1959–60 Port Vale F.C. season

Port Vale

1959–60 season
Chairman	Fred Burgess
Manager	Norman Low
Stadium	Vale Park
Football League Third Division	14th (46 Points)
FA Cup	Fifth Round
Supporters' Clubs' Trophy	Runners–up
Top goalscorer	League: Graham Barnett (14) All: Graham Barnett (17)
Highest home attendance	49,768 vs. Aston Villa (20 February 1960)
Lowest home attendance	5,514 vs. Swindon Town (30 April 1960)
Average home league attendance	10,733
Home colours
← 1958–59 1960–61 →

The 1958–59 season was Port Vale's 48th season of football in the Football League, and their first season in the Third Division following their promotion from the Fourth Division.^[1] Progressing to the Fifth Round of the FA Cup, there they set a Vale Park and club-record attendance of 49,768, in a 2–1 defeat by Aston Villa on 20 February. In the first of a short-lived Supporters' Clubs' Trophy, they lost to rivals Stoke City 5–3 on aggregate; whilst in the league they finished a respectable fourteenth, thirteen points from both promotion and relegation.

Overview

Third Division

The pre-season saw the arrival of Morgan Hunt from Norwich City for a four-figure fee, and outside-left Cliff Portwood from Preston North End for £750.^[1]

The season began with a 3–2 win over Reading at Elm Park, Norman Low having selected a first eleven without any of the new signings.^[1] However, after a 1–0 win over Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic Vale began to struggle, picking up just a point in their next six games.^[1] Low tried to sign Stanley Matthews, still going strong aged 44 for Blackpool, but a deal could not be reached.^[1] On 5 September, Tranmere Rovers beat Vale 6–0 at Prenton Park after Roy Sproson left the field in the first half with a gashed leg.^[1] Low then traded John Cunliffe and £2,000 to Stoke City in exchange for winger Harry Oscroft and centre-half Peter Ford.^[1] An improvement took place, and despite trouble in front of goal, the team won seven successive games at Burslem.^[1] In October, Jack Wilkinson was sold to Exeter City for £2,500, having lost his place in the starting eleven.^[1] On 28 December, Vale recorded a 7–0 win over Halifax Town, causing The Sentinel's "T.G.F." to remark that "rarely have the opposition been so completely outplayed".^[1]

In March, Graham Barnett was sold to Tranmere Rovers for £5,000, having lost his form.^[1] The "Valiants" continued to perform well at home, but lose on their travels.^[1] The departure of top-scorer Barnett meant the club 'urgently needed a top-class inside-forward'.^[1] This was proven with a run of just four goals in seven matches, culminating in only two points and dashed hopes of promotion.^[1] In danger of relegation, the players rallied to win seven points from the final five games.^[1] The penultimate match was a 6–3 loss to Mansfield Town at Field Mill, whilst Vale then destroyed Swindon Town 6–1 in front of a season-low Vale Park crowd of 5,514.^[1]

They finished in fourteenth spot with 46 points, a good finish for a club just promoted.^[1] Stan Steele had put in his third successive ever-present season, whilst Barnett was the top-scorer despite leaving in March.^[1]

Finances

On the financial side, a £1,454 loss was announced despite a £10,352 donation from the Sportsmen's Association.^[1] Gate receipts had risen by £1,680 due to the Aston Villa game, however average home attendance was down by around 2,000.^[1] Wages also increased by a more considerable £7,064, though there was a transfer credit of £3,500.^[1] There were 22 players retained, Roy Pritchard and Morgan Hunt were not amongst them, leaving for Wellington Town and Boston United respectively.^[1]

In May, the club took a five-match tour of Czechoslovakia.^[1] They experienced a culture shock, playing with a smaller, 'half-inflated' ball, and finding referees much more strict. However the tour was a success and much enjoyed by the players and their hosts.^[1]

