Port Vale’s new manager Darrell Clarke met the local media this morning. Here’s every word of his press conference from Vale Park.
WAS IT A DIFFICULT SITUATION (leaving Walsall) OR DID YOU FEEL 'I WANT THIS JOB' WHEN YOU KNEW PORT VALE WOULD BE TALKING TO YOUR BOARD?
“It is always a difficult situation when you are leaving good people, which were running Walsall. I had a great relationship with the chairman there. Dan Mole (club secretary), it is a tight-knit group.
“But when you are a football manager you are always looking, not elsewhere for other jobs, but you are looking at what clubs are doing and why they are doing it.
“I get out of bed to be successful. That’s what I’m about, I want success and sometimes you have to take a move that I think gives me a better chance of success.
“Walsall was a fantastic club but the financial predicament, losing best players, having to restart but still expecting to finish in the top seven. Well, I apologise but I am not Houdini.
“The move for me is the right one because I think it gives me the best opportunity for success. That is why I get up in the morning, I want to win games, I want to win promotions.
“I have that thirst and hunger.
“Also, the feel about the place. Carol is a remarkable woman. I think the Port Vale supporters are very fortunate to have an owner that cares so much about the football club.
“I have known David Flitcroft from my courses. But let’s get things straight, me and Flickers haven’t been mates. It is not like we are on the phone every week. I speak to Flickers probably four or five times a season like I would speak to a Paul Cook, a Nigel Clough, other managers that I communicate and network with.
“Flickers has always…when I have spoken to him, when I have been on the courses, we share the same values of what creating a winning environment is all about, a successful environment.
“You go to a lot of clubs and you will listen up and down the country that all people want to talk about is, ‘we want success’.
“Well, how do you get it? We can all say the word success can’t we? But how do you actually get that?
“I feel there is a fantastic opportunity here to get success and that’s why I’m here.”
SO WITH THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YOU AND DAVID (AND THE BOARD). ARE YOU ALL SINGING OFF THE SAME HYMN SHEET?
Darrell Clarke: “We will have debates along the way. That is what we are about, we will agree on things and disagree on things but we will all be aiming for the same goal. That is to bring success to this football club. Every minute of every hour of every day, that is all I think about, bringing success to this football club.
“Are there going to be challenges? Yes. Flickers is a top class manager in his own right. He has got success on it. We will bounce off things. Some things we won’t agree with, disagree with, but that is not a problem. I’m picking the team, I’m responsible to win football matches and Flickers and Carol are going to work very hard in the background to give me the resources to do that.
“That is not spending ridiculous amounts of money, we are going to be doing it properly, we are going to be developing our own players. I have had massive success throughout my career doing that.
“We will be doing it sensibly at the right time and making sure that infrastructure is absolutely spot on because, you’d have seen it, there is a club in our division that can have treble the budget we are on and it doesn’t guarantee you success.
“What guarantees you a good chance of success is getting the infrastructure, the training facilities, the staff and everything else absolutely spot on. I believe I will get the platform to do that here.”
YOU COULD HAVE BEEN A PLAYER HERE COULDN’T YOU? (He played for two minutes as a sub on loan under Martin Foyle in 2005)
“I had the best two minutes here as a player!”
“Martin (Foyle) who is up at Motherwell still, texted me actually. He’s a fantastic guy and is a Port Vale legend. Well thanks for playing me for two minutes Martin, at least I know where the home changing rooms are.”
CAN YOU SEE THE POTENTIAL FOR SUCCESS HERE?
“There are a lot of similarities I would say between Port Vale and Bristol Rovers. Two-club city. When I was at Bristol Rovers the ‘prawn brigade’ was the other side. Stoke is probably the ‘prawn brigade’ this side.
“Port Vale, we are the rough and ready but we want to be moving in the right direction. The fans are going to play a massive, important part in that I am just gutted they can’t be in. But it is up to me to get them a team they can be proud of to come on a Saturday afternoon at 3pm to support.”
WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO PORT VALE, LEAVING A LEAGUE RIVAL IN WALSALL?
“An opportunity to get success. I feel (is) better at Port Vale than Walsall. Will that prove me wrong? I don’t know, time will tell on that won’t it?
“But for me, I like where we are heading. It is going to take a bit of patience, a bit of time. A lot of assessment but I like to think there is a real platform to get that success.
“This is certainly not being disrespectful to Walsall my old club. Good people that work there but it is a tough time with the finances.
“But I am not a manager that comes in and goes ‘I want this, I want this to spend on players’. I will always have the best interests of the football club before myself. As much as I want to win.
“If Carol said to me, ‘Darrell, we need to sell this player because it is in the benefit of the club,’ then we sell that player, we move on.
