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Port Vale
1961–62 season
Chairman	Joe Machin
Manager	Norman Low
Stadium	Vale Park
Football League Third Division	12th (45 Points)
FA Cup	Fifth Round; (knocked out by Fulham)
League Cup	First Round; (knocked out by Blackpool)
Top goalscorer	League: Arthur Longbottom (16); All: Bert Llewellyn, Arthur Longbottom (20 each)
Highest home attendance	28,226 vs. Sunderland, 31 January 1961
Lowest home attendance	4,770 vs. Swindon Town, 14 April 1962
Average home league attendance	8,993
Biggest win	4–0 (twice)
Biggest defeat	1–4 vs. Southend United, 16 October 1961
	Home colours
	Home colours
	← 1960–61 1962–63 →

The 1961–62 season was Port Vale's 50th season of football in the English Football League, and their third season in the Third Division.^[1] The season was most notable for the win over Sunderland in the FA Cup, which followed a goalless draw at Roker Park in which the Vale defence prevented Brian Clough from even having a shot. The club also hosted a friendly against the Czechoslovakia national football team and later took a tour of Poland. In the league, they failed to gain promotion and settled for mid-table obscurity.

Overview

Third Division

The pre-season saw Norman Low spend some of the £10,000 in transfer funds he was allocated.^[1] He spent £2,000 acquiring inside-forward Arthur Longbottom from Queens Park Rangers.^[1] Low then repaid West Bromwich Albion the £10,000 for Stan Steele to bring him back to Vale Park.^[1] This meant a 'shock' for the fans, as Cliff Portwood was sold to Grimsby Town for £6,000 to balance the books.^[1] Another £2,000 was spent on bringing centre-half John Nicholson from Liverpool.^[1] Free signings included winger Stan Edwards (Everton), goalkeeper Peter Taylor (Middlesbrough), and Joe Maloney (Shrewsbury Town).^[1] Low declared that the logic behind the signings was to improve the defence and that his side was now 'capable of getting promotion'.^[1] To whip the new signings into shape trainer Lol Hamlett took them on a seven-mile run.^[1]

The defence began poorly, in an opening day 4–2 defeat to Shrewsbury Town at Gay Meadow.^[1] Maloney was subsequently dropped and sold to Crewe Alexandra for 'a small fee'.^[1] The first match at Burslem saw Vale ' casually steamroller' Hull City 4–0.^[1] On 2 September, John Nicholson made the first of his club record 208 consecutive appearances, that would end on 8 September 1965. On a four-match sequence without a win, The Sentinel commented that "gloom has descended".^[1] The mood lifted with a 1–0 win over Bristol City at Ashton Gate on 9 September, in the first of five wins in six games.^[1]

On 2 October Czechoslovakia beat Vale 3–1 in front of 22,895 fans at Vale Park, repaying the club for their successful tour of the country at the end of the 1959–60 season.^[1] Later that month Dennis Fidler was sold to Grimsby Town for £2,000, and the "Valiants" struggled.^[1] Vale then signed Colin Grainger from Leeds United for £6,000, and the former England international scored on his debut.^[1] In December, Low further added to his firepower by signing Ralph Hunt from Swindon Town for £3,500.^[1] Hunt scored a hat-trick in his second game for the club, a 4–1 win over Shrewsbury Town.^[1] He also hit the back of the net in the following two victories. Vale then struggled in the league, losing four games on the bounce.^[1] Around this time rivals Stoke City faced an upsurge in support with the return of Stanley Matthews. Low attempted to tempt Tom Finney out of retirement, but was unsuccessful.^[1]

By the end of February, Vale lay four points clear of relegation, and star player Grainger was injured.^[1] Beating Barnsley 2–0, they picked up six points out of a possible ten.^[1] They remained unbeaten throughout the opening six games of April to ensure survival.^[1] At this time, Noel Kinsey's contract was cancelled, as he wished to go into the pottery business in Norwich.^[1] At Vale Park, an £8,000 social club was opened, as the club management stated their intention to turn the ground into 'a real family social centre'.^[1]

