Big Match Review - Port Vale 0 Bury 0

Port Vale 0-0 Bury

Saturday March 26, Vale Park (Att: 5,510)

Promotion-hunting Bury were happy to claim a share of the spoils after finishing with ten men against a Port Vale side frustrated in their own chase for the play offs.

The hosts dominated proceedings in the first half and were unfortunate not to go ahead when a Tom Pope header came off the bar and Marc Richards blasted the rebound over.

Richards was then denied by the woodwork himself as he slid to meet a low centre from the right only to see the upright prevent giving Vale a first half lead.

The Staffordshire side, under the caretaker management of Mark Grew, continued to press for a goal after the interval but once more were denied by the frame of keeper Cameron Belford's goal.

This time a low cross from Lewis Haldane was met with a thundering drive by Doug Loft. However, his effort ricocheted back off the post.

The Shakers ended the game with ten men after captain Steven Schumacher saw red for his challenge on Anthony Griffith. However, they were able to see out the remainder of the game.

It sees the Potteries side remain 9th, just outside the play off positions. For Bury though, while the draw means they slip to third in the table, they will be more concerned with the speculation linking Knill to the vacant managerial post at Scunthorpe.

Big Match Preview - Port Vale vs. Bury

Port Vale vs. Bury

Saturday March 26, 13:00, Vale Park

Two sides with eyes on promotion from the basement division to League One meet on Saturday lunchtime in Staffordshire as Port Vale host Bury.

It pits the visitors - who currently sit in second - against a Valiants team who, despite recently slipping out of League Two's top seven, lie just five points behind.

That loss of form saw the departure of Jim Gannon from his post as manager after a tumultuous 14-game spell at the helm. Vale won four, drew four, and lost six under the Irishman, who took over from Micky Adams.

It wasn't just on the pitch where things were tough for Gannon, as he displayed a tempestuous attitude alongside his desire to change the team's formation and playing style.

He also struggled to forge a working relationship with the club's coaching staff, including being part of an embarrassing episode where he left the team coach en route to a match at Aldershot last month.

Youth Team coach Mark Grew is now in temporary charge and began his reign with a 1-1 home draw against Hereford, a result which left the Potteries club 9th.

Only a stoppage time equaliser prevented a second successive defeat at Vale Park, although they do still boast one of the division's tightest home defences with just 16 goals conceded.

In strikers Marc and Justin Richards, too, Vale have two forwards in double figures this term and they are capable of giving any League Two defence a problematic afternoon.

Alan Knill and Bury are in a strong position to win promotion from League Two

Problems of their own are exactly what they will face from Bury though, who make the trip to the West Midlands with the best away record in League Two.

The Shakers have won ten and drawn four of their 19 games on the road this term, scoring 37 goals along the way.

Indeed, after successive home defeats to Torquay and Cheltenham, boss Alan Knill may well be relieved for his side to be back on their travels, where they will be seeking to keep a fourth straight clean sheet.

Knill will also be keen, after missing out on automatic promotion in 2009 on goal difference before losing in the play offs, to ensure the Lancashire side maintain the top three position they currently hold.

The Gigg Lane outfit sit four points clear of the play off positions going into the final nine games - but then they had been sitting second in 2009 with just four games remaining.

Without a doubt, the stand out man for the Shakers has been striker Ryan Lowe who recently scored in ten successive matches and is the division's top scorer having registered 23 goals.

This is a match-up between two sides who faced one another on the opening day of the campaign.

On that occasion it went the way of Vale. However, I can see Bury exactly some long awaited revenge this weekend to continue their great away record.

Nobes' Prediction: Port Vale 0 Bury 1

Moving On Up

With Dean Holdsworth swapping Conference side Newport County for League Two Aldershot Town, Nobes looks back at other managers who have made the leap from Non League to Football League.

Dean Holdsworth managed Newport to Conference South glory last season

Good things come to those who wait, so say a famous Irish stout company, anyway. However, it's even better when you don't have to wait. Instead, you can simply grab the first opportunity that comes your way.

