Fixtures

England League 1 03/23 15:00 40 Burton Albion vs Port Vale - View
England League 1 03/29 15:00 41 Port Vale vs Bristol Rovers - View
England League 1 04/01 14:00 42 Northampton vs Port Vale - View
England League 1 04/06 14:00 43 Wigan vs Port Vale - View
England League 1 04/10 18:45 33 Peterborough vs Port Vale - View
England League 1 04/13 14:00 44 Port Vale vs Exeter - View

Results

England League 1 03/16 15:00 39 [23] Port Vale v Oxford Utd [8] L 0-2
England League 1 03/12 19:45 38 [10] Leyton Orient v Port Vale [23] D 0-0
England League 1 03/09 15:00 37 [22] Port Vale v Shrewsbury [20] L 1-2
England League 1 03/02 15:00 36 [2] Derby v Port Vale [22] L 3-0
England League 1 02/27 19:45 13 [22] Port Vale v Fleetwood Town [23] D 2-2
England League 1 02/24 15:00 35 [22] Port Vale v Lincoln City [10] L 0-2
England League 1 02/20 20:00 28 [18] Reading v Port Vale [22] L 2-0
England League 1 02/17 15:00 34 [22] Cheltenham v Port Vale [21] L 3-2
England League 1 02/13 19:45 33 Peterborough v Port Vale - PPT.
England League 1 02/10 15:00 32 [21] Port Vale v Stevenage [6] D 2-2
England League 1 02/06 19:45 18 [20] Port Vale v Leyton Orient [9] L 0-1
England League 1 02/03 15:00 31 [24] Fleetwood Town v Port Vale [20] L 3-0

Stats

 TotalHomeAway
Matches played 64 32 32
Wins 15 9 6
Draws 18 9 9
Losses 31 14 17
Goals for 63 35 28
Goals against 97 43 54
Clean sheets 17 9 8
Failed to score 25 12 13

Wikipedia - Port Vale F.C.

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.

After becoming one of the more prominent football clubs in Staffordshire, Burslem Port Vale were invited to become founder 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 financial difficulties and entered liquidation in 1907. The name of Port Vale continued in the North Staffordshire Federation League, and this new club was successful enough to be reinstated into the Football League in 1919. They spent 16 non-consecutive seasons in the Second Division, punctuated by winning the Third Division North title in 1929–30, before dropping back into the third tier for a much longer stay at the end of the 1935–36 campaign. The 1953–54 season saw manager Freddie Steele's "Iron Curtain" defence win both a Third Division North title and a semi-final place in the FA Cup. They failed to build on this success, however, although they went on to finish as champions of the first Fourth Division season under Norman Low's stewardship in 1958–59.

The 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 relegation at the end of the 1977–78 campaign. John McGrath steered the club to promotion in 1982–83, though he departed after relegation became inevitable the following season. His assistant, John Rudge, stepped up to become the club's longest-serving and most successful manager, leading the club from 1983 to 1999. Under his leadership Port Vale won promotions in 1985–86, 1988–89 and 1993–94, lifted the Football League Trophy in 1993 and reached a post-war record finish of eighth in the second tier in the 1996–97 season.

After Rudge's reign ended the club entered a decline, slipping into the fourth tier whilst twice entering administration in 2003 and 2012. The decline was arrested when manager Micky Adams achieved automatic promotion 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 failed experiment with a continental staff and playing style. Carol Shanahan bought the club in 2019 and manager Darrell Clarke secured promotion out of the League Two play-offs at the end of the 2021–22 season.

History

The official story reported on the club website is that Port Vale F.C. was formed in 1876, following a meeting at Port Vale House, from where the club was supposed to have taken its name. However, documented evidence of football from that era is extremely scarce and research by historian Jeff Kent indicated that it was probably formed in 1879 as an offshoot of Porthill Victoria F.C. and took its name from the valley of canal ports where the team played. In the club's early days the team played their football at Limekiln Lane, Longport and from 1880 at Westport. The club moved to Moorland Road in Burslem in 1884, changing its name to Burslem Port Vale in the process, though stayed in Burslem for just one year before both turning professional and moving to Cobridge to play at the Athletic Ground. In 1892, the club were invited to become founder members of the Football League Second Division after proving themselves a strong club in the Midland League. They spent 13 seasons in the Second Division either side of a two-season return to the Midland League (1896–97 and 1897–98).

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. However, the name of Port Vale was continued after ambitious minor league side Cobridge Church opted to change their name. The new 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 fixture list of Leeds City in the Second Division, who were forced to disband because of financial irregularities. Wilf Kirkham made his Vale debut in October 1923, and over the next ten years would score a club record 164 league and cup goals, including a club record 41 goals in the 1926–27 campaign.

The club were relegated for the first time at the end of the 1928–29 season, going from the Second Division to the Third Division North. They came up as champions the following season and in the 1930–31 season were placed fifth in the second tier of English football, their highest ever league finish. Vale went to beat Chesterfield by a club record 9–1 margin on 24 September 1932. However, after these achievements the club were once again relegated in the 1935–36 season and remained in the third tier until World War II.

Port Vale moved into their new home of Vale Park in 1950, and a year later Freddie Steele was appointed club manager. Steele quickly established himself at the club, masterminding the celebrated 'Iron Curtain' defence. The 1953–54 season saw Vale winning the Third Division North title as 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. Three years later, the club were again relegated, and once again became founder members of a division – this time the Football League Fourth Division. Manager Norman Low instilled an attacking philosophy and in the 1958–59 season guided the team to the Fourth Division title with a club record 110 goals scored.

