Sports

Sporting director move a positive one - Brady

Nairavoice · Oct 7, 2026 · 2 min read

Port Vale manager Jon Brady says the club’s appointment of a sporting director is a positive move and will build a “really important” connection between the boardroom and the squad.

Vale, relegated from League One last season, have revived the role and brought in Micky Moore to take control of “the whole football operation”.

Moore, who spent two-and-a-half years as director of football at Shrewsbury Town before leaving last August, will be responsible for recruitment as part of his remit and Brady thinks his arrival fills an important gap in the management structure.

“I’ve spoken to him quite a lot – I’ve known Mick over the years anyway so I think when you’re in football you know a lot of people,” Brady told BBC Radio Stoke.

“I think it’s a real positive. The club told me that they were looking to bring a sporting director in and I think it’s a really good idea.

“I feel it’s important we connect from the boardroom to the football pitch and I think he’s going be the conduit in between and I think that’s really important.”

‘We know results have to be better’

Moore’s appointment – and the club’s slow start to the League Two season – has led to inevitable speculation over Brady’s position.

Vale have won only once in their first seven games of the campaign and are second from bottom of the early-season table.

Tuesday’s 2-0 win at home to Mansfield Town in the Jersey Mike’s Trophy offered some respite and Brady said he knows they have to use that result as a catalyst to improve their league form.

“We’ve had a quite a false start and we’ve been really positive in the last two and a bit weeks,” Brady, 51, said.

“We’ve really worked on how we want to play and we’ve felt a lot more connected than it has been but the league’s a different kettle of fish and we’re going to make sure that we have a positive result on Saturday.

“I’ve had talks with everyone here and we know results have got to be better. We’ve worked extremely hard with the team to knit them together better in a lot of different ways, defensively, offensively but we need to keep moving forward now.”