2002–03 Port Vale F.C. season

Port Vale

2002–03 season
Chairman	Bill Bell (until December) Administrators (December until March) Bill Bratt (March onwards)
Manager	Brian Horton
Stadium	Vale Park
Football League Second Division	17th (53 Points)
FA Cup	First Round
League Cup	First Round
League Trophy	Area Quarter-finalists
Player of the Year	Sam Collins
Top goalscorer	League: Marc Bridge-Wilkinson (9) All: Marc Bridge-Wilkinson (9)
Highest home attendance	6,395 vs. Wigan Athletic (26 December 2002)
Lowest home attendance	2,222 vs. Chesterfield (12 November 2002)
Average home league attendance	4,436
Home colours
← 2001–02 2003–04 →

The 2002–03 season was Port Vale's ninety-first season of football in the Football League, and third successive season (fortieth overall) in the Second Division. Another poor season, Brian Horton's side avoided relegation with a seventeenth place finish. Vale exited both the FA Cup and the League Cup at the First Round with defeats to Crewe Alexandra, and reached the Area Quarter-finals of the League Trophy. Financial issues were at the forefront in the minds of Vale fans, as the club entered administration in December. After a successful bid, Bill Bratt's Valiant 2001 group won control of the club, taking the club out of administration.

Overview

Second Division

The pre-season saw Brian Horton make several free signings: Jon McCarthy (Birmingham City); Brett Angell (Rushden & Diamonds); Ian Brightwell (Walsall);^[1] Phil Charnock (Crewe Alexandra); Sam Collins (Bury);^[2][3] and Mark Boyd (Newcastle United).^[4] Midfielder Dean Keates had a trial at the club over the summer, but was not offered a contract.

The season started poorly with four straight defeats and only one goal scored from open play, causing fans to barrack Horton.^[5] Their form changed with a 1–0 win over Wigan Athletic at the JJB Stadium – the first in a sequence of five consecutive victories. Following this run victories were sparse for the Vale, and they picked up just four league victories until the beginning of March. The club agreed to sell Stephen McPhee to Wigan Athletic for £300,000, though the deal fell through over personal terms.^[6] In October, Lee Ashcroft arrived on loan from Wigan Athletic.^[7] Meanwhile Jon McCarthy was released,^[8] and signed with Doncaster Rovers.^[9] The next month Brett Angell also departed after rejecting a new deal with the club,^[10] and instead joined Queens Park Rangers. A mini-revival began in the new year, as Vale were unbeaten in their three January league games. In February, defender Peter Clarke arrived on a three month loan deal from Everton.^[11][12] Adrian Littlejohn also joined the club on a monthly contract,^[13] having left Lincoln City. There was a turnaround in form following a 1–0 win over Blackpool on 8 March, as eighteen points from the final twelve games of the season were enough to see off the fan's fears of relegation. Horton still remained unpopular with some sections of the Vale's supporters.^[14]

They finished in seventeenth place with 53 points, just five points above Cheltenham Town in the relegation zone. They finished 33 points and 15 places behind Crewe, who were promoted as runners-up. The end of season table was unusual, in that 15 points separated 7th and 8th, whilst 17 points separated 8th and 21st. Marc Bridge-Wilkinson was the club's top-scorer with just nine goals in all competitions.

At the end of the season a number of players left the club on free transfers: Matt Carragher (Macclesfield Town);^[15] Paul Byrne (Barry Town); Phil Charnock (Bury); Sean McClare (Rochdale); John Durnin (Accrington Stanley); and Rae Ingram (Bangor City).

