The 1930–31 season was

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

's 25th season of football in the

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engl ...

, and their 34th in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

following their promotion from the

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

the previous season. They finished fifth with 47 points, making it the most successful season in the club's history in terms of league position. They were seven points short of promotion to the top-flight, and seventeen points clear of relegation. Bob Connolly

Overview

Second Division

The pre-season saw the arrival of goalscoring forward Harry Roberts from Lincoln City; big goalkeeper Arthur Slater from

Clapton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profess ...

; and young outside-left Clarence Spencer from

Birmingham F.C. Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first tea ...

The season started with a stylish 5–2 victory over Barnsley in front of a disappointingly low attendance of under 10,000. Two defeats followed, and

Albert Pynegar Albert Pynegar (24 September 1895 – 1978) was an English footballer who played at inside-forward for Eastwood Rangers, Sutton Town, Leicester City, Coventry City, Oldham Athletic, Port Vale, Chesterfield, and Rotherham United. He helped Por ...

put in a transfer request after being dropped from the first team. Bob Connelly picked up an injury and so Jack Round was signed from Bolton Wanderers. On 20 September they travelled to

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a association football, football stadium in the Walton, Liverpool, Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area ...

to triumph over previously undefeated league leaders Everton 3–2 in front of 27,142 spectators. Two days later they tore Bradford Park Avenue apart 8–2, with a four-goal haul from Sam Jennings. On 4 October they travelled to

Home Park Home Park is a football stadium in Plymouth, England. The ground has been the home of Football League One club Plymouth Argyle since 1901.Plymouth Argyle; later in the day a horrific tragedy almost killed many of the Vale players – they had hired a speedboat at

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

resort which burst into flames whilst at sea, fortunately the pilot managed to extinguish the flames and returned them safely to harbour. Pynegar left the club in October following rumours of a rift with teammate Jennings, he signed with

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

of the Third Division North. Bert Fishwick was a more than able deputy. The defensive duo of Jimmy Oakes and Shino Shenton also proved formidable at the back. On 29 November promotion dreams took a knock at

White Hart Lane White Hart Lane was a football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater it had a capacity of 36,284 before demolition. ...

, Spurs picking up a 5–0 win. Despite competing at the top end of the table

The Old Recreation Ground The Old Recreation Ground was a football stadium located in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, England, and home to Port Vale F.C. from 1913 to 1950. It was the sixth ground the club used. Structure and facilities The stadium was in rather bad condit ...

rarely saw much more than 10,000 spectators. In December, reserve half-back George Whitcombe was sold to

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

for 'a substantial amount', the money went towards ground improvements. The following month £10,000 worth of mortgage debenture bonds were released to the same ends.

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

would reject the club's ground improvement scheme, without giving a reason. As the season entered its final stretch top scorer Jennings was dropped from the squad, and no adequate replacement was found until Stewart Littlewood was re-signed from

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

, with Fishwick sold to

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

in order to meet Oldham's demands. In early April the "Valiants" beat high-flying

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

and Tottenham Hotspur, thereby keeping hopes of promotion high. West Brom won the return leg at

The Hawthorns The Hawthorns is an all-seater football stadium in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England, with a capacity of 26,688. It has been the home of Championship club West Bromwich Albion since 1900, when it became the sixth ground to be used by the cl ...

to put daylight between the two clubs. In late April Vale travelled to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

for a short tour, beating Dutch Southern XI 5–1 and Zwaluwen 2–0. They finished fifth with 47 points, making it the most successful season in the club's history in terms of league position. They were seven points short of second placed

. Only 61 goals were conceded, a record bettered only by West Brom and Spurs. A 67 goals scored tally however was almost half that of champions Everton. Sam Jennings finished with 17 goals, and Phil Griffiths and Harry Roberts were the only other major contributors. The ground improvements paid for were 3,500 seats on the Bryan Street stand, with a covered terrace.

Finances

On the financial side, an £800 loss was made, with the weather blamed for an average gate figure of 10,537. Numerous players were released, including

Billy Briscoe William Briscoe (6 November 1896 – 7 February 1994) was an English Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. A former Watford F.C., Watford, Stoke City F.C., Stoke, Milton Brotherhood, and Lee ...

, Frank Watkin, and Jack Maddock. Harry Roberts was also sold to

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...

. Meanwhile, Stewart Littlewood was also selected by the FA for a summer tour of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Cup competitions

In the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

, Vale overcame amateur side

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...

3–1 in the Third Round, but then found themselves eliminated by First Division Birmingham at St Andrew's in the Fourth Round. The 44,119 attendance raised £2,763 for the club.

League table

Results

''Port Vale's score comes first''

Football League Second Division

Results by matchday

Matches

FA Cup

Player statistics

Appearances

Top scorers

Transfers

Transfers in

Transfers out

References

;Specific ;General * {{DEFAULTSORT:1930-31 Port Vale F.C. season Port Vale F.C. seasons