2008–09 Port Vale F.C. season

Port Vale

2008–09 season
Chairman	Bill Bratt
Manager	Lee Sinnott (until September) Dean Glover (October onwards)
Stadium	Vale Park
Football League Two	18th (48 Points)
FA Cup	Second Round
League Cup	First Round
League Trophy	First Round
Player of the Year	Joe Anyon
Top goalscorer	League: Marc Richards (10) All: Marc Richards (11)
Highest home attendance	7,273 vs. Bradford City (6 September 2008)
Lowest home attendance	4,090 vs. Dagenham & Redbridge (10 March 2009)
Average home league attendance	5,522
Home colours Away colours
← 2007–08 2009–10 →

The 2008–09 season was Port Vale's 97th season of football in the Football League, and first season in League Two, following their relegation from League One. After a poor start to the season manager Lee Sinnott was sacked in September, and was replaced by Dean Glover. Despite a brief period of improvement, Vale then slipped back down the table to finish in eighteenth place. The team were also poor in the cup competitions, exiting the FA Cup at the Second Round, and both the League Cup and the League Trophy at the First Round. Marc Richards was the club's top scorer with eleven goals, and goalkeeper Joe Anyon was Player of the Year despite breaking his leg towards the end of the season.

Top-scorer Marc Richards.

Louis Dodds hit ten goals.

Captain Sam Stockley.

John McCombe in action against Bury in April.

New signing Lee Collins.

Anthony Griffith quickly established himself in the first team.

Overview

League Two

The pre-season saw manager Lee Sinnott sign non-league midfielder Rob Taylor,^[1] former Hereford United defender John McCombe,^[2] and former Middlesbrough midfielder Steve Thompson.^[3] Both players cited Sinnott as their reason for joining the club.^[4][5] He also added experienced defender Sam Stockley (Wycombe Wanderers);^[6] midfielder Anthony Griffith (Doncaster Rovers);^[7] and attacking midfielder Louis Dodds (Leicester City) to the squad.^[8] Lee Collins also joined on an extended loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers,^[9] and would sign a permanent contract with the club in January.^[10] Stockley was appointed captain,^[11] and most of these players would become key for the club over the next few seasons. Just before the season's start, teenage Tom Taiwo also arrived on a month loan from Chelsea,^[12] as did Plymouth Argyle youngster Damien McCrory.^[13] The club was aiming for an immediate return to League One,^[14] and fans got behind the club with record high season ticket sales of over 6,000.^[15][16]

The season started well in August, but all four league games in September ended in defeat. However Sinnott refused to compromise his managerial philosophy in order to pick up results.^[17] A 4–1 home defeat to Macclesfield Town on 20 September would prove to be Sinnott's last game in charge. Sinnott was sacked on 22 September, with the Valiants in 16th place, Dean Glover taking over as caretaker manager for the second time in twelve months.^[18] The players were against the decision to axe Sinnott.^[19] Sinnott would later take court action against the club for a breach of contract,^[20][21] and settle out of court.^[22] Glover was appointed as manager on a permanent basis on 6 October.^[23] A win at Shrewsbury Town instigated a run of four away wins out of five. However Vale soon returned to their poor form, and slid back down the table. At the end of October, former Vale star Dave Brammer joined on loan from Millwall,^[24] and would join permanently in the January transfer window.^[25] The next month Scott Brown also arrived on loan from Cheltenham Town,^[26] and would also join on a permanent transfer two months later.^[27] This is also what happened with defender Gareth Owen,^[28] who arrived after leaving Stockport County following a bust-up with Jim Gannon.^[29] Notts County player Neil MacKenzie also joined on loan,^[30] but would not enjoy his short stay in Stoke-on-Trent.^[31] Attempts to bring back Chris Birchall on loan failed.^[32] Leaving Burslem was Chris Slater, who returned to former club Chasetown.^[33] In December, Andy Porter left the club's backroom staff after seventeen years at the club,^[34] highlighting the unrest in the camp. Both Porter and Mark Grew had turned down offers to become Glover's assistant.^[35]

