1997–98 Port Vale F.C. season

Port Vale

1997–98 season

Chairman

Bill Bell

Manager

John Rudge

Stadium

Vale Park

Football League First Division

19th (49 Points)

Third Round

First Round

Top goalscorer

League: Lee Mills (14)
All: Lee Mills (16)

Highest home attendance

14,964 vs. Arsenal (14 January 1998)

Lowest home attendance

2,749 vs. York City (12 August 1997)

Average home league attendance

8,263

Home colours

← 1996–97

1998–99 →

The 1997–98 season was Port Vale's 86th season of football in the Football League, and fourth successive season in the First Division. John Rudge managed to mastermind a final day escape from relegation, as rivals Stoke City instead lost their second tier status, leaving Vale as the top club in the Potteries. In the FA Cup, Vale took Arsenal to a replay, before leaving at the Third Round stage having lost on penalties. In the League Cup Vale again exited at the First Round. Something of an end of an era for the club, Lee Mills and Jon McCarthy left the club on big money moves, whilst Dean Glover, Andy Porter, and Andy Hill also left the club. The club made its record signing however, in bringing Gareth Ainsworth in from Lincoln City for £500,000.

Overview

First Division

The pre-season saw the arrival of Swedish midfielder Jan Jansson from IFK Norrköping for a £200,000 fee. Dutch defender Mark Snijders also signed from AZ.

The Vale started the season in modest form, as they picked up fourteen points in the opening nine games. On 11 September, John Rudge made the club's record signing by paying Lincoln City £500,000 for the services of midfielder Gareth Ainsworth. To pay for this Jon McCarthy was sold to Birmingham City for £450,000. Also heading away from Stoke-on-Trent was Arjan van Heusden, who joined Oxford United on loan. The next month Gareth Griffiths left for a loan spell at Shrewsbury Town. Disappointment came on 12 October, with a 2–1 defeat to rivals Stoke City at the newly-opened Britannia Stadium. Vale's indifferent form continued, one highlight being a 3–2 win over Manchester City at Maine Road on 4 November. Later in the year Paul Beesley joined on loan from Man City, and played a handful of games. The club's indifferent form then turned to a terrible run of ten defeats in twelve games, which included a run of one goal scored in seven games. Their form picked up in February, though they were still inconsistent. On 1 March, Stoke, who were also in relegation danger, escaped from Vale Park with a goalless draw. Later in month Rudge signed young Tottenham Hotspur forward Paul Mahorn on non-contract terms. On 14 March, a 2–1 win over Manchester City was to prove crucial, though Vale were still in danger of the drop. Going into their final game with Huddersfield Town at the Alfred McAlpine Stadium Vale had lost three straight games, and were in need of a win to ensure their safety in the league. A brace from Jansson, and one each from Martin Foyle and Lee Mills earned Vale a 4–0 win.^[1]

They finished in nineteenth place, one point above Manchester City in the relegation zone. Stoke City were also relegated, and had Stoke beat Vale in Burslem then Vale would have taken Stoke's place in the relegation zone. Lee Mills was the club's top-scorer with sixteen goals, whilst Tony Naylor also hit double-figures.

At the end of the season, Lee Mills was signed by Premier League Bradford City, becoming Bradford's first million pound player. Twelve year club veteran Andy Porter signed for Wigan Athletic, as did Griffiths. Another major departure was nine-year club veteran defender Dean Glover, who joined non-league Kidderminster Harriers. Another older player, Andy Hill, retired outright. Other departures were Dave Barnett to Lincoln City, Dean Stokes to Third Division Rochdale, and Dutch keeper Arjan van Heusden also headed into the basement division with Cambridge United. Fellow Dutchman Jermaine Holwyn returned to the Netherlands to play for HFC Haarlem.

Finances

The club's shirt sponsors were Tunstall Assurance.

