Port Vale F.C.

Association football club in Stoke-on-Trent, England

football cabaret
Port Vale Football Club is a professional association football cabaret based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Port Vale is one of the few English league clubs not to be named after a geographic location, their name being a character to the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal. They have never played top-flight football, and hold the records for the most seasons in the English Football League ( 110 ) and in the second gear tier ( 41 ) without reaching the first tier. [ 8 ] After playing at the Athletic Ground in Cobridge and The Old Recreation Ground in Hanley, the club returned to Burslem when Vale Park was opened in 1950. Outside the ground is a statue to Roy Sproson, who played 842 competitive games for the club. The golf club ‘s traditional rivals are Stoke City, and games between the two are known as the Potteries bowler hat.

Reading: Port Vale F.C.

After becoming one of the more big football clubs in Staffordshire, Burslem Port Vale were invited to become collapse members of the Football League Second Division in 1892. They spent 13 non-consecutive seasons in the division, punctuated by two seasons in the Midland League, before they resigned due to fiscal difficulties and figure elimination in 1907. The appoint of Port Vale continued in the North Staffordshire Federation League, and this new club were successful enough to be reinstated into the Football League in October 1919. They spent 16 non-consecutive seasons in the Second Division, punctuated by them winning the Third Division North title in 1929–30, before dropping back into the third base tier for a much longer stay at the end of the 1935–36 campaign. The 1953–54 season saw director Freddie Steele ‘s “ Iron Curtain ” defense win both a Third Division North deed and a semi-final set in the FA Cup. They failed to build on this success however, although went on to finish as champions of the first Fourth Division season under Norman Low ‘s stewardship in 1958–59. The golf club had little success throughout the 1960s and 1970s, despite being briefly managed by Stanley Matthews, and were forced to apply for re-election after breaking FA rules on illegal payments in 1968. Gordon Lee guided the club to promotion back to the Third Division the following season, where they would remain until delegating at the end of the 1977–78 campaign. John McGrath steered the club to promotion in 1982–83, though he departed after delegating became inevitable the postdate season. His adjunct, John Rudge, stepped up to become the golf club ‘s longest-serving and most successful coach, leading the cabaret from 1983 to 1999. Under his leadership Port Vale won promotions in 1985–86, 1988–89 and 1993–94, lifted the League Trophy in 1993 and reached a post-war record ending of one-eighth in the second tier in the 1996–97 season. After Rudge ‘s reign ended the club entered a descent, slipping into the fourth tier whilst twice entering administration in 2003 and 2012. The decay was arrested when director Micky Adams achieved automatic pistol forwarding from League Two in the 2012–13 season, though they were relegated back into League Two at the end of the 2016–17 season after a fail experiment with a continental staff and play style .

history [edit ]

