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Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in EFL League One. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal. They have never played top-flight football, and hold the record for the most seasons in the English Football League (112) without reaching the first tier. 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 club's traditional rivals are Stoke City, and games between the two are known as the Potteries derby.
Samuel John Morgan is a Northern Irish former football player and coach.
Alan Bloor is an English former professional footballer and manager. He made 394 league appearances in the Football League for both Potteries teams.
Patrick John Connaughton was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played 387 league and cup games in a 16-year career. He also represented England at youth level on three occasions.
John Knight Mudie was a Scottish international footballer who played as a forward. He won seventeen caps for his country, helping the Scotland national team to qualify for the 1958 FIFA World Cup.
Raymond Walker is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He played 440 games for Port Vale in all competitions between 1986 and 1997, ensuring himself a place in the club's history. He was twice the club's player of the season, and was named on the PFA Team of the Year three times. He was promoted twice with the club and also played a part in the club's highest ever post-war finish in the English Football League. With Aston Villa in the early '80s, he joined Port Vale in 1986, after a short loan spell in 1984. After eleven years at Vale Park he went into non-League football with Leek Town and Newcastle Town.
In English football, the Potteries derby is the local derby between the two major clubs in the city of Stoke-on-Trent – Port Vale and Stoke City, first contested in 1882. Port Vale plays at Vale Park whilst Stoke play at the bet365 Stadium, the two grounds are separated by roughly 4.3 miles (6.9 km). The fans of each club both consider the other to be their main rivals; this has led to a heated atmosphere at these matches. One study in 2019 ranked it as the joint-28th biggest rivalry in English professional football, level with the Manchester derby. The two teams have met in 92 competitive first-team fixtures, including 44 English Football League, six FA Cup and two Football League Trophy fixtures, with the remaining 40 meetings coming in regional cup competitions.
David Harris is an English former football defender who had a six-year professional career in the English Football League with Port Vale from 1973 to 1979. He was voted the club's Player of the Year in 1974 and 1977. He then spent two seasons with Halifax Town, before entering the non-League scene with Stafford Rangers.
Raymond Williams is an English former footballer who played as a striker.
James Alexander Arnold is an English former football goalkeeper, noted for his highly intelligent positional ability. He made 165 league appearances in a seven-year career in the English Football League.
Kenneth Beech is an English former footballer. A midfielder, he played for Port Vale between 1976 and 1981, picking up the club's Player of the Year award in 1980, also playing on loan at American club Cleveland Cobras in 1978. In 1981, he was sold to Walsall, before he moved on to Peterborough United two years later. He dropped into non-League football with Stafford Rangers in 1985, with whom he won the Conference League Cup, before he retired in 1988. He played 314 league games in the Football League, scoring 28 goals.
Russell Bromage is an English former footballer who played as a wing-back. In a fourteen-year career in the Football League he made 400 league appearances, scoring 14 goals.
Stephen Douglas Fox was an English professional footballer who played as a winger. He made 278 appearances in the Football League playing for Birmingham City, Wrexham, Port Vale and Chester City.
Phillip Jess Sproson is an English former footballer who played as a central defender. He played in 500 matches for Port Vale and scored 41 goals, this places him second in the list of appearances for Port Vale. He was the nephew of Port Vale defender Roy Sproson and son of Jess Sproson, who played for Vale between 1940 and 1947.
Anthony John Lacey is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder for Stoke City, Port Vale, Rochdale, and Stafford Rangers. He made 288 league appearances in a ten-year career in the Football League, and won promotion out of the Fourth Division with Port Vale in 1969–70. He later went into coaching with Stoke City, and served as caretaker manager for eight games in 1985. He began coaching at the Wolverhampton Wanderers Academy in 1996.
Derek Anthony Brownbill is an English former footballer who played as a forward. He played in the Football League for Liverpool, Port Vale, and Wigan Athletic before spells with American side Cleveland Cobras and English non-League clubs Stafford Rangers, Oswestry Town, Morecambe, Witton Albion, and Warrington Town.
Trevor Dance is an English former football goalkeeper who played 84 league games in the Football League for Port Vale between 1975 and 1980. He also played for non-League sides Stafford Rangers, Altrincham, and Telford United, and also played for American club Cleveland Cobras.
Ian Christopher Elsby is an English former footballer who played for Port Vale, Cleveland Cobras, Macclesfield Town and Congleton Town. His uncle is the former footballer Jim Elsby.
Harold Leese (1886–?) was an English footballer who played for Bradford City, Crewe Alexandra, Port Vale and Stoke. He helped Stoke to win two minor league titles.
The 1977–78 season was Port Vale's 66th season of football in the Football League, and their eighth successive season in the Third Division. Finishing in 21st place, they were relegated to the Fourth Division. Roy Sproson was sacked in October after a poor start to the season, though things did not improve under his replacement Bobby Smith, despite Smith spending big money to bring in new players. Smith also left the club at the end of the season.
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. p. 172. ISBN 0-9529152-0-0.
- ↑ Rollin, Jack (1980). Rothmans football yearbook . London: Queen Anne Press. p. 299. ISBN 0362020175 . Retrieved 14 April 2020.
- ↑ Billy Leese at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)