They finished the season in twelfth position with 45 points, closer to the drop than promotion. A weak attack did not support a strong defence.^[1] Llewellyn and Longbottom scored twenty goals each in all competitions but received little support.^[1]

Finances

On the financial side, declining attendance failed to prevent a profit of £1,261.^[1] This profit came thanks to a hefty £16,250 donation from the Sportsmen's Association and Vale's daily pools.^[1] Gate receipts stood at £44,388, whilst expenditures rose to £73,059 despite wages being kept at around £31,000.^[1] Peter Taylor was allowed to leave for Burton Albion as he failed to dislodge Ken Hancock; Taylor later became acquainted with Brian Clough at Burton. Low also sold three players for £2,000 each: Brian Jackson to Peterborough United, Ralph Hunt to Newport County, and David Raine to Doncaster Rovers.^[1]

In May, the team took a tour of Poland, playing four friendlies, climbing the Tatra Mountains, and sailing on the Tatras River.^[1] When one boat capsized, 'the lads told the attendant in colourful Potteries language what they thought of him'.^[1] The final game of the tour was a goalless draw with Legia.^[1]

Cup competitions

In the FA Cup, Vale brushed past Bradford Park Avenue with a 1–0 win at Horsfall Stadium. In the second round, they faced Crewe Alex, who beat 3–0 in a replay, following a 1–1 draw at Gresty Road. Vale then beat Northampton Town 3–1, all the goals coming from Bert Llewellyn.^[1] In the Fourth Round, they travelled to Sunderland's Roker Park, holding the "Mackems" to a goalless draw in front of 49,468 noisy Sunderland fans - not even £50,000 star striker Brian Clough could master the Vale defence.^[1] For the return, 28,226 witnessed a 3–1 victory for the Vale over the Second Division side in 'a magical piece of soccer history'.^[1] The club won the Giant Killers' Cup for the season.^[2] The Vale had 'spat and hissed like angry alley cats' for their win, intimidating tricky winger Harry Hooper.^[1] In the Fifth Round they were beaten by First Division Fulham at Craven Cottage with a disputed late penalty.^[1] The referee also gave the "Cottagers" a goal kick when the ball had in fact crossed the line for a goal – to the fury of the Vale supporters.^[3]

In the League Cup, First Division Blackpool took a 2–1 win at Bloomfield Road to dump Vale out of the competition.

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts
10	Hull City	46	20	8	18	67	54	1.241	48
11	Bradford Park Avenue	46	20	7	19	80	78	1.026	47
12	Port Vale	46	17	11	18	65	58	1.121	45
13	Notts County	46	17	9	20	67	74	0.905	43
14	Coventry City	46	16	11	19	64	71	0.901	43

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Results

Port Vale's score comes first

Football League Third Division

Results by matchday

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	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	A	H	H	A
Result	L	W	L	L	D	D	W	W	W	D	D	W	D	L	W	L	L	W	D	L	D	L	L	W	W	W	D	L	L	L	L	W	L	D	W	W	L	L	D	D	W	W	D	W	L	L
Position	15	10	12	18	17	16	15	13	11	10	6	5	5	6	6	5	5	5	6	10	6	13	13	11	9	9	10	10	12	13	16	12	15	13	13	10	12	14	16	16	12	12	12	10	12	12

