Hudson Sands

Goalkeeper - Port Vale
9 Jul 2028
Sunday
Process

Marked for Hudson Sands

99 Edition

The Port Vale Herald

19 Jun 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Port Vale make Lebogang Billiat the dearest name in their history

$7.3M. Fees like that buy a footballer and rent a debate: every touch will be measured against the number for a season at least.

The terraces

A $1.5M sale, and a town that did not want it

Rui Costa has gone, the accounts have $1.5M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.

The dugout

George Byers frozen out at Port Vale

This is not rotation. George Byers has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Port Vale is pretending otherwise.

Market

Business is business: Rui Costa goes

Chesterfield paid $1.5M and Port Vale took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

Transfer targets

Taylan Harris due for a Port Vale medical

Everything agreed with Colchester United, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Transfer targets

Port Vale baulk at the price for Josh Honohan

Lincoln City wanted more than $190.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

The terraces

The town asked, and Port Vale paid $7.3M

Lebogang Billiat was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $7.3M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.

Transfer targets

Burton Albion tell Port Vale: Archie Collins is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

George Byers in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Port Vale this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

Back issues
98 Edition

The Port Vale Herald

12 Jun 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Rui Costa has said yes to Chesterfield

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Port Vale have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Squad

Sam Hutchinson damages knee ligaments — 14 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Market

Rico Richards asks to leave Port Vale

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Transfer targets

Port Vale agree $610.0K for Hudson Sands

The clubs have shaken hands with Chelsea; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.

The terraces

Port Vale sell a favourite for $1.3M

The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Rhys Walters was one of the reasons people came, and $1.3M does not replace that by itself.

Market

Port Vale sell Rhys Walters for $1.3M

Rhys Walters has left for Huddersfield Town in a $1.3M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.

Transfer targets

Port Vale rebuffed over Will Hughes

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Crystal Palace have kept their man, and Port Vale go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

A falling-out at Port Vale

George Byers and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Connor Hall falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

In brief