Vale Park
Vale Park pictured in July 2006.
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| Full name | Vale Park |
|---|---|
| Location | Hamil Road, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England |
| Coordinates | 53°2′59″N 2°11′33″W / 53.04972°N 2.19250°W |
| Owner | Port Vale F.C. |
| Capacity | 19,052 |
| Record attendance | 49,768 v. Aston Villa 20 February 1960 |
| Field size | 114 x 77 yards 104 x 70.5 metres |
| Surface | Grass |
| Scoreboard | Yes |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1944 |
| Built | 1950 |
| Opened | 1950 |
| Renovated | 1998 |
| Expanded | 1954 |
| Construction cost | £50,000 |
| Tenants | |
| Port Vale F.C. (1950–present) | |
Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It is the home ground of Port Vale F.C., who have played at the ground since 1950.
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. It now has a notional capacity of around 22,000; however with all the developments and a switch to an all-seater stadium in recent years, it is more likely around 19,000 when the Lorne Street stand is completed.
At 520 feet above sea level it is the eleventh highest ground in the country, and third highest in the Football League. The pitch is clay underneath the grass, rather than sand. These two factors make the pitch vulnerable to freezing temperatures. 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.
The Vale Park pitch is one of the widest in the Football League. The pitch was originally laid over a filled-in marl hole and does not have a subsoil structure so is liable to flooding as it lacks proper drainage; a complete re-laying of the pitch would be needed to fix the issue (the club were quoted £450,000 for this work in 2014). The head groundsman since September 1992 is Steve Speed. He was one of three groundsmen nominated for the League Two Groundsmen of the Year award in 2009. Denis Dawson was head groundsman from 1966 to 1975; he succeeded Len Parton and was followed by Graham Mainwaring.
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 to be made. In 1944 Hamil Road – the site of a former clay pit – was chosen, a site opposite Burslem Park, where the club had played its football in the early years of its existence. The development became known as The Wembley of the North due to the planned size of the stadium, plans which included an 80,000 capacity with room for 1,000 parked cars. The club's leadership had not allowed the club's third tier status or their lack of money to curb their ambition. Life-time seats were sold for £100 (the price of admission for roughly 200 matches) but fewer than 100 fans bought them. Also costing £100, the pitch was the most expensive ever laid in the country at the time.
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