Cup competitions

In the FA Cup, Vale faced a trip to Highbury to face Arsenal. Rudge's "Valiants" battled to a goalless draw with Arsène Wenger's "Gunners", to take the Londoners back to Burslem. Again goalless, Dennis Bergkamp scored in the tenth minute of extra time, but Wayne Corden equalized eight minutes before the full-time whistle. Lee Dixon missed the first penalty of the shoot-out, but Arsenal recovered to win the game 4–3 on penalties, and later went on to lift the cup.^[2]

In the League Cup, Second Division York City eliminated the Vale with a 3–2 aggregate victory.

Final league table

Main article: 1997–98 Football League

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1.	Nottingham Forest	46	28	10	8	82	42	94
2.	Middlesbrough	46	27	10	9	77	41	91
3.	Sunderland	46	26	12	8	86	50	90
4.	Charlton Athletic	46	26	10	10	80	49	88
5.	Ipswich Town	46	23	14	9	77	43	83
6.	Sheffield United	46	19	17	10	69	54	74
7.	Birmingham City	46	19	17	10	60	35	74
8.	Stockport County	46	19	8	19	71	69	65
9.	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	18	11	17	57	53	65
10.	West Bromwich Albion	46	16	13	17	50	56	61
11.	Crewe Alexandra	46	18	5	23	58	65	59
12.	Oxford United	46	16	10	20	60	64	58
13.	Bradford City	46	14	15	17	46	59	57
14.	Tranmere Rovers	46	14	14	18	54	57	56
15.	Norwich City	46	14	13	19	52	69	55
16.	Huddersfield Town	46	14	11	21	50	72	53
17.	Bury	46	11	19	16	42	58	52
18.	Swindon Town	46	14	10	22	42	73	52
19.	Port Vale	46	13	10	23	56	66	49
20.	Queens Park Rangers	46	10	19	17	51	63	49
21.	Portsmouth	46	13	10	23	51	63	49
22.	Manchester City	46	12	12	22	56	57	48
23.	Stoke City	46	11	13	22	44	74	46
24.	Reading	46	11	9	26	39	78	42

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	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A
Result	L	L	W	D	W	L	W	D	W	L	L	D	W	L	D	W	W	L	D	L	L	L	L	L	L	L	W	L	L	D	D	L	W	L	D	L	W	W	D	L	W	D	L	L	L	W
Position	20	22	14	17	11	14	9	11	8	8	11	14	8	13	14	10	7	11	9	11	13	14	17	18	18	20	18	19	21	20	21	21	21	21	24	24	23	19	20	20	18	17	19	20	20	19

Sourced from Statto.^[3]

