THE VALEITES AND ONE ROPE

 

On this day in history, Port Vale missed out on European glory at Wembley. Seems an unlikely, but on March 17th 1996, Port Vale played a European final at Wembley. It was the Anglo-Italian Cup. En route,Vale drew 2–2 with Cesena, beat Ancona 2–0, and drew 0–0 with Genoa, before beating Perugia 5–3. Facing Ipswich Town in the English semi-final, they progressed with a 4–2 win. They then had to beat West Bromwich Albion in a two-legged affair to reach the main final. They beat the "Baggies" 3–1 to become the last English team in the competition, facing Genoa again, this time to decide the tournament's winner. 

Vale were beaten 5-2 by Genoa and the scoreline didn’t reflect the superiority of the Serie B side. Just 12,683 turned up at Wembley for what was the last match ever played in the competition.The Anglo-Italian Cup is a defunct European competition which was played intermittently from 1970 to 1996. It was founded following the initial two-team Anglo-Italian Cup in 1969. The Anglo-Italian Cup was played as an annual tournament from 1970 to 1973. The first final was abandoned early due to violence, with Swindon Town declared the winners. During its time the tournament had a reputation for violence between fans, but it returned as a semi-professional tournament from 1976 before it was abolished again in 1986.

In 1992, the Anglo-Italian Cup was re-established as a professional cup for second tier clubs – it replaced the English Full Members' Cup, with the Italian opposition from Serie B teams. This version of the Cup ran for four seasons, until 1996, before being discontinued due to fixture congestion. 

From 1967, a place in the Inter-Cities' Cup was awarded to the English Football League Cup winners, but that season's winners, Queens Park Rangers could not take up their place because at that time, UEFA did not allow third-tier teams to compete in the Fairs' Cup. 

The 1995-6 season was Port Vale's 84th in the English Football League and it is hard to believe, but it was the club's second successive season in the First Division. Vale's excellent mid-season form raised hopes of a promotion campaign, but they faded away at the final stages, finishing 12th. In the FA Cup, Vale achieved a celebrated upset by knocking out the cup holders from the Premier League, EVERTON with a 2–1 win at Vale Park. Over 19,000 watched. They were then eliminated at the Fifth Round, after taking Leeds United to a replay. 

Port Vale are now in League Two, with a nice badge that tells of their founding in 1876, making it one of the oldest clubs in the Football League. It is named after its Geographical location, as a port on the Trent and Mersey canal. The club holds a record for a record number of seasons, not playing in the top flight of English football. The badge consists of two Wedgewood pots representing the local pottery industry, a agricultural scythe from Tunstall and the Stafford knot representing the Borough of Burslem. The knot has three loops which in some stories tells of the way that three local convicted criminals were hung at the same time, using the specially arranged "knot" when the hangman discovered that he only had one rope!! Less gruesome is the explanation that it represents three local settlements joined together (in harmony?)