Port Vale 1978-79x

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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 Steel Man” is a sculpture by Colin Melbourne (head of Sir Henry Doulton Sculpture School) that stands outside the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery. It honours the struggle of the Shelton Bar steelworkers to retain their livelihood and became an industrial folk-legend. The statue of a steel worker was produced by Goodwin Foundry and was used as a “mascot” during marches around the streets of Stoke-on-Trent.

The fight was lost and after more than 100 years of continuous operation the blast furnaces were shut down on June 23rd 1978 and 2000 workers were made redundant. Rolling continued at the works but the whole works were closed in April 2000 by Corus.

The plaque on the plinth reads:
“I believe in the dignity of labour whether with head or hand; that the world owes no man a living, but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living. This sculpture was created to commemorate the struggle of the Shelton Steel Workers to preserve the future of their works for the community.”