1962–63 Port Vale F.C. season

Port Vale

1962–63 season
Chairman	Joe Machin
Manager	Norman Low (until October) Freddie Steele (October onwards)
Stadium	Vale Park
Football League Third Division	3rd (54 Points)
FA Cup	Fourth Round
League Cup	First Round
Top goalscorer	League: Tony Richards (13) All: Tony Richards (13)
Highest home attendance	22,207 vs. Sheffield United (13 March 1963)
Lowest home attendance	4,673 vs. Hull City (20 April 1962)
Average home league attendance	8,130
Home colours
← 1961–62 1963–64 →

The 1962–63 season was Port Vale's 51st season of football in the Football League, and their fourth season in the Third Division.^[1] An impressive season saw them finish in third position, one away from promotion. However promotions for both their rivals Stoke City (second to first tier) and Crewe Alexandra (fourth to third tier) meant that Vale had a poor season in comparison. The major talking point of the season was Norman Low's departure and Freddie Steele's return, which came as a shock to the fans.

Overview

Third Division

The pre-season saw the arrival of John Rowland, a 'tall and skilful' outside-right from Nottingham Forest for £6,000.^[1]

The season opened with six points from four games, with three clean sheets to boot. Rowland was dropped from the first eleven following a 2–0 defeat at Ashton Gate on 1 September.^[1] Vale then became inconsistent, and so Low added young forward Terry Harkin to the squad from Coleraine, and transfer-listed Stan Steele after he began to be targeted by hecklers at Vale Park.^[1] Despite beating Southend United 5–1, the club continued to sink down the table.^[1] They then began a nine-game unbeaten streak on 20 October with a 1–1 draw with Carlisle United at Brunton Park.^[1] However ten days later manager Norman Low tendered his resignation, to the shock of fans and pundits.^[1] Low cited disagreements with the board as the reason for his departure.^[1] His replacement was his predecessor, Freddie Steele, in another development that took many by surprise.^[1] Roy Sproson later noted "He [Steele] had changed. He had not got the enthusiasm or drive as before, but the lads still responded to him".^[1]

It took until the sixth game of Steele's reign for a goal to be conceded (525 minutes) as 'the Steele Curtain' again descended upon Vale Park.^[1] The goal was scored by former Valiant turned bogey player Ronnie Allen for Crystal Palace in a 4–1 home win for Vale.^[1] They finished the year chasing promotion, despite losing 4–3 to Reading at Elm Park. No league games were played in January or February due to the Big Freeze.^[1] To help with finances during this spell of two months without competitive action, Bert Llewellyn was sold to Northampton Town for £7,000 and Arthur Longbottom was sold to Millwall for £2,000.^[1] Back in action in March, Steele found his offence wanting, and so purchased Tony Richards from Walsall for £9,000.^[1] Richards immediately impacted himself on the club's scoring charts, eventually finishing as top-scorer for his two months work.^[1] For the four weeks following 20 April, Vale recorded eight wins from their final ten matches, though this would prove to be too little to late as far as promotion was concerned.^[1]

They finished in third spot with 54 points, four short of promotion, though enough to earn them £500 in talent money.^[1] Their 58 goals conceded total was fewer only than Swindon Town.^[1]

Finances

On the financial side, a profit of £2,275 was made despite an operating loss of £20,557.^[1] A donation from the Sportsmen's Association and social club stood at a highly impressive £22,832.^[1] Whilst wages remained fairly constant at £33,120, gate receipts had fallen by £8,000.^[1] The club's overdraft stood at £41,000, leading to a discussion over whether or not to take out a mortgage on Vale Park.^[1] The club management took the decision to replace the black and amber kit with the traditional white shirts, black shorts and black and white socks – the kit Steele's men triumphed in almost ten years previously.^[1] On the playing front, Peter Ford's departure to Macclesfield Town was the only transfer of note.

Cup competitions

In the FA Cup, Vale took their revenge upon Bristol Rovers, dumping them out of the competition at the first stage with a 2–0 win at Burslem on 21 November. Three weeks later Aldershot suffered the same fate, in what was Sproson's 500th appearance for the club.^[1] In the Third Round they beat Fourth Division Gillingham 4–2 at Priestfield. They then lost 2–1 to First Division Sheffield United in front of 22,207 rain-soaked supporters.^[1]

In the League Cup, Bristol Rovers won the First Round clash at the Memorial Stadium 2–0.

