‘I won’t mollycoddle the players. If I upset one or two, that’s the way it is...’

PORT Vale owner Carol Shanahan, director of football David Flitcroft and manager Darrell Clarke took part in an online fans’ forum, hosted by Supporters’ Club chairman Mark Porter on Thursday evening. Here are the key questions and answers from the meeting...

WHY DID IT TAKE SO LONG TO TAKE THE DECISION TO PART COMPANY WITH JOHN ASKEY AND WHY DID IT TAKE SO LONG TO APPOINT A NEW MANAGER?

Carol Shanahan: If you go back to the beginning of November, we were flying high and every indication we got as a board was that we had got everything right and everything was working.

When everything started to go wrong at the beginning of November… it takes quite a long time for you to recognise whether there is a problem of whether it is just a run of back luck.

Covid isn’t an excuse and I am not putting it forward as an excuse, but it is a factor. If you think back to Boxing Day for example, Tom Conlon found out on Boxing Day morning that he had Covid. That was the first we knew.

We wanted to back the manager and we did, but we got to the point by the beginning of January of saying we have to stop. It almost didn’t feel fair to just carry on and so we took a decision.

So, did we have a plan then? Well, no because we were backing the manager. In backing the manager you don’t start making a plan for the manager going.

After John left we then started to look at moving forward and to take that time were weren’t able to take when we first came in.

I took a decision that we needed to take the time to have a look at what Port Vale needed in the long term rather than, ‘we haven’t got a manager, quick, get a manager, tick a box, shut everybody up and then it will all be all right’.

That isn’t what I wanted to do. I wanted to have a plan and to take the time to go through it. That’s why it took a little longer than people wanted. Also we had Danny in there (Danny Pugh was interim manager) but then he got Covid.

At that time we didn’t know whether Danny going in to the end of the season would hold or not but then in discussions with Danny and the board we decided we needed to really ramp up looking for a manager.

In retrospect it probably looks a long time. But at the time every single day we were doing something towards moving forward.

IF THE WORST THING HAPPENS (the club is relegated) WILL WE CHANGE BACK (get rid of the director of football)?

Carol Shanahan: No, I think a club going where we want to go needs a structure. I think the structure is right. We will be looking to prove it is right so the question becomes a moot point.

TO DAVID FLITCROFT – ARE YOU UNDER CONTRACT? IF SO, FOR HOW LONG AND ARE YOU INTERESTED IN MANAGING AGAIN?

I am under contract, yes, for a year. Managing again… as I have managed I have always been involved in developing people, players, staff.

This opportunity gives me the chance to do that and work with some fantastic people at boardroom level.

What I do know is I am loving this job, I am loving every part of it, and I want to give Darrell all the support I can. He is a fantastic guy, a top manager, and it is giving him that support he needs when he needs it, without smothering him. We have a great relationship.

But the important thing is if I enjoy being somewhere and I can see the vision – and the potential at this club is massive – then you don’t want to go anywhere.

Why would I want to go anywhere because this journey that we are on is incredibly exciting. It is something I am really enjoying.

TO DAVID FLITCROFT – PUTTING ASIDE YOUR LONG TERM PLANS AS DIRECTOR OF FOOTBALL, WHAT ARE YOU PERSONALLY DOING IN THE SHORT TERM TO ENSURE OUR LEAGUE TWO SURVIVAL?

Initially we have made a couple of important decisions. We have brought in Daryl Taylor (ex-mansfield) who is a sports science and fitness coach.

He has played the game and understands the mentality of players. He understands how to get best out of them.

We have also taken on Andy Crosby who is now assisting Darrell (Clarke). That unconditional support that Carol and the board have always given the manager – we are extending that now to our new manager.

I think it’s really important that Darrell feels that support, that the players do. Again, it is in line with creating an elite performance environment that will serve us well, not only this season but on our path to success.

TO DAVID FLITCROFT - IT IS AN AWFUL SITUATION FOR CAROL AND THE BOARD AT THE MOMENT. THEY ARE FANTASTIC PEOPLE LIKE US WHO DESERVE BETTER. WHAT PLANS DO YOU HAVE TO DELIVER THIS EVEN AT THIS EARLY STAGE?

Since the owners and the board got involved in this club, you are talking about a massive financial….something that with Covid and no fans coming in, is a one-off situation.

I have seen Colin Garlick and the directors work so hard on finding solutions for that and making sure that the club is performing off the pitch and is a healthy state.

