Michael Brown says he is looking forward to Saturday’s season opener at Crawley Town labelling it as “exciting times” for the football club.
Vale will make the long journey down South this weekend to open up the League Two campaign in hope of getting a positive result after a solid pre-season.
Talking to the media before Saturday’s game, the gaffer reminisces on his time as a player describing his feelings and emotions for the opening day of any football season, he said: “It’s exciting times. I will always remember it as a player when you stood there on the first day with the crowd back; for me, it was always when you were in the tunnel as you’re about to walk out onto the pitch for the first time of the season.
“It was always special. For me, standing there in a different way and a different capacity – I’ll certainly look forward to that.
“We’re ready. It’s a new team and we’re looking to see how they gel. It’ll take a bit of time for us but we’re looking forward to it and a plan is in place.”
With a fresh start for Brown awaiting this weekend, it’s also a clean slate for Reds’ manager Harry Kewell as he prepares for his official start with Crawley.
The gaffer is expecting a tough match against the Australian’s squad and is aware of the abilities they carry: “It’ll be a difficult game. I think they will want to play good football; Harry [Kewell] will want them to do that.
“They will play out from the back but they will certainly have an alternative but it will be a good match for us and we’re looking forward to it.”
Despite the drop down to League Two, Brown says that there isn’t much difference between the two divisions and Vale will face several types of opponents with many different styles of play, for the upcoming campaign.
He said: “There will be different challenges, I think the quality might not be as good but the gap isn’t a huge difference.
“There will be teams who play nice football and teams who ‘go long’. There will be some good footballers and the lower down you go it’s about being consistent in decision making, so you will certainly get teams playing well but can they do it all the time?
“We’re looking for consistency and to be better defensively – then we can build from there.”