The 1953–54 season saw manager Freddie Steele's "Iron Curtain" defence win both a Third Division North title and a semi-final place in the FA Cup.

The club had little success throughout the 1960s and 1970s, despite being briefly managed by Stanley Matthews, and were forced to apply for re-election after breaking FA rules on illegal payments in 1968.

Under his leadership Port Vale won promotions in 1985–86, 1988–89 and 1993–94, lifted the Football League Trophy in 1993 and reached a post-war record finish of eighth in the second tier in the 1996–97 season.

[2] However, documented evidence of football from that era is exceptionally scarce and research by historian Jeff Kent indicated that it was probably formed in 1879 as an offshoot of Porthill Victoria F.C.

They returned to the Football League in October 1919, taking over the fixture list of Leeds City in the Second Division, who were forced to disband because of financial irregularities.

[22] The 1953–54 season saw Vale winning the Third Division North title as well as reaching the semi-finals of the FA Cup, losing out to eventual winners West Bromwich Albion in controversial fashion, in which an Albert Leake goal was disallowed for offside.

[22] Manager Norman Low instilled an attacking philosophy and in the 1958–59 season guided the team to the Fourth Division title with a club record 110 goals scored.

However, he resigned a year later after Vale were expelled from the Football League for allegedly making illegal payments to players in contravention of FA rules – this punishment was reduced on appeal to a re-election vote, which the club won.

[31] A major cup upset came on 30 January 1988, when Vale defeated First Division side Tottenham Hotspur 2–1, thanks to a superb strike from Ray Walker.

[38] Vale made a slow start to the 1996–97 campaign, with protests forming against chairman Bill Bell, and the sale of Steve Guppy to Leicester City for £800,000.

Horton led the club to Football League Trophy success in 2001, as Marc Bridge-Wilkinson and Steve Brooker scored the goals to secure a 2–1 victory over Brentford in the final at the Millennium Stadium.

[44] However, Horton left in February 2004, unwilling to accept the financial cutbacks imposed by the new board, and was replaced by former player Martin Foyle.

[46] Sinnott was sacked in September 2008 and following an unsuccessful tenure from Dean Glover, Micky Adams was appointed as the club's new manager in June 2009.

[47][48] Adams left the club in December 2010 with Vale second in the table and Jim Gannon was selected to finish the promotion job.

[51] Adams returned as manager at the end of the 2010–11 campaign, but this was not enough to appease fans who demanded a change in the boardroom after a series of promised investments failed to come to fruition.

[54] The club finally exited administration on 20 November 2012,[55] and Tom Pope scored 33 goals to fire Vale to promotion back to League One with a third-place finish.

[59] He returned to the role the following season and threatened to put the club into administration if a buyer was not found by May 2019, a fate which was avoided when Carol and Kevin Shanahan completed their takeover.

[60] Manager Darrell Clarke returned from close family bereavement to lead Vale through the League Two play-off semi-finals at the end of the 2021–22 season.

[70] From 1982 the club introduced a design based on that of a schoolchild who won a competition, which featured a bottle oven and the Stafford knot, associated with the city of Stoke-on-Trent's pottery industry and the history of the local area.

[71] A table of kit suppliers and shirt sponsors appear below:[72] When they joined the English Football League in 1892, Port Vale played at their fourth home ground.

[73] Located opposite the church on Waterloo Road, directly on the Hanley and Burslem tram line, it played host to the club for 27 years, including twelve Football League seasons.

The Old Recreation Ground was Vale's home from 1913 to 1950 and was located in Hanley, standing on what is now the multi-storey car park for the Potteries Shopping Centre.

is also a long-running fanzine, and has been printed since August 2000; the name was inspired by a remark by then-manager Brian Horton to local journalist Derek Davis following a defeat to Tranmere Rovers.

[96] The singer Simon Webbe was signed up to the club's youth team as a teenager until a torn ligament at age seventeen put an end to any sporting ambitions.

[100] Other club record scorelines include a 16–0 victory over Middlewich in a friendly in 1884 and a 12–0 defeat to Aston Villa in the Staffordshire Senior Cup in 1891.

The first player to be capped at the international level while playing for Vale was Teddy Peers when he made his debut for Wales.

[105] The club's highest attendance at Vale Park is 49,768 against Aston Villa in the FA Cup on 20 February 1960, whilst the lowest is 554 against Middlesbrough U21 in the EFL Trophy on 16 October 2018.

[106] The youngest player to play for the club is Nelson Agho, who was aged 15 years and 262 days on his debut against Walsall in the EFL Trophy on 13 November 2018.

[107] The oldest player is Tom Holford, who played his last match aged 46 years and 68 days against Derby County in the Second Division on 5 April 1924.

[110] Tom Morgan was the first Port Vale manager to win a league title with the club, taking them to the top of the Third Division North at the end of the 1929–30 season.