His successes with the club include winning promotion out of the Third Division via the play-offs in 1989, lifting the Football League Trophy in 1993, and playing in the final of the Anglo-Italian Cup in 1996.

[3] He made his Football League debut in December 1986, and played on loan in New Zealand with Hutt Valley United to gain first-team experience.

[8] His spell with Vale had been one of the most successful the club had enjoyed for many years, including FA Cup giant-killing acts and twice winning promotion to the second tier of English football.

On 26 December 1996, he performed a successful man-marking job on Manchester City's Georgi Kinkladze to keep the Georgian quiet and help Vale to record a 1–0 win.

[13] Despite Porter scoring a winning penalty against Barnet the following month, he was soon deemed surplus to requirements by manager Mark Wright.

He was appointed caretaker player-manager at Kidsgrove alongside Terry Hillman after they sacked Dave Nolan on 14 November 2002 and was offered the job permanently on 31 December 2002.

In December 2004, Porter made a playing comeback when he replaced Levi Reid early in Vale's 3–1 win over Tranmere Rovers.

Over the next two seasons, he made three more Football League and two FA Cup appearances under manager Martin Foyle, his former teammate at Vale.

Porter also steered the team to a club-record quarter-final appearance in the FA Youth Cup, beating Premier League academy sides Bolton Wanderers (3–2 at the Reebok Stadium) and Tottenham Hotspur (1–0 at Vale Park) along the way, before losing to eventual finalists Chelsea 5–2.

Porter's charges then won the Midland Youth Cup for the first time in decades, beating Lincoln City 6–5 on a penalty shoot-out after a 1–1 draw at Sincil Bank.

[21] He later cited his reasons for doing so as being rejected for the managerial position earlier in the season and also not being offered the role of assistant manager, despite his success with the youth team, coupled with a need to advance his career.