1994–95 Port Vale F.C. season

Port Vale

1994–95 season
Chairman	Bill Bell
Manager	John Rudge
Stadium	Vale Park
Football League First Division	17th (58 Points)
FA Cup	Second Round
League Cup	Second Round
Player of the Year	Martin Foyle
Top goalscorer	League: Martin Foyle (16) All: Martin Foyle (20)
Highest home attendance	19,510 vs. Stoke City (14 March 1995)
Lowest home attendance	4,728 vs. Bristol Rovers (23 August 1994)
Average home league attendance	9,218
Home colours
← 1993–94 1995–96 →

The 1994–95 season was Port Vale's 83rd season of football in the Football League, and first ever season in the First Division following their promotion from the Second Division. John Rudge led his team to safety in the league, whilst reaching the Second Round of the FA Cup and League Cup. In the FA Cup they recorded a 6–0 victory over Hartlepool United, before suffering a shock defeat at Scarborough. Back in the same league as rivals Stoke City, they earned the season's bragging rights with a 1–1 draw at Vale Park and a 1–0 win at the Victoria Ground. Martin Foyle was the Player of the Year, having bagged twenty goals in all competitions. Club legend Ian Taylor had been sold before a ball was kicked, but new legends were born with the signatures of Tony Naylor, Steve Guppy, and Ian Bogie.

Overview

First Division

The pre-season saw John Rudge spend a small amount of the money received on the sales of Ian Taylor and Peter Swan to bring Tony Naylor to the club from Crewe Alexandra for a £150,000 fee. A further £200,000 was splashed out on Nottingham Forest forward Lee Glover. Another £4,500 was spent on Dutch goalkeeper Arjan van Heusden from VV Noordwijk. Arriving on free transfers were Craig Lawton (Manchester United) and Stewart Talbot (Moor Green).

The season started modestly, with two wins in the four August games. In September only Lee Glover, Tony Naylor and Martin Foyle could find the net, but the Vale managed to win six points from their five games. To help with his recovery from a serious injury, Ray Walker spent some time on loan at Cambridge United, and managed to win back his first team place in the Vale starting eleven upon his return. Meanwhile Tony Kelly arrived at the club from Bolton Wanderers, but after a brief spell moved on to Millwall. Vale's poor attack was highlighted in October, though the defence managed to ensure three draws from five games. In November, Darren Hughes was allowed to leave the club for Northampton Town. Rudge decided to make another big signing, and bought winger Steve Guppy from Newcastle United for £225,000. On 5 November, Vale lost all their inhibitions in front of goal, beating Southend United 5–0 with five different scorers. However their draw with Swindon Town would prove to be the only point gained in December, as Vale were stuck in a relegation dogfight. John Jeffers spent January on loan at Shrewsbury Town. During this spell defender Kevin Scott arrived on loan from Tottenham Hotspur. The team gelled, forming a five game unbeaten run based on just two goals conceded to shoot up the table. In March, midfielder Ian Bogie was signed from Leyton Orient for a £50,000 fee. Potteries derby day finally came on 14 March, and 19,510 turned up at Vale Park to witness a 1–1 draw with Stoke City, Naylor scoring the Vale's goal. Five defeats in seven games followed, raising concerns of the drop. However the Vale were unbeaten in their final five games to ensure safety. This included a 1–0 win over Stoke at the Victoria Ground on 22 April, Foyle scoring the goal.

They finished in seventeenth place with 58 points, leaving them ten points clear of relegated Swindon Town. They were five points short of Stoke, who finished six places above the Vale. Player of the Year Martin Foyle bagged twenty goals, double that of his nearest rival Tony Naylor.

At the end of the season Ollie Heald, Peter Billing, Mark Burke and John Burndred were released, who signed with Scarborough, Hartlepool United, Fortuna Sittard and Stafford Rangers respectively. Joe Allon was also sold to Brentford for £42,500.

Finances

The club's shirt sponsors were Tunstall Assurance.

Cup competitions

In the FA Cup, Vale smashed Third Division Hartlepool United 6–0 in Burslem, with Martin Foyle bagging a hat-trick. Remarkably, this would be the last hat-trick scored by a Vale player at Vale Park until April 2011.^[1] However a shock awaited in the Second Round, where Scarborough, also of the fourth tier, beat the Vale 1–0 at the McCain Stadium.

