Port Vale 1978-79

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Despite Bernie Wright’s 15 goals during the season, Port Vale struggled on the pitch. Finishing in 16th place, there was unrest in the boardroom behind the scenes, unrest amongst fans on the terraces, and annoyance from Manager Dennis Butler towards the fans for their abuse of his players.

The Valiants lost a club a record £52,000 in finances and Butler left the club after less than 12 months in charge after calling the fans ‘a bunch of yobs’ reacting to them after targeting his signings. Despite this, their scoring tally away from Burslem was the highest in the Football League, and they were given £2,125 as a reward.

The last bottle oven firing took place at the Hudson and Middleton Sutherland Works in Longton on the 29th August 1978. It is now known locally as Potteries Bottle Oven Day. The traditional and time-honoured skills of firing a bottle kiln were recorded and organised by Gladstone Pottery Museum so that the skills involved could be documented and passed onto future generations before they were lost to History.

Using approximately 12 tons of coal from the local Florence Pit, the museum staff and volunteers ensured that the expertise required to fire a traditional Potteries Bottle Oven was recorded on audio tape and on 35mm film for the benefit of future generations.

The media was catalogued by a team from the Potteries Heritage Society, as well as the saggar workers involved in the process and the successful firing helped the Gladstone Pottery Museum to raise funds from selling the pottery created.