As a strong gusty wind flew over Vale Park, Jim Gannon’s reign as Port Vale manager was blown away, writes Mike Carter.
A 2-1 defeat at home to Oxford followed by a 3-0 away loss to Accrington has put his job in jeopardy and also put Vale’s promotion hopes on the brink of disaster.
Vale had led League Two for half of the current 2010/11 season until boss Micky Adams sought his ‘dream’ job at Sheffield United in December. This still left them on the brink of automatic promotion when the former Stockport boss Gannon was appointed in January.
But after recording just four wins from 15 games the board decided to bring an end to his reign.
“It’s a tough job as a football manager and I am only trying to do my best for the club and the fans,” said Gannon, after the defeat to Oxford.
With the season coming to an end, the Valiant’s are in need of someone to spur them on again and get them back to winning ways.
Step up Mark Grew and Geoff Horsfield.
The pair have now been in temporary charge of the side for two weeks and although they haven’t found a win yet, they also haven’t lost either. A 1-1 draw against Hereford followed up with a 0-0 draw against Bury leaves Vale ninth in the table, two points of the play-offs.
Although these results leave Vale outside the top seven, there has been significant progress in the teams performances since Gannon’s departure. Midfielder Anthony Griffith acknowledged that the team are making progress and described Grew and Horsfield as ‘doing the right stuff’.
But with only eight games to go, the question on the lips of many Vale fans will be have Grew and Horsfield got the managerial experience to lead the side to
promotion? Well Grew has been at Port Vale since 1994 taking up various roles such as youth coach and assistant manager, so you can’t knock his knowledge and passion. This is his third time as caretaker manager in twelve years meaning he will also have the respect of players and fans.
Horsfield joined Vale in 2009 as player-assistant manager and only twelve months later he was installed as the full time assistant manager. A major talking point in his time at the club was his bust-up with ex-manager Gannon when both men left the team bus on the way to a match against Aldershot.
The two men certainly have played their part at the club and they will both have a vast knowledge of it but leading a team to promotion is a very different prospect. Again after the defeat to Oxford, Gannon explained that: “Promotion is one of the toughest things to achieve in football”. With that in mind and the managerial change coming so late in the season you must say Grew and Horsfield have it all to do but the partnership between the two could become the shining light in the Valiant’s season.
“It’s absolutely brilliant that Grewy and Geoff are in charge again”, said Vale’s current top scorer Marc Richards. Words like these suggest the players are fully behind the two men and they have a bond with them that they enjoy playing under. Morale is vital at a football club and some would say with good morale comes good performances.
This was there to see in the game against Bury at the weekend where Vale were unlucky not to earn all three points. After hitting the woodwork three times and creating countless opportunities they had to settle for the draw. The positive signs were there though and the change in managers looks as though it could spark a revival.
Their good work hasn’t gone unnoticed by the fans who have shown a lot more passion since the change. This prompted Grew to call them ‘the best supporters in League Two’. This relationship between fans, players and the managerial staff is looking positive, as these three components can be key to success.
If Grew and Horsefield keep working hard to please everyone involved with the club, then who knows, maybe they can guide Vale to promotion and become heroes. Grew has already stated that he believes automatic promotion is still a strong possibility and that they may not even need to go through the play offs which will delight the fans.
Vale face another two defining games next against Lincoln at Vale Park and top of the table Chesterfield. Two good results here would get the Vale fans excited again while the name Jim Gannon could be swiftly forgotten.
north staffs football 