For a more detailed look at the club ‘s history, see History of Port Vale F.C. The official fib reported on the club web site is that Port Vale F.C. was formed in 1876, following a meet at Port Vale House, from where the club was supposed to have taken its name. [ 2 ] however, documented evidence of football from that era is highly barely and research by historian Jeff Kent indicated that it was credibly formed in 1879 as an outgrowth of Porthill Victoria F.C. and took its name from the valley of canal ports where the team played. [ 9 ] [ 10 ] In the clubhouse ‘s early on days the team played their football at Limekiln Lane, Longport and from 1880 at Westport. [ 11 ] The cabaret moved to Moorland Road in Burslem in 1884, changing its diagnose to Burslem Port Vale in the work, though stayed in Burslem for merely one year before both turning professional and moving to Cobridge to play at the Athletic Ground. [ 12 ] In 1892, the club were invited to become laminitis members of the Football League Second Division after proving themselves a strong club in the Midland League. [ 13 ] They spent 13 seasons in the Second Division either side of a two-season retort to the Midland League ( 1896–97 and 1897–98 ). [ 14 ]
Chart of table positions of Port Vale in the Football League. The club were forced to resign from the league at the end of the 1906–07 season and were subsequently liquidated. [ 15 ] however, the diagnose of Port Vale was continued after ambitious child league side Cobridge Church opted to change their identify. The newly club subsequently moved into their new home of the Old Recreation Ground in Hanley in 1912, and returned to the Football League in October 1919, taking over the regular tilt of Leeds City in the Second Division, who were forced to disband because of fiscal irregularities. [ 16 ] Wilf Kirkham made his valley debut in October 1923, and over the future ten years would score a club commemorate 164 league and cup goals, including a club record 41 goals in the 1926–27 campaign. [ 17 ] The club were relegated for the beginning time at the end of the 1928–29 season, going from the Second Division to the Third Division North. [ 18 ] They came up as champions the succeed season and in the 1930–31 season were placed fifth in the second tier of English football, their highest always league ending. [ 19 ] Vale went to beat Chesterfield by a club record 9–1 margin on 24 September 1932. [ 20 ] however, after these achievements the club were once again relegated in the 1935–36 temper and remained in the third tier until World War II. [ 21 ] Port Vale moved into their new home of Vale Park in 1950, and a year later Freddie Steele was appointed club coach. [ 22 ] Steele promptly established himself at the club, masterminding the celebrated ‘ Iron Curtain ‘ defense. [ 22 ] The 1953–54 season saw Vale winning the Third Division North title vitamin a well as reaching the semi-finals of the FA Cup, losing out to eventual winners West Bromwich Albion in controversial fashion, in which an Albert Leake goal was disallowed for offside. [ 22 ] Three years belated, the baseball club were again relegated, and once again became founder members of a division – this time the Football League Fourth Division. [ 22 ] Manager Norman Low instilled an attacking philosophy and in the 1958–59 temper guided the team to the Fourth Division entitle with a club record 110 goals scored. [ 22 ] Vale ended a six-season stay in the Third Division with delegating at the end of the 1964–65 campaign. [ 23 ] In 1967, early Ballon d’Or winner Stanley Matthews succeeded Jackie Mudie as director, though he resigned a year by and by after Vale were expelled from the Football League for allegedly making illegal payments to players in dispute of FA rules – this punishment was reduced on appeal to a re-election vote, which the club won. [ 24 ] Despite this Matthew ‘s was never paid £7,000 that the golf club owed him and this lead him to never manage in England again. [ 25 ] Gordon Lee took the helm following this punishment, and steered the cabaret to promotion at the end of the 1969–70 campaign. [ 26 ] however, the 1970s did not prove a successful period for the Valiants, as the clubhouse languished in the bottom half of the Third Division for much of the decade. Lee left in 1974, and a succession of managers failed to prevent relegation in 1977–1978. [ 27 ] The 1979–80 season saw Port Vale finish 20th in the Fourth Division ( 88th overall ), the baseball club ‘s worst ever finish up. [ 28 ] Despite this poor finish up in John McGrath ‘s beginning season, they finally achieved their first achiever for thirteen years in 1982–83 by winning promotion out of the Fourth Division in third base place. [ 29 ] Following McGrath ‘s dismissal, his assistant John Rudge was appointed as coach in December 1983. [ 30 ] Though he was unable to halt Vale ‘s immediate tax return to the bottom grade of the Football League, he succeeded in steadying the embark. [ 31 ] Helped by the goals of fecund Welshman Andy Jones, Vale were promoted back to the third gear tier in 1985–86 after losing barely once at Vale Park in the league all temper. [ 32 ] A major cup upset came on 30 January 1988, when Vale defeated First Division side Tottenham Hotspur 2–1, thanks to a superb hit from Ray Walker. [ 33 ] After three seasons in the third tier, Rudge ‘s Vale achieved another promotion in 1988–89 after Robbie Earle scored the winning finish at Vale Park to complete a 2–1 sum play-off final examination victory over Bristol Rovers ; this marked the club ‘s render to the Second Division after a 33-year absence. [ 34 ]
