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Port Vale
1962–63 season
Chairman	Joe Machin
Manager	Norman Low; (until October); Freddie Steele; (from October)
Stadium	Vale Park
Football League Third Division	3rd (54 Points)
FA Cup	Fourth Round; (knocked out by Sheffield United)
League Cup	First Round; (knocked out by Bristol Rovers)
Top goalscorer	League: Tony Richards (13); All: Tony Richards (13)
Highest home attendance	22,207 vs. Sheffield United, 13 March 1963
Lowest home attendance	4,673 vs. Hull City, 20 April 1962
Average home league attendance	8,130
Biggest win	5–1 vs. Southend United, 24 September 1962
Biggest defeat	0–3 vs. Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic, 13 May 1962
	Home colours
	Home colours
	← 1961–62 1963–64 →

The 1962–63 season was Port Vale's 51st season of football in the English Football League, and their fourth season in the Third Division.^[1] An impressive season saw them finish in third position, one away from promotion. However, promotions for both their rivals Stoke City (second to first tier) and Crewe Alexandra (fourth to third tier) meant that Vale had a poor season in comparison. The major talking point of the season was Norman Low's departure and Freddie Steele's return, which came as a shock to the fans.

Overview

Third Division

The pre-season saw the arrival of John Rowland, a 'tall and skilful' outside-right from Nottingham Forest for £6,000.^[1]

The season opened with six points from four games, with three clean sheets. Rowland was dropped from the first XI following a 2–0 defeat at Ashton Gate on 1 September.^[1] Vale then became inconsistent, and so Low added young forward Terry Harkin to the squad from Coleraine, and transfer-listed Stan Steele after he began to be targeted by hecklers at Vale Park.^[1] Despite beating Southend United 5–1, the club continued to fall down the table.^[1] They then began a nine-game unbeaten streak on 20 October with a 1–1 draw with Carlisle United at Brunton Park.^[1] However, ten days later manager Norman Low tendered his resignation, to the shock of fans and pundits.^[1] Low cited disagreements with the board as the reason for his departure.^[1] The club felt they needed a marquee signing and so approached first Tom Finney and then European cup winning coach Béla Guttmann, who had just departed Benfica, both declined the role.^[2] Low's successor instead proved to be his predecessor, Freddie Steele, in another development that took many by surprise.^[1] Roy Sproson later noted "He [Steele] had changed. He had not got the enthusiasm or drive as before, but the lads still responded to him".^[1]

It took until the sixth game of Steele's reign for a goal to be conceded (525 minutes) as 'the Steele Curtain' again descended upon Vale Park.^[1] The goal was scored by former Valiant turned bogey player Ronnie Allen for Crystal Palace in a 4–1 home win for Vale.^[1] They finished the year chasing promotion, despite losing 4–3 to Reading at Elm Park. No league games were played in January or February due to the Big Freeze.^[1] To help with finances during this spell of two months without competitive action, Bert Llewellyn was sold to Northampton Town for £7,000 and Arthur Longbottom was sold to Millwall for £2,000.^[1] Back in action in March, Steele found his offence wanting, and so purchased Tony Richards from Walsall for £9,000.^[1] Richards immediately impacted himself on the club's scoring charts, eventually finishing as top-scorer for his two months of work.^[1] For the four weeks following 20 April, Vale recorded eight wins from their final ten matches, though this would prove to be too little too late regarding promotion.^[1]

They finished in third spot with 54 points, four short of promotion, though enough to earn them £500 in talent money.^[1] Their 58 goals conceded total was fewer only than Swindon Town.^[1]

Finances

On the financial side, a profit of £2,275 was made despite an operating loss of £20,557.^[1] A donation from the Sportsmen's Association and social club stood at a highly impressive £22,832.^[1] Whilst wages remained fairly constant at £33,120, gate receipts had fallen by £8,000.^[1] The club's overdraft stood at £41,000, leading to a discussion over whether or not to take out a mortgage on Vale Park.^[1] The club management decided to replace the black and amber kit with the traditional white shirts, black shorts and black and white socks – the kit Steele's men triumphed in almost ten years previously.^[1] On the playing front, Peter Ford's departure to Macclesfield Town was the only transfer of note.

Cup competitions

In the FA Cup, Vale took their revenge upon Bristol Rovers, dumping them out of the competition at the first stage with a 2–0 win at Burslem on 21 November. Three weeks later, Aldershot suffered the same fate in Sproson's 500th appearance for the club.^[1] In the Third Round they beat Fourth Division Gillingham 4–2 at Priestfield. They then lost 2–1 to First Division Sheffield United in front of 22,207 rain-soaked supporters.^[1]

In the League Cup, Bristol Rovers won the First Round clash at the Memorial Stadium 2–0.

