Port Vale

Port Vale FC is a professional football club from Burslem, which is one of six towns that make up the city of Stoke-on-Trent. There is debate as to when the club was formed. Despite some speculation states 1876, while 1879 appears to be the more likely as an offshoot of Porthill Victoria FC.

The club started out playing at Limekiln Lane, Longport before a move to Westport Meadows in 1880. A further relocation to Moorland Road in Burslem followed in 1884 with the club changing its title to Burslem Port Vale. In 1885 Vale moved to the Athletic Ground in Cobridge.

Vale became members of the The Second Combination in 1888-89 when they failed to gain acceptance into the Football League before moving to the Football Alliance a year later. Vale then became founder members of the Midland League in 1890-91.

The club became founder members of the Football League Division Two in 1892-93 before failing to win re-election at the end of the 1895-96 campaign necessitating a return to the Midland League.

Port Vale were readmitted into an expanded League Division Two in 1898-99. Adrian Capes was the early goalscoring hero before he was sold on as the cub struggled financially before leaving the League following the 1906-07 season.

The club awaited liquidation which came in 1909. Meanwhile the secretaries of Cobridge Church FC had successfully applied to the FA to change their title to Port Vale and buy the Athletic Ground while entering the North Staffordshire & District League.

Former player Sam Bennion put together a consortium to buy the club s the team went on to win their league in 1909-10 prior to becoming founder members of the Central League for the 1911-12 season, finishing as runners-up in their debut season.

Vale moved to The Old Recreation Ground in Hanley in 1912 before the club took over the fixtures of Leeds City who had been thrown out of the league because of financial irregularities early in the 1919-20 season. 

The club adopted the nickname of ‘The Valiants’ prior to being relegated from Division Two in 1928-29. The team recovered under manager Tom Morgan to be crowned Division Three North champions in 1929-30 and regain their previous status.

After a previous narrow escape, Vale were relegated in 1935-36 before the club was moved to Division Three South from 1938-39. The Old Recreation Ground was sold to the local council as the club again hit financial troubles.

Star player Bill Pointon and Ronnie Allen were sold as the new stadium to be called Vale Park on Hamil Road was eventually completed after the land was purchased in 1944. The new ground was a huge site with playing area to match. Plans were in place to make it ‘The Wembley of the North’.

The club was switched back to Division Three North, finishing as runners-up on their return in 1952-53 before the title was won in 1953-54 with Freddie Steele as manager. Vale also reached the FA Cup semi-final, where they lost out to West Bromwich Albion at Villa Park.

The team went back down to Division Three South in 1956-57 before being placed in Division Four following league reorganisation in 1958-59 where they were crowned as champions as Norman Low managed a side containing future record appearance holder Roy Sproson.

Vale Park was extended, with a record crowd of 49,768 crammed in for a FA Cup tie with Aston Villa in 1960. Steele returned for a second spell as manager but neither he or his successor Jackie Mudie could save the side from relegation in 1964-65.

Stanley Matthews had a year in charge of the team before the arrival of Gordon Lee in May 1968. He steadied  previously rocky ship and led the side to promotion in 1969-70 before youngster Brian Horton was signed from Hednesford Town followed by the retirement of Sproson in 1972 before he replaced Lee in January 1974.

The side were relegated again in 1977-78 before the appointment of John McGrath as manager in December 1979. He led his team to promotion in 1982-83 after youngster Mark Chamberlain had been sold to Stoke City with Bob Newton banging in the goals.

Vale’s rein in the third tier lasted jut one season before the appointment of John Rudge in December 1983 who introduced Mark Bright and later Robbie Earle into the starting line up as well as making several key signings including midfielder Ray Walker.

The team was promoted in 1985-86 before reaching the Division Three play-offs in 1988-89, where Port Vale defeated Preston North End before a win against Bristol Rovers in the final sealed promotion to the second tier. Vale went back down in 1991-92.

That level was renamed Division Two after the formation of the Premier League in 1992-93 as Vale defeated Stockport County in the play-offs before losing to West Bromwich Albion at Wembley. Rudge continued to make astute signings as Ian Taylor, Robin van der Laan joined the club.

Vale were promoted as runners-up in 1993-94 before settling into Division One. Taylor and van der Laan were sold for huge profit as Jon McCarthy came in as the team went out after a replay in the FA Cup fifth round in 1995-96 as well as finishing runners-up in the Anglo Italian Cup when two Martin Foyle goals were consolation in the 5-2 defeat to Genoa.

Steve Guppy, another bargain signing, was sold for another big profit as Vale finished in their highest position of eighth in the second tier in 1996-97 since 1931. Former player Horton arrived as manager in January 1999, managing to help the side avoid relegation on the final day for the second successive season.

Vale were relegated in 1999-00, then playing out in mid table before ending seventh in 2003-04 after another former favourite, Foyle had taken over as manager. Vale had continuous struggles with finances since they slipped down from the second tier, not helped by the building of the new Lorne Street Stand.

Foyle was succeeded by Lee Sinnott who was at the helm when the club was relegated to the renamed fourth tier League Two in 2007-08 to be followed by Dean Glover. Micky Adams was extremely popular after he arrived in June 2009 and did a fine job before departing to join Sheffield United in December 2010 with Vale second in the league.

The season turned into farce which didn't help the unpopular Chairman Bill Bratt's standing with the fans as replacement Jim Gannon and assistant Geoff Horsfield had a severe bust up on the bus to an away game. Both left the club before Adams returned at the end of the season.

