Port Vale
Formed 1876
Founder member of Division Two 1892. Failed re-election 1896.
Elected to Division Two 1898. Resigned 1907.
Replaced Leeds City in Division Two 1919.
Kit History
Burslem Port Vale
1884
1892-1895 m
1896 a
1898-1902 m
1902-1907 a m
Port Vale
1907
1912-1913 n
1921 n
1923-1934 a l n
1936-1937 c
1947-1948 n
1948-1950 x
1950-1951 d
1951-1952 e
1952-1954 x
1954-1956 a k n
1956-1957 p
1957-1958 x
1958-1959 x
1959-1960 p x
1960-1961 p
1961-1962 a
1962-1963
1963-1964 f
1964-1965 j
1965-1966 x
1966-1967
1969-1971 g s
1971-1973 t
1972-1973 a
1973-1974 a s
1974-1976 a v
1976-1977 k
1977-1978 t
1978-1979 t
1980-1981 m o t
1983-1984 a m r t
1986-1987 a
1987-1988
1989-1990 a p w
1990-1991 q w
1991-1992 a
1992-1993 q
1993-1995 o q
1995-1996 u
1996-1997 i p q
1997-1999 i
1999-2001 i
2001-2003 i
2003-2005 i
2005-2006 a
2006-2007 a
2007-2008 a
2008-2010 a
Background
The club was formed after a meeting in a suburb of Stoke-on-Trent at
"Port Vale House" from which the name Port Vale FC was taken.
In 1884 the club moved to Burslem (one of the five Potteries towns that
make up Stoke) and became known as Burslem Port Vale. In 1892, the Football
Alliance was incorporated into the Football League as Division Two. At
the time, Port Vale were members of the Midland League but when Alliance
club Birmingham St George's folded, it was Vale who were invited to take
their place in the new Second Division. There is no record of why such
a modest club received this promotion in its fortunes.
In 1896, having had to seek re-election for the third time in only four seasons, Burslem Port Vale lost their League status and returned to the Midland League. It is known that the club played in red shirts and "grey serge" knickers followed by amber and black during this period. After they beat First Division Sheffield United in the FA Cup, the club was elected back into the Second Division in 1898. They continued to struggle and in 1907, faced with serious financial problems, the club resigned from the League and almost went out of business. Only one year later, local rivals Stoke FC found themselves in the same position and resigned their place leaving the Potteries without a League club.
Following a move to a new ground, the club became known simply as Port Vale and joined the Central League. In 1919, Vale unsuccessfully applied for election to the League once again following a decision to expand the Second Division with four new clubs. In October 1919, however, the club was invited to take over the fixtures of Leeds City who had been expelled following a scandal over illegal payments.
Port Vale made little impact and were relegated in 1929 to Division Three (North) although they returned as champions the following season, going on to finish fifth in the Second Division in 1931, their highest ever league position. In 1936 they went down again and for the next eleven years they played variously in the Northern or Southern sections of the Third Division owing to their central location. Although the exact date is not known, the club adopted plain white shirts sometime in the 1930s.
In 1954 Vale romped to the Third Division (North) championship and reached the FA Cup semi-final only to drop back into Division Three (South) in 1957. The following season Vale were founder members of the new Fourth Division, winning the title at the first attempt. The early Sixties brought a revival of the amber and black stripes of an earlier era but there was little to celebrate on the pitch and the last half of the decade was spent in the Fourth Division. In 1968 they were expelled from the Football League because of financial irregularities, a replay of the sequence of events that had played out in 1919, but they were immediately voted back in by the clubs.
Promotion came in 1970 and eight seasons were spent in the Third Division
before Vale dropped back into the Fourth in 1978. During the 1980s they
were promoted and relegated with some regularity but it was as a Third
Division club that their fortunes improved in 1988. After beating Spurs
in a Fourth Round FA Cup-tie, Vale secured promotion to Division Two via
the play-offs. Despite a set back in 1992 when they were relegated, Vale
bounced back in 1994 and remained in the new First Division (previously
the Second) until 2000 when they were relegated to Nationwide Division
Two. In 2008 they dropped again, this time into League Two.
Sources
- (a) Port Vale Official Website
- (c) Wrexham FC (Images of Sport)
- (d) Gillingham FC (Images of Sport)
- (e) Stoke on Trent
- (f) QPR FC (Images of Sport)
- (g) Football Cards
- (h) Classic Kits
- (i) empics
- (j) Workington AFC - Images of Sport (Paul Eade 2003)
- (k) Football Focus
- (l) The Football Encyclopaedia (Associated Sporting Press 1934) Information provided by Arthur Fergus
- (m) Association of Football Statisticians - provided by Pete Wyatt
- (n) Pete Wyatt
- (o) Ralph Pomeroy
- (p) Pete's Picture Palace
- (q) David King
- (r) Anthony Lovatt
- (s) Football League Review provided by Simon Monks
- (t) Alick Milne
- (u) Alasdair Thorbur
- (v) Steve Browne
- (w) Martin Gooday
- (x) Keith Allen