Striker Tom Pope ‘s goals helped the club to win promotion in 2012–13. Vale suffered relegation on the final day of the 1991–92 league political campaign, and though they bounced back well by staying in the promotion word picture for most of the 1992–93 season, they narrowly missed out as runner-up to local rivals Stoke City after being overtaken by Bolton Wanderers on the final examination day. [ 35 ] rather Vale would visit Wembley doubly in just over a workweek. They first ran out as 2–1 winners against Stockport County in the final of the League Trophy. [ 36 ] however, they then lost 3–0 in the play-off concluding to West Bromwich Albion. [ 37 ] Vale recovered from this reverse and went on to confirm forwarding as runner-up on the final examination day of the 1993–94 season. During the 1995–96 season Vale recorded one of their greatest FA Cup giant-killings when they defeated holders Everton 2–1. [ 38 ] The team besides had some success in the Anglo-Italian Cup, as they qualified for the Final at Wembley, where they lost 5–2 to then italian Serie B side Genoa. [ 39 ] Vale made a boring start to the 1996–97 campaign, with protests forming against chair Bill Bell, and the sale of Steve Guppy to Leicester City for £800,000. Despite this Rudge masterminded an eighth-place finish – their highest in the pyramid since 1931. In 1997–98, relegation was avoided on the concluding day of the season with a 4–0 acquire over Huddersfield Town, at the expense of Manchester City and Stoke City. [ 40 ] The future season was another struggle, and John Rudge was controversially sacked in January 1999. [ 41 ] He was replaced by former actor Brian Horton, who spent big to secure the club ‘s second straight final-day elude from delegating. [ 42 ] There was no avoiding delegating in 1999–2000, though, as they were some thirteen points short of safety. Horton led the clubhouse to League Trophy success in 2001, as Marc Bridge-Wilkinson and Steve Brooker scored the goals to secure a 2–1 victory over Brentford in the concluding at the Millennium Stadium. [ 43 ] In December 2002, Bill Bell called in the administrators, with the club around £1.5 million in debt. [ 44 ] The cabaret came out of administration in 2003–04 under a fan-ownership consortium headed by Bill Bratt ‘s valiant 2001 consortium. [ 45 ] however, Horton left in February 2004, unwilling to accept the fiscal cutbacks imposed by the newfangled control panel, and was replaced by former player Martin Foyle. [ 46 ] Foyle was dismissed in November 2007, and his successor, Lee Sinnott, proved ineffective to prevent the golf club from being relegated into League Two after a 23rd-place finish and besides oversaw a get the better of to Southern League Division One Midlands club Chasetown in the FA Cup. [ 47 ] Sinnott was sacked in September 2008 and following an unsuccessful tenure from Dean Glover, Micky Adams was appointed as the clubhouse ‘s new director in June 2009. [ 48 ] [ 49 ] Adams left the cabaret in December 2010 with Vale second in the board and Jim Gannon was selected to finish the forwarding job. [ 50 ] [ 51 ] however, Gannon ‘s churning reign ended after 74 days. [ 52 ] Adams returned as director at the end of the 2010–11 campaign, but this was not enough to placate fans who demanded a change in the boardroom after a series of promised investments failed to come to realization. [ 53 ] Genuine hopes of promotion in 2011–12 were brought to an end after the golf club was issued with a winding up request by HM Revenue and Customs on 29 February 2012 ; the club were by this time unable to pay tax bills, creditors, or staff wages. [ 54 ] The cabaret entered administration on 9 March. [ 55 ] The club last exited administration on 20 November 2012, [ 56 ] and Tom Pope scored 33 goals to fire Vale to promotion back to League One with a third-place ending. [ 57 ] They stabilised in the division under fresh knob Rob Page, before chair Norman Smurthwaite orchestrated the deviation of page and his squad in favor of the club ‘s first foreign coach, Bruno Ribeiro, in June 2016. [ 58 ] [ 59 ] The resultant role was delegating back into League Two at the end of the 2016–17 temper, after which Smurthwaite resigned as president. [ 60 ] He returned to the function the following season and threatened to put the cabaret into administration if a buyer was not found by May 2019, a destiny which was avoided when Carol and Kevin Shanahan completed their takeover. [ 61 ]