Final league table

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Northampton Town	46	26	10	10	109	60	1.817	62
2	Swindon Town	46	22	14	10	87	56	1.554	58
3	Port Vale	46	23	8	15	72	58	1.241	54
4	Coventry City	46	18	17	11	83	69	1.203	53
5	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	46	18	16	12	63	46	1.370	52
6	Peterborough United	46	20	11	15	93	75	1.240	51
7	Notts County	46	19	13	14	73	74	0.986	51
8	Southend United	46	19	12	15	75	77	0.974	50
9	Wrexham	46	20	9	17	84	83	1.012	49
10	Hull City	46	19	10	17	74	69	1.072	48
11	Crystal Palace	46	17	13	16	68	58	1.172	47
12	Colchester United	46	18	11	17	73	93	0.785	47
13	Queens Park Rangers	46	17	11	18	85	76	1.118	45
14	Bristol City	46	16	13	17	100	92	1.087	45
15	Shrewsbury Town	46	16	12	18	83	81	1.025	44
16	Millwall	46	15	13	18	82	87	0.943	43
17	Watford	46	17	8	21	82	85	0.965	42
18	Barnsley	46	15	11	20	63	74	0.851	41
19	Bristol Rovers	46	15	11	20	70	88	0.795	41
20	Reading	46	16	8	22	74	78	0.949	40
21	Bradford Park Avenue	46	14	12	20	79	97	0.814	40
22	Brighton & Hove Albion	46	12	12	22	58	84	0.690	36
23	Carlisle United	46	13	9	24	61	89	0.685	35
24	Halifax Town	46	9	12	25	64	106	0.604	30

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	H	A	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	H	H	A	H
Result	W	D	W	D	L	W	L	W	L	L	W	W	L	D	D	L	L	D	W	W	D	W	W	D	L	L	W	W	L	W	L	W	W	D	L	L	W	W	L	W	W	W	W	L	W	W
Position	1	2	1	2	8	4	8	4	8	11	8	4	7	6	8	10	13	12	11	5	9	9	8	8	8	13	12	10	11	9	10	10	8	7	9	10	9	8	10	6	6	5	3	6	4	3

Sourced from Statto.^[2]

Football League Third Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
18 August 1962	Wrexham	A	1–0	14,042	Llewellyn
20 August 1962	Millwall	H	1–1	12,469	Longbottom
25 August 1962	Reading	H	2–0	9,506	Llewellyn, Grainger
27 August 1962	Millwall	A	0–0	20,553
1 September 1962	Bristol City	A	0–2	9,626
3 September 1962	Colchester United	H	4–2	11,719	Longbottom, Grainger, Ford, Poole
8 September 1962	Watford	H	1–3	11,108	Grainger (pen)
10 September 1962	Colchester United	A	1–0	5,919	Wright
15 September 1962	Bradford Park Avenue	A	1–2	8,935	Llewellyn
17 September 1962	Southend United	A	0–2	10,963
22 September 1962	Coventry City	H	2–1	9,816	o.g., Grainger
24 September 1962	Southend United	H	5–1	9,618	Edwards (2), Harkin (2), Ford
29 September 1962	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	A	0–2	9,715
1 October 1962	Notts County	H	1–1	9,245	Edwards
6 October 1962	Bristol Rovers	A	1–1	12,374	Poole
11 October 1962	Notts County	A	0–1	14,320
13 October 1962	Brighton & Hove Albion	H	1–2	7,503	Poole
20 October 1962	Carlisle United	A	1–1	5,627	Steele
27 October 1962	Swindon Town	H	2–1	5,825	Harkin (2)
9 November 1962	Barnsley	H	1–0	8,798	Steele
17 November 1962	Northampton Town	A	0–0	8,718
1 December 1962	Hull City	A	1–0	7,259	Rowland
8 December 1962	Crystal Palace	H	4–1	6,537	Llewellyn (3), Rowland
15 December 1962	Wrexham	H	2–2	7,172	Grainger, Llewellyn
22 December 1962	Reading	A	3–4	5,578	Ford (2), Miles
2 March 1962	Brighton & Hove Albion	A	1–3	10,050	Edwards
9 March 1962	Carlisle United	H	2–0	6,308	Rowland, Harkin
16 March 1962	Swindon Town	A	3–2	12,090	o.g., Steele, Rowland
18 March 1962	Peterborough United	A	1–3	10,162	Harkin
23 March 1962	Peterborough United	H	3–2	10,260	Steele, Harkin, Edwards
29 March 1962	Barnsley	A	1–2	4,368	Edwards
3 April 1962	Halifax Town	A	4–0	2,808	Harkin (2), Richards (2)
6 April 1962	Northampton Town	H	3–1	8,781	Richards (2), Harkin
12 April 1962	Shrewsbury Town	H	0–0	11,315
13 April 1962	Queens Park Rangers	A	1–3	5,690	Steele
15 April 1962	Shrewsbury Town	A	1–2	6,819	Ford
20 April 1962	Hull City	H	1–0	4,673	Rowland
22 April 1962	Halifax Town	H	2–0	5,968	Richards (2)
27 April 1962	Crystal Palace	A	1–2	13,183	Richards
29 April 1962	Queens Park Rangers	H	3–2	5,974	Richards, Rowland, Sproson
4 May 1962	Coventry City	A	1–0	18,307	Richards
6 May 1962	Bradford Park Avenue	H	2–1	6,680	Miles, Steele
11 May 1962	Bristol City	H	3–1	5,337	Richards (2), Rowland
13 May 1962	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	H	0–3	7,362
18 May 1962	Watford	A	2–1	5,955	Richards, Wright
20 May 1962	Bristol Rovers	H	2–0	5,015	Richards (pen), Miles

