VALIANTS HAVE BEEN HEROES
Porter tips Garrity for top honour but says collective effort has helped Vale reach play-offs
PORT Vale supporters club chairman Mark Porter says a strong field for the player-of-the-year award is a reflection of the team effort that has taken them to the play-offs.
The Vale are at Swindon on Sunday (noon) for the first leg of their semifinal, with the return leg at Vale Park on Thursday May 19.
The supporters’ club have been asking fans to vote for their player of the year over the last week. Porter says midfielder Ben Garrity, pictured, who has scored 12 goals, would be his choice, but there are plenty of worthy candidates.
He said: “I think the player of the year has been Ben Garrity but then again, if Connor Hall had been with us all season, would he have been player of the year? Also, James Wilson and Jamie Proctor have both done well.
“It has been about everybody pulling in the right direction. It’s been a really united effort. As a club we have come on leaps and bounds. Port Vale in its entirety is going to be hard to beat because we have amazing fans, great owners and staff, a great camaraderie in the team, good management and infrastructure.
“It’s a shame the award has to go to one player when a lot of people have done so much. But Ben Garrity would be my choice. He’s in his first season, has done well in midfield and, when we had no strikers available, he went up front and scored from there as well.
“He has put himself about, never stopped or shirked. But this season has been about more than one person.”
The supporters’ club’s player of the year award is named this year in memory of supporter Tony Boult who died, aged 61, in November
Tony was not only a well-known Vale supporter, he was also a driving force behind the Sproson Statue which stands outside the main entrance at Vale Park.
Meanwhile, a former Vale player of the year, Scott Brown, got a great reception from Vale’s travelling supporters at Exeter on Saturday.
Brown, who is now Exeter’s goalkeeping coach and was also on the bench on Saturday, was applauded by fans who also chanted his name.
Porter said: “It was lovely to see. Scott is a really nice guy who did lots in the community while he was here. When he was at Vale and we went to his former club, Cheltenham, he got a great reception from their supporters as well.”
Vale are hoping to join promoted Exeter in League One next season but have to overcome Swindon if they are to face the winners of the Mansfield v Northampton semi-final at Wembley on Saturday May 28.
Porter added: “I am looking forward to it. There was a chance we weren’t going to get into the play-offs but we are unrecognisable now from where we were three years ago.
“It is going to be very tense but we have to look forward to it with optimism. We could be three games from being promoted. The fans can play their part by getting behind the team.”
Port Vale are also asking fans to vote for the football club’s own player of the year and goal of the season awards. That can be done on the Vale website, with voting open until 5pm today.
Because of the play-off schedule, Vale aren’t holding a player of the year evening. But awards will still be given to players, with video coverage and interviews.