Michael Brown: Port Vale need clear-out after relegation, says caretaker manager

Michael Brown became Port Vale's caretaker manager after Bruno Ribeiro's resignation on 26 December

Port Vale caretaker manager Michael Brown hopes to be given the job of rebuilding the club following their relegation from League One.

Confirmation of Vale's return to League Two came when Brown's side could only draw 0-0 at Fleetwood on Sunday, when victory would have kept them up.

Vale's form dipped after 10-goal top scorer Alex Jones' loan deal expired and he joined Bradford in January.

"We've had extremely difficult circumstances," said Brown, 40.

He told BBC Radio Stoke: "To deliver a relegation in my first job, I'm still very disappointed, and I want to prove to everyone that I can build a good team.

"With the staff I have, and the contacts, we hope to get a team the Vale fans are proud of."

Brown's rebuilding job

As a contracted Vale player since the summer of 2014, Brown has witnessed a major reconstruction at the club.

It began at the start of the season when manager Rob Page left for Northampton, and his assistant Brown became part of chairman Norman Smurthwaite's search for a new boss.

The appointment of Bruno Ribeiro and 16 mostly foreign signings was initially a success, but form was already tailing off prior to the departure of the Portuguese manager on 26 December.

Brown was initially told by Smurthwaite that he would be judged on results, and he won his first game in charge against a Chesterfield side who were to accompany them down.

But Vale have won just four times in 22 league matches in 2017 and Brown is now waiting to discover his fate.

"The chairman's the chairman," he said. "He owns the club and puts a lot of money in.

"It's going to need 16 players again. I'm planning as if I'm here and doing homework on the sort of players you'd want at the football club."

Several of Ribeiro's signings left in the January transfer window and one more departure is already known, after French midfielder Sebastien Amoros announced his intended exit on social media.