Cup competitions

In the FA Cup, Vale eased past Dorchester Town of the Western League 2–1 after Graham Barnett injured Dorchester's keeper.^[2] In the next round Vale beat Queens Park Rangers 2–1 in a replay,^[1] after a fifty-yard strike from David Raine helped them to a 3–3 draw in the original match.^[3] In the Third Round, they met Second Division high-flyers Cardiff City at Ninian Park, and were not concerned as Graham Barnett responded to Low's warning that the Wales captain faced them by saying "So fucking what? My mother could play for Wales".^[4] They beat Cardiff 2–0 with a solid performance.^[1] Drawn against Scunthorpe United at Glanford Park, 'the defence took the honours' in a 1–0 win.^[1] The Fifth Round draw saw Vale face a home tie with Aston Villa, another second tier club. A still-standing club-record attendance of 49,768 turned up for the game on 20 February, resulting in £8,500 worth of gate receipts for the Vale.^[1] Brian Jackson gave Vale a 36th-minute lead, but the "Villans" came back to win the match with six minutes to spare.^[1]

In the Supporters' Clubs' Trophy, Vale lost to Stoke 5–3 on aggregate.^[1]

Final league table

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Southampton	46	26	9	11	106	75	1.413	61
2	Norwich City	46	24	11	11	82	54	1.519	59
3	Shrewsbury Town	46	18	16	12	97	75	1.293	52
4	Grimsby Town	46	18	16	12	87	70	1.243	52
5	Coventry City	46	21	10	15	78	63	1.238	52
6	Brentford	46	21	9	16	78	61	1.279	51
7	Bury	46	21	9	16	64	51	1.255	51
8	Queens Park Rangers	46	18	13	15	73	54	1.352	49
9	Colchester United	46	18	11	17	83	74	1.122	47
10	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	46	17	13	16	72	72	1.000	47
11	Reading	46	18	10	18	84	77	1.091	46
12	Southend United	46	19	8	19	76	74	1.027	46
13	Newport County	46	20	6	20	80	79	1.013	46
14	Port Vale	46	19	8	19	80	79	1.013	46
15	Halifax Town	46	18	10	18	70	72	0.972	46
16	Swindon Town	46	19	8	19	69	78	0.885	46
17	Barnsley	46	15	14	17	65	66	0.985	44
18	Chesterfield	46	18	7	21	71	84	0.845	43
19	Bradford City	46	15	12	19	66	74	0.892	42
20	Tranmere Rovers	46	14	13	19	72	75	0.960	41
21	York City	46	13	12	21	57	73	0.781	38
22	Mansfield Town	46	15	6	25	81	112	0.723	36
23	Wrexham	46	14	8	24	68	101	0.673	36
24	Accrington Stanley	46	11	5	30	57	123	0.463	27

P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; 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	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H
Result	W	W	L	L	L	D	L	L	W	W	L	L	W	W	W	L	W	L	W	L	D	W	W	D	W	L	D	W	L	W	D	L	W	W	D	L	D	L	L	L	L	W	W	D	L	W
Position	9	2	8	15	17	16	18	19	17	16	17	18	18	16	16	16	16	16	15	16	16	14	13	12	9	10	11	10	12	10	11	11	10	7	7	9	11	12	13	16	17	14	11	14	15	14

Sourced from Statto.^[5]

