Port Vale F.C.
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| Port Vale | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Port Vale Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | The Valiants | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Founded | 1876 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Vale Park Burslem Stoke-on-Trent |
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| Capacity | 22,356 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman | Bill Bratt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manager |  Martin Foyle |
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| League | League One | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005-06 | League One, 13th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Port Vale is an English association football club who currently play in Football League One. They are based in Burslem, Staffordshire one of the six towns that make up Stoke-on-Trent. Stoke is home to two league football clubs, the other being Stoke City whose ground is five miles away.
Along with Arsenal, they are one of only two professional clubs in England not to be named after a place, though they originally took the name Burslem Port Vale, just as Arsenal were originally Woolwich Arsenal.
Their current manager is Martin Foyle – the previous manager of the Port Vale youth team – as well as being an important player for the club in the past. Dean Glover is the assistant manager and the sport scientist.
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[edit] Stadium
Since 1950, the club has played at Vale Park. It had been planned before the Second World War with a capacity of 70,000, but was considerably smaller on its completion, due to a lack of funds. It now has an all-seated capacity of just under 20,000, with additional capacity under construction. The stand in question is the right side of the lorne street stand, which when completed will sit fans about 50 metres away from away fans.
They played the 4,000th league game against Northampton Town F.C. on the 30th September 2006.
[edit] History
They have played in the Football League since 1919, after the Football Association forcibly disbanded Leeds City. Vale themselves were expelled from the League in 1968 (for financial irregularities) and forced to seek re-election, which they achieved.
Throughout much of their history they have been regarded as the only team in the city to support, wealth and achievement. However, during the 1990s Port Vale could rightly claim to have proved themselves far superior to their city rivals as they spent three seasons in a higher division and the other seasons in the same division.
Their most successful period was possibly during the late 1980s and early 1990s under the management of John Rudge. He guided the team to four promotions including two into Division One, where Vale had not played for 30 years. He also took them to three Wembley finals with two of them being in the space of a week in 1993.
[edit] Robbie Williams
Among the club's fanbase is British singer, Robbie Williams, who was raised in Stoke-On-Trent. When asked on Jonathan Ross's TV chat show if he had any good memories from his days with boyband Take That, he hesitated and then jokingly replied "Yeah... I remember Port Vale beat Spurs at one point." In February 2006 he bought £240,000 worth of shares in the club.[1]
For the game FIFA 2000 he provided an original theme song with "It's Only Us". This song was also featured on the first and only FIFA Soundtrack CD release by EMI. He allegedly did this on the condition that Port Vale were included in the game, which they were, as a special feature team[citation needed]. Williams also included a song about a gang who were well known in the small town of Burslem when he was a lad , The Burslem Normals. (rumour has it that this gang later turned into the Special Needs Crew, a group of Vale fans and other club's fans who share a love of the beautiful game.)
[edit] Achievements
- Division Three (North) champions: 1929/30; 1953/54
- Promoted from Division Four: 1958/59 (as champions); 1969/70; 1982/83; 1985/86
- Promoted from Division Three: 1988/89 (via play offs)
- Promoted from Division Two: 1993/94 (as runners up)
- FA cup semi-finalists: 1953/54
- Football League Trophy
- Autoglass Trophy: 1992/93 (beat Stockport County 2-1)
- LDV Vans Trophy: 2000/01: (beat Brentford 2-1)
- Anglo-Italian Cup finalists: 1995/96
[edit] Statistics
| Best attendance | 49768: vs Aston Villa 20 February 1960 FA Cup R5 |
| Best league win | 9 - 1: vs Chesterfield 24 September 1932 Division Two |
| Worst league loss | 0 - 10: vs Sheffield United 10 December 1892 Division Two |
| Best cup win | 7 - 1: vs Irthlingborough 12 January 1907 FA Cup R1 |
| Most capped player | Christopher Birchall : 22, Trinidad and Tobago |
| Most League appearances | Roy Sproson: 761 1950-1972 |
| Most League goals | Wilf Kirkham: 154 1923-1933 |
| Most Goals in a season | Wilf Kirkham: 38 1926/27 Division Two |
| Transfer fee received | £2,000,000: Gareth Ainsworth to Wimbledon 29 October 1998 |
| Transfer fee paid | £500,000: Gareth Ainsworth from Lincoln City 11 September 1997 |
[edit] Current Port Vale squad
as of 26/11/2006.
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[edit] Notable players
- Gareth Ainsworth
- Darren Beckford
- Christopher Birchall
- Neville Chamberlain
- Robbie Earle
- Anthony Gardner
- Dean Glover
- Steve Guppy
- Andy Jones
- Wilf Kirkham
- Jon McCarthy
- Sammy Morgan
- Billy Bingham
- Ken Hancock
- Roy Sproson
- Ian Taylor
- Ray Walker
[edit] List of Managers
- 1876 - 1896 - To be updated. "Enoch Hood
- 1896 - 1905 - Sam Gleaves
- 1905 - 1911 - Tom Clare
- 1911 - 1912 - A.S. Walker
- 1912 - 1914 - H. Myatt
- 1919 - 1924 - Tom Holdford
- 1924 - 1930 - Joe Schofield
- 1930 - 1932 - Tom Morgan
- 1932 - 1935 - Tom Holdford
- 1936 - 1937 - Warney Cresswell
- 1937 - 1938 - Tom Morgan
- 1945 - 1946 - Billy Frith
- 1946 - 1951 - Gordon Hodgson
- 1951 - 1957 - Freddie Steele
- 1957 - 1962 - Norman Low
- 1962 - 1965 - Freddie Steele
- 1965 - 1967 - Stanley Matthews and Jackie Mudie
- 1967 - 1968 - Stanley Matthews
- 1968 - 1974 - Gordon Lee
- 1974 - 1977 - Roy Sproson
- 1977 - 1978 - Bobby Smith
- 1978 - 1979 - Dennis Butler
- 1979 - 1979 - Alan Bloor
- 1979 - 1983 - John McGrath
- 1983 - 1999 - John Rudge
- 1999 - 2004 - Brian Horton
- 2004 - present - Martin Foyle
[edit] Notable fans
- Robbie Williams, singer
- Jonathan Wilkes, TV presenter
- Phil "The Power" Taylor, darts player
- Simon Webbe, singer
[edit] External links
- The Official Club Site
- Fansite: One Vale Fan
- Fansite: Port Vale Online
- Fansite: PureVale
- Fansite: ValeLoyalists
- BBC Sport article on Williams investment
| Football League One, 2006-2007 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Blackpool | Bournemouth | Bradford City | Brentford | Brighton & Hove Albion | Bristol City | Carlisle United | Cheltenham Town | Chesterfield | Crewe Alexandra | Doncaster Rovers | Gillingham | Huddersfield Town | Leyton Orient | Millwall | Northampton Town | Nottingham Forest | Oldham Athletic | Port Vale | Rotherham United | Scunthorpe United | Swansea City | Tranmere Rovers | Yeovil Town edit |
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