That's the scenario Dean Holdsworth faced, when the 42-year-old boss of Conference high-flyers Newport County was approached to fill the vacant post at League Two Aldershot Town after Kevin Dillon's dismissal.

As soon as the Hampshire club came calling, Holdsworth was, appropriately enough, off like a shot. Swapping one phoenix club for another as he looks to establish himself in the 92 club.

He's not the first Non League boss to be in charge of a Football League club without having earned it via promotion though. Here's a look back at some of the others and how they fared or are faring.


Mark Yates

Yates served his apprenticeship in the Conference with Kidderminster Harriers - making steady progress towards the top five over two and a half seasons.

He was given his opportunity in the Football League with former club Cheltenham last term with the Robins struggling towards the foot of League Two.

Steered them to safety and, this term, has the Gloucestershire outfit competing for a place in the play offs.

Verdict: So far, so good.


Mark Cooper

His first job came at Tamworth where, although overseeing their relegation from the Conference, he took the Lambs on a memorable FA Cup run.

Achieved success at Kettering, winning the Conference North title and established them back in the Conference.

The Kettles also enjoyed two fine runs in the FA Cup.

After being linked with various League Two jobs, he was a surprise choice to fill the job at Championship Peterborough.

However, poor results and an ugly style of football saw him last just three months.

Now back in the Conference rebuilding his career with Darlington.

Verdict: Posh were the wrong club for Cooper to take the plunge with. He could still do a job in the lower reaches of the Football League some time.


Martin Allen

With Barnet challenging in the Conference's top five in 2004, Allen got the call from League One strugglers Brentford to help them avoid the drop.

He did just that, and then took them to successive play off finishes, albeit both times the Bees fell short and failed to gain promotion.

His next job came at League Two Milton Keynes, when he again came up short in the play offs.

A short spell at Leicester followed before returning to League One for Cheltenham's battle against the drop in 2008.

This time he failed to win it though and a poor start to last season cost him his job. He's still searching for employment.

Verdict: Downhill since leaving Brentford. His route one style of football aside, at the right club he could do well in the Football League.


Lee Sinnott

Farsley Celtic were in Non League obscurity before Sinnott took them to three promotions in four seasons to help them into the Conference Premier.

In 2007, he was offered a break in the Football League with Port Vale, who were struggling against relegation in League One.

He couldn't prevent Vale from slipping into League Two and he had departed after a few weeks of the next season - less than a year after taking the helm.

Returned to management in the Non Leagues at Northern Premier League side Bradford Park Avenue but was dismissed after failing to challenge for promotion despite a heavy spending spree.

Verdict: Lee Who? Short Football League tenure never likely to be repeated.


Mark Stimson

Stimson was hot property in 2007 after a spectacular start to management.

He had taken Grays Athletic to promotion to the Conference before successive FA Trophy wins and a place in the end of season play offs.

Failing to win promotion with the Essex outfit, he moved to Stevenage where he made it three FA Trophy successes on the bounce.

His penchant for an attractive, attacking based game also won him admirers.

However, when he made the leap up to League One Gillingham he found the going tough. The Gills were relegated - although he led them straight back up again via the play offs 12 months later.

A failure to win a single away win last season saw Gillingham relegated back down again though, and Stimson sacked.

He moved to Barnet over the summer, but left them at the start of the year with the London side rooted in League Two's drop zone.

Verdict: Once a rising star, but two relegations and a torrid time at Barnet have ensured the star has faded. A Non League return surely beckons.


Russell Slade

Gained fame by guiding cash-strapped Scarborough to the FA Cup fourth round where they faced Chelsea.

It earned him a crack in the Football League with Grimsby.

He took the Lincolnshire club to the League Two play off final in 2006, but they ended up on the losing side.

He then moved to League One Yeovil, who he also took to the play off final, only to lose once again.

Departed Huish Park in 2009 and joined Brighton - engineering a miraculous escape from the League One drop.

Was fired last season only to turn up at Leyton Orient, where he remains today after orchestrating another great escape from relegation to League Two last term.

