There’s far more to Vale midfielder than top goals

TOM Conlon’s free-kick goal at Mansfield showed the quality that could take him to a higher level. But if I was a scout, it wouldn’t be just Tom’s dead-ball ability that would make me recommend him.

He’s not just one of those players who looks good on a highlights reel, a compilation of his free-kick goals or defencesplitting passes.

Anyone who actually goes and watches him will be impressed by the fact he’s strong, wins his tackles, competes aerially and also has a great all-round attitude over 90 minutes.

He gets around the pitch, demands more from his team mates as well as himself and has an obvious hunger and desire to win. That goes a long way.

Everyone can see his quality when he scores a free kick like at Mansfield or his long-range volley at Barrow last season. That’s why people are talking about him, but it’s combining that with those other parts of his game that make him such a valuable asset.

Anyway, it was his goal that helped the Vale get a point in Tuesday’s 1-1 draw at Mansfield even though they weren’t playing as well as they have on a great run that had taken them to third.

If you’re not playing well, don’t lose. The Vale had an off night but still came away with a point, something we have struggled to do over the last couple of years. If we played badly, we seemed to get beaten, even against teams that weren’t playing that well either.

Generally, if you’re not playing well, you’re not going to create much so can’t afford any mistakes at the back. You just have to make sure you don’t lose those type of games. Dig in and, as was the case on Tuesday, get a point and a goal with a ‘worldie’ from Tom Conlon.

STEVE Bruce’s departure from Newcastle United was inevitable, but I’ve still got lots of sympathy for him.

His points record there in the Premier League wasn’t much different to that of Rafa Benitez but, while Benitez is seen as a god there, Bruce has been criticized, seemingly game after game.

It must hurt him, especially as a Geordie. He definitely deserved better than some of the treatment he’s had.

But maybe, because he was there under Mike Ashley, supporters wanted a whole new regime.

Even if he had been getting better results, it was still inevitable that the new owners would go for a new manager, someone that would get the fans’ buzzing. With the way fans had treated Steve Bruce, there was no way the richest people in the world were going to take over the club and then keep him.

So, they have done what the fans wanted but I don’t like the way he was treated.

Paulo Fonseca is favourite to get the job while Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard have also been mentioned.

Gerrard has done brilliantly at Rangers and I actually think he would be a good fit. I see Lampard as more of a gamble. He did well by bringing youngsters such as Mason Mount into his team at Derby but that’s a different job to spending £200m or whatever Newcastle give their next manager.

Whoever gets the job, they really are in danger of going down. I am sure they will bring in as many players as they can in January but if they are still in the bottom three at Christmas then those players will have to gel very quickly. It is very difficult when you have a massive overhaul of players.