Erik Sviatchenko was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Port Vale training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rui Costa is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Richard Lawrence has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Doncaster Rovers defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Erik Sviatchenko was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Port Vale training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Henderson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. David Lawrence has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Benjamin White has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
A mark of 7.77, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Oliver Harris kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Rui Costa 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Funso Ojo and Port Vale agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Oliver Harris to a room that had heard them before.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
0‑3 against Bolton Wanderers, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 10 signed and 6 gone
That is the business done at Port Vale until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Port Vale had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Young Boys, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Rui Costa and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Port Vale training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Henderson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Oliver Harris to a room that had heard them before.