In January, striker Luke Rodgers was released from his contract after a bust-up with manager Dean Glover,^[36] and immediately signed with Yeovil Town.^[37] Shane Tudor retired due to injury on 21 January.^[38] As well as the permanent signings of a number of loan players, Glover also brought in Pakistan international Adnan Ahmed on loan from Tranmere Rovers.^[39] Glover stated the club's revised aim was a top-half finish.^[40] In February, Glover signed Carlisle United striker Kevin Gall on loan.^[41] He failed to score in seven games with the club, and returned to Carlisle after picking up a calf injury.^[42] In March, Kyle Perry was allowed to join local non-league side Northwich Victoria,^[43] after being told he had no future at Vale.^[44] In his place came loanee winger Paul Marshall from Manchester City.^[45] On 23 March, Anyon broke his leg at Saltergate in a defeat to Chesterfield.^[46] With Vale going eight games without a win, Glover admitted he was 'a dead man walking',^[47] and implored the fan's not to boo his son.^[48] Fans protested against both the board and the manager.^[49] The final game was a 2–1 win over Barnet at the Underhill Stadium.

They finished in eighteenth place with 48 points, 21 points short of the play-offs, and eleven points clear of relegation. Only Accrington Stanley and Chester City scored fewer than Vale's tally of 44 goals. With fourteen defeats only Macclesfield Town and Chester lost more games than Vale. Had Bournemouth and Luton Town not faced point deductions then Vale would have finished in twentieth place. Marc Richards was the club's top scorer with eleven goals in all competitions, whilst Louis Dodds also contributed ten goals.

At the end of the season most of the playing staff were retained, though Scott Brown returned to Cheltenham Town, Kyle Perry was released and signed with Mansfield Town,^[50] and Dave Brammer had to retire after Chairman Bill Bratt informed him via voicemail that he would not be offered a new contract.^[51] Youth team graduate Paul Dixon was not offered a new contract. Dean Glover, unpopular with the fans, was also informed that he would not be retained as manager for the following season,^[52] and left the club permanently after he rejected the opportunity to remain as a youth coach.^[53] A slow uptake of season ticket sales was one major factor in Glover's sacking.^[54] Following Glover's departure the club withdrew their contract offer to Paul Edwards,^[55] who went on to play for Barrow. However Player of the Year Joe Anyon stayed at the club, despite claiming other clubs were interested in his signature.^[56]

Finances

On the financial side, poor results encouraged Vale fans to organize protests against manager Glover and the board, including Chairman Bill Bratt.^[57] With talks of fresh investment from shirt sponsors Harlequin Property came rumours on the internet that the company were planning to demolish Vale Park and build a supermarket, paying off Bratt to ensure his compliance.^[58] Bratt passionately denied these accusations, seemingly angered by the suggestion and claimed that if he were to comply with the protesters demands and remove himself and the rest of the V-2001 directors from the Board, then the club would fold as banks and creditors would seek their money. He also reiterated his prior statements by stating that he would be prepared to leave his position if the right offer were to be made.^[59] The club had to make monthly repayments of around £19,000 for a £2.25 million loan taken out from the local council in 2005.^[60] The club's shirt sponsorship came from Harlequin Property.

Cup competitions

In the FA Cup, Vale advanced past Huddersfield Town with a 4–3 win at the Galpharm Stadium, Dodds hitting a brace.^[61] They then were knocked out by Macclesfield Town at the Second Round stage with a 3–1 home defeat.^[62] This meant the Vale missed out on a lucrative home tie with Premier League side Everton. Keeper Anyon slammed his defenders for their part in the defeat.^[63]

In the League Cup, Vale were defeated 3–1 by Championship outfit Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.^[64]

In the League Trophy, Vale exited at the First Round with a 1–0 defeat to Stockport County at Edgeley Park.^[65]