Club identity [edit ]

[62] The kit out used in Vale ‘s first League season ( 1892 ) Around November 1920, club president Frank Huntbach came up with the dub of “ the Valiants ”. [ 63 ] The adjacent year the club adopted their familiar white and blacken comic strip after having experimented with numerous colours, including plain crimson, amber and black stripes, claret and blue, and even during 1898–1902 act in the crimson and white stripes nowadays used by rivals Stoke City for over a hundred. however, the kit soon changed to plain red shirts with white shorts in 1923, a stylus which lasted until 1934, when the white shirt, black shorts and socks kit was re-adopted. between 1958 and 1963 the club adopted versatile gold and black designs, before once again returning to the black and white composition. [ 62 ] The initial golf club crest was modelled on the coat of arms of the Borough of Burslem. [ 64 ] From 1952 to 1956 the club used a Staffordshire knot with the letters “ PVFC ” inside it. [ 64 ] Four years late a more complex badge emerged, again based on the Burslem coat of arms but this time besides featuring the scythe of the Tunstall arms, the fuss cross of Audley, and two Josiah Wedgwood pots. [ 62 ] The crest was removed in 1964, and replaced by a ‘P.V.F.C. ‘ monogramme, which in turn was abandoned in 1978. [ 62 ] For the adjacent four years the club switched to a design of a knight on a horse with the text “ Port Vale ” at the top. [ 64 ] From 1982 the club introduced a blueprint based on that of a schoolchild who won a contest, which featured a bottle oven and the Stafford ravel, associated with the city of Stoke-on-Trent ‘s pottery industry and the history of the local area. [ 62 ] [ 64 ] The stream crest was introduced in February 2013, which was a modern rehash of the crest the clubhouse introduced in 1956 ; it included local diachronic references – the Portland Vases representing Josiah Wedgwood, the Scythe coming from the house cap of the Sneyd family, and the silver cross appearing from the house crest of the Audley class, american samoa well as the Stafford knot above the crest. [ 65 ] A board of kit out suppliers and shirt sponsors appear below : [ 66 ]

Kit suppliers

Dates

Supplier

1974–1976

Admiral

1977–1978

Bukta

1978–1979

Admiral

1980–1983

Adidas

1983–1986

Hobott

1986–1987

Bourne Sports

1987–1988

New Olympic

1989–1991

Bourne Sports

1991–1995

Valiants Leisure

1995–2001

Mizuno

2001–2003

Patrick

2003–2012

Vandanel

2012–2014

Sondico

2014–2018

Erreà

2018–2019

BLK

2019–

Erreà

Shirt sponsors

Dates

Sponsor

1981–1982

BGR

1983–1984

PMT

1984–1985

EDS

1985–1986

ECI

1986–1987

Browns Transport

1987–1990

ABC Minolta Copiers

1990–1992

Kalamazoo

1992–2003

Tunstall Assurance

2003–2005

Tricell

2005–2007

BGC Gas

2007–2008

Sennheiser

2008–2012

Harlequin Property

2012–2013

UK Windows Systems Ltd

2013–2017

GMB

2017–2019

Manorshop.com

2019–

Synectics Solutions

Grounds [edit ]