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	3 November 1962	Bristol Rovers	A	2–0	8,180	Llewellyn (2)
R2	24 November 1962	Aldershot	H	2–0	12,638	Llewellyn, Edwards (pen)
R3	27 February 1963	Gillingham	A	4–2	6,713	Steele, Edwards, Ford, Grainger (pen)
R4	13 March 1963	Sheffield United	H	1–2	22,207	Grainger

League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	27 September 1962	Bristol Rovers	A	0–2	6,126

Player statistics

Appearances Pos. Name Football League FA Cup League Cup Total Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals GK Ken Hancock 46 0 4 0 1 0 51 0 DF Roy Sproson 42 1 4 0 1 0 47 1 DF Selwyn Whalley 20 0 1 0 0 0 21 0 DF Terry Lowe 35 0 4 0 1 0 40 0 DF John Nicholson 46 0 4 0 1 0 51 0 MF Terry Miles 37 3 3 0 1 0 41 3 MF Peter Ford 25 5 3 1 1 0 29 6 MF Colin Grainger 25 5 3 2 1 0 29 7 MF Stan Edwards 27 6 4 2 0 0 31 8 MF Bernard Wright 14 2 0 0 1 0 15 2 MF Jim Watton 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 MF Mel Machin 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 FW Harry Poole 43 3 4 0 0 0 47 3 FW Stan Steele 35 6 4 1 1 0 40 7 FW Bert Llewellyn 18 7 2 3 1 0 21 10 FW Barry Hancock 9 0 0 0 0 0 9 0 FW Arthur Longbottom 10 2 0 0 1 0 11 2 FW John Rowland 37 7 4 0 0 0 41 7 FW Tony Richards 14 13 0 0 0 0 14 13 FW Terry Harkin 17 10 0 0 0 0 17 10

Scorers All competitions Scorer Goals Tony Richards 13 Terry Harkin 10 Bert Llewellyn Stan Edwards 8 John Rowland 7 Stan Steele Colin Grainger Peter Ford 6 Terry Miles 3 Harry Poole Bernard Wright 2 Arthur Longbottom Roy Sproson 1 League Scorer Goals Tony Richards 13 Terry Harkin 10 John Rowland 7 Bert Llewellyn Stan Edwards 6 Stan Steele Colin Grainger 5 Peter Ford Terry Miles 3 Harry Poole Bernard Wright 2 Arthur Longbottom Roy Sproson 1

Transfers

Transfers in

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
July 1962	FW		Mick Porter		Free transfer	[3]
August 1962	FW		John Rowland	Nottingham Forest	£6,000	[3]
August 1962	MF		Bernard Wright	Sligo Rovers	Free transfer	[3]
July 1962	MF		Mel Machin		Free transfer	[3]
September 1962	MF		Terry Harkin	Coleraine	£2,000	[3]
September 1962	MF		Jim Watton	De Graafschap	Free transfer	[3]
March 1963	FW		Tony Richards	Walsall	£9,000	[3]

Transfers out

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
January 1963	FW		Arthur Longbottom	Millwall	£2,000	[3]
February 1963	FW		Bert Llewellyn	Northampton Town	£7,000	[3]
May 1963	MF		Bernard Wright		Released	[3]
July 1963	MF		Stan Edwards	Bangor City	Free transfer	[3]
Summer 1963	MF		Peter Ford	Macclesfield Town	Released	[3]

Loans out

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Date until	Ref.
April 1963	MF		Bernard Wright	Stafford Rangers	May 1963	[3]

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. Port Vale 1962–1963 : Results & Fixtures. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
3. 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.