Port Vale: Bruno Ribeiro appointed as new manager at League One club

Port Vale chairman Norman Smurthwaite (centre right) has also appointed Peter Farrell (left) and Michael Brown (right) as new manager Bruno Ribeiro's backroom team at the up-for-sale club

Port Vale have appointed Bruno Ribeiro as their new manager, the Potteries club's first foreign boss.

The much-travelled Portuguese coach, 40, who first moved to English football with Leeds United in 1997, has signed a three-year deal with League One Vale.

Ribeiro, who succeeds Rob Page as boss, will have experienced Vale midfielder Michael Brown, 39, as his number two.

He also brings in former Bury, Port Vale, Crewe and Rochdale midfielder Peter Farrell as coach.

Brown was briefly a team-mate of Ribeiro's at Sheffield United in 2000-01, while Farrell, 57, was previously an assistant to Uwe Rosler at Brentford.

"It has been a long, extensive process," said Vale chairman Norman Smurthwaite. "But I'm absolutely certain we have the right man for the job."

Despite spending the second half of last season up for sale, Vale finished 12th under Page in League One, nine points outside the play-off positions.

Page left Vale Park in May to become manager of Northampton.

Ribeiro's first task will be player recruitment to plug the holes at Vale Park.

Smurthwaite offered new deals to 13 players at the end of last season, all of them on reduced terms. But, so far, five players have opted to leave Burslem and only one, long-serving defender Adam Yates, has re-signed.

Defender Richard Duffy has moved on to non-league Eastleigh, while midfielder Michael O'Connor has already indicated he will end his two-year association with the club and is considering offers from three clubs in England and one from abroad.

Strikers Louis Dodds and AJ Leitch-Smith have joined Shrewsbury Town, while winger Byron Moore has joined Bristol Rovers.

Brown plays a part in Ribeiro recruitment

Ribeiro spent four years in English football at Leeds, then Sheffield United, from 1997 to 2001

Vale chairman Smurthwaite, who had set a 21 June deadline to appoint a new manager, was helped in the selection process by Brown, who will remain part of the playing staff as well as being used in a coaching capacity.

Ribeiro started his coaching career at Portuguese top-flight side Vitoria Setubal in March 2011, but was sacked a year later.

He returned to the club in January 2015 before taking over at Bulgarian side Ludogorets, where he lasted only two months.

"My ambition was to come to England," said Ribeiro. "I believe this is a Championship club and I will do my best."