Vale ended a six-season stay in the Third Division with relegation at the end of the 1964–65 campaign. In 1967, former Ballon d'Or winner Stanley Matthews succeeded Jackie Mudie as manager, though he resigned a year later after Vale were expelled from the Football League for allegedly making illegal payments to players in contravention of FA rules – this punishment was reduced on appeal to a re-election vote, which the club won. Gordon Lee took the helm following this punishment, and steered the club to promotion at the end of the 1969–70 campaign. However, the 1970s did not prove a successful period for the Valiants, as the club 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. The 1979–80 season saw Port Vale finish 20th in the Fourth Division (88th overall), the club's worst ever finish. Despite this poor finish in John McGrath's first season, they eventually achieved their first success for thirteen years in 1982–83 by winning promotion out of the Fourth Division in third place.

Following McGrath's dismissal, his assistant John Rudge was appointed as manager in December 1983. Though he was unable to halt Vale's immediate return to the bottom tier of the Football League, he succeeded in steadying the ship. Helped by the goals of prolific Welshman Andy Jones, Vale were promoted back to the third tier in 1985–86 after losing just once at Vale Park in the league all season. A major cup upset came on 30 January 1988, when Vale defeated First Division side Tottenham Hotspur 2–1, thanks to a superb strike from Ray Walker. After three seasons in the third tier, Rudge's Vale achieved another promotion in 1988–89 after Robbie Earle scored the winning goal at Vale Park to complete a 2–1 aggregate play-off final victory over Bristol Rovers; this marked the club's return to the Second Division after a 33-year absence.

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 campaign, and though they bounced back well by staying in the promotion picture for most of the 1992–93 season, they narrowly missed out as runners-up to local rivals Stoke City after being overtaken by Bolton Wanderers on the final day. Instead Vale would visit Wembley twice in just over a week. They firstly ran out as 2–1 winners against Stockport County in the final of the Football League Trophy. However, they then lost 3–0 in the play-off final to West Bromwich Albion. Vale recovered from this setback and went on to confirm promotion as runners-up on the final 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. The team also 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. Vale made a slow start to the 1996–97 campaign, with protests forming against chairman 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 final day of the season with a 4–0 win over Huddersfield Town, at the expense of Manchester City and Stoke City. The next season was another struggle, and John Rudge was controversially sacked in January 1999. He was replaced by former player Brian Horton, who spent big to secure the club's second consecutive final-day escape from relegation. There was no avoiding relegation in 1999–2000, though, as they were some thirteen points short of safety. Horton led the club to Football 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 final at the Millennium Stadium. In December 2002, Bill Bell called in the administrators, with the club around £1.5 million in debt.

The club came out of administration in 2003–04 under a fan-ownership consortium headed by Bill Bratt's Valiant 2001 consortium. However, Horton left in February 2004, unwilling to accept the financial cutbacks imposed by the new board, and was replaced by former player Martin Foyle. Foyle was dismissed in November 2007, and his successor, Lee Sinnott, proved unable to prevent the club from being relegated into League Two after a 23rd-place finish and also oversaw a defeat to Southern League Division One Midlands club Chasetown in the FA Cup. Sinnott was sacked in September 2008 and following an unsuccessful tenure from Dean Glover, Micky Adams was appointed as the club's new manager in June 2009. Adams left the club in December 2010 with Vale second in the table and Jim Gannon was selected to finish the promotion job. However, Gannon's turbulent reign ended after 74 days. Adams returned as manager 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 fruition.

Genuine hopes of promotion in 2011–12 were brought to an end after the club was issued with a winding up petition by HM Revenue and Customs on 29 February 2012; the club were by this time unable to pay tax bills, creditors, or staff wages. The club entered administration on 9 March. The club finally exited administration on 20 November 2012, and Tom Pope scored 33 goals to fire Vale to promotion back to League One with a third-place finish. They stabilised in the division under new boss Rob Page, before chairman Norman Smurthwaite orchestrated the departure of Page and his squad in favour of the club's first foreign manager, Bruno Ribeiro, in June 2016. The result was relegation back into League Two at the end of the 2016–17 season, after which Smurthwaite resigned as chairman. He returned to the role the following season and threatened to put the club into administration if a buyer was not found by May 2019, a fate which was avoided when Carol and Kevin Shanahan completed their takeover. Manager Darrell Clarke returned from a close family bereavement to lead Vale through the League Two play-off semi-finals at the end of the 2021–22 season. Promotion was secured with a 3–0 victory over Mansfield Town in the final. Clarke was sacked on 17 April 2023, and was succeeded, first, by his assistant Andy Crosby, who lasted until 5 February 2024, and then Darren Moore.

Port Vale Football Club is a professional soccer team based in Stoke-on-Trent, England. The club was founded in 1876 and has a rich history in English football. The team plays their home matches at Vale Park, which has a capacity of 19,000 spectators.

The team's colors are white and black, and their nickname is "The Valiants." Port Vale has a loyal fan base and has enjoyed success in various competitions throughout their history. They have won the Football League Trophy twice and have been runners-up in the Football League Third Division on three occasions.

The current manager of Port Vale is Darrell Clarke, who took over in February 2021. The team's current squad includes a mix of experienced players and promising young talent. Some of the notable players in the team include Tom Conlon, Devante Rodney, and Leon Legge.

Port Vale is known for their attacking style of play and their ability to score goals. They have a strong team spirit and work ethic, which has helped them achieve success on the pitch. The team has a bright future ahead of them, and their fans are excited to see what they can achieve in the coming seasons.