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Northampton Town	46	26	10	10	109	60	1.817	62	Division Champions, promoted
2	Swindon Town	46	22	14	10	87	56	1.554	58	Promoted
3	Port Vale	46	23	8	15	72	58	1.241	54
4	Coventry City	46	18	17	11	83	69	1.203	53
5	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	46	18	16	12	63	46	1.370	52

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Results

Port Vale's score comes first

Football League Third Division

Results by matchday

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	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	H	H	A	H
Result	W	D	W	D	L	W	L	W	L	L	W	W	L	D	D	L	L	D	W	W	D	W	W	D	L	L	W	W	L	W	L	W	W	D	L	L	W	W	L	W	W	W	W	L	W	W
Position	1	2	1	2	8	4	8	4	8	11	8	4	7	6	8	10	13	12	11	5	9	9	8	8	8	13	12	10	11	9	10	10	8	7	9	10	9	8	10	6	6	5	3	6	4	3

Source: Statto^[3]
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Matches

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
18 August 1962	Wrexham	A	1–0	14,042	Llewellyn
20 August 1962	Millwall	H	1–1	12,469	Longbottom
25 August 1962	Reading	H	2–0	9,506	Llewellyn, Grainger
27 August 1962	Millwall	A	0–0	20,553
1 September 1962	Bristol City	A	0–2	9,626
3 September 1962	Colchester United	H	4–2	11,719	Longbottom, Grainger, Ford, Poole
8 September 1962	Watford	H	1–3	11,108	Grainger (pen)
10 September 1962	Colchester United	A	1–0	5,919	Wright
15 September 1962	Bradford Park Avenue	A	1–2	8,935	Llewellyn
17 September 1962	Southend United	A	0–2	10,963
22 September 1962	Coventry City	H	2–1	9,816	o.g., Grainger
24 September 1962	Southend United	H	5–1	9,618	Edwards (2), Harkin (2), Ford
29 September 1962	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	A	0–2	9,715
1 October 1962	Notts County	H	1–1	9,245	Edwards
6 October 1962	Bristol Rovers	A	1–1	12,374	Poole
11 October 1962	Notts County	A	0–1	14,320
13 October 1962	Brighton & Hove Albion	H	1–2	7,503	Poole
20 October 1962	Carlisle United	A	1–1	5,627	Steele
27 October 1962	Swindon Town	H	2–1	5,825	Harkin (2)
9 November 1962	Barnsley	H	1–0	8,798	Steele
17 November 1962	Northampton Town	A	0–0	8,718
1 December 1962	Hull City	A	1–0	7,259	Rowland
8 December 1962	Crystal Palace	H	4–1	6,537	Llewellyn (3), Rowland
15 December 1962	Wrexham	H	2–2	7,172	Grainger, Llewellyn
22 December 1962	Reading	A	3–4	5,578	Ford (2), Miles
2 March 1962	Brighton & Hove Albion	A	1–3	10,050	Edwards
9 March 1962	Carlisle United	H	2–0	6,308	Rowland, Harkin
16 March 1962	Swindon Town	A	3–2	12,090	o.g., Steele, Rowland
18 March 1962	Peterborough United	A	1–3	10,162	Harkin
23 March 1962	Peterborough United	H	3–2	10,260	Steele, Harkin, Edwards
29 March 1962	Barnsley	A	1–2	4,368	Edwards
3 April 1962	Halifax Town	A	4–0	2,808	Harkin (2), Richards (2)
6 April 1962	Northampton Town	H	3–1	8,781	Richards (2), Harkin
12 April 1962	Shrewsbury Town	H	0–0	11,315
13 April 1962	Queens Park Rangers	A	1–3	5,690	Steele
15 April 1962	Shrewsbury Town	A	1–2	6,819	Ford
20 April 1962	Hull City	H	1–0	4,673	Rowland
22 April 1962	Halifax Town	H	2–0	5,968	Richards (2)
27 April 1962	Crystal Palace	A	1–2	13,183	Richards
29 April 1962	Queens Park Rangers	H	3–2	5,974	Richards, Rowland, Sproson
4 May 1962	Coventry City	A	1–0	18,307	Richards
6 May 1962	Bradford Park Avenue	H	2–1	6,680	Miles, Steele
11 May 1962	Bristol City	H	3–1	5,337	Richards (2), Rowland
13 May 1962	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	H	0–3	7,362
18 May 1962	Watford	A	2–1	5,955	Richards, Wright
20 May 1962	Bristol Rovers	H	2–0	5,015	Richards (pen), Miles

