This was some achievement considering McGrath had sold both the Chamberlain brothers and goalkeeper Mark Harrison to rivals Stoke City at the start of the season.

[1] He instead signed four players on free transfers: John Ridley (a former Valiant), Wayne Cegielski (Wrexham), Les Lawrence (Torquay United), and Steve Waddington (Walsall).

[1] McGrath acted quickly to sign replacement keeper Barry Siddall from Sunderland, and take winger Kevin Sheldon on loan from Wigan Athletic.

[1] During the club's 2–1 win over Crewe Alexandra on 22 October at Gresty Road a petrol bomb was thrown at the 3,000 strong Vale crowd, though it was extinguished by police without doing 'any real damage'.

[1] They built on this result with a 1–0 home win over Hull City, with Russell Bromage doing an excellent job of man-marking Brian Marwood whilst goalscorer Phil Sproson helped the defence to keep both Les Mutrie and Billy Whitehurst from scoring.

[1] Lol Hamlett's last match as trainer (he retired due to illness) was a 2–0 defeat to Blackpool at Bloomfield Road, as Vale were in danger of failing to win promotion.

[1] McGrath decided to sign striker Jim Steel from Oldham Athletic for £10,000, and loaned Mark Lawrence from Hartlepool United.

[5] On 4 April, Vale only managed a draw at Bristol City, with McGrath commenting that striker Newton was "going through one of those spells when he could not hit the back of a bus".

[1] Bob Newton was top-scorer with twenty goals, whilst four players were chosen for the PFA Fourth Division team – Phil Sproson, Russell Bromage, Geoff Hunter, and Steve Fox.

[1] Two players departing at the end of the season were Les Lawrence (Aldershot) and Steve Waddington (Chesterfield), who had not established themselves in the first-team.