The 1927–28 season was Port Vale's ninth consecutive season of football (22nd overall) in the Football League. They finished in ninth place, following three consecutive eighth-placed finishes in the previous campaigns. Vale were once again looking strong in the division, yet unable to find the consistency necessary to win promotion to the top-flight. Top scorer Wilf Kirkham managed 14 goals, a whole 27 short of his previous record-breaking tally. Still one of the most successful season's in their history, they would better this finish on only three occasions over the next 85 years.

The pre-season saw the players enjoy an outing at Rhyl, which helped new signings Alf Bennett (Nottingham Forest), David Rollo (Blackburn Rovers), Alex Trotter (South Shields), and Robert Gillespie (Luton Town) settle in.

The season started terribly, with an opening day draw with Nottingham Forest followed by four consecutive defeats. The team was changed around, with new signing Rollo dropped from the starting eleven; this helped the Vale to turn things around with convincing wins over Bristol City and Swansea. Their third 4–0 away loss followed, and more injuries followed, along with cash offers from rival clubs for their best players. By mid-October a settled side was formed, and the "Valiants" defeated derby rivals Stoke 2–0 in front of a record 31,493 at the Victoria Ground. Going from strength to strength they travelled to Bloomfield Road and went from 1–0 down to 6–1 up within an amazing 25 minute spell. Three more victories followed until Christmas saw a downturn in form. Five consecutive post-Christmas defeats to four promotion candidates ended the Vale's promotion campaign. In February Wilf Kirkham was eventually rested, and replacement Stewart Littlewood bagged five in two games to end the run of poor results. Littlewood had previously scored seventy goals for the reserves in just over a season and brought the necessary firepower to help the club surge up the league. Manager Schofield had something of a headache in choosing either the out-of-form legend Kirkham or consistent Littlewood, and only added to the conundrum by signing Blackpool forward Bert Fishwick. Following defeats to doomed South Shields and to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, they finished the season with six consecutive clean sheets, though only won three of these games.

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