Micky Adams and Jez Moxey spoke to Sky Sports News Radio's Football League Hour.
On Thursdays between 7pm and 8pm on Sky Sports News Radio is
Football League Hour, when the big names from the Championship, League One and League Two discuss the big issues below the Premier League.
On
this week's show,
Dean Windass and presenter Mikey Burrows were joined by
Port Vale boss Adams and
Wolves chief executive Moxey, while Blackpool veteran
Kevin Phillips, Doncaster's
Dave Syers and Aldershot veteran
Guy Branston also gave their views on the latest Football League issues.
Vale have accumulated 16 points from their opening seven games to sit second in League Two, despite the club remaining in financial turmoil. Adams gave Mikey and Dean a taste of the pressures he has had to cope with this season.
He said: "I'm delighted with the start, given the problems at the club are well documented. We are still in administration. Two days before the season kicked off, the Football League sent back the contracts of every player because of the failed takeover, so we hastily had to get them signed up again. The boys have done tremendously well."
Understanding
With chaos around him off the pitch, Adams revealed the secret to Vale's fine form has been to keep things simple.
"We've stuck rigidly to 4-4-2. There are lots of new systems but I still prefer that the fact 4-4-2 is easier to coach. The players have an understanding of it because it is all they have known when they've been brought up as kids. If teams are out-numbering us in midfield, then it's up to our wide players to tuck in a bit more than they should."
Meanwhile, a short drive down the M6, Championship big-hitters Wolves sit in a far healthier financial position, largely thanks to Moxey's summer transfer dealings. The Wolves chief executive brought in over £23million through the sale of three players, and revealed he did so without a bidding war for any of the departing trio.
Moxey revealed: "What perhaps most people don't realise is that there was only actually one club in for each of Michael Kightly, Steven Fletcher and Matt Jarvis. Stoke were the only club interested in Kightly; there was genuinely not a single other call to buy Fletcher; there was interest from three clubs for Jarvis but only West Ham were genuinely hungry to sign him. So to get the fees we did for all three of them given there wasn't any other competition for their signatures was pleasing."
Despite a summer of major changes at Molineux, Moxey admits a swift return to the Premier League is a realistic aim.
Realistic
He added: "It is explicit in terms of what the end game and the target is for us. However, we all have to be realistic in terms of rebuilding a team. Although we're clear in terms of what we want to do, and that is to return to the Premier League as quickly as we possibly can, I have been saying that our supporters need to understand that this project is going to take time. People have to have patience. I think we've recruited the right type of players who will entertain and score goals. We know our defence, in this division, should be really good so we have a realistic chance of being successful but we're not saying the target must be, within a certain timeline, Premier League football."
Mikey and Dean were also joined on the phone by veteran hitman Phillips, who gave an insight into how Blackpool boss Ian Holloway manages his older players. Phillips also joined Dean in disagreeing with Barnsley boss Keith Hill's verdict that parachute payments are a "modern footballing tragedy".
Terry Brown was sacked by AFC Wimbledon this week, much to the bemusement of Dean and Football League journeyman Branston, who would not be surprised to see his Aldershot manager, Dean Holdsworth, linked with the role at Kingsmeadow. Branston also wants more respect from observers who do not realise how tough it is to play in League Two.
You can listen to
this week's show in full here. The Football League Hour is back next Thursday from 7pm on Sky Sports News Radio, listen online at skysports.com/radio or via the Sky Sports News apps.
