Gaffer says fans key to home success

Micky Adams praised the Vale supporters following the home defeat to Sheffield United and says they have played a big part in Vale’s good home form this season.

“Our supporters were fantastic. Why have we got so many home wins? I think it is the crowd because they give the players the encouragement to go and play and the belief.

“They give them the encouragement to make mistakes if you like – sometimes that is difficult, that‘s why we have had so many home wins, because the crowd have been so good. They were excellent on Friday night, I can’t fault them.”

The Vale boss wouldn’t be drawn when asked about signing a new contract with the club, but he gave the fans and players a glimmer of hope, saying he is happy at the club.

He said: “I have said it many times before – I am not Mystic Meg, I can’t see into the future, but if it was my last home game I am a proud man.

“I am pleased with what I have achieved here, but like footballers who come to the end of their contracts, they are free agents.

“I am certainly not touting myself around, but as far as the contract situation, this could have been sorted last summer.

“I was happy when Paul Wildes offered me a contract and for some reason it was taken away from me.

“And that’s not having a go at Norman. Norman had to find his feet, he had to know what he wanted in the football club.

“He’s learning, he’s getting there, and I think I have helped him as much as I can. The one thing that he wanted when he first met me, he wanted me to help him and I think I have done that.

“The future is bright for Port Vale, I am sure. Whether I am here or not is another matter, but I am certainly going to have a look at the contract.

“I am happy at the club, that’s the thing, I am happy working with the people that I work with, but it is not only that – it is a big decision.

“I will look at it and then I need to speak to the League Managers Association and then my own personal lawyer, and if it is okay, we will take it from there.

“I am happy here. You have seen the support I received on Friday night and that was after a defeat. As a football manager you have to make decisions and I am not going to keep everybody happy.

“There are people out there that don’t particularly like me, there are people praying that I leave, but I think the general consensus of opinion is that I have done a decent job and that they want me to stay.

“But I want to build on what we have done here and to build on that you need your better players to sign contracts and you need to bring in better players in certain areas that we are lacking.

“What you have then got to think about is, is there enough money in the budget to do that? Because if there isn’t and it is going to be a struggle, then that’s the sort of questions that I have got to be asking.

“So it’s not quite as simple as ‘Here’s a contract – sign it’. There are other questions that I need to sit down with Norman, with the greatest respect, and ask him the questions, because he is the only man that knows the answers.”