Football League Third Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
22 August 1959	Reading	A	3–2	14,917	Barnett (2), Poole
24 August 1959	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	H	1–0	18,037	Barnett
29 August 1959	Shrewsbury Town	H	0–3	18,607
2 September 1959	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	A	0–3	11,689
5 September 1959	Tranmere Rovers	A	0–6	11,635
7 September 1959	Southampton	H	1–1	13,906	Poole
12 September 1959	Norwich City	A	1–5	27,041	Poole
16 September 1959	Southampton	A	2–3	17,009	Barnett, Steele
19 September 1959	Brentford	H	3–1	12,817	Steele (2), Barnett
21 September 1959	Barnsley	H	1–0	10,886	Sproson
26 September 1959	Colchester United	A	1–3	7,822	Poole
30 September 1959	Barnsley	A	0–1	7,870
3 October 1959	Southend United	H	3–1	12,008	Leake, Steele, Jackson
10 October 1959	Accrington Stanley	H	2–0	10,712	Jackson (pen), Barnett
12 October 1959	Mansfield Town	H	4–1	9,230	Jackson, Oscroft, Barnett, Wilkinson
19 October 1959	Newport County	A	3–4	7,996	Whalley (2), Barnett
24 October 1959	Chesterfield	H	3–1	7,946	Oscroft, Barnett, Steele
31 October 1959	Wrexham	A	0–1	8,150
7 November 1959	York City	H	2–0	8,425	Oscroft, o.g.
21 November 1959	Bradford City	H	0–2	9,924
28 November 1959	Queens Park Rangers	A	2–2	8,775	Poole (2)
12 December 1959	Swindon Town	A	3–2	7,716	Barnett, Jackson, Portwood
19 December 1959	Reading	H	4–1	6,723	Poole (2), Jackson, Portwood
26 December 1959	Halifax Town	A	1–1	6,175	Steele
28 December 1959	Halifax Town	H	7–0	9,664	Barnett (4), Jackson (2), Poole
2 January 1960	Shrewsbury Town	A	1–2	9,754	Steele
16 January 1960	Tranmere Rovers	H	1–1	9,706	Poole
23 January 1960	Norwich City	H	2–1	11,040	Steele, Miles
6 February 1960	Brentford	A	0–2	10,141
10 February 1960	Grimsby Town	H	2–1	22,987	Portwood (2)
13 February 1960	Colchester United	H	1–1	10,248	Donaldson
22 February 1960	Southend United	A	1–2	6,534	Steele
27 February 1960	Accrington Stanley	A	3–1	3,109	Donaldson (2), Steele
5 March 1960	Newport County	H	2–1	9,073	Donaldson, Jackson
7 March 1960	Coventry City	A	1–1	15,549	Leake
12 March 1960	Chesterfield	A	1–4	6,152	o.g.
19 March 1960	Queens Park Rangers	H	0–0	7,049
26 March 1960	York City	A	0–2	6,415
2 April 1960	Coventry City	H	0–1	7,686
9 April 1960	Bradford City	A	1–3	5,986	Poole
15 April 1960	Bury	A	1–3	6,397	Hall
16 April 1960	Wrexham	H	3–1	6,798	Archer (2), Portwood
18 April 1960	Bury	H	3–0	7,875	Portwood (2), Poole
23 April 1960	Grimsby Town	A	1–1	8,413	Hall
25 April 1960	Mansfield Town	A	3–6	4,970	Portwood, Archer, Kinsey
30 April 1960	Swindon Town	H	6–1	5,514	Oscroft (4), o.g., Portwood

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	14 November 1959	Dorchester Town	A	2–1	4,100	Poole, Barnett
R2	5 December 1959	Queens Park Rangers	A	3–3	11,143	Portwood, Leake, Raine
R2 Replay	7 December 1959	Queens Park Rangers	H	2–1	9,544	Barnett (2)
R3	9 January 1960	Cardiff City	A	2–0	25,588	Steele, Portwood
R4	30 January 1960	Scunthorpe United	A	1–0	14,043	Portwood
R5	20 February 1960	Aston Villa	H	1–2	49,768	Jackson (pen)

Supporters' Clubs' Trophy

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
Final 1st Leg	5 October 1959	Stoke City	A	1–3	9,045	Jackson
Final 2nd Leg	26 October 1959	Stoke City	H	2–2	7,506	Steele, Jackson

