1966–67 Port Vale F.C. season

Port Vale

1966–67 season
Chairman	Fred Pinfold
Manager	Jackie Mudie
Stadium	Vale Park
Football League Fourth Division	13th (43 Points)
FA Cup	Second Round
League Cup	First Round
Player of the Year	Roy Sproson
Top goalscorer	League: Mick Cullerton (12) All: Mick Cullerton (12)
Highest home attendance	12,784 vs. Barnsley (16 January 1967)
Lowest home attendance	2,554 vs. York City (24 April 1967)
Average home league attendance	5,114
Home colours
← 1965–66 1967–68 →

The 1966–67 season was Port Vale's 55th season of football in the Football League, and their second successive season (third overall) in the Fourth Division.^[1] Again hopeful of escape from the basement division, Vale could only manage a mid-table finish. Player-manager Jackie Mudie resigned at the end of the season. Veteran defender Roy Sproson became the club's first ever Player of the Year winner.

Overview

Fourth Division

The pre-season saw general manager Stanley Matthews injured in a car accident with a National Coal Board lorry on 29 July, Jackie Mudie was also in the car but remained relatively unharmed.^[1] As Matthews recovered in came four new forwards, the most significant of which was Crystal Palace's Ian Lawson.^[1] Lawson cost £1,000 with an additional £1,000 signing on fee.^[1] Other new faces included winger Mick Mahon (Loughborough United); inside-forward Jimmy Goodfellow (Bishop Auckland); and Billy McCartney (Rangers).^[1] There was a kit change to an all-white strip, upon the suggestion of Stanley Matthews.^[1]

The season opened with a 2–1 home win over Southport using an optimistic 4–2–4 formation.^[1] Following Roy Sproson's winning goal there was a pitch invasion – by then a disturbingly common occurrence.^[1] Six games without a loss followed, leaving the club in fourth position.^[1] Goals were still rare however, and so Lawson was dropped from the first eleven, despite the departure of in-form forward John Rowland to Mansfield Town for £6,500.^[1] Financial difficulties made the atmosphere around Burslem quite gloomy, not helped by the news that former Valiant John Nicholson had been killed in a car crash.^[1] Vale's form suffered, though the defence remained quite strong.^[1] Young Scot Mick Cullerton was a ray of sunshine for the club in front of goal.^[1]

Good form in the Christmas period continued into an unbeaten January in the league, as the club climbed to within five points of the promotion places.^[1] In came forward Mel Charles from Porthmadog for a £1,250 fee.^[1] A 1–0 defeat at Gresty Road to Crewe Alexandra in front of an unruly crowd marked the first of a crucial seven game sequence against the promotion hopefuls.^[1] A win over Barrow and a draw at Stockport County were succeeded by five straight defeats, killing Vale's promotion hopes dead.^[1] They reversed the decline by doing the double over Rochdale within two days, including a 5–0 victory witnessed by 3,004 fans at Vale Park.^[1] In April, popular player John Ritchie was sold to Preston North End for £17,500.^[1] Mel Charles sidelined with a knee injury, Vale limped to the season's end without a win in their final five games.^[1] On 3 May, Stuart Chapman made his debut at the age of fifteen in a 2–2 draw with Lincoln City.^[1] Five days later, manager Jackie Mudie tendered his resignation as player-manager, citing 'personal reasons'.^[1]

They finished in thirteenth place with 43 points, marking a slight improvement on the previous campaign.^[1] Mick Cullerton's twelve goals in all competitions were enough to make him the top-scorer.^[1] In the club's first ever Player of the Year ceremony, veteran defender Roy Sproson was bestowed with the honour.^[1] Meanwhile, the club's youth team performed brilliantly, reaching the quarter-finals of the FA Youth Cup, where they were eliminated 3–0 by Scunthorpe United.^[1]

Finances

On the financial side, there was a loss of £7,925 despite a transfer credit of £20,425 and a donation of £19,381 from the Sportsmen's Association and the Development Pool.^[1] Gate receipts were just £30,298, whilst the club's overdraft stood at £82,373.^[1] Nine players were released at the end of the season, most notably: Mel Charles (Oswestry Town); Ian Lawson and Brian Taylor (Barnsley); and untested reserve Ray Kennedy – who would take a break from football before returning to the game to play for Liverpool and England.^[1] Roddy Georgeson was also released at his own request to work in a bank,^[1] though he soon turned out for Dundee before beginning a long career in Scottish football.

Cup competitions

In the FA Cup, a 4–3–3 formation was used to defeat Bradford City 2–1 at Valley Parade with a forty-yard 'goal of a lifetime' from John Ritchie.^[1] Vale drew Barnsley in the Second Round, and earned a replay with a 1-1 draw at Oakwell. The replay attracted 12,784 supporters, but "Tykes" ran out 3–1 winners.

In the League Cup, Third Division Walsall knocked out the Vale at the first stage with a 3–1 win.