Finances, administration & a change of ownership

Talks of Bell selling the club circulated at the start of the season,^[16] as Staffordshire Police were forced to write off £100,000 worth of debt.^[17] Meanwhile Marketing executive Terry Smith resigned after just six weeks in the job. Bell told the press that the Lorne Street stand would be open at the start of the season, though work never got going on the project. Director Jim Lloyd resigned in September, leaving the club with just Bell and two directors (only one of whom was allowed to vote; Bell had the casting vote in the event of a tie). The club's financial crisis came to a head in the season, the club £2.4 million in debt and posting £500,000 a year losses.^[18] On 25 November, Bell put his shares up for sale at £10 each.^[19]

The club entered administration on 16 December,^[20] with £600,000 owed to Inland Revenue and the Customs & Excise;^[21] Birmingham-based administration firm Poppleton & Appleby took control. Assistant manager Mark Grew and Ray Williams were both laid off in order to save money.^[22] The club approached millionaire pop star and Vale fan Robbie Williams,^[23] who rejected the opportunity to invest in the club.^[24] Rumours circulated of a possible merger with rivals Stoke City and a ground-share at the Britannia Stadium,^[25] fuelled by the belief that a 'mystery bidder' was in fact the Icelandic owners of Stoke City.^[26] Stoke Holdings, the Icelandic company which owned Stoke City, offered Bill Bell £50,000 to buy his debt and thereby take control of the club by bypassing the administrators; however Bell rejected the offer. Valiant2001 eventually agreed to rent the club shop off Bell as an incitement for him to accept their offer (his vote was needed as he was the club's biggest creditor). The administrators received a number of bids for the club,^[27] and received interest from Mo Chaudry (owner of WaterWorld), Summerbank Management (Tunstall based consultancy firm), and property developing duo Steve Ball and Iain McIntosh.^[28] A late bid from Gianni Paladini seemed likely to succeed,^[29] however Bill Bratt's 'Valiant 2001' fan-based consortium's bid was accepted in March,^[30] and the group took control the following month.^[31] The group had had a £1 million bid rejected by Bell the previous year.^[32] The total cost of administration was £255,000, and Bratt said "It has been a ride of terror".^[33]

In May, the club announced a new two year £200,000 shirt sponsorship deal with local mobile phone company Tricell, ending ten years of sponsorship from Tunstall Assurance.^[34] The new board also appointed former player Andy Porter as youth coach,^[35] and got the club's transfer embargo lifted in July.^[36]

Cup competitions

In the FA Cup, Vale were knocked out by nearby Crewe Alexandra with a Dean Ashton goal.^[37]

In the League Cup, Crewe made the first of their three visits to Vale Park (all of which they won), and advanced with a 2–0 victory, both goals scored by Rodney Jack.^[38]

In the League Trophy, Vale advanced through the opening rounds with home wins over Hull City and Chesterfield (after a penalty shootout^[39]). In the Northern Section Quarter-Finals they faced Shrewsbury Town at Gay Meadow, and lost 2–1.

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pl	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1.	Wigan Athletic	46	29	13	4	68	25	+43	100
2.	Crewe Alexandra	46	25	11	10	76	40	+36	86
3.	Bristol City	46	24	11	11	79	48	+31	83
4.	Queens Park Rangers	46	24	11	11	69	45	+24	83
5.	Oldham Athletic	46	22	16	8	68	38	+30	82
6.	Cardiff City	46	23	12	11	68	43	+25	81
7.	Tranmere Rovers	46	23	11	12	66	57	+9	80
8.	Plymouth Argyle	46	17	14	15	63	52	+11	65
9.	Luton Town	46	17	14	15	67	62	+5	65
10.	Swindon Town	46	16	12	18	59	63	-4	60
11.	Peterborough United	46	14	16	16	51	54	-3	58
12.	Colchester United	46	14	16	16	52	56	-4	58
13.	Blackpool	46	15	13	18	56	64	-8	58
14.	Stockport County	46	15	10	21	65	70	-5	55
15.	Notts County	46	13	16	17	62	70	-8	55
16.	Brentford	46	14	12	20	47	56	-9	54
17.	Port Vale	46	14	11	21	54	70	-16	53
18.	Wycombe Wanderers	46	13	13	20	59	66	-7	52
19.	Barnsley	46	13	13	20	51	64	-13	52
20.	Chesterfield	46	14	8	24	43	73	-30	50
21.	Cheltenham Town	46	10	18	18	53	68	-15	48
22.	Huddersfield Town	46	11	12	23	39	61	-22	45
23.	Mansfield Town	46	12	8	26	66	97	-31	44
24.	Northampton Town	46	10	9	27	40	79	-39	39