Player statistics

Appearances Pos. Name Football League FA Cup Supporters' Club's Trophy Total Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals GK Ken Hancock 23 0 1 0 2 0 26 0 GK John Poole 23 0 5 0 0 0 28 0 DF Roy Sproson 41 1 6 0 2 0 49 1 DF David Raine 39 0 6 1 2 0 47 1 DF Selwyn Whalley 12 2 0 0 1 0 13 2 DF Fred Donaldson 8 4 0 0 0 0 8 4 DF Roy Pritchard 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 MF Albert Leake 33 2 5 1 1 0 39 3 MF John Cunliffe 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 MF Terry Miles 34 1 6 0 1 0 41 1 MF Peter Hall 4 2 0 0 0 0 4 2 MF Brian Jackson 45 8 6 1 2 2 53 11 MF Morgan Hunt 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 MF Harry Oscroft 26 7 1 0 2 0 29 7 MF Cliff Portwood 20 9 5 3 0 0 25 12 MF Peter Ford 25 0 6 0 2 0 33 0 MF Colin Davies 10 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 FW Harry Poole 44 12 6 1 2 0 52 13 FW Stan Steele 46 10 6 1 2 1 54 11 FW Jack Wilkinson 6 1 0 0 0 0 6 1 FW Noel Kinsey 19 1 1 0 1 0 21 1 FW Graham Barnett 27 14 6 3 2 0 35 17 FW Stan March 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 FW John Archer 6 3 0 0 0 0 6 3

Scorers All competitions Scorer Goals Graham Barnett 17 Harry Poole 13 Cliff Portwood 12 Stan Steele 11 Brian Jackson Harry Oscroft 7 Fred Donaldson 4 John Archer 3 Albert Leake Peter Hall 2 Selwyn Whalley Jack Wilkinson 1 Noel Kinsey Roy Sproson Terry Miles David Raine League Scorer Goals Graham Barnett 14 Harry Poole 12 Stan Steele 10 Cliff Portwood 9 Brian Jackson 8 Harry Oscroft 7 Fred Donaldson 4 John Archer 3 Peter Hall 2 Albert Leake Selwyn Whalley Jack Wilkinson 1 Noel Kinsey Roy Sproson Terry Miles

Transfers

Transfers in

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
June 1959	DF		Colin Davies		Free transfer	[6]
July 1959	FW		John Archer		Free transfer	[6]
July 1959	MF		Morgan Hunt	Norwich City	'four figure fee'	[6]
August 1959	FW		Stan March	Altrincham	£250	[6]
August 1959	MF		Cliff Portwood	Preston North End	£750	[6]
September 1959	MF		Peter Ford	Stoke City	Exchange	[6]
September 1959	MF		Harry Oscroft	Stoke City	Exchange	[6]
October 1959	MF		Colin Corbishley		Free transfer	[6]
April 1960	MF		Roy Gater		Free transfer	[6]

Transfers out

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
September 1959	MF		John Cunliffe	Stoke City	Exchange	[6]
October 1959	FW		Jack Wilkinson	Exeter City	£2,500	[6]
March 1960	FW		Graham Barnett	Tranmere Rovers	£5,000	[6]
May 1960	MF		Jimmy Adams	Crewe Alexandra	Free transfer	[6]
May 1960	DF		Roy Pritchard	Wellington Town	Free transfer	[6]
August 1960	DF		Fred Donaldson	Exeter City	£2,000	[6]
Summer 1960	MF		Morgan Hunt	Boston United	Released	[6]
Summer 1960	FW		Jimmy McLean	Wellington Town	Released	[6]

References

Specific

1. 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.
2. Kent, Jeff (December 1991). Port Vale Tales: A Collection Of Stories, Anecdotes And Memories. Witan Books. p. 27. ISBN 0-9508981-6-3.
3. Kent, Jeff (December 1991). Port Vale Tales: A Collection Of Stories, Anecdotes And Memories. Witan Books. p. 116. ISBN 0-9508981-6-3.
4. Kent, Jeff (December 1991). Port Vale Tales: A Collection Of Stories, Anecdotes And Memories. Witan Books. p. 28. ISBN 0-9508981-6-3.
5. Port Vale 1959–1960 : Results & Fixtures. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
6. Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. ISBN 0-9529152-0-0.

General

• Kent, Jeff (1993). The Port Vale Record 1879-1993. Witan Books. ISBN 0-9508981-9-8.