It Reeks Of Incompetence

Dean Glover has been formally offered the job as Port Vale Manager.

The above statement speaks volumes about the integrity of The Board, and the absolute neglect of ambition within the Club.

Of course we knew Glover was to be offered the job. The Board had been clear that the appointment of a new Manager would not go externally, and it has been obvious that Glover had already assumed control of the team over the past two games, despite this nonsense about Glover & Andy Porter managing the side ‘jointly`. As we know both these games ended in defeat, and included one of the worst 45 minutes of football possibly ever played by Vale.

Given that the appointment was going internal most Fan`s would have preferred to have seen Andy Porter given the green light, and even though it was made public that, alongside Glover, he was in the frame for the job I very much doubt that within the privacy of the Boardroom that this was ever considered an option.

In terms of giving directorship to Port Vale Football Club I feel that a charge of dereliction of duty can rightfully be aimed at the Directors. We have witnessed a rapid decline in the quality of football on show, and we are heading alarmingly towards non-league football.

Glover doesn`t see it like that. Last week he was telling the media that we shouldn`t expect to see us finish higher than mid-table this season. None of us are expecting us to even muster a mid-table finish! The penny has dropped for us all that we are – and will in all likelihood – remain in a relegation battle with the squad we have.

After our latest defeat against Notts County on Saturday – our fifth consecutive league defeat leaving us 19th in the league – Glover still see`s blue skies ahead, informing The Sentinel the following:

“Thankfully there is a long way to go. We`re only just into October and we`ve got another five games this month. We just need a bit of luck to turn one result around and hopefully we can kick on from there.”

Didn`t we hear this kind of statement twelve months ago from Glover during his unsuccessful stint as caretaker Manager? Has he learnt nothing from last seasons pitiful campaign? Once again he is offering us nothing more than a whole bunch of pie in the sky.

For the record Glover had eight games in charge at Vale Park, and his return of five defeats during that period was quite rightly deemed not good enough by The Board, who subsequently employed Lee Sinnott by the slimmest of margins in a vote. How can they justify giving Glover the Managers job now, in the knowledge that the team (and therefore the Club) are in a desperate situation? Our current plight demands that we bring in someone with experience and the ability to ‘fire fight`. Its a short-term ‘fix` that we desperately need right now, then once we`ve negotiated safety and steadied the ship we can start thinking long term.

Like everything else at Vale Park at the moment this situation stinks of incompetence. It absolutely reeks of it.