In the League Cup, Vale advanced past Second Division Bristol Rovers 4–2 on aggregate, having won 3–1 at the Memorial Stadium. In the Second Round they faced Premier League Manchester United. Alex Ferguson's "Red Devils" beat John Rudge's "Valiants" 2–1 at Vale Park in front of 18,605 supporters; Lee Glover scoring for Vale and Paul Scholes scoring a brace on his United debut. At the time Vale fans were disappointed to witness the then-unknown United reserves, though Scholes would go on to become a household name, as would teenage teammates Gary Neville, Nicky Butt, and David Beckham; the United first eleven would go on to win a combined total of more than 500 international caps over the course of their careers.^[2] For the second leg there were 31,615 fans at Old Trafford to witness a 2–0 United victory, David May and Brian McClair getting the goals.

Final league table

Pos.	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
1.	Middlesbrough	46	23	13	10	67	40	82
2.	Reading	46	23	10	13	58	44	79
3.	Bolton Wanderers	46	21	14	11	67	45	77
4.	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	21	13	12	77	61	76
5.	Tranmere Rovers	46	22	10	14	67	58	76
6.	Barnsley	46	20	12	14	63	52	72
7.	Watford	46	19	13	14	52	46	70
8.	Sheffield United	46	17	17	12	74	55	68
9.	Derby County	46	18	12	16	66	51	66
10.	Grimsby Town	46	17	14	15	62	56	65
11.	Stoke City	46	16	15	15	50	53	63
12.	Millwall	46	16	14	16	60	60	62
13.	Southend United	46	18	8	20	54	73	62
14.	Oldham Athletic	46	16	13	17	60	60	61
15.	Charlton Athletic	46	16	11	19	58	66	59
16.	Luton Town	46	15	13	18	61	64	58
17.	Port Vale	46	15	13	18	58	64	58
18.	Portsmouth	46	15	13	18	53	63	58
19.	West Bromwich Albion	46	16	10	20	51	57	58
20.	Sunderland	46	12	18	16	41	45	54
21.	Swindon Town	46	12	12	22	54	73	48
22.	Burnley	46	11	13	22	49	74	46
23.	Bristol City	46	11	12	23	42	63	45
24.	Notts County	46	9	13	24	45	66	40

P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; 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	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H
Result	L	W	D	W	L	W	L	W	L	L	D	L	D	D	D	W	L	W	D	L	L	D	L	L	W	W	D	W	W	L	D	L	W	D	L	W	L	L	L	W	L	D	W	W	D	D
Position	22	11	10	7	12	4	6	7	8	11	15	18	18	20	20	14	18	17	14	16	17	18	21	22	21	18	20	17	15	18	17	17	15	15	17	14	17	17	17	16	17	17	16	14	17	17

Sourced from Statto.^[3]

Football League First Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
14 August 1994	Swindon Town	A	0–2	10,431
20 August 1994	Oldham Athletic	H	3–1	10,051	Foyle, Kenny (og), Naylor
27 August 1994	Bristol City	A	0–0	8,588
30 August 1994	Barnsley	H	2–1	7,228	Burke, L.Glover
3 September 1994	Luton Town	H	0–1	8,541
10 September 1994	Portsmouth	A	2–0	8,989	L.Glover, Naylor
13 September 1994	Grimsby Town	A	1–4	3,216	Foyle
17 September 1994	Middlesbrough	H	2–1	10,313	L.Glover, Naylor
24 September 1994	Sheffield United	H	0–2	9,324
1 October 1994	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	1–2	27,649	Allon
8 October 1994	Notts County	A	2–2	6,903	Foyle, Kelly
15 October 1994	Charlton Athletic	H	0–2	7,707
22 October 1994	Bolton Wanderers	H	1–1	10,003	Allon
29 October 1994	Tranmere Rovers	A	1–1	6,972	Jeffers
2 November 1994	West Bromwich Albion	A	0–0	14,513
5 November 1994	Southend United	H	5–0	7,141	Allon, Foyle, Porter, Walker, van der Laan
19 November 1994	Derby County	A	0–2	13,357
26 November 1994	Millwall	H	2–1	8,016	Allon, Burke
29 November 1994	Sunderland	H	0–0	8,121
6 December 1994	Bolton Wanderers	A	0–1	10,324
10 December 1994	Oldham Athletic	A	2–3	7,712	Guppy, van der Laan
17 December 1994	Swindon Town	H	2–2	7,747	Foyle (2)
28 December 1994	Reading	H	0–2	7,891
31 December 1994	Watford	A	2–3	7,794	Foyle (2)
15 January 1995	Tranmere Rovers	H	2–0	7,944	Foyle, Tankard
28 January 1995	Southend United	A	2–1	3,619	Foyle, van der Laan
4 February 1995	Sunderland	A	1–1	13,377	Naylor
11 February 1995	West Bromwich Albion	H	1–0	10,751	Guppy
21 February 1995	Derby County	H	1–0	9,387	Kent
25 February 1995	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	2–4	13,676	Kent, Naylor
4 March 1995	Sheffield United	A	1–1	13,647	L.Glover
7 March 1995	Luton Town	A	1–2	5,947	Porter
11 March 1995	Bristol City	H	2–1	7,646	Naylor, Scott
14 March 1995	Stoke City	H	1–1	19,510	Naylor
18 March 1995	Barnsley	A	1–3	6,878	Allon
21 March 1995	Portsmouth	H	1–0	7,388	Allon
26 March 1995	Middlesbrough	A	0–3	17,401
28 March 1995	Burnley	A	3–4	10,058	Foyle (2), Allon
1 April 1995	Grimsby Town	H	1–2	7,150	Naylor
5 April 1995	Millwall	A	3–1	5,260	Bogie, Foyle, van der Laan
8 April 1995	Watford	H	0–1	7,276
15 April 1995	Reading	A	3–3	8,635	Bogie, Naylor, Porter
17 April 1995	Burnley	H	1–0	9,663	van der Laan
22 April 1995	Stoke City	A	1–0	20,429	Foyle
29 April 1995	Charlton Athletic	A	1–1	12,596	Foyle
7 May 1995	Notts County	H	1–1	9,542	Foyle

