In September, this new board announced that sports construction firm Blue Sky International was planning to invest £8 million into the club.

The club's financial problems and boardroom infighting left Adams unable to strengthen his squad during the January transfer window, making promotion an unlikely goal by the halfway stage.

The return of Micky Adams meant that Vale could enter the pre-season looking to improve the playing squad rather than search for a new manager.

His first signings of the season were former Glenn Hoddle Academy youngsters Ryan Burge and Ben Williamson, a midfielder and striker respectively.

[4][5][6] Adams built on his new youth policy with the signatures of Sheffield United duo Kingsley James and Phil Roe; as well as Walsall defender Clayton McDonald, and left-back Mike Green.

[10] Vale began the season with a run of four games unbeaten, picking up easy wins over Accrington Stanley and Barnet and hard-fought draws with Crawley Town and Burton Albion, before finishing August with a 3–2 defeat to Southend United.

[13] In September, a brace from Rob Taylor and late winner from Pope were enough to beat Bradford City, as Vale climbed into the automatic promotion places.

[21] The two Stevenage loanees scored a goal a piece against struggling Dagenham & Redbridge on 10 December, to give the Vale their first win in more than six weeks.

[22] Supporters showed their disapproval against the board by displaying red cards in the home fixture against Aldershot Town, a game in which Madjo scored a hat-trick.

[25] Nominated for the Manager of the Month award for three wins in four December games,[26] Adams revealed that due to the club's precarious financial position he was unable to sign any new players or even retain his loan players in the January transfer window – despite the chairman having previously told him to draw up a list of transfer targets.

[29] Vale suffered four consecutive defeats, before managing to turn things around by the end of the month with 1–0 wins over Rotherham United and Plymouth Argyle.

[31] However, the treatment room grew more busy, as Adam Yates and Tom Pope picked up injuries requiring several weeks of rest.

The derby finished honours even again at 1–1, with a late header from Byron Moore cancelling out the own goal scored by Crewe captain David Artell.

[35] A 2–1 home defeat by Barnet on 10 March ended Vale's run of eight game unbeaten; combined with a ten-point deduction for entering administration, the club slipped from 9th to 14th in the space of 24 hours.

[36] Promising young defender Lee Collins was the first the leave the club post-administration, joining Championship side Barnsley on a loan deal worth £50,000 to the Vale on 15 March.

[37] The drama continued in the game against Shrewsbury Town on 27 March, as the match was abandoned after 64 minutes due to a fire caused by the failure of the floodlights at the New Meadow.

[39] He offered contracts to all but three players: Chris Martin, Phil Roe, and Paul Marshall; he also placed Burge on the transfer list.

[40] Aside from Lee Collins, the first player to reject a contract with Vale to move elsewhere was Anthony Griffith, who signed a two-year deal with League One side Leyton Orient.

[42] Days later it was announced that Sean Rigg had signed with Oxford United,[43] whilst Clayton McDonald confirmed that he would accept Vale's offer of a new one-year deal.

[44] However, the biggest blow to fan's hopes of promotion came when it was announced that talismanic top-scorer Marc Richards had signed a two-year deal with relegated League One side Chesterfield.

[58] Peter Miller, vice-president of the sports and education division of Global Events Group, a consultancy firm based in Atlanta, Georgia, also bought a £250,000 stake in the club.

[59] As a result of the imminent investment and departure of the Valiant2001 directors, fan groups 'North London Valiants' and 'Black and Gold Until It's Sold' announced a cease-fire in their protests.

"[60] The day after these announcements, Longsdon businessman Mark Sims, who had been voted onto the board four months earlier at the club's EGM, withdrew his candidacy after refusing to take on the required financial guarantees.

[72] Peter Miller issued a statement on the Port Vale website decrying the paper's reporting as being "misleading and unhelpful", and stating that whilst "it is common knowledge", he could "confirm, beyond all doubt, that these sums have been lodged and £350,000 has been received by Port Vale Football Club for our [Deakin and Miller's] respective shareholdings.

The deal I signed back on August 31 was entirely dependent on the club bringing in the money to make these things happen through a variety of sources.

"[81] The club then issued another strongly worded statement, condemning Julicher's "stream of dangerous inaccuracy" and The Sentinel for their "subjective agenda".

[82] However, the Supporters' Club voted in favour of another EGM to remove the Miller-led board,[83] as the contract with Blue Sky was revealed, confirming Julicher's words that the company were only ever planning to invest £500,000 in synthetic training pitches.

[85] Deakin announced his resignation from the position as CEO on Christmas Eve, claiming that: "Over the last two or three months I have accepted advice from certain individuals at the club about what is best for Port Vale.

[87] The next day, Deakin, Lloyd and Oliver announced that they had "carried out a review of Miller... and decided his tenure [as chairman] should cease" at the end of the calendar year.

[109] On 4 April, the administrators revealed Lancashire businessman Keith Ryder to be the preferred bidder, ahead of bids from Mo Chaudry and several other interested parties.