Source: Statto^[4]
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Matches

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
19 August 1961	Shrewsbury Town	A	2–4	8,632	Fidler, Longbottom
21 August 1961	Hull City	H	4–0	11,480	Poole (2), Llewellyn, Jackson
26 August 1961	Peterborough United	H	0–1	18,797
31 August 1961	Hull City	A	1–3	8,095	Longbottom
2 September 1961	Northampton Town	A	1–1	9,573	Llewellyn
4 September 1961	Southend United	H	0–0	10,317
9 September 1961	Bristol City	A	1–0	10,670	Poole
16 September 1961	Bradford Park Avenue	H	3–2	9,279	Steele, Llewellyn, Longbottom
21 September 1961	Notts County	A	3–2	8,676	Jackson, Llewellyn, Poole
23 September 1961	Grimsby Town	A	1–1	8,910	Poole
25 September 1961	Notts County	H	1–0	11,707	Whalley
30 September 1961	Coventry City	H	2–0	9,821	Longbottom, Poole
4 October 1961	Reading	A	0–0	11,779
7 October 1961	Watford	H	1–3	10,120	Steele
9 October 1961	Reading	H	2–1	7,208	Steele, Longbottom
14 October 1961	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	A	0–1	13,675
16 October 1961	Southend United	A	1–4	8,090	Nicholson
21 October 1961	Torquay United	H	4–1	10,383	Jackson (2), Grainger, Llewellyn
28 October 1961	Lincoln City	A	1–1	4,708	Llewellyn
11 November 1961	Queens Park Rangers	A	1–2	7,087	Llewellyn
18 November 1961	Halifax Town	H	1–1	9,374	Longbottom
2 December 1961	Crystal Palace	H	0–1	9,761
9 December 1961	Portsmouth	A	0–1	11,925
16 December 1961	Shrewsbury Town	H	4–1	8,837	Hunt (3), Jackson
23 December 1961	Peterborough United	A	3–1	9,294	Hunt (2), Llewellyn
26 December 1961	Newport County	H	3–0	12,182	Llewellyn, Longbottom, Hunt
13 January 1962	Northampton Town	H	1–1	8,229	Llewellyn
20 January 1962	Bristol City	H	0–2	7,262
3 February 1962	Bradford Park Avenue	A	1–2	9,294	Sproson
10 February 1962	Grimsby Town	H	0–2	10,071
24 February 1962	Watford	A	0–2	7,778
5 March 1962	Barnsley	H	2–0	4,958	Longbottom, Steele
10 March 1962	Torquay United	A	0–2	4,565
12 March 1962	Newport County	A	1–1	2,524	Longbottom
17 March 1962	Lincoln City	H	4–0	6,239	Steele (2), Longbottom, Edwards
19 March 1962	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	H	1–0	8,993	Llewellyn
24 March 1962	Barnsley	A	1–2	4,670	Longbottom
31 March 1962	Queens Park Rangers	H	2–3	4,936	Longbottom (2)
7 April 1962	Halifax Town	A	3–3	2,938	Steele, Longbottom, Llewellyn
14 April 1962	Swindon Town	H	1–1	4,770	Longbottom
16 April 1962	Coventry City	A	1–0	5,907	Edwards
20 April 1962	Brentford	A	2–1	11,175	o.g., Llewellyn
21 April 1962	Crystal Palace	A	0–0	10,519
23 April 1962	Brentford	H	3–0	5,928	Longbottom, Edwards, Steele
28 April 1962	Portsmouth	H	2–3	6,186	Llewellyn (2)
30 April 1962	Swindon Town	A	0–1	7,331

FA Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	4 November 1961	Bradford Park Avenue	A	1–0	12,127	Jackson
R2	25 November 1961	Crewe Alexandra	A	1–1	13,081	Longbottom
R2 Replay	27 November 1961	Crewe Alexandra	H	3–0	19,029	Longbottom (2), Llewellyn
R3	6 January 1962	Northampton Town	H	3–1	19,444	Llewellyn (3)
R4	27 January 1962	Sunderland	A	0–0	49,468
R4 Replay	31 January 1962	Sunderland	H	3–1	28,226	Jackson, Poole, Llewellyn
R5	17 February 1962	Fulham	A	0–1	29,559

League Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	13 September 1961	Blackpool	A	1–2	10,494	Llewellyn

