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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 the only English Football League club not to be named after a settlement; their name being a reference to 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.
The Scottish Football Alliance was a football league football structure set up in Scotland in competition with the Scottish Football League. Its success in the early years of professional football in both England and Scotland made Alliance the basis for a second division in both countries. The alliance attracted a number of Junior clubs to the League system to guarantee its longevity for years to come.
Darren Richard Lorenzo Beckford is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. His younger brother Jason also played professional football.
Edward John Peers was a Wales international football goalkeeper. He won 12 caps for Wales and spent 1911 to 1921 at Wolverhampton Wanderers and then January 1922 to May 1923 at Port Vale.
Alan David Lamb is a Scottish former footballer who played as a midfielder. He won one cap for Scotland under-23s in 1974.
Joseph Brough was an English footballer. He was also an accomplished cycler and sprinter.
John Maddock was an English footballer, noted for his 'rifle shot'. He played in the right-back position for Stoke between 1919 and 1921, before signing with Port Vale following a two years spell at Macclesfield Town. He spent eight years with Vale, before joining Crewe Alexandra in 1931. He later played for non-league sides Nantwich and Audley United. He won the Third Division North title with Port Vale in 1929–30.
John Hampson was a Welsh footballer who played for Oswestry Town, Northampton Town, Leeds City, Aston Villa, and Port Vale.
John William Davis was a footballer who played as a forward for Port Vale and Macclesfield in the 1920s.
Andrew B. Livingstone was a Scottish footballer who played one game as a forward for Port Vale in March 1921.
Hugh Dunn was a Scottish footballer. His year of birth is uncertain, being given as 1878 in some sources and 1875 in others. He played at right-back for Johnstone, Preston North End, Bristol Rovers, and Burslem Port Vale. Whilst with Bristol Rovers, he won the Southern Football League championship in 1904–05.
Robert Edwin Firth was an English footballer who played for Birmingham, Wellington Town, Nottingham Forest, Port Vale, and Southend United. He scored 22 goals from 242 appearances in the Football League. He later coached Spanish La Liga teams Racing de Santander and Real Madrid, leading Santander to a second-place finish in 1930–31 and Madrid to two Campeonato Regional Centro titles and to a first-place finish in La Liga in 1932–33 and a second-place finish in 1933–34.
John F. Smith was an English footballer who played for Port Vale, before transferring to Chelsea just before the outbreak of World War II.
John Edward Currie was an English footballer who played for Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic, Stafford Rangers, and Port Vale shortly after World War II.
John Thompson Leckie was a Scottish footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
Harold Johnstone was an English footballer who played on the left-wing for Port Vale between 1921 and 1923. He was the brother of John Johnstone.
William Lavery was an English footballer who played for Fylde, Preston North End, Leicester Fosse, West Ham United, Belfast Celtic, Middlesbrough, Raith Rovers, St Mirren, Johnstone and Port Vale in the period before and after World War I. During that war he served with other footballers and fans in McCrae's Battalion of the Royal Scots.
The 1920–21 season was Port Vale's second consecutive season of football in the English Football League. The season peaked early with a double victory in the league over rivals Stoke, however any sense of euphoria evaporated in February with the sale of star striker Bobby Blood. The club failed to find another reliable goalscorer until the arrival of Wilf Kirkham in 1923. The Vale finished at the bottom end of the table, though they did finish higher in the league than Stoke for the first time in their history.
The 1980–81 season was Port Vale's 69th season of football in the English Football League, and their third successive season in the Fourth Division. A difficult season, by February the club were bottom of the Football League. However, they rallied to finish in nineteenth place, thus avoiding a re-election campaign. Advancing to the Third Round of the FA Cup, there they were humiliated by a 3–0 defeat to non-league side Enfield in front of the TV cameras. As usual, they exited the League Cup at the First Round. Despite poor crowd figures and a poor league place, John McGrath had overseen the worst of the club's dire spell, whilst new Chairman Don Ratcliffe stabilized the finances by cutting expenditure. A bleak financial picture led McGrath to focus on youth, and the Chamberlain brothers in particular developed well to leave the club with a more optimistic future.
Scott Tanser is an English professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Scottish Premiership club St Mirren.
References
- 1 2 3 4 Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. p. 154. ISBN 0-9529152-0-0.
- ↑ "Football's advent. Port Vale". Athletic News. Manchester. 15 August 1921. p. 6.
- ↑ John Johnstone at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)