Final league table

			P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
C	1	Brentford	46	23	16	7	65	36	+29	85
P	2	Exeter City	46	22	13	11	65	50	+15	79 ^AB1
P	3	Wycombe Wanderers	46	20	18	8	54	33	+21	78
	4	Bury	46	21	15	10	63	43	+20	78
P	5	Gillingham	46	21	12	13	58	55	+3	75
	6	Rochdale	46	19	13	14	70	59	+11	70
	7	Shrewsbury Town	46	17	18	11	61	44	+17	69
	8	Dagenham & Redbridge	46	19	11	16	77	53	+24	68
	9	Bradford City	46	18	13	15	66	55	+11	67
	10	Chesterfield	46	16	15	15	62	57	+5	63
	11	Morecambe	46	15	18	13	53	56	-3	63
	12	Darlington	46	20	12	14	61	44	+17	62 ^A
	13	Lincoln City	46	14	17	15	53	52	+1	59
	14	Rotherham United	46	21	12	13	60	46	+14	58 ^F
	15	Aldershot Town	46	14	12	20	59	80	-21	54
	16	Accrington Stanley	46	13	11	22	42	59	-17	50
	17	Barnet	46	11	15	20	56	74	-18	48
	18	Port Vale	46	13	9	24	44	66	-22	48
	19	Notts County	46	11	14	21	49	69	-20	47
	20	Macclesfield Town	46	13	8	25	45	77	-32	47
	21	Bournemouth	46	17	12	17	59	51	+8	46 ^F
	22	Grimsby Town	46	9	14	23	51	69	-18	41
R	23	Chester City	46	8	13	25	43	81	-38	37
R	24	Luton Town	46	13	17	16	58	65	-7	26 ^X

AB1 - Exeter City completed their second successive promotion despite having one match abandoned without kicking off.

A - Darlington deducted 10 points for administration entrance.

F - Rotherham United and Bournemouth both deducted 17 points a piece for failing to comply with the rules insolvency.

X - Luton Town deducted 30 points; 20 for administration exit without a Company Voluntary Arrangement, and 10 for making illegal payments to agents.

P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; 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	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A
Result	W	L	D	W	L	L	L	L	L	W	W	L	W	L	W	L	L	D	W	L	L	L	W	D	L	L	W	D	L	L	W	L	D	L	W	L	W	L	L	D	D	L	D	L	D	W
Position	3	11	9	7	10	12	16	18	19	16	14	15	13	14	13	14	15	14	14	15	15	18	15	16	16	17	16	16	17	17	16	17	17	18	18	18	17	18	18	18	19	19	19	19	19	18

Sourced from Statto.^[66]

Football League Two

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
9 August 2008	Luton Town	A	3–1	7,149	Dodds, Taylor, Richards
16 August 2008	Accrington Stanley	H	0–2	6,643
23 August 2008	Dagenham & Redbridge	A	1–1	1,843	Richards
30 August 2008	Bournemouth	H	3–1	6,048	Richards, Richman, McCombe
6 September 2008	Bradford City	H	0–2	7,273
13 September 2008	Darlington	A	1–2	3,040	Rodgers
20 September 2008	Macclesfield Town	H	1–4	6,645	Dodds
27 September 2008	Gillingham	A	0–1	4,986
4 October 2008	Notts County	H	1–2	6,247	Rodgers
11 October 2008	Shrewsbury Town	A	2–1	7,162	Dodds, Richards
19 October 2008	Chester City	A	2–1	3,102	Richards, Richman
21 October 2008	Exeter City	H	1–3	5,493	Rodgers
25 October 2008	Morecambe	H	2–1	5,629	Rodgers, Richards
28 October 2008	Aldershot Town	A	0–1	3,039
1 November 2008	Lincoln City	A	1–0	4,793	Howland
15 November 2008	Brentford	H	0–3	6,058
22 November 2008	Wycombe Wanderers	A	2–4	4,521	Richards (pen), Brown
25 November 2008	Barnet	H	0–0	4,617
6 December 2008	Grimsby Town	H	2–1	5,058	Richards, Richman
13 December 2008	Bury	A	0–3	2,651
20 December 2008	Chesterfield	H	0–1	5,011
26 December 2008	Rotherham United	A	0–1	4,350
28 December 2008	Rochdale	H	2–1	5,720	Glover, Thompson
17 January 2009	Shrewsbury Town	H	1–1	7,068	Thompson
20 January 2009	Gillingham	H	1–3	4,539	Richards
24 January 2009	Notts County	A	2–4	4,447	Richman, Dodds
27 January 2009	Chester City	H	3–0	4,448	Glover, Taylor, Lawrie
31 January 2009	Morecambe	A	1–1	1,823	Richman
14 February 2009	Brentford	A	0–2	4,702
20 February 2009	Lincoln City	H	0–1	5,097
25 February 2009	Macclesfield Town	A	2–0	2,267	Ahmed, Dodds
28 February 2009	Luton Town	H	1–3	5,689	McCombe
7 March 2009	Bournemouth	A	0–0	5,924
10 March 2009	Dagenham & Redbridge	H	0–1	4,090
14 March 2009	Darlington	H	3–1	4,860	Dodds, Taylor, Richards
17 March 2009	Accrington Stanley	A	0–2	1,144
21 March 2009	Bradford City	A	1–0	12,436	Howland
28 March 2009	Chesterfield	A	1–2	3,511	Marshall
31 March 2009	Exeter City	A	0–1	4,235
4 April 2009	Bury	H	1–1	5,763	Lawrie
7 April 2009	Aldershot Town	H	0–0	4,140
11 April 2009	Rochdale	A	0–1	3,100
13 April 2009	Rotherham United	H	0–0	4,814
18 April 2009	Grimsby Town	A	0–3	6,511
25 April 2009	Wycombe Wanderers	H	1–1	6,047	Collins
2 May 2009	Barnet	A	2–1	2,305	Dodds, Glover

