Saggar Makers Social Club

Surveillance photo of Port Vale fans at a ‘high risk’ game against Wrexham, early 70s.

Say hello to my little friend. On tour in Glasgow.

Anti-board protest at Vale Park, 14/01/2012.

Read why we’re protesting and what an absolute bunch of bastards our board of directors are here - http://www.getoutofportvale.co.uk/

Port Vale FC 1926/27.

Featuring all time top Vale goalscorer Wilf Kirkham.

The Port Vale coffin, produced by fans and placed in the Chairmans parking space, to symbolise the lethal, vice-like, grip the board of directors have on the club.

http://www.valeforsale.co.uk/

Hightlight of the season

Way back in the mists of time, around last August, there was a lot of optimism around the north end of Stoke-on-Trent for a change. We had a manager in Micky Adams who had transformed our team from a relegation threatened bunch of no hopers into a cohesive unit capable of punching well above their weight with a regime based on fitness and the tightest defence in the division. There were whispers of promotion. Automatic promotion. Our last play-off adventure in 1993 ended in hearbreak after the second Wembley visit in one week ended in defeat against West Brom when we only missed out on the automatic promotion spots by one point. We didn’t want that happening again. This was the year. Our year. With a defense like the Iron Curtain.

Things started well. We won our first league game, away at Bury, and then for our second match were drawn against QPR in the League Cup. In a ridiculous decision, we had been placed in the southern section of the cup whilst Walsall and Peterbrough were in the northern section. At least we got a London club so had good transport links and plenty to do as well as the match itself. We ended up winning that night by three goals to their one. Another giant killing in the League Cup, a competition in which we don’t have a great record, after the victories over both the Sheffield clubs last season in rounds one and two.

A result of this victory was this viral video which was enjoyed by Port Vale fans for weeks afterwards as a QPR fan gets very over-emotional at his clubs capitulation against a northern Division Four side with an obscure name.

What happened in the end though? QPR got promoted to the Premiership amidst claims of financial irregularities. The Vale lost their talismanic manager who was replaced by a Jim Gannon, a fantasist who did things his own way to hell with the results and what actually happened on the pitch. Actions off the field also led to bitter protests from frustrated fan s who have been subjected to a decade of decline of deceit under the current boards stewardship.

How times change.

Port Vale vs Manchester United in the 1994/95 league cup.

A 19 year old Paul Scholes scores twice on his debut.

On this day: Ian Bogie scored after just 12 seconds to secure a 1-0 win over Stoke in a 1996 Potteries derby game.

THE STOKIES ARE STUNNED!

An image from the protest at Port Vale’s AGM on Monday night.

The protesters are demanding answers from the board about why, again and again, investors have been turned away from Vale Park, sometimes even without the courtesy of having their cases heard.

This current board have taken us as far as they can on limited resources. They were right for us when we were in administration and the club needed a saviour but they have overlooked a decline since then that has seen us in the bottom tier of English football for the first time since 1986.

These protests are a continuation from the protests in the 2008/9 season which forced clueless manager and former playing legend Dean Glover out of the club. The board at the time said that if they sold up then the club would collapse as bank and creditors would come seeking their debt. Now we actually have millionaire businessmen looking to invest and run the club in a more professional manner they refuse to give up their perks and power (and a £50,000 a year salary in the case of chairman Bill Bratt). As local pundit Mick Cullerton put it “They just like being directors”

V2001 OUT!

Another Burnley vs Vale match, this time 10 years later at Vale Park.

We came off slightly better this time and it’s still cold, wet and windy at the Park.

Port Vale drew Burnley in the third round of the FA Cup yesterday. Not exactly the glamour tie we were hoping for but not exactly the worst away day either. With this in mind here’s Vale getting absolutely thrashed by Burnley 7 - 0 in the old third division in 1983. Included is an interview with Burnley manager John Bond. Having never been to Turf Moor, I’m guessing it has changed just a bit since then! (Unlike the town around it)

The Vale manager at this time was John McGrath who had got Vale out of the Fourth Division the previous season. He was sacked the month after this game with Vale 3 points adrift at the foot of the league. However, this opened the door for assistant manager John Rudge who could not avoid relegation that season but would lead Vale through their most successful period in the 80s and 90s after the lows and underachievement of the 1970s.

