Full name | Vale Park |
---|---|
Location | Hamil Road, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England |
Coordinates | 53°2′59″N2°11′33″W / 53.04972°N 2.19250°W |
Elevation | 520 feet (160 m) [1] |
Owner | Port Vale F.C. |
Capacity | 15,695 [2] |
Record attendance | 49,768 v. Aston Villa 20 February 1960 |
Field size | 114 yards (104 m) x 77 yards (70 m) |
Surface | Grass |
Scoreboard | Yes |
Construction | |
Broke ground | 1944 |
Built | 1950 |
Opened | 24 August 1950 |
Renovated | 1989–98 (converted to all-seater stadia) |
Expanded | 1954 (Railway Stand) 1989 (Disabled Stand) |
Construction cost | £50,000 |
Tenants | |
Port Vale F.C. (1950–present) |
Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950.
The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49,768 managed to squeeze in for a 1960 FA Cup fifth round fixture against Aston Villa. Due to safety restrictions, it now has a capacity of 15,036 (19,052 without limitations), having undergone major restructuring to make the stadium an all-seater venue in the 1990s.
At 525 feet above sea level, it is the eleventh highest ground in the country and second-highest in the English Football League. [3] The pitch is clay underneath the grass, rather than sand. These two factors make the pitch vulnerable to freezing temperatures. [4] It is an extremely dry pitch, which often makes passing football quite difficult. [5] There is also a coal seam under the pitch, and numerous mine shafts dotted around the local area, including many under the park opposite the ground. [6]
The Vale Park pitch is one of the widest in the Football League. [7] The pitch was originally laid over a filled-in marl hole and does not have a subsoil structure so is liable to flooding as it lacks proper drainage; a complete re-laying of the pitch would be needed to fix the issue (the club were quoted £450,000 for this work in 2014 [8] ). [9] Denis Dawson was head groundsman from 1966 to 1975; he succeeded Len Parton and was followed by Graham Mainwaring. [9] The head groundsman from 1992 to 2022 was Steve Speed. [10] [11]
Following the club being informed that they would be evicted from The Old Recreation Ground by Stoke-on-Trent City Council, plans for a new stadium in a new area began. [12] In 1944 Hamil Road – the site of a former clay pit – was chosen, [13] a site opposite Burslem Park, where the club had played its football in the early years of its existence. [12] The development became known as The Wembley of the North due to the planned size of the stadium, [14] [15] plans which included an 80,000 capacity with room for 1,000 parked cars. [12] The club's leadership had not allowed the club's third-tier status or lack of money to curb their ambition. [12] Life-time seats were sold for £100 (the price of admission for roughly 200 matches) but fewer than 100 fans bought them. [12] Also costing £100, the pitch was the most expensive ever laid in the country at the time. [12]
The ground opened in 1950 having eventually cost £50,000, and boasting a capacity of 40,000 (360 seated). [12] The original ground consisted of just two stands, the Railway stand and the Lorne Street main stand, with banks of terracing at the Bycars and Hamil ends of the ground. The Bycars end was originally the Swan Passage stand from the Old Recreation Ground, which was taken apart, moved across the city and re-erected as the funds for an entirely new stand had run out. [16] The first match was a 1–0 victory over Newport County on 24 August 1950 in front of 30,196 rain-soaked spectators. [12] Walter Aveyard took the honour of being the first to score at the ground. The stadium's name was revealed for the first time on the same day – Vale Park. [12]
Vale Park initially had problems with drainage, causing many games of the 1950–51 season to be postponed. [17] The problem was finally resolved in summer 1960 when new drains were installed to help ease the winter mud spots. [17]
In summer 1951, 578 seats were installed on the Railway Terrace, bringing the seated capacity of Vale Park to 1,010. [17] In 1954, the Railway Stand was built, as capacity gradually increased to 50,000 by the decade's end. [12] On 24 September 1958, Vale Park saw its first match under the new £17,000 floodlights, as the club beat West Bromwich Albion 5–3. [17]
In summer 1973, the club erected a 2.5 feet high steel fence around the Bycars End to help combat hooliganism. [18] A rare event occurred on 17 January 1976, when the Vale directors permitted rivals Stoke to play a home game against Middlesbrough at Vale Park. [18] This happened because a severe gale severely damaged the Victoria Ground; whilst the gale also caused £2,000 worth of damage to Vale Park, the damage to Stoke's ground was much more severe. [18] A crowd of 21,009 saw Stoke win 1–0.
