The Port Vale Herald
Squad25 Feb 2036
The knee: Ed Thomas out for 143 days
143 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Port Vale lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market25 Feb 2036
Port Vale turn down Viking for Ole Ryerson
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings25 Feb 2036
Rafael Alves goes up and wins it — 7.64
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.64 for the rest of it.
Match23 Feb 2036
Port Vale see off Shrewsbury Town
Three points for Port Vale, 2‑0 the final word against Shrewsbury Town in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings25 Feb 2036
Ninety minutes of Jadel Katongo at his very best
Marked 8.26. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Port Vale.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Port Vale lose Jonathan James
15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Oliver Evans 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.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Andrés Blanco signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andrés Blanco and Port Vale agree another 3 years.
The dugout25 Feb 2036
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Interim Coach, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
- The dugout Charles Williams gets it from the manager
- Player ratings Victor Chidadi Okechukwu beats them one at a time
- Player ratings Juan Cekalovich keeps on missing