Player statistics

Appearances and goals

Pos.	Name	Football League		FA Cup		League Cup		Total
Pos.	Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Ken Hancock	44	0	7	0	1	0	52	0
GK	John Cooke	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
GK	Peter Taylor	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
DF	Roy Sproson	46	1	7	0	1	0	54	1
DF	David Raine	7	0	5	0	0	0	12	0
DF	Selwyn Whalley	40	1	7	0	1	0	48	1
DF	Terry Lowe	6	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
MF	John Nicholson	42	1	7	0	1	0	50	1
MF	Terry Miles	44	0	7	0	1	0	52	0
MF	Brian Jackson	34	5	7	2	1	0	42	7
MF	Peter Ford	13	0	0	0	1	0	14	0
MF	Dennis Fidler	4	1	0	0	0	0	4	1
MF	Roy Gater	3	0	2	0	0	0	5	0
MF	Joe Maloney	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
MF	Colin Grainger	11	1	7	0	0	0	18	1
MF	Stan Edwards	22	3	0	0	0	0	22	3
MF	Colin Corbishley	8	0	0	0	0	0	8	0
FW	Harry Poole	39	6	5	1	1	0	45	7
FW	Stan Steele	35	8	2	0	1	0	38	8
FW	Bert Llewellyn	42	15	7	4	1	1	50	20
FW	Barry Hancock	5	0	1	0	0	0	6	0
FW	Ralph Hunt	14	6	0	0	0	0	14	6
FW	Arthur Longbottom	42	16	6	4	1	0	49	20
FW	Derek Edge	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0

Top scorers

Place	Position	Nation	Name	Third Division	FA Cup	League Cup	Total
1	FW	England	Arthur Longbottom	16	4	0	20
–	FW	England	Bert Llewellyn	15	4	1	20
3	FW	England	Stan Steele	8	0	0	8
4	FW	England	Harry Poole	6	1	0	7
–	MF	England	Brian Jackson	5	2	0	7
6	FW	England	Ralph Hunt	6	0	0	6
7	MF	England	Stan Edwards	3	0	0	3
8	MF	England	Colin Grainger	1	0	0	1
–	MF	England	John Nicholson	1	0	0	1
–	DF	England	Selwyn Whalley	1	0	0	1
–	MF	England	Dennis Fidler	1	0	0	1
–	DF	England	Roy Sproson	1	0	0	1
–	–	–	Own goals	1	0	0	1
			TOTALS	65	11	1	77

Transfers

Transfers in

Date from	Position	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
May 1961	MF	Stan Edwards	Everton	Free transfer	^[5]
May 1961	FW	Arthur Longbottom	Queens Park Rangers	£2,000	^[5]
June 1961	MF	Joe Maloney	Shrewsbury Town	Free transfer	^[5]
June 1961	GK	Peter Taylor	Middlesbrough	£750	^[5]
July 1961	FW	Stan Steele	West Bromwich Albion	£10,000	^[5]
July 1961	MF	Colin Grainger	Leeds United	£6,000	^[5]
August 1961	DF	John Nicholson	Liverpool	£2,000	^[5]
December 1961	FW	Ralph Hunt	Swindon Town	£3,500	^[5]

Transfers out

Date from	Position	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
June 1961	MF	Joe Maloney	Crewe Alexandra	'small'	^[5]
October 1961	MF	Dennis Fidler	Grimsby Town	£2,000	^[5]
April 1962	FW	Noel Kinsey		Mutual consent	^[5]
May 1962	MF	Colin Corbishley	Chester	Released	^[5]
May 1962	FW	Derek Edge	Crewe Alexandra	Free transfer	^[5]
May 1962	GK	Peter Taylor	Burton Albion	Free transfer	^[5]
June 1962	MF	Roy Gater	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	'small'	^[5]
June 1962	MF	Brian Jackson	Peterborough United	£2,000	^[5]
July 1962	FW	Ralph Hunt	Newport County	£2,000	^[5]
July 1962	DF	David Raine	Doncaster Rovers	£2,000	^[5]
Summer 1962	FW	Stan March	Macclesfield	Released	^[5]

References

Specific

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z ^aa ^ab ^ac ^ad ^ae ^af ^ag ^ah ^ai ^aj ^ak ^al ^am ^an Kent, Jeff (1990). "Flattering Only to Deceive (1960–1969)". The Valiants' Years: The Story Of Port Vale. Witan Books. pp. 196–226. ISBN 0-9508981-4-7.
^ Baggaley, Mike (21 April 2024). "Apologies and pledges as Vale are relegated". Valiant's Substack. Retrieved 21 April 2024.
^ Kent, Jeff (December 1991). Port Vale Tales: A Collection Of Stories, Anecdotes And Memories. Witan Books. p. 109. ISBN 0-9508981-6-3.
^ Port Vale 1961–1962 : Results & Fixtures Archived 11 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. ISBN 0-9529152-0-0.