Port Vale report financial losses

Vale chairman Bill Bratt received an MBE for services to sport in June

Port Vale chairman Bill Bratt has said that the club are not in financial danger, despite reporting losses of around £280,000 in 2008/09.

"I think we've done very well, bearing in mind the year we've had," Bratt told BBC Radio Stoke after the club's annual report was published on Saturday.

"There are lots of ways we're losing money, but we've got to get it back.

"I don't think any club can sustain the losses over a long period, so we need to try to get money from other places."

The report also stated that the club saved around £600,000 on player expenditure in the past year and reduced their short-term debt to around £1.2m.

Vale are still in negotiations with property developers and main club sponsors Harlequin about the possibility of them investing £500,000 into the League Two club.

"It's still ongoing and the lawyers have got hold of it, so that's going to take a bit longer now," added Bratt.

"We always need people to come in, especially people that care and are going to work hard, to take the club forward as they say they are going to do.

"They don't necessarily want to take the club over, but what they want to do is help it and take it forward.

"There are different ways of doing that, and we have to agree which those are."