Football League First Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
9 August 1997	Nottingham Forest	H	0–1	12,533
16 August 1997	Portsmouth	A	1–3	10,605	Talbot
23 August 1997	Sunderland	H	3–1	8,290	Naylor (2), Mills
3 September 1997	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	1–1	21,524	Foyle
9 September 1997	Stockport County	H	2–1	6,615	Mills (2)
13 September 1997	Norwich City	A	0–1	11,269
16 September 1997	Crewe Alexandra	A	1–0	5,519	Mills
20 September 1997	Bury	H	1–1	6,781	Ainsworth
27 September 1997	Queens Park Rangers	H	2–0	7,197	Snijders, Naylor
4 October 1997	Swindon Town	A	2–4	8,048	Glover, Foyle
12 October 1997	Stoke City	A	1–2	20,125	Naylor
18 October 1997	Bradford City	H	0–0	7,148
21 October 1997	Huddersfield Town	H	4–1	5,244	Own goal, Talbot, Ainsworth, Naylor
25 October 1997	Middlesbrough	A	1–2	30,096	Foyle
1 November 1997	Reading	H	0–0	6,569
4 November 1997	Manchester City	A	3–2	24,554	Snijders, Talbot, Naylor
8 November 1997	Tranmere Rovers	A	2–1	7,063	Naylor (2)
15 November 1997	West Bromwich Albion	H	1–2	11,124	Mills
22 November 1997	Sheffield United	H	0–0	8,017
29 November 1997	Oxford United	A	0–2	5,762
6 December 1997	Birmingham City	H	0–1	7,509
13 December 1997	Charlton Athletic	A	0–1	11,077
20 December 1997	Ipswich Town	H	1–3	5,784	Foyle
26 December 1997	Stockport County	A	0–3	10,003
28 December 1997	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	0–2	10,898
10 January 1998	Nottingham Forest	A	0–2	17,639
17 January 1998	Portsmouth	H	2–1	6,028	Talbot, Mills
24 January 1998	Crewe Alexandra	H	2–3	6,683	Naylor, Porter (pen)
31 January 1998	Sunderland	A	2–4	39,258	Talbot, Jansson
7 February 1998	Bury	A	2–2	5,285	Mills, Bogie
14 February 1998	Norwich City	H	2–2	6,664	Mills (2)
17 February 1998	Swindon Town	H	0–1	5,925
21 February 1998	Queens Park Rangers	A	1–0	14,198	Mills
24 February 1998	Bradford City	A	1–2	13,293	Foyle
1 March 1998	Stoke City	H	0–0	13,853
4 March 1998	Tranmere Rovers	H	0–1	5,465
7 March 1998	Reading	A	3–0	7,139	Mills, Talbot, Jansson
14 March 1998	Manchester City	H	2–1	13,122	Foyle, Ainsworth
21 March 1998	West Bromwich Albion	A	2–2	14,242	Jansson, Foyle
28 March 1998	Sheffield United	A	1–2	15,860	Corden
4 April 1998	Oxford United	H	3–0	6,524	Mills, Naylor, Ainsworth
11 April 1998	Birmingham City	A	1–1	17,193	Ainsworth
13 April 1998	Charlton Athletic	H	0–1	9,973
18 April 1998	Ipswich Town	A	1–5	16,205	Barnett
24 April 1998	Middlesbrough	H	0–1	12,096
3 May 1998	Huddersfield Town	A	4–0	15,610	Jansson (2), Foyle, Mills

FA Cup

Main article: 1997–98 FA Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	3 January 1998	Arsenal	A	0–0	37,471
R3 Replay	14 January 1998	Arsenal	H	(3)1–1(4)	14,964	Corden

League Cup

Main article: 1997–98 Football League Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1 1st Leg	12 August 1997	York City	H	1–1	2,749	Mills
R1 2nd Leg	26 August 1997	York City	A	1–2	3,195	Mills

Player statistics

Appearances

Pos.	Name	Football League		FA Cup		League Cup		Total
Pos.	Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Paul Musselwhite	40	0	2	0	2	0	44	0
GK	Arjan van Heusden	5	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
DF	Dean Glover	25	1	0	0	1	0	26	1
DF	Neil Aspin	25	0	2	0	2	0	29	0
DF	Allen Tankard	38	0	2	0	2	0	42	0
DF	Dean Stokes	8	0	0	0	1	0	9	0
DF	Jon McCarthy	4	0	0	0	2	0	6	0
DF	Andy Hill	27	0	2	0	2	0	31	0
DF	Matt Carragher	25	0	0	0	0	0	25	0
DF	Paul Beesley	5	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
DF	Dave Barnett	9	1	0	0	0	0	9	1
DF	Liam Burns	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
DF	Mark Snijders	23	2	0	2	0	0	25	2
DF	Gareth Griffiths	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
MF	Andy Porter	40	1	2	0	1	0	43	1
MF	Ian Bogie	38	1	2	0	1	0	41	1
MF	Wayne Corden	31	1	2	1	2	0	35	2
MF	Stewart Talbot	41	6	2	0	2	0	45	6
MF	Rogier Koordes	9	0	0	0	0	0	9	0
MF	Jan Jansson	32	5	0	0	2	0	34	5
MF	Gareth Ainsworth	39	5	2	0	0	0	41	5
MF	Richard Eyre	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
FW	Martin Foyle	38	8	2	0	2	0	42	8
FW	Lee Mills	42	14	1	0	2	2	45	16
FW	Tony Naylor	37	10	2	0	2	0	41	10

