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Season Preview - P Vale
Season Preview - P Vale
Tuesday, 19th Jul 2005 00:00

2005/2006 Season Preview - Port Vale

2005/2006 Season Preview - Port Vale

Club Profiles - Port Vale Port Vale: Burslem, Staffordshire Home: Vale Park Nickname: Vale, The Valiants. Hate: Stoke City Last Meeting: 6th Apr 2001 LD2 Port Vale A L 0-1 Like Arsenal, Port Vale are one of a few clubs whose name is not actually representative of the area in which they play. They're in fact based in the town of Burslem in Staffordshire. Not many of you may have heard of Burslem, so, harnessing the power of the interweb, I did some research on some respected information sites and found out a few interesting and friendly articles about this town in the potteries heartland to bring to your attention. Of course, I ignored all of those reports and chose this bitter diatribe instead: 'If you looked up ghost town in the dictionary it would show a picture of Burslem. You walk into the town centre and see nothing but boarded up shops and travel agents. Oh and there's the KFC as well which used to have a bin outside that said this bin is sponsored by KFC, stupid idea anyway but even stupider because it was right underneath another bin. Burslem is also the only town whose Town hall was turned into a leisure centre. It isn't anymore though because it is now a part of a partially complete pottery museum that is never going to be finished and it looks awful. Burslem also has a football club (Port Vale) that is regularly relegated and has a half finished stand. You might think that there is nothing wrong with having a half finished stand and there isn't unless, that is, that it has been half finished for nearly 4 seasons now. Quite frankly Burslem is the most depressing place I have EVER been to in my life. If a nuclear bomb were to hit it overnight the survivors would wake up in the morning thinking that the town had been given a face-lift.' Harsh words, this guy's obviously not been to Bridgend… The collapse of ITV Digital in 2002 hit most clubs hard. Whilst our own club was fortuitously shielded from the impact, other clubs, Port Vale included, faced serious consequences. The club had to sell valuable players and release others in order to trim the losses, but were unable to stop the club going into administration. The club owed a lot of money without any means of paying it, and the club was put up for sale at the end of 2002. After a long drawn out saga, the immediate future of the club was secured in December 2003 via a takeover led by fan Peter Jackson. It's claimed that Robbie Williams was approached about becoming an investor, but politely declined, claiming that any money he'd spend on the club would be to the detriment of his charity work, although he's claimed that one day he would love to be part of the club he loves. Amongst the zillions of rumours and reports flying around regarding possible takeovers, there was even talk of the club being bought by the Icelandic owners of rivals Stoke City and plans to groundsharewith Stoke. The club is still looking for new investors. There were hopes that the American billionaire Sid Franks was going to invest in the Vale via a sponsorship of the stadium in the name of Spitfire inventor Reginald Mitchell, but no such investment has been forthcoming. Maybe someone should get on the phone to Darts legend Phil 'The Power' Taylor, an avid Vale fan, I'm sure he's got a bit of cash sloshing around if he hasn't pissed it all away. Swansea City fans have fond memories of the Autoglass/LDV trophy. Equally so Port Vale fans, having seen their club go one better by winning the trophy twice in the last 12 years. Their fist victory was the year before ours, a 2-1 victory over Stockport in 1993. As with ourselves, it was Vale's first appearance at Wembley, and 25,000 fans made the trip down south. On our own march to the trophy the following year, we knocked out the holders from Burslem 1-0 in the area quarter-final, winning 1-0 at the Vetch. Having waited over a century for a Wembley appearance, Vale had another chance only a week later when they faced West Brom in the Division 2 play-off final. There was no repeat of the glory this time around as they lost 3-0 to Ossie Ardiles' men. Fans may remember that it was Frank Burrows' Swansea team that West Brom had beaten in the play-off semi-final that year, and a more composed 2nd leg at the Hawthorns (good evening Colin West) would have meant a Vale v's Swansea play-off final. The agony of Vale's defeat against the Baggies was compounded by the fact the club had finished on 89 points, the highest ever total for a team not promoted automatically. More LDV Vans glory came their way in 2001 when they beat Brentford 2-1 at the Millennium Stadium in Caaaaaaaaarrdiff. Apart from Cup runs, Vale fans have not had a great deal to shout about in recent years. Having spent most of the 1990s in the second tier of English football, they dropped down to League 1 level in 2000, and have been pretty much struggling here ever since, largely due to the financial troubles that have hindered the clubs progress. Despite the financial troubles that still plagued the club, in 2003/2004, fired by the goal scoring exploits of star striker Steve McPhee, they made a push for the play-offs, finishing just short in 7th place. McPhee left the club to join Portuguese side SC Beira Mar, and has recently signed for Peter Taylor's Hull City. McPhee's departure left a big gap in the Vale strike force that they've as yet been unable to fill. Their attack has been further weakened by the sale of Steve Brooker to Bristol City, leaving them having to rely mainly on Lee Matthews and Billy Paynter for goals. Last seasons final placing of 18th was largely due to the lack of striking prowess at the club, scoring only 49 times in 46 league games. Manager Martin Foyle must address this area if Vale are to avoid another season of struggle in the lower reaches of the division. Losing classy young prospect Dave Hibbert to Preston North End has not helped matters. The two clubs have not been able to agree a fee for the 19 year old, and any compensation due to Vale will be decided by a tribunal. The club have managed to bolster their attacking options this summer with the signing of Trinidad & Tobago international Hector Sam from Wrexham. Whether the inconsistent attacker is the answer to the Valiant's scoring problems only time will tell. The club have managed to secure the services of experienced midfielder Tony Dinning and former Birmingham City man Danny Sonner on free transfers, along with former Chesterfield midfielder Mark Innes. Former Bristol City left-back Mickey Bell is the most recent signing for the club, also joining on a free transfer. Foyle has also secured new contracts for Steve Rowland and Jeff Smith, as well as releasing 5 players: Ian Armstrong, Simon Eldershaw, Ryan Brown, Christian Hanson and Levi Reid. Despite hopes for a play-off spot amongst their fans, it seems that a lot of pundits are predicting relegation for the Valiants this coming season. In their favour, the club have signed a few of the loan signings that improved the team in the second half of last season, such as Dinning and Sonner, and the addition of Hector Sam will certainly add some attacking flair, so I'm putting my head on the block and saying they'll avoid the drop - well, I had to say that really as I've already allocated the 4 relagation places to other teams... They will finish: 17th (prediction randomly generated by my right sock)

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