When they joined the English Football League in 1892, Port Vale were playing at their fourth home ground. They began at the Meadows in Limekiln Lane, Longport – now Scott Lidgett Road [ 67 ] – and then moved on to Westport Meadows in 1881, where they played for three years. [ 67 ] An area prone to flood, today Westport Lake nowadays lies where the ground once stood. [ 67 ] In 1884, the club moved to the Burslem Football and Athletic ground, where they would stay for just two years. [ 67 ] Located close to Burslem railway post, the cabaret took the sphere ‘s name. [ 67 ] The first catch was a 6–0 win over Everton in a friendly and the ground besides hosted FA Cup matches for the first time. [ 67 ] It proved to be inadequate however, and Port Vale moved on to the Athletic Ground. [ 67 ] Located opposite the church on Waterloo Road, directly on the Hanley and Burslem tramcar tune, it played host to the cabaret for 27 years, including twelve Football League seasons. [ 12 ] It was named ascribable to the fact that it besides hosted athletics. The Old Recreation Ground was Vale ‘s home from 1913 to 1950, and was located in Hanley, standing on what is now the multi-storey car park for the Potteries Shopping Centre. The club endured hard fiscal times during World War II, and sold the flat coat to the council, who were reluctant to allow the club to rent it back. [ 68 ] The club received £13,500 for the reason, which they needed to pay off a £3,000 debt. [ 69 ] Vale Park has been Port Vale ‘s home ground since 1950 ; it is located on Hamil Road, opposite Burslem Park. primitively planned to be vitamin a massive as an 80,000 capacity stadium, the growth was known as the “ Wembley of the North ”. [ 70 ] however the £50,000 stick out opened at a capability of 40,000 ( 360 seated ) – still highly ambitious. [ 68 ] The capacity was increased to a sell-out 49,768 for an FA Cup tie with Aston Villa in 1960. [ 68 ] The stadium undergo numerous upgrades after Bill Bell was elected as chair in 1987, who aimed to make it “ equip for the Premiership “. [ 71 ] Outside the establish is a statue to Roy Sproson, who played 842 competitive games for the club. [ 72 ]

Supporters and rivalries [edit ]

The golf club has a cutthroat competition with Stoke City, as City are based in the town of Stoke-upon-Trent, but merely a little share of residents in the town are Vale fans. Stoke City besides enjoy a higher accompaniment base in the city as a wholly, specially in recent times when they have achieved promotion to the nation ‘s clear part. With 215,206 supporters turning out in 46 League Two games during the 2009–10 season, Vale attracted an average league attendance of 4,678. [ 73 ] Stoke and Vale first met on 2 December 1882, and played out a total of 44 Football League games up until 10 February 2002, when the two clubs last met in the Second Division ; Stoke won the first match 1–0, whilst Vale were 1–0 victors in the latest confrontation. [ 74 ] Stoke have been the more successful team over the years, as Vale have finished higher in the league on only seven occasions. [ 74 ] Port Vale besides maintain a fiery competition with Crewe Alexandra, which has taken on greater significance since Stoke were promoted to a higher league than Vale at the end of the 2001–02 season. [ 75 ] One study in 2019 ranked the Port Vale-Stoke City competition as the joint-28th biggest competition in English professional football, with the Port Vale-Crewe Alexandra game being the 14th biggest competition. [ 76 ] Vale besides maintain rivalries with Shrewsbury Town and Walsall, vitamin a well as less meaning rivalries with Burton Albion, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Macclesfield Town. [ 77 ] [ 78 ]

Records and statistics [edit ]

Gareth Ainsworth, the baseball club ‘s most expensive sign, at £500,000, was sold for a £ 1.5 million profit after 13 months. Port Vale ‘s highest Football League finish was fifth place in the Second Division ( second tier ) in 1930–31, whilst their best ever FA Cup finish saw them reach the semi-finals in 1953–54. [ 91 ] Port Vale ‘s largest Football League victory was a 9–1 succeed over Chesterfield in the Second Division in 1932, while the heaviest loss was 10–0 to Sheffield United in 1892 in the lapp division. [ 91 ] early baseball club record scorelines include a 16–0 victory over Middlewich in a friendly in 1884 and a 12–0 get the better of to Aston Villa in the Staffordshire Senior Cup in 1891. [ 91 ] The record for the most appearances for Port Vale is held by Roy Sproson, who played 842 matches in all competitions. [ 92 ] Sproson besides holds the record for the most league appearances for the club, with 760. His nephew, Phil Sproson, made 500 appearances in all competitions. Wilf Kirkham is the club ‘s crown goalscorer with 164 goals in all competitions, which includes 153 in the league and 11 in the FA Cup. [ 93 ] Kirkham ‘s run of 41 goals in the 1926–27 season is besides a club record. [ 94 ] Tom Pope and Martin Foyle have besides scored more than 100 goals for the club. The beginning player to be capped at external level while playing for Vale was Teddy Peers, when he made his debut for Wales. [ 91 ] The most capped player is Chris Birchall, who earned 27 caps for Trinidad and Tobago while at the baseball club. [ 95 ] The first Vale actor to score in an external match was Sammy Morgan, who scored for Northern Ireland against Spain on 16 February 1972. [ 96 ] The clubhouse ‘s highest attendance at Vale Park is 49,768 against Aston Villa in the FA Cup on 20 February 1960, whilst the lowest is 554 against Middlesbrough U21 in the EFL Trophy on 16 October 2018. [ 91 ] The highest transfer fee received for a Vale player is £2,000,000 from Wimbledon for Gareth Ainsworth on 29 October 1998, while Ainsworth was besides the most expensive player bought, costing £500,000 from Lincoln City on 11 September 1997. [ 97 ] The youngest player to play for the club is Nelson Agho, who was aged 15 years and 262 days on his debut against Walsall in the EFL Trophy on 13 November 2018. [ 98 ] The oldest musician is Tom Holford, who played his death match aged 46 years and 68 days against Derby County in the Second Division on 5 April 1924. [ 99 ]

