The Port Vale Player of the Year award is voted for annually by

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 supporters in recognition of the best overall performance by an individual player throughout the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

season. Towards the end of each season, fans are invited to cast their votes for this award. The inaugural award was made to

Roy Sproson Roy Sproson (23 September 1930 – 24 January 1997) was an English footballer and football manager for Port Vale. A one-club man, he holds the all-time appearance record for Vale, making 837 starts (and 5 substitute appearances) for Vale ...

in 1967, and became an annual event from Ron Wilson's victory in 1969. David Harris (1974 and 1977), Ray Walker (1988 and 1991),

Mark Grew Mark Stuart Grew (born 15 February 1958) is an English former football player and coach who played as a goalkeeper. His career started in 1976 with West Bromwich Albion, where he spent seven seasons as a back-up keeper before moving on to Leic ...

(1989 and 1992),

Neil Aspin Neil Aspin (born 12 April 1965) is an English football manager and former player. A solid defender who could play at centre-back and right-back, he was a good marker and an adept tackler. He made his debut in the English Football League for L ...

(1990 and 1994), and

Martin Foyle Martin John Foyle (born 2 May 1963) is an English former professional footballer and manager who is the Head of Recruitment at club St Mirren. In his 20-year playing career he played 533 League games, scoring 155 goals. As a manager, he took ...

(1995 and 1999) have all won two awards during their time at

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950. The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49, ...

. Aspin and Foyle both also went on to manage the club, whilst Grew spent three spells as caretaker-manager.

Tom Pope Thomas John Pope (born 27 August 1985) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football)#Centre forward, centre forward for side Congleton Town F.C., Congleton Town. A Crewe Alexandra F. ...

is the only player to win the award three times, winning in 2013, 2014 and 2018.

Eamonn O'Keefe Eamonn Gerard O'Keefe (born 13 October 1953) is an English-born Irish former professional footballer. He played as a forward, but in later years was moved into a midfield role. He moved from non-league Stalybridge Celtic to Plymouth Argyle, ...

and Anthony Griffith represented

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and

Montserrat Montserrat ( ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, with r ...

respectively at international level, though both players were born in England. Speaking after receiving his first award in April 2013, Tom Pope stated that "To be voted for by the fans like this is a massive honour for me. It means such a lot, more than the other FAawards I've been lucky enough to win." Midfielders are more commonly rewarded, claiming 19 wins. The current holder is midfielder

Ben Garrity Benjamin Matthew Garrity (born 21 February 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays for club Port Vale. He began his career playing non-League football at Merseyside-based clubs NSC Junior, Oyster Martyrs, Formby and Lower Breck, ...

, following his consistent performances throughout the 2021–22 season.

Winners

Wins by playing position

Wins by nationality

Footnotes

A. For ease of reading, the complexities of the frequent renaming of the various divisions have been simplified to a number, reflecting the official "Level" of competition in the English league system. For more information see English football league system#Structure. B. For a full description of positions, see

Association football positions In the sport of association football, each of the 11 players on a team is assigned to a particular position on the field of play. A team is made up of one goalkeeper and ten outfield players who fill various defensive, midfield, and attacking posi ...

. C. Inaugural winner. D. Second award. E. First non-British winner. F. Multiple winners are counted multiple times. G. Third award.

References

;General * ;Specific {{Lists of football players in England

Port Vale F.C. players Port Vale F.C. is an English professional association football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. The club was formed in the late 1870s and in 1884 they took the name Burslem Port Vale, dropping the 'Burslem' prefix in 1907. ...

Players Players may refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Players'' (1979 film), a film starring Ali MacGraw * ''Players'' (2012 film), a Bollywood film * ''Players'' (Dicks novel), a novel by Terrance Dicks, based on the television series ''Doc ...

Association football player non-biographical articles