In summer 1985, new safety regulations reduced Vale Park's capacity down to 16,800 and later again to 16,300. [19] The summer of 1988 saw Vale Park given a £40,000 upgrade to repair the floodlights and a £20,000 electronic scoreboard was installed at the Hamil End. [19] Three executive boxes were also purchased from Newcastle United, whilst facilities were opened to the local community. [19] The following year the stadium was upgraded for £250,000. However, grants helped to halve the cost for the club itself. [19] In November 1989, a £100,000 disabled stand was installed –the country's first purpose-built enclosure. [20] Despite this effort, inspectors closed the Bycars End down due to safety issues and reduced the stadium's capacity to 12,000 after cutting the capacity of the Railway Paddock by two-thirds. [19]
In summer 1990, 3,750 yellow and white seats were fitted in the Railway Paddock, and 1,121 seats were added to the upper tier of the Bycars End. [19] The Bycars End roof was also removed for safety reasons, whilst a police box was constructed between the Railway Paddock and the Hamil End. [19] The paddock at the front of the Railway Stand was later made into an all-seated area, with just the Lorne Street side left as a standing area. Vale fans stood for the last time on Lorne Street at the end of the 1997–98 season, with the stand being demolished before work began on a new £3 million structure. Work has yet to be finished due to a lack of finances and a change in club ownership. Despite the building work remaining uncompleted, the work done on the stadium under Bill Bell from 1985 had vastly improved the ground, as proven by the fact that sheep were once housed in the Railway Paddock toilets and allowed to graze on the pitch in the night; the toilets were notoriously unhygienic and were replaced under Bill Bratt's reign in 2006. [21]
The Valiant 2001 Charter stated that Bratt's management team would invest £400,000 to install under-soil heating in mid-2002, and to also quickly complete the Lorne Street stand. [22] However, it took until 2020 for the seats to be installed. [23] Chairman Norman Smurthwaite separated Vale Park from Port Vale after taking the club out of administration in 2012. [24] New high-tech floodlights were fitted in March 2019, paid for by the club's shirt sponsor. [25] The stadium's ownership was returned to the club after Smurthwaite sold the club to Carol and Kevin Shanahan in May 2019. [26] Five months later it was declared an "asset of community value status" by Stoke-on-Trent city council. [27] The Shanahans spent £500,000 on ground improvement by summer 2021. [28] Another £1.2 million was spent the following summer in order to make Vale Park a Championship standard ground. [29]
The current stadium holds 15,036 supporters and has four stands: Lorne Street opposite to the Railway Paddock, and the Bycars End facing the Hamil Road End. [30] [31] The Lorne Street Stand is relatively new, seating 2,045, with 48 executive boxes that host 711 people. [32] [2] It was not completed when it opened, However, 1,500 seats were installed in the Lorne Street stand in April 2020. At the time of the stadium's construction, it was intended to be the grandstand. [12] It contains the stadium's main entrance, dressing rooms, club offices and enterprise centre. [33] The Hamil End has 4,514 seats and the Railway Stand has a capacity of 2,094. [2] The Accessibility Stand has room for 106 spectators. [2] The Bycars End, capacity 3,363, has housed away supporters since 2023. [2] [34] The Railway Paddock has a maximum capacity of 2,862. [2]
On 1 August 1981, Vale Park hosted a one-off rock concert, Heavy Metal Holocaust, [35] featuring Motörhead, [36] Ozzy Osbourne Band, [37] Mahogany Rush, Triumph, Riot and Vardis. Around 20,000 attended the concert, raising £25,000 for the club. [12] Lars Ulrich was also in attendance, months before he co-founded Metallica. [38]
In 1985, the Stoke Spitfires American football team used the ground for matches. [12] The stadium has hosted three England under-18 games. The first was a 7–2 win over Switzerland in November 1992 (which saw a Robbie Fowler hat-trick); the second was a 1–1 draw with Romania in September 1993; and the third was a goalless draw with Norway in June 2005. [39] It also hosted a full international women's match on 7 April 2017, when England played Italy. [40]
A club record 49,768 attended a 1960 FA Cup fifth round fixture against Aston Villa. [12] Other historic matches include the defeat of two reigning FA Cup champions in the competition, as Stanley Matthews' Blackpool were beaten 2–0 in February 1954, and then 42 years later holders Everton were dumped out 2–1. [12] [41] The biggest victory in a competitive match came in December 1958 when Gateshead were beaten 8–0. [12]
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.
Robert Fitzgerald Earle MBE is an English-born Jamaican former international footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He played 578 league games in senior club football, scoring 136 goals.
Clinton William Boulton was an English professional footballer. A defender, he made 506 league appearances in a 14-year career in the Football League.
Andrew Michael Porter is an English former professional footballer turned coach and manager who is a first-team coach at Northern Premier League Division One West club Nantwich Town. His playing career spanned from 1986 to 2006; for most of his career, he played for Port Vale. His successes with the club include winning promotion out of the Third Division via the play-offs in 1989, lifting the Football League Trophy in 1993, and playing in the final of the Anglo-Italian Cup in 1996. He later played for Wigan Athletic, Mansfield Town, Chester City, Northwich Victoria, and Kidsgrove Athletic.
The Port Vale Player of the Year award is voted for annually by Port Vale's supporters in recognition of the best overall performance by an individual player throughout the football season. Towards the end of each season, fans are invited to cast their votes for this award.
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.
Henry Poole was an English professional footballer, noted for his swerving free kicks. Primarily a half back, he had the third highest number of appearances for Port Vale. He made 499 league and cup appearances for the club in a fifteen-year association from 1953 to 1968. Whilst Poole was at the club, the "Valiants" won the Fourth Division title in 1958–59.
