David Flitcroft talks Port Vale transfer strategy and mistakes to avoid

Port Vale director of football David Flitcroft says they won’t panic about bringing in new signings as they prepare for the new season.

Vale have senior 17 professionals on their books ahead of a campaign that kicks off at home to Fleetwood on July 30. They are looking to add six-to-seven players to the squad but have said they are prepared to wait until after the start of the season to recruit some of them if necessary.

Flitcroft and manager Darrell Clarke were in touch with potential signings during last week’s training camp in Spain. The director of football says getting the right player is more important than getting them quickly.

He told the club: “You can panic. You have gaps in your squad and you can panic. You panic, you rush it and you get it wrong. Luckily we have a manager who has the experience to say, 'let’s be calm with this.”

He added: “I have done it as a younger manager. I have panicked, wanting to get all my squad in the camp. Wanting to get all my squad for six weeks so I could prepare them. I have done it and I have got three or four wrong.

“But once they are wrong, they stay wrong. Then you have to wait for the next window or the next year.”

Flitcroft says he and Clarke are judging potential recruits on their character as well as ability. He added: “It is about the person coming to our football club. So, we get the right person. We have done the work on their talent, we know they are talented and they fit into the system.

“So, are they the right person to fit into that group? If they’re not then we don’t take them.”

That’s a view shared by Clarke who said: “We have had those feelings in meetings. ‘Okay, I’m not quite sure of this one’. So, if we are not quite sure we move on. It is as simple as that.