FA Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	3 November 1962	Bristol Rovers	A	2–0	8,180	Llewellyn (2)
R2	24 November 1962	Aldershot	H	2–0	12,638	Llewellyn, Edwards (pen)
R3	27 February 1963	Gillingham	A	4–2	6,713	Steele, Edwards, Ford, Grainger (pen)
R4	13 March 1963	Sheffield United	H	1–2	22,207	Grainger

League Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	27 September 1962	Bristol Rovers	A	0–2	6,126

Player statistics

Appearances and goals

Pos.	Name	Football League		FA Cup		League Cup		Total
Pos.	Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Ken Hancock	46	0	4	0	1	0	51	0
DF	Roy Sproson	42	1	4	0	1	0	47	1
DF	Selwyn Whalley	20	0	1	0	0	0	21	0
DF	Terry Lowe	35	0	4	0	1	0	40	0
DF	John Nicholson	46	0	4	0	1	0	51	0
MF	Terry Miles	37	3	3	0	1	0	41	3
MF	Peter Ford	25	5	3	1	1	0	29	6
MF	Colin Grainger	25	5	3	2	1	0	29	7
MF	Stan Edwards	27	6	4	2	0	0	31	8
MF	Bernard Wright	14	2	0	0	1	0	15	2
MF	Jim Watton	5	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
MF	Mel Machin	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
FW	Harry Poole	43	3	4	0	0	0	47	3
FW	Stan Steele	35	6	4	1	1	0	40	7
FW	Bert Llewellyn	18	7	2	3	1	0	21	10
FW	Barry Hancock	9	0	0	0	0	0	9	0
FW	Arthur Longbottom	10	2	0	0	1	0	11	2
FW	John Rowland	37	7	4	0	0	0	41	7
FW	Tony Richards	14	13	0	0	0	0	14	13
FW	Terry Harkin	17	10	0	0	0	0	17	10

Top scorers

Place	Position	Nation	Name	Third Division	FA Cup	Total
1	FW	England	Tony Richards	13	0	13
2	FW	Northern Ireland	Terry Harkin	10	0	10
–	FW	England	Bert Llewellyn	7	3	10
4	MF	England	Stan Edwards	6	2	8
5	FW	England	John Rowland	7	0	7
–	FW	England	Stan Steele	6	1	7
–	MF	England	Colin Grainger	5	2	7
8	FW	England	Peter Ford	5	1	6
9	MF	England	Terry Miles	3	0	3
–	FW	England	Harry Poole	3	0	3
11	MF	Northern Ireland	Bernard Wright	2	0	2
–	FW	England	Arthur Longbottom	2	0	2
13	DF	England	Roy Sproson	1	0	1
–	–	–	Own goals	2	0	2
			TOTALS	72	9	81

Transfers

Transfers in

Date from	Position	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
August 1962	FW	John Rowland	Nottingham Forest	£6,000	^[4]
August 1962	MF	Bernard Wright	Sligo Rovers	Free transfer	^[4]
September 1962	MF	Terry Harkin	Coleraine	£2,000	^[4]
September 1962	MF	Jim Watton	De Graafschap	Free transfer	^[4]
March 1963	FW	Tony Richards	Walsall	£9,000	^[4]

Transfers out

Date from	Position	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
January 1963	FW	Arthur Longbottom	Millwall	£2,000	^[4]
February 1963	FW	Bert Llewellyn	Northampton Town	£7,000	^[4]
May 1963	MF	Bernard Wright		Released	^[4]
July 1963	MF	Stan Edwards	Bangor City	Free transfer	^[4]
Summer 1963	MF	Peter Ford	Macclesfield Town	Released	^[4]

Loans out

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Date until	Ref.
April 1963	MF		Bernard Wright	Stafford Rangers	May 1963	^[4]

References

Specific

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z Kent, Jeff (1990). "Flattering Only to Deceive (1960–1969)". The Valiants' Years: The Story Of Port Vale. Witan Books. pp. 196–226. ISBN 0-9508981-4-7.
^ "Why Port Vale tried to sign the 60's "Mourinho"". onevalefan.co.uk. 5 January 2015. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
^ Port Vale 1962–1963 : Results & Fixtures Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. ISBN 0-9529152-0-0.