BELL’S IN RUNNING TO CHIME IN AT THE VALIANTS

JIMMY BELL is the bookies’ favourite to take over at Port Vale and his manager at Accrington Stanley John Coleman has revealed he will not stand in his assistant’s way if the job is offered.

Bell has been heavily linked with the Valiants ever since they sacked Michael Brown last week.

In the meantime the experienced backroom duo of David Kelly and Chris Morgan have been in charge, although Vale remain winless in eight league matches.

And Bell, a former coach at Vale Park under Micky Adams, would be a good choice, according to his boss at Accrington.

“As well as being my assistant, he’s my best mate,” said Coleman. “You treat your best friends only with respect, so I wouldn’t be stopping him having the conversation with Port Vale. But I wouldn’t want him to go because I think we work well together. I think we complement each other very well.

“It comes as no surprise to me that he’s (been) linked because he’s a very good football person. I would regard him as one of the best coaches around at the moment.

“Possibly you don’t get lauded as being a coach because people can have different perceptions of you, but anyone who’s worked under us will see how much Jimmy’s developed as a coach, and his tactical thinking as well.”

Former Port Vale defender Neil Aspin, currently in charge of Gateshead, is another contender for the vacancy while Adams has also been linked with a third spell in charge.

But former Leicester and Coventry boss Adams said: “If they’re linking me with the manager’s job, they can forget it. Two years ago I took time out from the game and decided that I didn’t want to risk going through the emotional turmoil of another sacking.”