“At Walsall, the situation was it was the right call but they had to lose their best players because of the financial situation at the football club.
“You always do the best but as a manager you want success and I want more promotions on my CV. That’s why I’m here.”
YOU HAVE PLAYED PORT VALE RECENTLY IN THE LEAGUE SO HAVE YOU SEEN MUCH TO ENCOURAGE YOU THAT THE CLUB CAN PUSH UP THE TABLE THIS SEASON?
“My glass is always half full. I have only just stepped in the door. There will be a lot of work, 11 games left in the season, 18 games we have left and not many sessions between those games. It is a packed in period at that. So, let me assess everything down to my staff.
“I will be working with my staff. Billy will be coming up to me. Billy Paynter who I know and have played with, is going to be helping me and Danny (Pugh) out.
“I will work with the staff. I have just had my staff meeting and me and David (Flitcroft) will be assessing everything daily, weekly, and the platform will be ‘what do we need to be successful?,’ and then we will go to Carol.
“My early impressions are that Carol will back things up when it is the right time to back things.”
HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO HAVE SOMEONE LIKE DANNY PUGH ON BOARD WHO KNOWS THE PLAYERS HAVING WORKED WITH THEM FOR A WHILE. ALSO, YOU CAN HELP HIM WITH THE CAREER HE WANTS?
“Certainly. But I know my football. This is no disrespect, I know a lot about Port Vale players because I do my analysis on the opposition when we played them when I was at Walsall. We played a couple of times so I know about it.
“I know all the players in the squad. I know all the players in most squads if I am honest with you. That’s my job to know that.
“So, yes, I will look at things and see how they train, see how they are professional and see how things go with them.
“The slate is clean, then we will move from there. Players will get their opportunity to impress. If they want to be part of the journey, that will be interesting, if they want to be part of the journey. If they don’t want to be part of the journey then they will move on.”
YOU MENTIONED COACHING THERE. DO YOU KNOW YET WHAT YOUR COACHING SET UP WILL BE? HAVE YOU GOT AS FAR AS TITLES, ASSISTANT MANAGER AND SO ON?
“There are no titles to be given. They are my backroom team as it stands at the minute, as what it is. I will be working with the analyst, the sports science, the physio, but they will be doing it how I want to do it and how I look at things. Hopefully they can adapt to change because they will have to, because I work differently to the previous manager.
“That is not being disrespectful to previous managers. Every manager has their way of working and I will assess them, I will help them, I will guide them. Personal development, I will try to make them better coaches, better people, just like I am trying to make my players better players, better people. So, we will be assessing along the way.”
YOU’VE MANAGED OTHER TEAMS AT PORT VALE? WHAT HAVE TO MADE OF THE SET UP AND THE ATMOSPHERE?
“All I can say it has a really good feel. I have managed here a few times as well. Passionate fans, I love that. They care so much, they live for the football a lot of the fans.
“I think they are very similar to the Bristol Rovers fans. If I am matching the two together. They live for their football and us three on this table are itching to give them success. That is what we will be looking to do.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK THE POTENTIAL IS HERE AT VALE?
“Potential can be anything. How many years now have we been saying, ‘the potential?’
“You guys have probably been reporting for a long time. ‘Potential, potential, potential,’ but we don’t get there.
“It is an easy word to say isn’t it? ‘Potential success’ and we want this but we you have a lot of work to get that.
“But the potential is there for all to see if we are doing well. When I took over Rovers there was 5,500 average in League Two. Then we averaged 7,000 – 8,000 in the Conference because we were winning games and fans were enjoying the football.
“That is what Port Vale is, isn’t it? You will always have your hardcore supporters. We want everybody coming back on the bandwagon but the only way you do that is by winning football matches. So no pressure then!”
HA! SO TO PUT MORE PRESSURE ON YOU I GUESS, HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE WAY YOUR TEAMS LIKE TO PLAY? WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM YOUR TEAMS?
“Ah, the old philosophy shout isn’t it. We love that one don’t we?
“We want to press high’, ‘play out from the back’ and all that, everyone watches telly. Too much football on telly now so everyone is an expert. ‘Let’s play how Liverpool did last year, but not this year.’
“Listen, it is about winning games. I always say this.
“So, where is your philosophy when you go on a pitch that is bobbly and, no disrespect, Newport where they play rugby (on the pitch) later on in the season. What do you want to do there? Play out from the back? Play through the thirds? You’ve got to win that game haven’t you?
“People take the mickey out of me but every game is a different project. Yes we will have a philosophy, if you like to call it that, with a winning environment, every minute training, every time we perform in training setting that environment and then we will have a game plan. And hopefully I will get more game plans right. If not, I am out of the door.”
