John Rudge managed to mastermind a final day escape from relegation, as rivals Stoke City instead lost their second-tier status, leaving Vale as the top club in the Potteries.

The Vale started the season in modest form, picking up fourteen points in the opening nine games.

On 11 September, John Rudge made the club's record signing by paying Lincoln City £500,000 for the services of midfielder Gareth Ainsworth.

Vale's indifferent form continued, one highlight being a 3–2 win over Manchester City at Maine Road on 4 November in which Andy Porter man-marked Georgi Kinkladze out of the game.

[3] Later in month Rudge signed young Tottenham Hotspur forward Paul Mahorn on non-contract terms.

[5] Lee Mills was the club's top-scorer with sixteen goals, whilst Tony Naylor also hit double-figures.

Another major departure was nine-year club veteran defender Dean Glover, who joined non-League Kidderminster Harriers.

Rudge's "Valiants" battled to a goalless draw with the "Gunners" to take the Londoners back to Burslem; manager Arsène Wenger remarked that it was "amazing how teams who do not do especially well in their own league suddenly become monsters".