Events off the pitch took an even worse turn with the clubs finances in a desperate state. In March 2012 they entered into administration for the second time in their history and were deducted ten points after being hit by a winding up order by HMRC over failure to pay taxes, creditors or wages.

The takeover of the club was finally completed in November 2012 by Paul Wildes and later Norman Smurthwaite, which led to a great season as Vale went up in third place in 2012-13 helped enormously by the goals of Tom Pope. In September 2014 Adams resigned to be replaced by coach Rob Page.

Page led Vale to mid-table finishes in 2014-15 and 2015-16 before moving on with Bruno Ribeiro taking over for a short spell. Michael Brown sat in the caretakers role when the Valiants were relegated at the end of the 2016-17 season.

Former popular defender Neil Aspin was appointed as manager with John Rudge returning in an advisory role. The side narrowly avoided relegation to non-league football in 2017-18 before Aspin was replaced by John Askey in January 2019.

The highly unpopular Smurthwaite threatened to put the club into administration until Vale were bought by lifelong fans Carol and Kevin Shanahan in May 2019. The team were in eighth in 2019-20 when the places were decided on points per game owing to the outbreak of Coronavirus.

The team had a disappointing spell, leading to the sacking of Askey in January 2021 who was replaced by Darrell Clarke. The playoffs were reached in 2021-22 as Swindon Town and the Mansfield Town were defeated to seal promotion, as Kian Harratt, James Wilson, and Malvind Benning netted in the 3-0 Wembley win.

Andy Crosby was appointed as the new Vale manager in April 2023, lasting until February 2024 when he was replaced by Darren Moore. Port Vale were relegated a couple of months later.

Port Vale FC will play in EFL League Two in season 2024-25.

My visits

Port Vale 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 (Sunday 27th April 1997) Division One (att: 13,615)

My Scarborough and Wolves supporting mate, Karl Theobald asked me if I fancied going to this game a few weeks before as it was all ticket for away fans. I was doing nothing else and fancied getting a new ground in, so he picked me up and away we went. 

The game was live on Sky TV so it was a lunchtime kick off. Karl had a ticket for the seats behind the goal but mine was for the terracing in front of the Lorne Street Stand. It was a lovely day so this was no problem.

Vale Park was an impressive enough ground having being converted and upgraded in many areas. The Lorne Street Stand was really just an open terrace wither side of the massively wide players tunnel (this gave a good indication of the intended size of the original plans) with a small Stand along the back for officials and sponsors. 

To the left was a large seated Hamil Road Stand for away fans. This was originally an open terrace but the club bought the Main Stand roof from Chester City when they left Sealand Road and erected it at Vale Park. Opposite was the Railway Stand whose paddock had also been converted to seating. 

To the right was the large Bycars Lane Stand for home fans. The club had cleverly built adjoining corner stands at either side of this end for families and to give the stadium an enclosed feel. The pitch stood well back from the stands on all four sides, once again gaining a slight comparison with Wembley.

Wolves ran out 2-1 winners in a decent atmosphere. My overall impressions were that Burslem will not win many awards for tourism.

Port Vale 0 Scarborough 1 (Sunday 7th December 2003) FA Cup Round Two (att:4,651)

Boro faced a very tricky game in the FA Cup to a Vale side who were doing very well in the Second Division (3rd tier). Boro had knocked them out of the Cup at the same stage a few years earlier at the McCain Stadium. 

I also faced a tricky trip to get to the game owing to rail engineering works. Simon Keane (the Gillingham Seadog) stayed on my floor the night before after a good drink in London with Karl who was around for the evening.

The next morning we got to Euston and were put on an Express coach to Birmingham International station. From there we had to take a train to Wolverhampton, where another bus would transport us to Stoke. 

After a relatively smooth journey we got to Stoke in good time. We knew Boro fans were meeting in a pub called The Vine but our taxi driver wasn't sure where it was. As look would have it we passed the end of the road and saw it so we had a very merry build up to the game.

I was amazed by the turn out of Seadogs, which numbered around 1,100. The roof ensured we made plenty of noise and thankfully the stewards left us alone and let us stand for the whole match. 

Vale were better than Boro for the first half hour until the visitors started getting stuck in and realised they were nothing to be afraid of. The draw for the next round was made during the first half and there were a few groans when we found out we would have to go to Southend if we won the present game.

Vale Park now had new Lorne Street Stand that had not been completed. It had a large seating deck with two tiers of corporate boxes behind it.

Boro were superb in the second half and gradually got on top without creating too many chances. The midfield led by the superb Scott Kerr and Jimmy Kelly gained control and it was no surprise when loan winger, and future jailbird, Ashley Sestanovic was played through to slot the ball into the bottom corner despite screams for him to square it to waiting forwards.

We went absolutely crackers. Vale couldn't get a goal back despite hitting the post in the last minute. The home fans booed their team off the pitch at full time while we didn't want to leave. The celebrations continued back at The Vine who were superb with us as were the Vale fans. 

We eventually got back to the station. Thank goodness the service was back up and running as I was not exactly in pristine condition by now. Simon said I was getting lots of tuts as I was disturbing the full carriage with my snoring!

A great day out and my mood was helped further as the England Rugby Union team had their victory parade the next day after beating the Aussies, which always makes me happy, while I went from Lord's to steward a Madness gig at Wembley.

I love Scarborough Athletic but I miss the good old days at the old club equally.


Some pictures on this page have been taken from the internet to add to those from my personal collection.