loss of key players to injury, to still be in sight of the playoffs mathematically with two fixtures left could be considered a remarkable overachievement, especially with the club tipped for relegation before a ball was kicked. But to have gone so far with the absence of key players, were they fit for the long haul it can only be speculated as to what the club may have gone onto accomplish.

In terms of the team’s success, much is owed to an improved defensive record. The current squad has shipped 52 goals compared to the 64 conceded in the last campaign, and only conceded three or more goals in one match on four occasions. A string of superb performances by goalkeeper Jak Alnwick has proved vital to this, and he has racked up a total of eleven clean sheets. Alnwick incidentally was only signed on the eve of the season after the pre-season injury sustained by Chris Neal. New recruit Ben Purkiss has been a solid and consistent performer in the right back position having signed from Walsall, but much of the improved defensive side of the team is owed to defensive midfielder Anthony Grant, a stellar addition poached from local rivals Crewe Alexandra. His intelligent reading of the game, ability to pick passes and his tackling ability in key areas has drawn plaudits from every sector of the Vale support and the former Crewe man is deservedly the standout candidate for Vale’s Player of the Year.

Despite this, an eyebrow raising statistic has been the number of goals scored. With two games to play the squad has notched up 56 goals in the league this season, only two more than second bottom Colchester and seventeen less than fourteenth placed Peterborough. The majority of those have been scored by another of Page’s signings, another former Crewe favourite in forward Ajay Leitch-Smith, who has contributed a tally of eleven goals after impressing on trial. But despite the further eight goals chipped in by attacking midfielder Louis Dodds, the club lacks another proven goalscorer to call upon and have often looked toothless up front, particularly in away games. One reason for this is of course the reductions in the budget, making cost effective recruitment a necessity for the forward line. Page’s budget addition at the start of the season was powerful young forward

, who arrived on a half season loan from Watford. He raced to a six goal tally before losing form and falling down the pecking order at Vale Park, departing quietly at the end of his loan spell having lost his place in the starting-line up to Leitch-Smith. Even the arrival of forward Theo Robinson in January did little to remedy the situation, with an underwhelming two goals in thirteen appearances. Promise however does lie at the feet of young striker JJ Hooper, a Newcastle United academy graduate who has notched five goals since January, four of which have been from the bench. Rob Page will surely be looking to him for more next season in a bid to coax more goals from the club’s current crop of strikers, since the funds available to accommodate another forward in the summer transfer market are very much undetermined at present. Though for this campaign one can’t help but wonder what might have been had the Chairman provided the necessary resources to recruit a proven goalscorer. Finances just haven’t stretched quite as far as required, and squandering the chance of a televised cup tie with Liverpool to put some arguably much needed funds into the club’s coffers has left a particularly bitter taste.

The saving graces in this season lie in the club’s promotion form home record, as well as the improved style of football that has been on show throughout the season. The accumulation of points just summarises the remarkable progress made under Page and his management team, having already bettered last season’s tally by eleven points. Despite a good run of three wins from four in April, a poor run of form in March has also proved detrimental to what could have been a promising season, with two damaging home defeats to then league leaders Burton Albion and fellow playoff chasers Barnsley blemishing the club’s imperious home record at the most critical of times. Before this the Vale had only lost once in the league at home: a 0-2 defeat to Millwall way back in October. The outcome of the run of fixtures in March left the side realistically with nought but pride to play for throughout April despite still having a mathematical chance of making the playoffs. With only nine players under contract for next season however, it is clear that many of the squad are also playing for their futures, whilst Rob Page will be keen to ensure a strong finish so that momentum may be carried into next season.

Even for the supporter who believes the club has punched above its weight this season, there are so many “if only” moments which must be acknowledged. What if away form had been slightly better? What if the team held their nerve in March? What if they’d booked a date in the cup with Liverpool? What if they’d kept key players fit? That however must take nothing away from the achievements of Rob Page, his management team and the squad, who have made progress against the odds working under tight financial constraints. Though having blown away the bookies’ predictions for three straight seasons, this club must now look up rather than measuring the scale of their ambition against where the bookmakers estimate they should be, and not fall into the habit of survival being construed as success. But what is for sure is that those running the club, the management and the playing staff must all pull in the same direction if the club is to build on what has ultimately been a promising season with a squad showing much potential. Yet with the uncertainty of next season, and seemingly so many missed chances to capitalise in a weaker League One due to poor luck with injuries and several near misses, have Port Vale punched above their weight by beating the bookies or passed up on a golden opportunity to challenge for promotion to the Championship?

Featured image: all rights reserved by John Lord.