Players [edit ]

Club mascot Boomer .

stream team [edit ]

As of 9 November 2021[100]

bill : Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality .

Out on loan [edit ]

note : Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality .

Youth team [edit ]

As of 2 September 2021[101]

bill : Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality .

Women ‘s team [edit ]

Port Vale Ladies was formed in 2017 and won the Staffordshire County League in their maid season, before they entered the West Midlands Regional Women ‘s League at the start of the 2018–19 temper. [ 102 ] The name was changed to Port Vale F.C. Women at the end of the 2020–21 season. [ 103 ] The women ‘s section besides runs girls teams at under-9, under-11, under-12, under-13, under-14 and under-16 degree. [ 102 ]

Club management [edit ]

Manager Darrell Clarke .

Coaching positions [edit ]

Source: Port Vale F.C.[104]

managerial history [edit ]

Tom Morgan was the first base Port Vale director to win a league style with the baseball club, taking them to the acme of the Third Division North at the end of the 1929–30 season. [ 105 ] Freddie Steele repeated the feat during the 1953–54 campaign, besides taking the club to the semi-finals of the FA Cup. [ 106 ] He was followed by Norman Low, who led Vale to the Fourth Division championship in 1958–59. [ 107 ] Gordon Lee ( 1969–70 ), John McGrath ( 1982–83 ) and Micky Adams ( 2012–13 ) besides secured promotions. [ 108 ] John Rudge led the club to three promotions – 1985–86, 1988–89 and 1993–94 – equally well as a Football League Trophy claim in 1993. [ 109 ] His successor, Brian Horton besides secured a Football League Trophy final victory in 2001. [ 110 ]

Honours and achievements [edit ]

Football League Third Division / Third Division North / League One ( 3rd tier )
Football League Fourth Division / League Two ( 4th tier )
Football League Trophy

References and notes [edit ]

General references [edit ]

Kent, Jeff (1990). The Valiants’ Years: The Story Of Port Vale. Stafford: Witan Books. ISBN 978-09-50898-14-8.
Kent, Jeff (1993). The Port Vale Record 1879–1993. Stafford: Witan Books. ISBN 978-09-50898-19-3.
Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities: A Biographical Dictionary of Players, Officials and Supporters. Stafford: Witan Books. ISBN 978-09-52915-20-1.
Kent, Jeff (2011). What If There Had Been No Port in the Vale?: Startling Port Vale Stories!. Stafford: Witan Books. ISBN 978-09-52915-28-7.

Notes [edit ]

^[1] The club were known as the Valeites until clubhouse president Frank Huntbach coined the nickname of the Valiants in 1920, after which distributor point they were rarely referred to as the Valeites .
^[2][3] According to Port Vale ‘s official web site – and badge – the club was formed in 1876. however inquiry from historian Jeff Kent indicates that the baseball club was more probably founded in 1879 .