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	8 November 2009	Huddersfield Town	A	4–3	6,942	Dodds (2), Howland, Richards
R2	28 November 2009	Macclesfield Town	H	1–3	4,684	Dodds

League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	13 August 2009	Sheffield United	A	1–3	7,694	Rodgers

League Trophy

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	2 September 2009	Stockport County	A	0–1	2,290

Player statistics

Appearances Pos. # Name Football League FA Cup League Cup Total Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals GK 1 Joe Anyon 36 0 2 0 1 0 39 0 DF 2 Sam Stockley 22 0 1 0 1 0 25 0 MF 3 Rob Taylor 20 3 0 0 1 0 22 3 MF 4 Anthony Griffith 38 0 2 0 1 0 42 0 DF 5 John McCombe 31 2 1 0 1 0 34 2 DF 6 Luke Prosser 26 0 1 0 0 0 28 0 MF 7 Shane Tudor 5 0 0 0 1 0 6 0 FW 7 Kevin Gall 7 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 FW 7 Anthony Malbon 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 MF 8 David Howland 40 2 1 1 0 0 41 3 FW 9 Marc Richards 30 10 2 1 1 0 34 11 FW 10 Luke Rodgers 15 4 0 0 1 1 17 5 MF 10 Paul Marshall 13 1 0 0 0 0 13 1 MF 11 Paul Edwards 31 0 2 0 0 0 33 0 GK 12 Chris Martin 11 0 0 0 0 0 12 0 MF 14 Louis Dodds 44 7 2 3 1 0 48 10 DF 15 Chris Slater 6 0 0 0 1 0 8 0 MF 15 Scott Brown 18 1 1 0 0 0 19 1 FW 16 Kyle Perry 15 0 0 0 1 0 17 0 FW 17 Steve Thompson 17 2 0 0 0 0 17 2 FW 18 Danny Glover 23 3 2 0 0 0 26 3 MF 19 Simon Richman 37 5 2 0 1 0 41 5 MF 20 Ross Davidson 23 0 1 0 1 0 25 0 FW 21 James Lawrie 18 2 1 0 0 0 19 2 DF 22 Danny Edwards 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 DF 24 Lee Collins 39 1 2 0 1 0 42 1 MF 25 Tom Taiwo 4 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 MF 25 Damien McCrory 12 0 2 0 0 0 14 0 MF 25 Adnan Ahmed 5 1 0 0 0 0 5 1 MF 26 Dave Brammer 13 0 1 0 0 0 14 0 DF 27 Gareth Owen 12 0 1 0 0 0 13 0 MF 28 Neil MacKenzie 2 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 MF 29 Paul Dixon 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 GK 32 Daniel Lloyd-Weston 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Scorers All competitions Scorer Goals Marc Richards 11 Louis Dodds 10 Simon Richman 5 Luke Rodgers Danny Glover 3 Rob Taylor David Howland James Lawrie 2 Steve Thompson John McCombe Lee Collins 1 Adnan Ahmed Paul Marshall Scott Brown League Scorer Goals Marc Richards 10 Louis Dodds 7 Simon Richman 5 Luke Rodgers 4 Danny Glover 3 Rob Taylor David Howland 2 James Lawrie Steve Thompson John McCombe Lee Collins 1 Adnan Ahmed Paul Marshall Scott Brown

References

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