Third Division South The pre-season saw the club attempt to sign
Huddersfield Town's star forward
Peter Doherty when this failed
Gordon Hodgson instead signed
Liverpool left-wing duo
Stan Palk and
Mick Hulligan for £10,000. Striker
Walter Aveyard was also signed from
Birmingham City, despite his belief that a leg injury had finished him. Fans were convinced
promotion to the
Second Division was possible, as was chairman William Holdcroft. So, there was a surge in season ticket sales. The season started with seven points from the opening four games, leaving the club top of the table. The season-high 18,497 fans that turned up for a 3–0 win over
Aldershot were impressed by the skill of the three new signings. This followed on from a 3–0 win over
Reading the previous week. They did lose by a goal to nil at
Brighton & Hove Albion on 4 September, though Aveyard played most of the game as a passenger after sustaining an injury. Two days later, Vale beat league leaders
Swindon Town by two clear goals. The club's good form continued to the end of September, despite the sale of
Walter Keeley to
Accrington Stanley for £1,500 – who had found himself relegated to the sidelines by Hulligan's good performances. After this Hulligan
broke his ankle, whilst other injuries also hit the squad. Six weeks of six defeats in seven games followed, leaving Vale sixth from bottom. During this spell,
Joe Dale was offloaded to
Witton Albion as Hodgson attempted to fill the gaps in the first-team with young reserves. Winning three games on the trot, the Vale ended this bad spell and kept three clean sheets after
Tommy Cheadle was moved to the forward lines to add weight to the attack. Over the
Christmas period, talk was dominated by '
The Wembley of the North', which had been projected as an 80,000-capacity stadium, but now it was planned as a 40,000-capacity ground with room for future expansion. Finding just fifty members for the '100 club', the financing was helped by a £8,000 grant from
The Football Association. In January, the club initiated a fire-sale of players:
Bill Pointon went to
Queens Park Rangers for a then-
club record five-figure fee, whilst
Harry Hubbick was sold to
Rochdale for around £1,000. Meanwhile, the club
transfer listed Palk, Aveyard, and
Eric Eastwood (who all lived outside north
Staffordshire); whilst Hulligan returned from injury. A two-month run without a win followed, in which Hodgson again experimented with the
first XI. This run finally ended with a 1–0 win over sixth-placed Notts County on 9 April. Nine days later at
Ashton Gate, goalkeeper
Harry Prince was given a chance in place of injured regular
George Heppell, who embarrassed himself by attempting to punch a punt from Stone, only to miss the ball entirely and thereby concede the
equaliser. Later in the month, Hodgson signed
George King from
Hull City for a four-figure fee. King scored twice in his debut against
Torquay United. The match was marred by a
Plainmoor spectator hitting the referee on the head with a stone after he disallowed a penalty. They finished a disappointing 13th, boasting just 39 points. They had scored twelve fewer goals than in the previous campaign. However, their defensive record was identical. Harry Prince's move to
Stafford Rangers was the only significant departure of the summer.
Finances On the financial side, a large transfer credit helped the club record a gross profit of £7,120. Gate receipts had declined to £25,831, whilst wages had risen to £16,095. The Burslem Supporters Club put forward a donation of £600, and the club issued 22,000 new five
shilling shares to help with the New Ground Fund.
FA Cup In the
FA Cup, Vale were knocked out in the first round by
Notts County at
Meadow Lane in front of 36,514 spectators. ==Results==