Verdict: Made a niche for himself in the League as a fine fire fighter with an ability to work on a small budget.


Nigel Clough

The son of the legendary Brian spent a decade at the helm of Staffordshire side Burton Albion.

He guided them into the Conference Premier, establishing them as a top five side.

He left them in 2009 top of the table and in pole position to win promotion to the Football League - which they did.

However, he couldn't turn down the advances of Championship side Derby County, where he helped keep the Rams in the division before achieving a mid table finish last term.

With Derby occupying a top half place for the majority of this season, he is making slow progress towards their goal of promotion.

Verdict: Needs to keep progressing or the patience he has been afforded by Derby will begin to run out.

Made Some Mistakes, Had My Share Of The Breaks

With Micky Adams leaving Port Vale to take over at boyhood club Sheffield United, Nobes analyses the appointment and why managers allow the heart to rule the head.

Sheffield-born Micky Adams has returned to the Steel City at United

At times over the past fortnight it seemed the vacant managerial job at Sheffield United was the subject to an altogether different game of The Weakest Link.

Anyone with a connection to South Yorkshire, Sheffield, or the Blades seemed to be in the frame - sometimes with little or no justification.

From a combination of brothers and former Blades - Brentford's Andy Scott and Boston's Rob - to Stocksbridge born Chris Wilder, currently at League Two Oxford, the net for Gary Speed's replacement was cast wide.

In the end, United's decision to plump for Sheffielder and United fan Micky Adams shouldn't come as a surprise for a number of reasons.

After his first two games in charge - a defeat at Burnley followed by yesterday's comeback draw against Doncaster - he will be under no illusions either of the extent of the job he was walked into.

Just a point above the drop zone, United are in a fight for survival, and Adams has been deemed a safe pair of hands to ensure that Bramall Lane is still playing host to second tier matches next term.

The 49-year-old is much travelled and has a solid record in the Championship, too. In 2003 he took Leicester to automatic promotion to the Premier League - where he almost kept the Foxes up.

His time at Coventry has not been bettered by any Sky Blues manager in the Championship before or since either. The Warwickshire outfit finished the 2005/6 campaign in 8th - before he was harshly dismissed less than a year later.

Promotions earlier in his career were also achieved lower down the pyramid at Brighton & Hove Albion and Fulham, and he has left Port Vale in the top three of the basement tier and on course for elevation into League One.

Critics would point to his bizarre 13-day reign as Swansea boss and struggles at Brentford as well an ill-advised second spell at Brighton.

He was also aided at Leicester by the club wiping huge amounts of their debt through their CVA - and still managing to hang onto the majority of their team relegated from the top flight.

Still, his record stands up favourably compared to some of the other names suggested for the job. Keeping United up would be another feather in his cap, too.

The Blades have been in disarray, with the departure of Kevin Blackwell early on and Speed leaving to take over as coach of the Welsh national team.

All of which means, for the first time in their history, the Yorkshire side are onto their third permanent manager during a season.

Adams takes over at the club he supported as a boy at a difficult time both on and off the pitch. While the team clearly needs strengthening, finances are tight and he will require all his firefighting skills over the coming months.

Money may well have been key in the Sheffielder being handed the job instead of Doncaster's highly-rated Sean O'Driscoll.

As well as compensation Donny would have demanded, O'Driscoll would likely have requested significant funds to ship out certain players and bring others more conducive to his passing style in.

In Adams, United have a manager whose direct tactics will be a better fit for the players at his disposal.

Chairman Kevin McCabe probably deduced, too, that a relegation battle was not the ideal time for the kind of culture change they wished to have occurred under Speed.

United are also the only one of Yorkshire's premier clubs not to have experienced life outside the top two tiers in the last decade, staying up is a matter of pride as well as being crucial to finances.

However, while such thinking may prove successful in the short term, it is a cause for further frustration for Blades fans on the terraces.

Their club appear trapped in a vicious circle which always ends up with them returning to the long ball style now synonymous with United.