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.
The history of Port Vale Football Club, an English association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, began with the formation of the club, which is officially dated in 1876. However, later research has shown this event probably took place in 1879. In 1884, the club moved to the town of Burslem, changing their name to Burslem Port Vale in the process. The club joined the Football League Second Division upon its formation in 1892 and spent 13 non-consecutive seasons in the division, punctuated by two seasons in the Midland League. A financial crisis resulted in the club's liquidation in 1907. However, the name of Port Vale F.C. survived as North Staffordshire Federation League side Cobridge Church took on the name and moved into the Old Recreation Ground in Hanley, before progressing through the divisions to win re-election to the Football League in October 1919.
Terrence Miles is an English former professional footballer. A midfielder, he played for Port Vale between 1955 and 1968, helping them to the Fourth Division title in 1958–59. He later turned out for Sandbach Ramblers and Eastwood, before returning to Vale Park as a coach.
Thomas Lawrence Hamlett was an English footballer who played at right-back for Congleton Town, Bolton Wanderers, and Port Vale. He scored nine goals in 181 league appearances in the six seasons of the Football League immediately following World War II. He later spent 25 years on the coaching staff at Port Vale, from July 1958 to March 1983.
The 1949–50 season was Port Vale's 38th season of football in the English Football League, and their fifth full season in the Third Division South. It was the last season to be played at The Old Recreation Ground – despite numerous clashes with the authorities over the construction of the new stadium. The sale of Ronnie Allen raised a massive £20,000.
The 1958–59 season was Port Vale's 47th season of football in the English Football League, and their first season in the newly created Fourth Division following their relegation from the Third Division South. They scored a club-record 110 goals in 46 league matches to storm to the Fourth Division title. Forwards Stan Steele, Jack Wilkinson, Graham Barnett, Harry Poole, and John Cunliffe all reached double-figures in front of goal.
The 1967–68 season was Port Vale's 56th season of football in the English Football League, and their third-successive season in the Fourth Division. A poor season saw them battle to mid-table in order to avoid the re-election zone. Yet it would be off-the-field developments that would worry Vale supporters the most. An FA/Football League Joint-Inquiry investigated the club as club officials were forced to admit several breaches of the rules in regard to payment of players. The result was expulsion from the League, however, before the start of the following season a vote of 39 to 9 allowed the club to be immediately readmitted to the competition. The whole saga was rather ironic, as the club re-entered the League in 1919 after Leeds City were expelled over illegal payments to their players. On the playing front it was the final season of both Harry Poole and Terry Miles' careers.
The 1985–86 season was Port Vale's 74th season of football in the English Football League, and second-successive season in the Fourth Division. John Rudge achieved his first success as manager, leading Vale to promotion into the Third Division with a fourth-place finish. The club also reached the Second Round in both the FA Cup and League Cup, as well as the Northern Section Semi-finals of the Associate Members' Cup. Rudge signing Andy Jones excelled to become the club's top-scorer, whilst Robbie Earle had another impressive season. However, the promotion campaign was built on the strength of the Vale defence, and goalkeeper Jim Arnold was made Player of the Year.
The 1989–90 season was Port Vale's 78th season of football in the English Football League, and first season back in the Second Division following their promotion from the Third Division. They were playing in the second tier, and at the same level as rivals Stoke City, for the first time since 1956–57. John Rudge led his side to a comfortable mid-table finish, whilst Stoke suffered relegation in bottom place despite the two derby matches finishing in draws. After beating top-flight Derby County, Vale exited the FA Cup at the Fourth Round with their biggest ever loss in the competition, losing 6–0 to Aston Villa at Villa Park. They left both the League Cup and the Full Members Cup at the Second Round.
The 1990–91 season was Port Vale's 79th season of football in the English Football League, and second-successive season in the Second Division. For the first time since 1926–27 they played in a league above rivals Stoke City. Vale finished in mid-table, exiting the FA Cup at the Fourth Round, the League Cup at the Second Round, and the Full Members' Cup at the First Round. John Rudge continued to uncover hidden 'gems', signing Dutchman Robin van der Laan for £80,000. Darren Beckford was top-scorer once again, though the club's Player of the Year award went to Ray Walker.
William Thomas Bell was an English businessman and football club chairman who was the chair of Port Vale from 1987 to 2002. He spent the first twelve years at the club in partnership with manager John Rudge, until he controversially sacked Rudge in January 1999. As chairman, he concentrated his efforts on renovating and modernising Vale Park at great financial cost. However, the money for his ambitious projects dried up with his decision to axe Rudge, and he left the club in December 2002 when Port Vale entered administration.
Nathan James Smith is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for EFL League Two club Port Vale. He has won praise for mental attributes such as bravery, consistency and commitment, as well as for his pace and strength.
James Andrew Gibbons is an English professional footballer who plays as a full-back for EFL League One club Bristol Rovers. He will become a free agent on 30 June 2024.