BRUNO WON’T BE RAISING A WHITE FLAG!
IT wasn’t supposed to be like this. A Portuguese manager? In League One? Bruno Ribeiro was surely out of his depth at Port Vale.
Appointed to replace Northampton-bound Rob Page in June, the former Leeds midfielder wasn’t given a prayer by most observers.
Summer signings from Curacao and the French fourth division did little to dispel the notion that Vale chairman Norman Smurthwaite had dropped a clanger.
Leyton Orient, after all, had gone down the continental road 12 months earlier, swiftly dispensing with Mauro Milanese and Fabio Liverani en route to relegation from League One.
Even if Ribeiro had spent months studying EFL games and picking the brains of friend Carlos Carvalhal, so what?.
When the muck and bullets started flying, he’d soon raise the white flag.
Yet, four months on, the 40year-old is still standing. His side, an eclectic mix of young Brits and foreign journeymen, lie sixth, two points ahead of today’s opponents, MK Dons.
“Of all the changing rooms I’ve been in, it’s actually one of the best,” says Alex Jones, the 22-year-old Birmingham loanee who has scored six goals in nine games.
Perceptions
“That might not fit people’s perceptions, but it’s true.
“The gaffer always says he wants us to be a family and it is like that. There’s a real sense of togetherness.
“All the foreign lads have picked up English really well. And it’s not like they’re all sat in the corner talking among themselves. Everyone gets on, everyone mixes.
“It wasn’t something we worked on. It just happened naturally. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter whether you’re from France, Portugal or Birmingham, like me.
“As long as you’re striving for the same thing and buy into the club, nationality is irrelevant.”
One of Ribeiro’s earliest actions was to choose three ‘captains’, senior players who would run the dressing room and dole out fines for indiscipline. Yet the sergeant major roles didn’t stop Jones feeling instantly at home.
“Coming in on loan, it’s always a bit daunting,” said the striker-turned-winger.
“You’re thinking ‘Am I going to get on with the lads, will they take to me straight away?’ But they were really welcoming and they’ve helped me massively, not just in settling in but also out on the pitch.”
Ribeiro, who counts Jose Mourinho as a friend, has also instructed his men to play out from the back.
Though still a work in progress – as illustrated by last weekend’s shock defeat to rockbottom Coventry – his style is certainly easy on the eye.
“It’s about playing through the thirds, keeping the ball on the deck,” says Jones, who is yet to kick a ball for his parent club.
“Bar Peterborough, most of the teams we’ve played have got the ball forward as quickly as possible.
“Scunthorpe, who are top of the league, were very direct, but we passed them off the park. There’s no reason why it can’t work at this level.
“I came through at West Brom, where the whole ethos was very Barcelona-esque.
“So, when I’m at Birmingham and they’re more direct, more route one, it’s a bit alien to me. Maybe that’s why I haven’t been around the squad so much.
“Playing under a continental manager like Bruno feels much more natural and I think that’s reflected in my performances.” So, can Jones and his Valiants pass and move their way into the Championship?
“Our ambition is promotion and I think that’s a perfectly reasonable target,” he added.
“As I’ve said, all the teams who are up there, we’ve brushed them aside. I don’t see why we can’t be there at the end.”