Port Vale: Robbie's no angel
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by Steve Shaw
VALE chairman Bill Bratt has played down the prospect of majority shareholder Robbie Williams ploughing more of his personal fortune into the club.
The pop star multi-millionaire, who recently moved back to the UK after several years living in Los Angeles, made a surprise appearance at Griffin Park on Saturday to see Vale lose 2-0 to League Two leaders Brentford.
But Bratt said Robbie's presence at the game should not be misconstrued as anything other than a fan watching his team.
The entertainer, who bought shares in the club worth £250,000 three years ago, sat one row in front of Bratt in the directors' box at Griffin Park.
But Bratt said: "Robbie just came to enjoy the match.
"He obviously wanted to know what was going on at the club and how the club is doing.
"I told him things are going reasonably well ... but talking about further investment was not on the agenda at all."
With the club struggling financially, outside investment would certainly be welcomed by the club board, but Bratt added: "I don't know whether he would want to invest any more money.
"It is his money and it's up to him how he spends it.
"I don't agree with people who think he should do this or that with it."
Robbie's Valentine's Day appearance must have made him rapidly realise supporting Vale these days is a labour of love as they were brushed aside by League Two's form side.
Vale manager Dean Glover was certainly under no illusions, saying talk of his side making a late push for the play-offs was way off the mark.
He said: "I don't know why people keep bringing it up. It drives me around the bend because we are nowhere near good enough to get into the play-offs.
"In fact, if other teams hadn't been deducted points, we'd be a bottom five or six team.
"There's a lot of hard work ahead of us and changes have got to happen."
However, Glover says he will be forced to "wheel and deal" to strengthen his squad during the summer due to the club's limited budget, which is also likely to prevent him from paying off players who remain under contract for a further 12 months.
Vale fan and majority shareholder Robbie Williams, who invested £249,000 into the cash-strapped club three years ago, watched Saturday's match from the directors' box at Griffin Park.
However, chairman Bill Bratt insists the pair did not discuss the possibility of the pop icon ploughing more of his personal fortune into the club.
Glover also criticised some of his players for showing a lack of passion, and urged them to follow the lead of keeper Joe Anyon, whose fifth-minute penalty save kept Vale on level terms at Brentford.
Glover added: "I need more passion. I thought Joe got off to a great start and I feel that if we had a bit more of his passion we'd have been all right.
"Too many of my players are too quiet and are still learning the game. Hopefully, in time, they will be better, but we need it from them now."
But Glover brushed off renewed relegation fears with his side lying in 17th place, and 13 points clear of League Two's relegation zone.
"We've got 17 games left and enough games to get quite a few wins," Glover said.
"Because of our inconsistency we pick up two results, we lose two and then come back again.
"That's happened over the last 16 games. No doubt, we'll get a couple of wins over the next few games. But my squad isn't strong enough or good enough at the moment."
Striker James Lawrie will undergo further checks this week after he was struck down by appendicitis in the build up to Saturday's game.
The 18-year-old was taken to London's Ealing Hospital at 7am on Saturday before being discharged and allowed to return to North Staffordshire with the rest of the Vale squad.
VALE'S reserve team clash with Sheffield Wednesday, which was due to be played today, will now go ahead at Vale Park on Wednesday (2pm
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