Final league table

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Stockport County	46	26	12	8	69	42	1.643	64
2	Southport	46	23	13	10	69	42	1.643	59
3	Barrow	46	24	11	11	76	54	1.407	59
4	Tranmere Rovers	46	22	14	10	66	43	1.535	58
5	Crewe Alexandra	46	21	12	13	70	55	1.273	54
6	Southend United	46	22	9	15	70	49	1.429	53
7	Wrexham	46	16	20	10	76	62	1.226	52
8	Hartlepools United	46	22	7	17	66	64	1.031	51
9	Brentford	46	18	13	15	58	56	1.036	49
10	Aldershot	46	18	12	16	72	57	1.263	48
11	Bradford City	46	19	10	17	74	62	1.194	48
12	Halifax Town	46	15	14	17	59	68	0.868	44
13	Port Vale	46	14	15	17	55	58	0.948	43
14	Exeter City	46	14	15	17	50	60	0.833	43
15	Chesterfield	46	17	8	21	60	63	0.952	42
16	Barnsley	46	13	15	18	60	64	0.938	41
17	Luton Town	46	16	9	21	59	73	0.808	41
18	Newport County	46	12	16	18	56	63	0.889	40
19	Chester	46	15	10	21	54	78	0.692	40
20	Notts County	46	13	11	22	53	72	0.736	37
21	Rochdale	46	13	11	22	53	75	0.707	37
22	York City	46	12	11	23	65	79	0.823	35
23	Bradford Park Avenue	46	11	13	22	52	79	0.658	35
24	Lincoln City	46	9	13	24	58	82	0.707	31

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	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	A	H	H	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	A
Result	D	D	D	W	D	W	D	L	D	D	L	L	L	W	W	L	W	L	L	D	W	D	D	W	W	L	W	D	L	L	L	L	L	W	W	D	W	L	D	L	W	D	D	D	L	L
Position	4	4	7	4	6	5	4	9	9	10	9	13	15	14	13	13	14	14	17	16	15	15	15	13	12	12	11	11	12	13	14	17	17	15	14	13	13	13	12	13	12	12	12	12	12	13

Sourced from Statto.^[2]

Football League Fourth Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
20 August 1966	Southport	H	2–1	8,143	Rowland, Sproson
27 August 1966	Notts County	A	0–0	5,648
3 September 1966	Chester	H	1–1	6,853	Georgeson
5 September 1966	Bradford City	H	3–2	6,258	Mahon, Rowland, Hill
10 September 1966	Bradford Park Avenue	A	1–1	5,246	Rowland
17 September 1966	Exeter City	A	1–0	4,789	Miles
24 September 1966	Crewe Alexandra	H	1–1	11,325	Hill
28 September 1966	Bradford City	A	0–2	3,928
1 October 1966	Barrow	A	2–2	3,354	Goodfellow, Hill
8 October 1966	Tranmere Rovers	H	1–1	6,684	Sproson
14 October 1966	Southend United	A	1–4	12,609	Ritchie
17 October 1966	Chesterfield	H	2–3	5,649	Georgeson, Mahon
22 October 1966	Wrexham	H	0–2	7,753
29 October 1966	Aldershot	A	1–0	5,047	McCartney
5 November 1966	Luton Town	H	1–0	3,502	Mahon
12 November 1966	Barnsley	A	0–1	4,823
19 November 1966	Newport County	H	2–0	3,883	Miles, Hill
3 December 1966	Halifax Town	H	0–1	4,002
10 December 1966	Hartlepools United	A	1–2	5,342	Hill
17 December 1966	Southport	A	0–0	3,975
27 December 1966	Lincoln City	A	1–0	5,268	Cullerton
31 December 1966	Notts County	H	0–0	5,359
14 January 1967	Bradford Park Avenue	H	0–0	4,798
21 January 1967	Exeter City	H	2–0	3,450	Cullerton (pen), Mahon
28 January 1967	Chester	A	3–1	5,586	Mahon (2), Cullerton
3 February 1967	Crewe Alexandra	A	0–1	10,414
11 February 1967	Barrow	H	2–1	6,267	Boulton, Mahon
17 February 1967	Stockport County	A	1–1	9,756	Miles
24 February 1967	Tranmere Rovers	A	1–2	8,047	Cullerton
4 March 1967	Southend United	H	1–3	4,695	Goodfellow
11 March 1967	Stockport County	H	0–2	6,363
18 March 1967	Wrexham	A	1–2	7,176	Georgeson
25 March 1967	Brentford	H	1–3	3,434	Ritchie
27 March 1967	Rochdale	A	2–1	2,254	o.g., Goodfellow
28 March 1967	Rochdale	H	5–0	3,004	Georgeson, Poole, Cullerton, Goodfellow, Wilson
1 April 1967	Luton Town	A	1–1	5,410	Wilson
8 April 1967	Barnsley	H	3–1	3,209	Cullerton (2), Hill
10 April 1967	York City	A	1–3	3,834	Goodfellow
17 April 1967	Newport County	A	1–1	1,914	Cullerton
22 April 1967	Aldershot	H	0–2	3,265
24 April 1967	York City	H	4–1	2,554	Cullerton (2), Georgeson, Goodfellow
29 April 1967	Halifax Town	A	2–2	3,562	Taylor, Goodfellow
3 May 1967	Lincoln City	H	2–2	3,085	Cullerton (2)
6 May 1967	Hartlepools United	H	0–0	3,178
8 May 1967	Chesterfield	A	1–2	2,605	Boulton
13 May 1967	Brentford	A	0–2	3,592