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	12 November 1994	Hartlepool United	H	6–0	6,199	Foyle (3), Allon, D.Glover, Griffiths
R2	3 December 1994	Scarborough	A	0–1	2,382

League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1 1st Leg	17 August 1994	Bristol Rovers	A	3–1	3,307	Foyle, L.Glover, Naylor
R1 2nd Leg	23 August 1994	Bristol Rovers	H	1–1	4,728	L.Glover
R2 1st Leg	21 September 1994	Manchester United	H	1–2	18,605	L.Glover
R2 2nd Leg	5 October 1994	Manchester United	A	0–2	31,615

Player statistics

Appearances Pos. Name Football League FA Cup League Cup Total Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals GK Paul Musselwhite 44 0 2 0 4 0 50 0 GK Arjan van Heusden 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 DF Dean Glover 29 0 2 1 4 0 35 1 DF Neil Aspin 37 0 2 0 1 0 40 0 DF Bradley Sandeman 37 0 0 0 4 0 41 0 DF Peter Billing 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 DF Gareth Griffiths 20 0 2 1 3 0 25 1 DF Dean Stokes 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 DF Allen Tankard 39 1 2 0 4 0 45 1 DF Kevin Scott 17 1 0 0 0 0 17 1 MF Andy Porter 44 3 2 0 4 0 50 3 MF Ray Walker 23 1 2 0 1 0 26 1 MF John Jeffers 10 1 1 0 0 0 11 1 MF Robin van der Laan 44 5 2 0 4 0 50 5 MF Kevin Kent 23 2 0 0 4 0 27 2 MF Ian Bogie 9 2 1 0 0 0 10 2 MF Mark Burke 15 2 2 0 3 0 20 2 MF Wayne Corden 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 MF Steve Guppy 27 2 1 0 0 0 29 2 MF Tony Kelly 4 1 0 0 1 0 5 1 MF Craig Lawton 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 MF Stewart Talbot 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 FW Martin Foyle 42 16 2 3 4 1 48 20 FW Joe Allon 19 7 2 1 1 0 22 8 FW John Burndred 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 FW Lee Glover 28 4 2 0 4 3 34 7 FW Tony Naylor 33 9 0 0 3 1 36 10 Scorers All competitions Scorer Goals Martin Foyle 20 Tony Naylor 10 Lee Glover 7 Joe Allon Robin van der Laan 5 Andy Porter 3 Mark Burke 2 Ian Bogie Kevin Kent Steve Guppy Tony Kelly 1 John Jeffers Ray Walker Allen Tankard Kevin Scott Gareth Griffiths Dean Glover League Scorer Goals Martin Foyle 16 Tony Naylor 9 Joe Allon 6 Robin van der Laan 5 Lee Glover 4 Andy Porter 3 Mark Burke 2 Ian Bogie Kevin Kent Steve Guppy Tony Kelly 1 John Jeffers Ray Walker Allen Tankard Kevin Scott

References

1. Phil Sherwin. "Phil Sherwin: Bizarre victory a fitting Vale Park finale for a bizarre season". The Sentinel. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
2. Sherwin, Phil (11 February 2012). "Beckham fails to win over fans at Vale Park". The Sentinel.
3. Port Vale 1994–1995 : Results & Fixtures. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.

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