Michael Brown: Port Vale caretaker boss judged on results, says chairman

Port Vale have earned four points out of a possible six since Brown took over following Bruno Ribeiro's exit

Port Vale chairman Norman Smurthwaite says results will dictate whether Michael Brown gets the job as manager of the League One club.

Brown, 39, was named caretaker boss in the immediate aftermath of Bruno Ribeiro's resignation following the 1-0 home defeat by Walsall on Boxing Day.

But, with Vale having risen back up to 15th in the table, Smurthwaite will assess things at the end of January.

"Michael has always been in my plans to be involved," he told BBC Radio Stoke.

"I'd like him to have been involved a lot more under Bruno but he was excluded from a lot of it as Bruno kept it close to himself.

"He knows a lot of people, he's very well connected and I genuinely believe that, at some point, he will be manager of Port Vale.

"Results will dictate the timescale. I'm hoping he gets an easy ride over the next few weeks.

"Even if he doesn't get the job, he will remain as assistant manager as he is contracted until at least the summer of 2018."

Smurthwaite also revealed that he has used ex-Finland striker Mixu Paatelainen, the former Dundee and Kilmarnock boss, in a consultancy role having invited him to watch Saturday's 4-0 FA Cup third-round defeat at Championship side Huddersfield.

"I've got very little football experience," admitted Smurthwaite. "Mixu was introduced to me as someone who could give me a layman's view."

Vale in the January transfer window

Smurthwaite hopes to offload some of Ribeiro's summer signings in the January transfer window.

Having left transfer negotiations between Brown and Vale chief executive Colin Garlick, Smurthwaite said: "I'm only really involved now when it comes to prising open the sweetie jar for the money, but we've got a lot of work to do.

"We had a project that didn't work. A lot of players came to play for Bruno. Hopefully some of them, now that Bruno's not there, will choose to go back to their native country.

"It depends if they'd rather stay at home and play on their PlayStations or go out and play football elsewhere, as they've no chance of playing for ourselves.

"But trying to understand players' mindsets is not something I've been able to do in four years and I don't suppose the next four years will make it any easier for me.

"There are some players in the latter part of their careers who will want to play, rather than sit at home and just take the cash. But, with some of the youngsters who won't feature and may never feature, it's not that easy to send them out on loan and look at their options."