Third Division The pre-season saw
John McGrath pay
Wigan Athletic £10,000 for
Ireland international forward
Eamonn O'Keefe. Starting December nine points adrift of safety, paying the third-highest wage bill in the division (£9,000 a week), and home gate receipts down to around £3,000, McGrath was suspended on full pay.
John Rudge was appointed
caretaker manager, and made his first signing by taking midfielder
Kevin Young on
loan from Burnley. It was the first of four straight home wins that cut the gap to safety down to only four points, including a 2–0 victory over promotion-chasing Wimbledon. O'Keefe and Henderson formed a potent striking partnership, whilst Young added balance to the midfield. Following a 4–3 win over
Brentford on 3 March, Rudge was appointed as manager until the end of the season. Young striker
Mark Bright replaced the injured
Martin Henderson and scored five times in the final six games, yet relegation was all but confirmed despite a 1–0 win over
promotion-chasing
Hull City.
Cup competitions In the
FA Cup, Vale were eliminated in the first round by
Lincoln City with a 2–1 home defeat. In the
League Cup, Vale 'ran riot' over
Wrexham at the
Racecourse Ground to go through to the second round 8–2 on
aggregate. Coming up against
Ron Atkinson's
Manchester United, they were defeated 1–0 at home despite 'a workmanlike performance', and beaten 2–0 at
Old Trafford in a 'credible' game. The home leg in
Burslem saw a crowd of 19,855 – the highest crowd since the visit of
West Ham United in
1973. This raised £45,873 in gate receipts for the club. However, a fifty-strong gang of
Manchester thugs caused chaos in Burslem town centre, stabbing a man from
Brown Edge. In the
Associate Members' Cup, Vale beat
Fourth Division side
Hereford United 1–0 at
Edgar Street. They were then beaten 2–0 at the
Memorial Stadium by Bristol Rovers. ==Results==