Vale Boss Discusses This Morning's Announcement

says he wants to keep the team spirit of last season’s squad in tact and build on it with four or five quality additions. Rob PagePort Vale manager 

The club’s retained list was released this morning with thirteen players being offered new deals at Vale Park.

Those add to the ten already under contract - including the likes of goalkeeper Chris Neal, captain Carl Dickinson and winger Byron Moore. 

Chris Robertson, Kaid Mohamed and Alex Nimely have been released.

Speaking to Valiant Player, Page discussed the decision behind the retained list and how he hopes to improve the squad over the summer.

He said: “There’s loads of clubs at the minute releasing fourteen players, twelve players. We haven’t got the facility; we haven’t got the budget that allows us to do that.

“I know those group of players inside out, I know the character of them and it’s important that we keep that camaraderie that they’ve got in that changing room.

“That’s what’s helped towards the end of the season because not once but twice they found themselves in a relegation scrap and credit to the players, they showed the character to get out.

“Now what I’m saying is you need that character but you also need a little bit of quality to go with it as well as that’s what we need to address.

“It’s an opportunity for me to put my stamp on it now and bring some additions in. Other clubs are making wholesale changes – we can’t do that.

“I know those people, I can’t bring ten new faces in that I know nothing about and the budget doesn’t allow me to do that.

“So it’s managing the budget in the right way that I see fit and the most important thing is bringing players into the squad that are going to make us better.”

Click here to watch the full interview with Rob Page on Valiant Player as he talks about his new contract, Mark Grew’s departure and the appointment of new backroom staff.