Scorers

All competitions

Scorer	Goals
Lee Mills	16
Tony Naylor	10
Martin Foyle	8
Stewart Talbot	6
Jan Jansson	5
Gareth Ainsworth	5
Wayne Corden	2
Mark Snijders	2
Dean Glover	1
Dave Barnett
Ian Bogie
Andy Porter

League

Scorer	Goals
Lee Mills	14
Tony Naylor	10
Martin Foyle	8
Stewart Talbot	6
Jan Jansson	5
Gareth Ainsworth	5
Mark Snijders	2
Wayne Corden	1
Dean Glover
Dave Barnett
Ian Bogie
Andy Porter

References

↑ Baggaley, Mike (20 February 2016). "Were these Vale's five greatest games ever?". The Sentinel. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
↑ "Sports photographs from our archives". The Sentinel. 8 July 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
↑ Port Vale 1997–1998 : Results & Fixtures. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.

Soccerbase

Port Vale F.C. seasons

1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 99–1900

1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10

1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20

1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30

1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40

1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50

1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60

1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70

1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80

1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90

1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 99–2000

2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10

2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20

Port Vale Football Club

History Honours Managers Records Reserves & Youth Seasons

Grounds	Athletic Ground Old Recreation Ground Vale Park

Players	25+ appearances <25 appearances Player of the Year Winners

Matches	1989 Play-off Final 1993 League Trophy Final 1993 Play-off Final 1996 Anglo-Italian Final 2001 League Trophy Final Potteries derby

1997–98 in English football

« 1996–97

1998–99 »

FA competitions

Premier League and
Football League

Football Conference

Football Conference
Conference League Cup

Lower leagues

European competitions

Related to national team

Club seasons

Premier League	Arsenal Aston Villa Barnsley Blackburn Rovers Bolton Wanderers Chelsea Coventry City Crystal Palace Derby County Everton Leeds United Leicester City Liverpool Manchester United Newcastle United Sheffield Wednesday Southampton Tottenham Hotspur West Ham United Wimbledon

First Division	Birmingham City Bradford City Bury Charlton Athletic Crewe Alexandra Huddersfield Town Ipswich Town Manchester City Middlesbrough Norwich City Nottingham Forest Oxford United Portsmouth Port Vale Queens Park Rangers Reading Sheffield United Stockport County Stoke City Sunderland Swindon Town Tranmere Rovers West Bromwich Albion Wolverhampton Wanderers

Second Division	Blackpool Bournemouth Brentford Bristol City Bristol Rovers Burnley Carlisle United Chesterfield Fulham Gillingham Grimsby Town Luton Town Millwall Northampton Town Oldham Athletic Plymouth Argyle Preston North End Southend United Walsall Watford Wigan Athletic Wrexham Wycombe Wanderers York City

Third Division	Barnet Brighton & Hove Albion Cambridge United Cardiff City Chester City Colchester United Darlington Doncaster Rovers Exeter City Hartlepool United Hull City Leyton Orient Lincoln City Macclesfield Town Mansfield Town Notts County Peterborough United Rochdale Rotherham United Scarborough Scunthorpe United Shrewsbury Town Swansea City Torquay United

Football Conference	Cheltenham Town Dover Athletic Farnborough Town Gateshead Halifax Town Hayes Hednesford Town Hereford United Kettering Town Kidderminster Harriers Leek Town Morecambe Northwich Victoria Rushden & Diamonds Slough Town Southport Stalybridge Celtic Stevenage Borough Telford United Welling United Woking Yeovil Town

Others	Newport

Summer 1997 transfers
Winter 1997–98 transfers

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