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	26 November 1966	Bradford City	A	2–1	5,712	Ritchie, Lawson
R2	7 January 1967	Barnsley	A	1–1	13,343	Hill
R2 Replay	16 January 1967	Barnsley	H	1–3	12,784	Boulton

League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	23 August 1966	Walsall	H	1–3	9,181	Rowland

Player statistics

Appearances Pos. Name Football League FA Cup League Cup Total Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals GK Stuart Sharratt 45 0 3 0 1 0 49 0 GK Billy McNulty 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 DF Roy Sproson 31 2 2 0 1 0 34 2 DF Terry Alcock 41 0 3 0 1 0 45 0 DF Clint Boulton 35 2 3 1 1 0 39 3 DF Ron Wilson 33 2 3 0 0 0 36 2 DF John Ritchie 28 2 3 1 1 0 32 3 DF Gordon Logan 7 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 MF Terry Miles 42 3 3 0 0 0 45 3 MF Mick Mahon 26 7 1 0 1 0 28 7 MF Jimmy Hill 36 6 3 1 0 0 39 7 MF Alex Donald 23 0 1 0 0 0 24 0 MF Stuart Chapman 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 MF Malcolm Gibbon 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 MF Jimmy Goodfellow 26 7 1 0 1 0 28 7 MF Mel Charles 7 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 FW Harry Poole 32 1 1 0 1 0 34 1 FW John Rowland 7 3 0 0 1 1 8 4 FW Jackie Mudie 5 0 2 0 0 0 7 0 FW Brian Taylor 10 1 1 0 0 0 11 1 FW John James 7 0 0 0 1 0 8 0 FW Roddy Georgeson 22 5 0 0 0 0 22 5 FW Mick Cullerton 28 12 3 0 0 0 30 12 FW Billy McCartney 15 1 1 0 0 0 16 1 FW Mel Lintern 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 FW Ian Lawson 8 0 1 1 1 0 10 1

Scorers All competitions Scorer Goals Mick Cullerton 12 Mick Mahon 7 Jimmy Goodfellow Jimmy Hill Roddy Georgeson 5 John Rowland 4 Terry Miles 3 John Ritchie Clint Boulton Ron Wilson 2 Roy Sproson Billy McCartney 1 Harry Poole Brian Taylor Ian Lawson League Scorer Goals Mick Cullerton 12 Mick Mahon 7 Jimmy Goodfellow Jimmy Hill 6 Roddy Georgeson 5 John Rowland 3 Terry Miles John Ritchie 2 Clint Boulton Ron Wilson Roy Sproson Billy McCartney 1 Harry Poole

Transfers

Transfers in

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
1966	MF		Jimmy Goodfellow	Bishop Auckland	Free transfer	[3]
June 1966	MF		Stuart Chapman		Free transfer	[3]
June 1966	FW		Billy McCartney	Rangers	Free transfer	[3]
August 1966	FW		Ian Lawson	Crystal Palace	£1,000	[3]
December 1966	MF		Mel Charles	Porthmadog	£1,250	[3]
March 1967	DF		Gordon Logan		Free transfer	[3]
May 1967	MF		Malcolm Gibbon		Free transfer	[3]
May 1967	FW		Mel Lintern		Free transfer	[3]

Transfers out

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
September 1966	FW		John Rowland	Mansfield Town	£6,500	[3]
November 1966	MF		Alan Johnson	Stafford Rangers	Free transfer	[3]
April 1967	DF		John Ritchie	Preston North End	£17,500	[3]
May 1967	MF		Mel Charles	Oswestry Town	Free transfer	[3]
May 1967	FW		Ian Lawson	Barnsley	Free transfer	[3]
May 1967	FW		Billy McCartney	Oswestry Town	Free transfer	[3]
May 1967	FW		Jackie Mudie	Oswestry Town	Retired	[3]
May 1967	GK		Jimmy O'Neill	Cork Celtic	Free transfer	[3]
May 1967	MF		Brian Taylor	Barnsley	Free transfer	[3]
July 1967	MF		Roddy Georgeson	Dundee	Released	[3]
August 1967	DF		Terry Alcock	Blackpool	£30,000	[3]

Loans out

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Date to	Ref.
December 1966	GK		Jimmy O'Neill	Cork Celtic	May 1967	[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 1966–1967 : 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.