P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

Results

Port Vale's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	46
Ground	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A
Result	L	L	L	L	W	W	W	W	W	L	L	D	D	D	L	W	D	D	L	W	L	L	L	L	D	W	D	L	L	W	L	D	L	L	L	W	D	W	L	D	W	W	L	D	W	L
Position	24	24	24	24	22	19	15	11	9	10	13	12	12	14	14	12	13	13	16	12	14	15	18	19	17	15	15	16	19	15	17	19	19	20	22	19	20	18	19	19	17	16	19	18	16	17

Sourced from Statto.^[40]

Football League Second Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
10 August 2002	Tranmere Rovers	H	1–4	5,629	Brooker
13 August 2002	Cardiff City	A	1–3	13,296	Bridge-Wilkinson (pen)
17 August 2002	Chesterfield	A	1–2	3,598	Angell (pen)
24 August 2002	Stockport County	H	0–1	4,070
26 August 2002	Wigan Athletic	A	1–0	6,532	Armstrong
31 August 2002	Peterborough United	H	1–0	3,862	Angell
7 September 2002	Swindon Town	A	2–1	5,029	Bridge-Wilkinson (2)
14 September 2002	Colchester United	H	1–0	3,328	Collins
17 September 2002	Notts County	H	3–2	3,505	Angell (2), Paynter
21 September 2002	Blackpool	A	2–3	7,756	Collins, Bridge-Wilkinson
28 September 2002	Bristol City	H	2–3	4,286	Paynter, Cummins
5 October 2002	Huddersfield Town	A	2–2	9,091	Collins, Paynter
12 October 2002	Oldham Athletic	H	1–1	5,563	McPhee
19 October 2002	Brentford	A	1–1	5,177	Paynter
26 October 2002	Crewe Alexandra	H	1–2	6,374	Angell
29 October 2002	Cheltenham Town	A	1–0	3,852	Bridge-Wilkinson (pen)
2 November 2002	Queens Park Rangers	H	0–0	4,394
9 November 2002	Luton Town	A	0–0	6,112
23 November 2002	Northampton Town	A	0–3	4,357
30 November 2002	Mansfield Town	H	4–2	3,880	Cummins (2), Armstrong, Paynter
14 December 2002	Wycombe Wanderers	A	1–3	5,229	Armstrong
21 December 2002	Plymouth Argyle	H	1–2	4,892	Brooker
26 December 2002	Wigan Athletic	H	0–1	6,395
28 December 2002	Barnsley	A	1–2	9,291	Bridge-Wilkinson
1 January 2003	Stockport County	A	1–1	4,390	Brooker
18 January 2003	Peterborough United	A	2–1	4,770	Brooker, Bridge-Wilkinson
25 January 2003	Barnsley	H	0–0	4,033
1 February 2003	Tranmere Rovers	A	0–1	7,461
8 February 2003	Luton Town	H	1–2	4,714	Boyd
11 February 2003	Chesterfield	H	5–2	3,039	Boyd (2), McPhee, Armstrong, Brooker
15 February 2003	Queens Park Rangers	A	0–4	13,703
22 February 2003	Swindon Town	H	1–1	4,085	Armstrong
25 February 2003	Cardiff City	H	0–2	3,831
1 March 2003	Colchester United	A	1–4	3,581	Bridge-Wilkinson
4 March 2003	Notts County	A	0–1	6,302
8 March 2003	Blackpool	H	1–0	4,394	Bridge-Wilkinson (pen)
15 March 2003	Crewe Alexandra	A	1–1	8,146	Brisco
18 March 2003	Brentford	H	1–0	3,241	Collins
22 March 2003	Cheltenham Town	H	1–2	4,800	McPhee
29 March 2003	Oldham Athletic	A	1–1	7,209	Cummins
5 April 2003	Mansfield Town	A	1–0	4,538	Durnin
12 April 2003	Northampton Town	H	3–2	4,209	Walsh, Clarke, Littlejohn
19 April 2003	Plymouth Argyle	A	0–3	12,587
21 April 2003	Wycombe Wanderers	H	1–1	3,590	Littlejohn
26 April 2003	Huddersfield Town	H	5–1	5,925	Armstrong (2), Littlejohn, Collins, Charnock
3 May 2003	Bristol City	A	0–2	12,410