McGrath’s wikipedia article paints a picture of a man who certainly did things his own way: “During his time at Vale Park he made some unorthodox decisions; such as putting fifteen players on the transfer list at once, taking the team for a swim at Blackpool and one time sending assistant manager John Rudge hundreds of miles on a scouting mission, only to rip up the report in the dressing room, declaring to his players that ‘It’s not about them, it’s about us!’”.

Gary Roberts goes down in the penalty area against Crewe Alex on Saturday.

After what happened last season with the controversy over penalties between Vale and Crewe it could have only ended one way this season. Vale secured their 2 - 1 win over the Trainspotters with a penalty won by former Crewe player Gary Roberts and converted by former Crewe loanee, Marc Richards.

The first goal came from a rare header from Super Louis Dodds, sporting his new haircut which no doubt helped for him to actually see the ball. The delievery came from a sublime cross from my MOTM, Doug Loft who ran his socks off all afternoon down the left wing.

Crewe’s goal came from a penalty of their own, won when Anthony Griffith bizarrely handled the ball in the area for no good reason for which he received his second yellow card.

The referee also deserves a special mention. I have never seen such a dismal display from an official. Saturday saw 14 fouls committed by Vale but only one committed against them (the winning penalty). Bizarre decisions were the order of the day as Marc Richards apparently committed a foul whilst having possession and being pushed in the back by a Crewe defender. The entire Paddock were on there feet at one point or another letting the bastard in black know exactly what they thought of him.

After the game, Micky Adams was less than gracious towards our local rivals in his post match interviews (not that any Vale fan was complaining). He was quoted as saying “It was a clear penalty. Dario said last year it was a clear penalty to them, so it was a stonewall penalty for us this year - everything evens itself, doesn’t it Dario?”

What a nice change to have local bragging rights and a manager and players so in tune with the fans.

Choose a youth academy, choose Dario, choose Gresty Road, choose railways…

Choo choo!

Tomorrow sees the visit of our near neighbours the Trainspotters, oops err, I mean the Railwaymen and the nearest thing we have to a local derby these days with Stoke having their unfortunately elongated moment in the sun. Crewe Alexandra come to Vale Park after an infamous penalty saw them turn over Adams’ mighty whites last season. A penalty awarded by a referee who, at the time, was stood in the centre circle whilst Gareth Owen’s expert tackle stopped a one-on-one by the Crewe striker, Clayton Donaldson, against Chris Martin. As expected, some Vale fans were less than happy with a large group coalescing around the away end waiting for the pitiful support from Crewe to emerge. What followed was handbags of the highest order between two sets of kids who needed to get home for their tea.

There was also a bit of strife between Vale’s manager Micky Adams and Crewe’s long serving helmsman, Dario Gradi. Gradi is now in his 27th season in charge of Crewe. 27 seasons in charge of the team who applied for re-election to the league the most times and 27 seasons of long, boring, breathy radio interviews. Gradi got into a spat with Adams over the aforementioned penalty. The Crewe boss claimed that, after watching a DVD of the tackle frame by frame, the referee did indeed give the correct decision and that they deserved the penalty despite the ref apologising to Adams after the match. How a manager finds the time to be watching DVDs of penalties that his team already won and converted is beyond me, especially one who was in charge of a side seeking a way into the League 2 playoffs. This warranted a classic Adam’s response with our Micky quoted as saying; “I’ll move on. But that’s Dario, isn’t it? He’s got too much time – I’ve got a life.”

Gradi, looking a bit like Robert de Niro with the plague.

So tomorrow sees quite a hyped up match already (well, as hyped up as a match against a team who bring less than a thousand fans can be) without the fact that Crewe have the best attack in the division who will hopefully struggle against Vale who have had the best defence. The unstoppable force meets the immovable object it would seem. However, as with any derby (and it is a derby) the form book for both teams goes out the window and no doubt we’ll have to endure an insipid 1 - 0 win to the Vale. And so there’s my prediction. Beating Crewe will be a major boost to the fans, the players and to our promotion campaign which seems to have stalled somewhat in the last month after the blistering start we made to the season. The biggest things counting against us are lack of width due to injuries (with Lewis Haldane out due to being bit by an insect in pre-season training) and that we often seem to freeze up in front of bigger crowds at Vale Park.

Let’s hope we can derail Crewe tomorrow.

The supposed trouble last season.