The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49,768 managed to squeeze in for a 1960 FA Cup fifth round fixture against Aston Villa.

At 525 feet above sea level, it is the eleventh highest ground in the country and second-highest in the English Football League.

[5] There is also a coal seam under the pitch, and numerous mine shafts dotted around the local area, including many under the park opposite the ground.

[10][11] Following the club being informed that they would be evicted from The Old Recreation Ground by Stoke-on-Trent City Council, plans for a new stadium in a new area began.

[12] Life-time seats were sold for £100 (the price of admission for roughly 200 matches) but fewer than 100 fans bought them.

[17] The problem was finally resolved in summer 1960 when new drains were installed to help ease the winter mud spots.

[12] On 24 September 1958, Vale Park saw its first match under the new £17,000 floodlights, as the club beat West Bromwich Albion 5–3.

[17] In summer 1973, the club erected a 2.5 feet high steel fence around the Bycars End to help combat hooliganism.

[19] The summer of 1988 saw Vale Park given a £40,000 upgrade to repair the floodlights and a £20,000 electronic scoreboard was installed at the Hamil End.

Vale fans stood for the last time on Lorne Street at the end of the 1997–98 season, with the stand being demolished before work began on a new £3 million structure.

Despite the building work remaining uncompleted, the work done on the stadium under Bill Bell from 1985 had vastly improved the ground, as proven by the fact that sheep were once housed in the Railway Paddock toilets and allowed to graze on the pitch in the night; the toilets were notoriously unhygienic and were replaced under Bill Bratt's reign in 2006.

[21] The Valiant 2001 Charter stated that Bratt's management team would invest £400,000 to install under-soil heating in mid-2002, and to also quickly complete the Lorne Street stand.

[2] On 1 August 1981, Vale Park hosted a one-off rock concert, Heavy Metal Holocaust,[35] featuring Motörhead,[36] Ozzy Osbourne Band,[37] Mahogany Rush, Triumph, Riot and Vardis.

[12] Other historic matches include the defeat of two reigning FA Cup champions in the competition, as Stanley Matthews' Blackpool were beaten 2–0 in February 1954, and then 42 years later holders Everton were dumped out 2–1.