I spoke after Speed's appointment of their desire to move away from the route one styles preferred by past Blades managers like Dave Bassett, Neil Warnock, and Blackwell himself.

However, just as when they attempted the same with Bryan Robson's appointment in 2007 - when Blackwell rode to the rescue - United are once again reverting to type with Adams.

Just as a long punt forward out of defence can be the safest option, the red and white half of Sheffield appear unable to put down the comfort blanket that is the percentage game.

Now was not the time to take a risk on up-and-coming managers like Keith Hill, Paul Tisdale, or Eddie Howe. The timing wasn't right to take a punt on Paul Peschisolido. Desperate times called for safe measures.

Gary Speed endured a tough time in his four months in charge at United

When will that time come though? Once survival has been achieved, how long before grumblings on the terraces about their manager's tactics become louder?

Adams will need his team to be competing in and around the top six to placate supporters desperate to find the right balance between success and entertainment.

It's the kind of challenge which may have put some managers off. However, when Adams was offered the job, the choice between a fight for promotion and a battle against the drop was only going to go one way.

The chance to return home, to resurrect the fortunes of the club he began his playing career at, to bring success to the team he used to cheer from the Bramall Lane terraces, was probably the easiest decision he had ever made.

After all, which one of us wouldn't want to play or manage our own club? It is the dream scenario - playing a part in bringing glory to our own team.

Indeed, ask another Sheffielder and ex-Blades boss Neil Warnock and, even if he might not admit as much publicly, his most pleasing moment in management would have been taking United to promotion in 2006.

Whatever he does at current Championship top dogs Queens Park Rangers won't eclipse his joy at taking the club he will be remembered most vividly with into England's top flight. It is the pull of your roots.

Blackpool's Simon Grayson had no hesitation in dropping down a division to take over at Leeds - the club he supported as a boy. Promotion last season at Elland Road must have tasted sweet.

Would Colin Lee, after departing from Championship Wolves, have gone to any other basement division side battling relegation other than home town club Torquay?

It's doubtful. Lee triumphed, keeping the Gulls in the Football League on the final day in 2001.

Of course, it can go the other way, too. In 2002, with Hartlepool riding high in League Two, Chris Turner answered the call from his boyhood club, Sheffield Wednesday, to save them from the drop.

He failed and, after struggling to get them competing for promotion from League One, was dismissed. Hartlepool, meanwhile, won promotion without him and then made the third tier play offs for successive seasons.

It was the other way around for Carlisle-born Paul Simpson. Who, after leading the Cumbrians to successive promotions, left to join rivals Preston - leaving those at Brunton Park feeling betrayed.

For one reason or another, local boys are attractive prospects for clubs looking for managers though. Maybe chairmen believe they understand the club better, will work harder for success, or just be able to connect more easily with the supporters.

As with ex-players returning as manager, there is the idea that certain clubs have 'identities' which having a prior knowledge of can prove advantageous when trying to lead them to success.

Steve Cotterill guided his home town club Cheltenham from Non League obscurity into League One during the '90s. He left for Stoke with the best wishes of everyone from the Robins.

Cotterill connected with the people of Gloucestershire, he was one of them. Contrast that, though, with the actions of Londoner Martin Allen who, during his time at Whaddon Road, ruffled feathers everywhere he turned in the Cotswolds.

'Home advantage' has probably paid a part in other appointments, too. Prior to Sheffield United, Kevin Blackwell had been in charge at his home town team, Luton.

Oxfordshire-born Mark Wright was the man chosen to lead Oxford after their relegation to League Two in 2001. Liverpudlian Ronnie Moore was an obvious choice when the Tranmere job became vacant in 2006.

Of course, not all succeed. Sometimes the added pressure of being a local can count against a manager. Sometimes the emotional attachment can prove too great.

Sometimes you don't need any local connection or affiliation with a club whatsoever to achieve success either - just ask Blackpool and their unmistakable West Countryman Ian Holloway.

Not so with Adams. A proud Steel City man who now has his dream, if demanding, job. The rewards for success will be great. Failure - and he will have nowhere to hide.

