Port Vale 2008-10

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Back in League Two after relegation, the season started poorly, manager Lee Sinnott was sacked in September and replaced by Dean Glover.

Despite a brief period of improvement, Vale then slipped back down the table to finish in eighteenth place. 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.

Spode had been part of Stoke-on-Trent’s industrial heritage for almost 250 years before it called in administrators on 6th November 2008. The china maker had been hit by the recession and left cash-strapped because of a failure to sell part of its Church Road factory for development.

In April 2009 it was announced that the Stoke based Portmeirion pottery company had bought Spode and Royal Worcester from the hands of administrators, thus ensuring the continuance of these names.

The following season was Manager Micky Adams’ first full season in charge. He took a squad of players that had previously been near the bottom of the division and made them difficult to beat, taking them to a tenth-place finish, just outside the play-offs.

In the League Cup Vale defeated Championship sides Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday.

Marc Richards hit 23 goals, whilst Player of the Year Anthony Griffith was also an essential part of the first XI. This period also saw Stoke-on-Trent city council give the club a two-year repayment holiday for a £2.25 million loan taken out in 2006.