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	16 November 2002	Crewe Alexandra	H	0–1	5,507

League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	10 September 2002	Crewe Alexandra	H	0–2	3,765

League Trophy

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	22 October 2002	Hull City	H	3–1	2,621	Angell (2), Carragher
R2	12 November 2002	Chesterfield	H	(4)1–1(3)	2,222	Armstrong
SQF	10 December 2002	Shrewsbury Town	A	1–2	2,597	Boyd

Player statistics

Appearances Pos. Name Football League FA Cup League Cup Total Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals GK Mark Goodlad 37 0 1 0 1 0 42 0 GK Dean Delany 10 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 DF Matt Carragher 35 0 1 0 1 0 40 1 DF Liam Burns 16 0 1 0 0 0 19 0 DF Michael Walsh 17 1 0 0 1 0 18 1 DF Steve Rowland 25 0 0 0 0 0 27 0 DF Rae Ingram 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 DF Peter Clarke 13 1 0 0 0 0 13 1 DF Sam Collins 44 5 1 0 1 0 49 5 DF Ian Brightwell 35 0 1 0 1 0 38 0 DF Ryan Brown 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 DF Paul Byrne 9 0 0 0 0 0 9 0 MF Neil Brisco 24 1 0 0 0 0 24 1 MF Micky Cummins 30 4 1 0 1 0 35 4 MF Marc Bridge-Wilkinson 31 9 0 0 1 0 33 9 MF Sean McClare 17 0 1 0 0 0 20 1 MF John Durnin 28 1 1 0 0 0 31 1 MF Ian Armstrong 29 7 1 0 1 0 34 8 MF Chris Birchall 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 MF Levi Reid 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 MF Jon McCarthy 8 0 0 0 1 0 9 0 MF Adrian Littlejohn 13 3 0 0 0 0 13 3 MF Phil Charnock 18 1 1 0 0 0 24 1 MF Mark Boyd 20 3 1 0 1 0 24 4 FW Billy Paynter 31 5 1 0 0 0 34 5 FW Steve Brooker 26 5 1 0 1 0 30 5 FW Stephen McPhee 40 3 1 0 1 0 45 3 FW Simon Eldershaw 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 FW Brett Angell 15 5 0 0 1 0 17 7 FW Lee Ashcroft 3 0 0 0 0 0 4 0

Scorers All competitions Scorer Goals Marc Bridge-Wilkinson 9 Ian Armstrong 8 Brett Angell 7 Sam Collins 5 Billy Paynter Steve Brooker Micky Cummins 4 Mark Boyd Stephen McPhee 3 Adrian Littlejohn Michael Walsh 1 Peter Clarke Neil Brisco John Durnin Phil Charnock Sean McClare Matt Carragher League Scorer Goals Marc Bridge-Wilkinson 9 Ian Armstrong 7 Brett Angell 5 Sam Collins Billy Paynter Steve Brooker Micky Cummins 4 Mark Boyd 3 Stephen McPhee Adrian Littlejohn Michael Walsh 1 Peter Clarke Neil Brisco John Durnin Phil Charnock

References

• Soccerbase

Port Vale F.C. seasons 1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 99–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 99–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20

Port Vale Football Club History Honours Managers Records Reserves & Youth Seasons Grounds Athletic Ground Old Recreation Ground Vale Park Players 25+ appearances <25 appearances Player of the Year Winners Matches 1989 Play-off Final 1993 League Trophy Final 1993 Play-off Final 1996 Anglo-Italian Final 2001 League Trophy Final Potteries derby

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