Big Match Review - Port Vale 1 Torquay 2

Port Vale 1-2 Torquay United

Saturday August 28, Vale Park, (Att: 5,750)

Torquay failed to keep an eleventh straight clean sheet, but maintained their 100 per cent record - and top spot in League Two - with victory at Vale Park.

Paul Buckle's side got off to a dream start when taking the lead within the first five minutes.

Sloppy play in midfield saw Chris Zebroski seize the ball and his surging run into the box was only stopped by a foul from home keeper Stuart Tomlinson.

Nicky Wroe stepped up to send Tomlinson the wrong way and put Torquay 1-0 up.

That advantage was soon doubled. The Valiants failed to deal with a long throw into the box and the ball broke for Zebroski to poke home with just 28 minutes played.

However, their long stretch without conceding was finally ended as Vale pulled a goal back before the break.

Anthony Griffith's long range screamer from 30 yards beat keeper Scott Bevan down low to his right as the Devon team conceded their first league goal since April.

However, a resolute defensive display in the second period ensured the Gulls weren't to be denied a fourth straight win as they inflicted a first loss of the season on Vale.

Big Match Preview

Port Vale vs. Torquay United

Saturday August 28, 15:00, Vale Park

It's still very early days, but two of the frontrunners in the embryonic League Two standings meet in the Potteries this weekend.

Both Port Vale and Torquay have made promising starts to the new campaign, with this game pitting 4th against 1st. It also gives the away side the chance to write their names into the footballing history books.

Torquay have kept clean sheets in their last 10 league games - stretching back to April last season. An 11th at Vale Park would see them match Millwall's record dating back to the 1925/6 campaign.

That defensive solidity has been at the heart of Paul Buckle's side's impressive beginning to the season. As well as not giving anything away, the Gulls have taken maximum spoils from their first three games.

A crushing 3-0 victory over Northampton on the opening day was followed by a 2-0 win at Lincoln. Then, last weekend, pre-season favourites Bradford were swept aside by the same scoreline at Plainmoor.

The Devon side travel to the West Midlands brimming with confidence therefore, as they look to maintain their excellent early form.

Central to their rock solid backline has been the influence of experienced centre half Guy Branston. After making his loan move from Burton permanent in the summer, he has once again helped United look resolute at the back.

Alongside Mark Ellis, Chris Robertson, and Kevin Nicholson, and with the very able Scott Bevan in goal behind them, Buckle will be confident he has the unit to frustrate their hosts.

With strikers Elliott Benyon and Chris Zebroski both in goalscoring form, too, the Gulls will hope to cause a threat of their own down the other end of the pitch.

Can Micky Adams and Port Vale end Torquay's clean sheet run?

In their way stand Micky Adam's Vale side - looking to bounce back from last night's 6-0 thumping against Fulham in the League Cup.

Despite that heavy loss, they had progressed through to the tie at Craven Cottage after a shock win at Championship leaders QPR - a sign of their credentials.

In the league, the Valiants remain unbeaten having taken seven points from nine. That includes two away wins from two at Bury and then last weekend's 3-1 success at Southend.

Their one home match so far saw a 1-1 draw with Chesterfield, and the former Leicester boss will be looking to secure their first triumph at Vale Park - where they struggled to win at times last term.

Up front, Vale boast the Richards double-act with strikers Justin and Marc scoring three and two goals respectively to date.

The Staffordshire outfit have also looked solid at the back, with just two goals conceded in their three league games.

Goalkeeper Stuart Tomlinson, a summer signing from Barrow, is protected by defenders John McCombe, Gareth Owen, and Lee Collins - who grabbed Vale's winning goal on the opening day.

It promises to be a tight encounter between two well organised sides who look to build from the back. It's difficult, therefore, to see too many goals.

Vale are a difficult team to beat, although they may well suffer for their midweek cup excursions. The first goal will be vital, and if Torquay get it they can hold on to make history.

Nobes' Prediction: Port Vale 0 Torquay United 1