By Natasha Kaur: Port Vale caretaker manager, Mark Grew, says the squad lacked fitness during the reign of his predeccessor,  Jim Gannon.

Mark Grew claimed 18 out of the 20 members of the squad he inherited from Gannon, had put on weight during Gannon’s 75 day reign.

He said: “When we took them over, there was an (overall) weight gain of 5 stones 7 pounds.

“We had to try to get that off to get them back to the fitness levels we’d had.”

According to Grew, Vale’s end of the season form has been poor compared with the start they made under ex-boss Micky Adams.

He said: “We tried to play the way as Micky did as soon as he left. The fitness levels weren’t anywhere near, so after 15, 20 minutes, our tempo came off, so we allowed teams to get back at us. You can’t get them fit overnight.”

Grew took over from Gannon when his 75 day reign ended earlier this year.