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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 Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. 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 of 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.
John Thomas McGrath was an English footballer and manager in the Football League.
David Pratt was a Scottish football player and manager. His career encompassed time spent in both England and Scotland, as well as a spell in Wales.
Michael John Mahon is an English former footballer who played as a winger. He scored 57 goals in 256 league games during a six-year career in the English Football League.
Roy Clifford Chapman was an English professional football player and manager. He was the father of former Arsenal and Leeds United striker Lee Chapman.
John Brian James was an English footballer who played as a striker. He played in the English Football League for Port Vale, Chester and Tranmere Rovers, making 381 appearances in the process, and also played in the North American Soccer League for the Chicago Sting. He won promotions out of the Fourth Division with Port Vale, Chester and Tranmere.
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.
Ronald Wilson is a Scottish former footballer who played as a left-back. He played 300 games in an eleven-year career in the Football League, scoring five goals.
John Ridley was an English footballer. A versatile player able to play as a defender or midfielder, he had a twelve-year professional career in the English Football League, playing for Port Vale and Chesterfield, as well as Leicester City. He also played for non-League Stafford Rangers and the American side Fort Lauderdale Strikers.
Allan Calderwood McKinstrey Todd was a Scottish footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played for Scottish clubs Leith Athletic and Cowdenbeath, and represented English sides Port Vale, Nottingham Forest, and Darlington.
Albert Thomas Mullard was an English footballer who played at right-half and inside forward.
Neil Bernard McAdam is a Scottish former football goalkeeper who played in the Football League for Port Vale. He also played in the Second Division game for Albion Rovers and played in the Northern Premier League and Alliance Premier League for Northwich Victoria, Oswestry Town, and Caernarfon.
Mark Lawrence is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder for Hartlepool United from 1977 to 1984. He also represented Port Vale and Whitby Town. He helped the "Valiants" to win promotion out of the Fourth Division in 1982–83.
Paul Atkinson is an English former footballer who played on the left-side of midfield. He appeared three times for England Youth in a tournament in 1983, and played another five games the following year. He began his career at Sunderland, and helped the "Black Cats" to the Third Division title in 1987–88. He joined Port Vale for a £20,000 fee in June 1988, but soon became blighted by injury. He was loaned out to Stafford Rangers and Hartlepool United to help to regain his fitness, but was forced to retire from professional football on medical advice in January 1991.
George Geoffrey Hickson is an English former football goalkeeper who played in the Football League for Crewe Alexandra, Port Vale, Southport and Stoke City. He won promotion out of the Fourth Division with Crewe in 1962–63. He is one of six post-war players to have played for both the Potteries clubs and Crewe Alexandra.
Roy Gater was an English footballer who played for Port Vale, Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic, Crewe Alexandra, Weymouth, Dorchester Town and Christchurch. He made 412 league and cup appearances in a 13-year career in the Football League.
Stuart Shaw is an English former footballer who played as a right-sided winger in the Football League for Everton, Southport, and Port Vale. He also made one senior appearance for Crystal Palace in the FA Cup. He later played Northern Premier League football with Morecambe, Skelmersdale United and South Liverpool. He won promotion out of the Fourth Division with Port Vale in 1969–70.
The 1966–67 season was Port Vale's 55th season of football in the English Football League, and their second-successive season in the Fourth Division. Again hopeful of escape from the basement division, Vale could only manage a mid-table finish. Player-manager Jackie Mudie resigned at the end of the season. Veteran defender Roy Sproson became the club's first ever Player of the Year winner.
Harry McKirdy is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Scottish Premiership club Hibernian.
The 2022 EFL League Two play-off final was an association football match which was played on 28 May 2022 at Wembley Stadium, London, to determine the fourth and final team to gain promotion from EFL League Two, the fourth tier of English football, to EFL League One. The top three teams of the League Two, Forest Green Rovers, Exeter City and Bristol Rovers, gained automatic promotion to League One, while the clubs placed from fourth to seventh in the table took part in the 2022 English Football League play-offs. Port Vale and Mansfield Town competed for the final place in the 2022–23 season in League One.