GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN!
PORT Vale manager Darrell Clarke is considering changes for Saturday’s final League Two game of the season at home to Mansfield - but says his priority remains to win the game.
Clarke, director of football David Flitcroft and the board are making decisions about which players to release and are expected to issue their retained list on Tuesday or Wednesday next week.
So, the Mansfield game represents a final chance to assess players in competitive action.
The manager is considering bringing in one or two players that haven’t featured heavily under him, but says his starting point when he picks the team will be how to beat Mansfield.
He said: “I want to win the game. Yes, I want to look at one or two things…but win the game. So, the strengths and weaknesses of Mansfield come into play, not just getting people out there that need a game.
“So, it will be assessed as every game has been since I have been in the building.”
The majority of Vale’s squad are out of contract at the end of the season, but several players have made their case for a new deal as the Vale have taken 25 points out of the last 30 available.
Their nine-game unbeaten run came to an end at Grimsby on Saturday when Mariners striker Matt Green scored the only goal of the game after 32 minutes.
That saw the Vale drop a place to 13th, 10 points off the play-offs and 16 clear of Grimsby and Southend who have been relegated.
Of the team that started at Grimsby on Saturday, Scott Brown, Shaun Brisley, Cristian Montano and Luke Joyce are out of contract.
Of the seven players who started on the bench, Tom Pope, Harry Mckirdy, and Kurtis Guthrie are also due to become free agents at the end of the season.
Meanwhile, Clarke has revealed he left goalkeeper Tom Scott out of his squad at Grimsby to give himself another outfield option on the bench.
Clarke has confirmed Scott isn’t injured, but just dropped out of the matchday 18 so the manager could name a substitutes’ bench of Kurtis Guthrie, Mustapha Olagunju, David Amoo, Scott Burgess, Will Swann, Harry Mckirdy and Tom Pope.
The manager explained: “It was just I chose more of an attacking outfield bench.
“The law of averages of your keeper getting injured in a game is slim – but saying that the Grimsby keeper got an injury. I just wanted to have a look at different attacking options.”
All three of Vale’s keepers – Brown, Scott and Dino Visser – are out of contract at the end of the season.
Former player of the year Brown, aged 36, has started all 45 of the club’s league games to present a
strong case to be offered a new deal.
Visser, aged 31, signed on a free in the summer and has started one League Cup game and five in the Papa John’s Trophy. But he was left out of the registered squad at the end of January after suffering a hamstring injury. Vale were limited by the EFL squad size rules which only allowed clubs to register 22 players aged over 21.
So, Visser dropped out so striker Theo Robinson could return to the registered squad.
The club then signed former
Manchester City under-23s keeper Scott, aged 20, in January. He had been a regular on the bench before the Grimsby game, but has yet to play for the first team.
A change to the squad size rules could give the Vale more flexibility with their keepers next season. The rules were due to limit League One and Two clubs to just 20
players aged over 21 next season. However, Vale chief executive Colin Garlick has revealed clubs are considering allowing squads of 22 over-21 players, but excluding goalkeepers.