Port Vale Awaydaze
Thursday, 13th Mar 2008 20:32

This is our first visit to Port Vale since 1996, and we have the rare luxury of a 3pm Saturday kick off.

Port Vale’s fine stadium is in the town of Burslem, one of the six towns comprising Stoke On Trent, and is about five miles to the north of Stoke City ’s Britannia stadium. If you’re driving down from Leeds, you need to leave the M6 at junction 15 and take the A500 towards Stoke on Trent. Follow A500 until the A527 Tunstall/Burslem exit, where you take the A527 towards Tunstall/Burslem.

At the next roundabout (just past the Price Kensington factory) turn right for Burslem town centre. Continue on this road up the hill, crossing another roundabout and into Burslem town centre. Continue straight on over the traffic lights at the cross roads and then take the first road on the left which takes you down to the ground. There is a large car park outside a superstore next to the ground which costs £4, otherwise you need to rely on street parking.

The main Stoke On Trent railway station is over four miles away, but you can catch the number 24 bus from there to Burslem town centre. Then from the bus stop go past the Red Lion and take the second left turning on your left into Hamil Road. The nearest railway station is Longport, which is about 30 minutes walk from the ground, and is served by local trains from Stoke to Crewe and Manchester. Burslem used to have a station right by the ground on the Stoke loop line, but unfortunately this route closed in the 1960s.

The best pub near the ground for away fans is 'The Vine’ on Hamil Road, while Burslem town centre is also pretty close, and includes several other establishments. The best of these are the ‘New Inn’, and the ‘Bull's Head’, the latter being the local outlet for the nearby Titanic Brewery. Another place worth trying is the ‘Red Lion’ on Moorland Road (from the ground, turn right at the bottom of Hamil Road, and the pub is down on the right).

The club moved to Vale Park in 1950 when they moved from the Old Recreation Ground in Hanley, and was built on the site of a giant marl hole, which still contains numerous pit shafts. Incredibly, their chairman Alderman Holdcroft planned to build the ‘Wembley of the North’, with an intended capacity of 70,000, but inevitably he failed to raise enough funds for this project in the midst of Britain’s post-war austerity. The club did reach a capacity of 50,000 by 1959, but due to safety regulations this has since been gradually reduced to it’s current all-seater capacity of 18,947.

Away fans get the Hamil Road End, which at one time was a huge open terrace, but has now been seated and roofed, as well as getting the quaint new name of ‘The Phones4U Stand’. It can still accommodate up to 4,500 visiting supporters. There are a small number of supporting pillars half way up, which may restrict your view, and the slope is a bit too shallow for a seated stand. But that won’t matter, as we will undoubtedly stand all the way through as usual. The pitch is one of the widest in the League and there is also a cinder track surrounding the pitch, both being a legacy of the original ambitious plans for the size of Vale Park when it was originally built.

There is always a big turnout from the local constabulary, which seems a bit unnecessary when the Vale fans are less aggressive than their dear neighbours from across the city. But on the plus side, at least the pies are pretty decent by football ground standards. Prices for away fans are adults £19, OAP's £12.50, and under 16's £8, though families can buy packages of tickets, which work out cheaper than buying separate tickets. I’ve no idea how many tickets Vale have sold for this game, as their official website seems to be well behind with updating their information, and doesn’t say anything about this match.

Vale hope to be able to extend the capacity in the future by finishing work on the Lorne Street stand, which will eventually include 5,000 seats, as well as executive boxes. But unfortunately history has repeated itself and work has had to be suspended, with the club currently short of the cash they need to finish it off. With Vale currently well adrift of safety at the foot of League One it might be a while before they can complete the project, which is a shame, as that side of the ground is a bit of an eyesore in it’s half-completed state.