We preview the upcoming League One clash with Bradford City.
Fixture - Bradford City vs Port Vale
Date - 6th of August 2016
Venue -Valley Parade
Preview
The Sky Bet League One 2016/17 campaign gets underway this weekend and there is a whole host of excitement surrounding this season.
In what has been one of the biggest shake-ups in the history of Port Vale, the club have welcomed new manager Bruno Ribeiro as manager and 13 fresh faces in the laying department.
Everyone connected with the club is excited to see the weeks of planning and preparing put into action when Vale visit Bradford.
The two sides met twice last season, with the Bantams winning the first clash and the second meeting a 1-1 draw at Vale Park.
The Opposition
Bradford City come into the 2016/17 season with a fresh change like Vale, as they now have new owners, after the club was bought in May.
Phil Parkinson left from the helm at Valley Parade and was replaced by an old favourite, in the form of Stuart McCall, for his second stint in charge at Bradford.
The Bantams will be hoping they can build on their form last season and have anoter crack at the play-offs and this time prevail and rise to the Championship once again.
Team News
Rory McArdle and Stephen Darby are set to miss the game through injury and could be out for up to a month.
Vale have no fresh injuries concerns for the clash, but Kiko remains absent with an injury. Other long-term injuries remain, with Michael Brown and Adam Yates out.
Pre-Match Talk
McCall: "Port Vale have brought a large number of new players in over the summer. I have watched them a couple of times over pre-season and they will certainly carry a threat.
"They seem to be playing well together as a group and they have put in some competitive performances against good sides in recent weeks.
"We're expecting a difficult game but, as always, our main focus will be on ourselves and on how well we can play.”
Brown: “We’re all looking forward to it, it’s been a long time coming with all the change but we’ve done five weeks of preparation now.
“The boys and staff are raring to go and hopefully we can take a lot of support up there.
“We’re going to try get the three points and that’s the main objective, to be on the front foot and try and attack at Bradford as best we can.”
Coverage
Valiant PlayerHD will be providing full 90 minute commentary from the match, while the Port Vale Twitter and Facebook feed will be providing live updates for the entirety.
There will also be build-up to the game with the official Snapchat account: officialpvfc.
Reaction will be available on the official website post-match, as well as on YouTube, PlayerHD and social media.