Birchall adamant he wishes to remain at Vale Park

Vale midfielder Chris Birchall says it is almost inevitable that with all the players added to the squad lately, there will also be players going out on loan.

He reveals he has no intentions of joining them, he wants to do all he can to keep hold of a Vale shirt and has absolutely no desire to move elsewhere.

He said after last night’s game: “Every time we come in there seems to be a new player and the squad is getting bigger. It means more players are getting left out of the squad.

“It is up to the gaffer to pick a squad and to decide if he is going to put those players in, At the moment the lads are doing well and it is hard for anybody to come in.

“When players come in, players need to go out as well, so we will have to see what happens.”

When the squad is added to it can affect players in different ways – some may think it threatens their position in the squad, whilst others may show more determination that ever to keep their place.

Chris says: “That depends on the individual. I can only speak for me and it will definitely make me try and improve my game if I think somebody is going to come in and take my shirt.

“It is all about competition for places, and the lads have got to go out and perform and apart from sloppy defending – from the whole team, not just the defenders – we have done okay.”

It is almost inevitable that some players will be loaned out, but Birchall states that he wishes to fight for his place here at the Vale.

He says: “I can quite categorically say that I don’t want to go anywhere and if somebody came to me and said they want me to go out on loan, I would say no, I want to fight for my place.

“I don’t want to go anywhere, this is my hometown, my home club, and I would never want to go out on loan, I want to stay.”