The club had a poor January transfer window, losing top-scoring loanee striker Alex Jones, star goalkeeper Jak Alnwick, and reigning Player of the Year Anthony Grant.

[4] He made Dutch centre-back Kjell Knops his first signing of the season, who had spent the previous five years in the Eerste Divisie with MVV Maastricht.

[7] The next trio to arrive were all Portuguese: midfielder Paulo Tavares and left-back Kiko, both from Vitória Setúbal, and striker Carlos Saleiro from Oriental.

[9] A pair of English players then joined the club, former Premier League veteran winger Jerome Thomas and 22-year-old former Blackburn Rovers forward Anton Forrester.

[18] Ribeiro broke with tradition by naming three players as joint-captains: goalkeeper Jak Alnwick, veteran full-back Ben Purkiss, and star midfielder Anthony Grant.

[23] Despite only joining the club six weeks ago, Carlos Saleiro agreed to have his contract cancelled by mutual consent as he "found it difficult to adjust to life in the country".

[24] The good results kept coming though, and impressive young defender Nathan Smith scored a headed goal as Vale extending their run of league clean sheets to three games with a 1–0 win over Rochdale.

[25] In a bizarre revelation, The Sun newspaper reported that Mario Balotelli could join the Vale on loan; the story was ridiculed by local journalists and fans on social media.

[27] Northampton Town boss Rob Page was allowed to sign JJ Hooper on a five-month loan deal starting from 22 August, after the striker began the season on the right-wing for Vale.

[32] Vale rounded off the month with two deadline day signings: Portuguese goalkeeper Miguel Santos from Benfica B and Swiss attacker Gëzim Shalaj from Enosis Neon Paralimni.

[34] Vale opened September by losing 4–1 to Bury in rain-soaked conditions at Gigg Lane; Ribeiro blamed himself for his players' poor performance, saying it was his job to instil the right attitude into the team before the match.

[66] Having allowed Santos and Hart to leave the club, Brown then signed veteran midfielder Chris Eagles on a short-term contract, and brought in 20-year loanee Callum Guy in from Derby County and 20-year striker Tyler Walker on loan from Nottingham Forest.

[71] Brown further added to squad by signing 19-year-old Queens Park Rangers midfielders Olamide Shodipo and Axel Prohouly on loan until the end of the season.

[75] Brown completed Vale's January transfer window by signing veteran midfielder Danny Pugh and bringing in goalkeeper Leo Fasan on loan from Celtic.

[83] Brown signed Vale's eighth goalkeeper of the season on 1 March after former Turkey youth international Deniz Mehmet agreed to a short-term contract.

[84] Vale then travelled to play-off chasing Southend United, and picked up a useful point after grinding out a 1–1 draw despite losing Pugh and Thomas to injury and having to hand a debut to youth team graduate Billy Reeves.

[86] However, they went on to lose 2–1 at Northampton Town three days later – a damaging defeat as the two teams directly above the relegation zone (Bury and Oldham) both won to leave Vale five points short of safety.

[87] Brown acted on 17 March by bringing in former Cameroon international defender André Bikey and re-signing Ryan Taylor on contracts running until the end of the season.

[88] Later that evening Taylor provided an assist and scored a goal as Vale claimed a crucial 2–1 home win over relegation rivals Shrewsbury Town.

[89] Vale had the chance to exit the relegation zone on 21 March, but put in a poor performance at the Ricoh Arena and conspired to become the only team to lose home and away to bottom club Coventry City that season.

[95] Vale put in a decent performance away at Oxford United, but lost the game 2–0 after individual errors from Mehmet and then Smith handed easy chances to the home side.

[96] Bolton Wanderers were Vale's final home opponents of the season in an eventful and disastrous game on 22 April, Cicilia was sent off in the first half for two bookable offences, and as Bolton took the lead after 66 minutes a pitch invasion from the away fans sparked a clash between both sets of fans as the players left the field whilst police restored order; the players returned to see out a 2–0 away win, and other results went against the Vale to leave them needing to win their final two games to stand any chance of survival.

[99] Third-place Fleetwood were difficult opponents however, as they needed a win to stand a chance of securing automatic promotion, and manager Uwe Rosler said they "have to settle the score" after losing at Vale Park in November.

[101] Brown decided to release 10 players at the end of the season: Sébastien Amoros, Remie Streete, JJ Hooper, Sam Johnson, Sam Kelly, Ryan Lloyd, Deniz Mehmet, Harry Pickering, Scott Tanser, and Jerome Thomas; he also arranged deals with Rigino Cicilia, Kiko, Chris Mbamba, Quentin Pereira, and Paulo Tavares so that those five players could leave their contracts early.

[113] Three days later, Burslem-based IT company Synectics Solutions's husband and wife owners Carol and Kevin Shanahan went public to announce they had made a bid of £1.25 million for the club.

[114] This bid was quickly matched by a local consortium fronted by property developer Kevin Jones, the owner and managing director of both ManorShop and ICL (International Computer Logistics) of Kidsgrove.

[118] Witnessed by a crowd of just 3,093 (only 173 of which were Stevenage fans), this was Vale's lowest attendance for a home FA Cup tie since 1906; this was despite ticket prices being almost halved to £12 on the day.

[121] Vale were drawn away to League Two club Carlisle United in the First Round of the newly re-branded EFL Cup and lost the game 2–1 after conceding two goals in a poor first half.