Administration scuppered the club's promotion chances in the previous campaign, and high-profile departures in the summer meant that manager Micky Adams had to rebuild his team from the ground up.

With the new owners in place, Adams could afford to sign experienced players in the January transfer window, and the team pushed on to establish themselves as the division's leaders.

After just one win in eight games, Vale rediscovered their previous form by mid-March and beat fourth-placed Burton Albion 7–1 in front of 10,978 supporters on 5 April.

He first signed midfielder Darren Murphy and winger Jennison Myrie-Williams (who had impressed in a loan spell at the club the previous season) from Stevenage, as well as Colchester United attacker Ashley Vincent.

[2] He then made another triple swoop by bringing in Shrewsbury Town goalkeeper Chris Neal, Crewe Alexandra centre-back David Artell, and former Wales international Richard Duffy.

[3] Highly rated striker Liam Dickinson, veteran forward Darren Byfield, and Irish attacker Tadhg Purcell also joined the club on trial.

[11] Having named the same first XI for nine successive games, Adams introduced Rob Taylor and Ryan Burge at the expense of central midfielders Sam Morsy and Chris Shuker, and was rewarded with a 1–0 win over high-flying Bradford City in front of over 11,000 spectators at Valley Parade.

[13] October opened with a dismal home draw with Dagenham & Redbridge, with goalkeeper Chris Neal making an uncharacteristic error to allow a blunted "Daggers" attack to claim an unlikely goal.

[11] The team then rallied to produce a convincing 2–0 win away at fourth-placed Exeter City, Pope's two goals taking him into double figures with 35 league games yet to play.

[15] They played Oxford United on a Monday night in front of the Sky Sports cameras, and did themselves justice with a convincing 3–0 win, with both Ashley Vincent and Sam Morsy scoring impressive goals.

[11] The month ended on a sour note at Sixfields, as John McCombe was sent off after breaking the leg of Northampton Town goalscorer Alex Nicholls; injuries and suspensions left teenagers Joe Davis and Kingsley James to form a makeshift centre-back partnership, though the score was kept to a respectable 2–0.

[22] Vale went into the festive schedule with a 2–0 home defeat to Chesterfield, who boasted four former "Valiants" in their team, including goal scorer Jay O'Shea.

There was good and bad news on 3 January, as Trinidad and Tobago international midfielder Chris Birchall was re-signed to the club as John McCombe was ruled out injured for "at least six weeks".

[26][27] Adams responded to the defeat to Fleetwood by making six changes at home to Plymouth, and was rewarded with a comprehensive 4–0 win over a struggling team reduced to ten men in the first half.

[28] Gareth Owen and Darren Murphy both left the club, whilst veteran striker Lee Hughes was signed from Notts County.

[31] Both Purse and Hughes were handed debuts for the top of the table clash with Gillingham on 12 January, and played vital roles in the team's 2–1 victory.

The next challenge was another club battling against relegation, Barnet, and Adams named the same team for the fourth-successive game; however, for only the second time in the season, Vale fans witnessed a goalless draw.

[36] However, Vale then tasted a 2–0 defeat at home to play-off hopefuls Exeter City, who put in a superb performance; Adams nevertheless found his team's lack of urgency going forward as a "little bit baffling".

"[39] Things then went from bad to worse at Bristol Rovers, with former Stoke player Ryan Brunt giving the "Gas" a 2–0 win whilst Ashley Vincent suffered a season-ending injury.

Adams claimed that "idiots" in a "certain section of the crowd" were giving him "personal" abuse following the run of bad results and his decision to drop fan favourite Ryan Burge for disciplinary reasons.

Cheltenham Town proved a much sterner challenge, but Vale recovered from 2–1 down to win a crucial match 3–2, with Tom Pope hitting his third hat-trick of the season.

Automatic promotion was effectively secured with a 2–2 draw against Northampton Town on 20 April, the two unlikely goalscorers were Chilvers and former "Valiant" turned "Cobbler" Lee Collins.

At the end of the season all out-of-contract players were rewarded with a contract offer, except for Darren Purse, Calvin Andrew, Clayton McDonald, and Kingsley James.

[50][51] The trauma of administration still afflicted Port Vale during the 2012–13 season, as Micky Adams was unable to sign any players until the club's new owner, Keith Ryder, was granted clearance from the Football League.

It's difficult to list priorities because there are so many things that are broken, damaged or tarnished – from the toilets to the stadium seating to people's perception of the business and the overall match-day experience.

The resources here are massively under-used at the moment and we want to change that... We'll have a board for operational purposes, but there will be just two shareholders – Paul, who will be chairman, and myself, and we'll take no salaries or dividends.

[73] Vale seemed certain to progress to the third round after Tom Pope put them into the lead before two late goals from Shaun Miller dumped them out of the competition.

Wishing to advance in the competition, Adams picked a strong side, and Vale won the game 2–0 thanks to a brace from Jennison Myrie-Williams, who scored with a 30 yards (27 m) free kick and a penalty.

[75][76] For the second round clash with Walsall at the Bescot Stadium, Adams took the unusual move of naming his team a day in advance "to allow Vale fans a fairer chance to decide whether they think it is worth making the short trip down the M6".

[78] However, suspensions weakened the team – Tom Pope's presence was especially missed – for the encounter with Bradford City, and Vale exited the competition with a 2–0 home defeat.