It’s really important to reiterate then that my job is to focus on a football plan.

We are in discussions whether we look at a new training ground, to implement changes to a new training ground off site. Is it a different environment where players are training at an elite training campus, so it is different to coming to the club every day so matchdays feel special.

We have had those initial discussions and they are ongoing. It is building the infrastructures to support an elite training plan because we do want to improve players. We do want a situation where players are turning up for work and physically, technically and tactically developing and psychologically developing and getting that winning mindset.

These things take time. But we are seeing signs, the processes are in place and it is certainly an exciting future. I have come into Port Vale and I see the work these guys do, every hour.

It doesn’t stop. Being a part of that is a pleasure and a privilege. I’ve not got the baggage that some people have so I have open eyes and this project is something that is going to be quite amazing.

TO DARRELL CLARKE – AS MUCH AS I LIKE HONESTY, IN THE CURRENT CLIMATE IS IT WISE FOR SENIOR PLAYERS TO HIGHLIGHT THE SHORTCOMINGS OF THE CLUB AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY, THE NEW MANAGER DOING SIMILAR AND WORSE IN INTERVIEWS WHEN THESE ‘UNFIT PLAYERS WITH NO QUALITY’ ARE THE ONES WE ARE EXPECTING TO GET US OUT OF THIS MESS?

For the first part of the question, the players, I am not a fan of players doing interviews anyway to be honest with you and there will be very little coming out of the club from players’ interviews in the last 12 games because there is a time to shut up and get on with your jobs. That time is now.

The players are well aware of that. I mentioned that to them before the game the other day. They have to be solely focused on doing well in these last 12 games.

With me, I say it how it is. I sometimes upset people, but trust me when I say, the players hear exactly the same. So they know where I am. I am a straight-talker, and that is either on a one-to-one basis, or a group basis.

I am not going to mollycoddle players. You either want to be on the bus and stay on the bus – and that is the sort of players I want.

To be fair, the buy-in from the players has been fantastic. They are working hard for me, they are training hard, competing hard. So, I don’t see a problem with that.

I think sometimes you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t. If you come and do a press interview and you say you played brilliant when you played rubbish… if I want to criticise fitness because I think we should be a fitter squad of players then I will do that.

If I upset one or two people along the way, that is just the way it is.

RESPONDING TO A FURTHER QUESTION ABOUT INJURIES, DARRELL CLARKE SAID HE WANTED MORE DATA ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE THE SEASON

The lads had five months off didn’t they? So they had five months off with a four-week pre-season plan. So, my information is…what did they do in that five months? I can’t find any data on it. Why not?

My lads at other football clubs, I had data monitored on stuff like that. That is the way I work. With some players, if they take an inch, they will take a mile, then there are your honest pros who will do everything absolutely right.

But it is not always about not doing enough. They have maybe been doing too much.

Have they been doing too much road running? I think it goes back a long way. Would that be part of the problem? Yes, I think it possibly is. Would there be other factors within that? Yes, I will give you another one, we have had one reserve game this season. We have got a squad of 30 players. How does that happen?

I know we have had problems with Covid but for me players need match fitness surely, even if they are not in the team.

So, we have a game arranged for next Monday, the 22nd , a game against Hereford. So, I think there is a mixture of things of why, without pointing the finger anywhere, that players have had so many muscular injuries.

TO DARRELL CLARKE – WHY DO YOU PERSIST IN TACTICS THAT DO NOT SUIT A SQUAD ASSEMBLED TO PLAY 4-3-3 AND LACKS THE QUALITY TO ADAPT TO CONSTANT CHANGES?

We had won three games in the last 18 league games before I took over. That is three in 24 now and so certainly I can do something about that now.

But the 4-3-3 system……in those three wins one of those games was played with a 4-4-2 against Grimsby at home. So, I don’t think we can kid ourselves that the 4-3-3 was working for a time.

Am I ruling out the 4-3-3? No, I’m not. Luke Joyce has been missed for a couple of games. In my mind, he is our only defensiveminded midfielder. I had six ‘number eights’.

I am just finding the best ways to get those wins on board.

Port Vale owner Carol Shanahan, left, director of football David Flitcroft, top, and manager Darrell Clarke, above, answered a whole host of questions from Valiants fans on Thursday night in an online event set up by the supporters’ club. Topics ranged from the decision to switch managers to finding the best formation for the side.