Bell became a board member at
Port Vale in May 1984 and became the club's second-highest shareholder in April 1986, when he purchased 23,000 shares from former chairman Don Radcliffe. As the team improved to reach safety, Bell then focused his work on improving
Vale Park and announced the start of a 'five-year plan' for the stadium after decades of neglect. In the wake of the
Hillsborough disaster, the
Taylor Report meant that £250,000 worth of upgrades had to be made to Vale Park, with almost half of this amount being matched by the
Football Trust. However, further problems emerged when the city council opened a market in
Burslem town centre, and in an attempt to eliminate the competition closed Vale Park's market, which had been making the club £100,000 a year. In June, Bell negotiated the purchase of
Chester City's grandstand at
Sealand Road for £300,000, with half that sum coming from the Football Trust. It was placed above the Hamil Road Stand, the away end, and was opened for the league clash against Chester on 26 September 1992. However, Bell only offered Rudge a new
contract at the end of the season, to the manager's disgruntlement. However, Bell continued to develop the stadium and announced a £1.4 million project to install seats at the Hamil End. However, in October Bell put the club's players up for sale and threatened to sell or liquidate the club if he received any further abuse from critical supporters. No one came forward to buy the club, and the club's total debt was revealed to be £1.5 million. Bell stated that "it is my ambition to see my job completed. We have decided to develop our own stadium fit for the
Premiership". The fans abused Bell for his decision, and he again threatened to walk away from the club. Bell also announced that £1 million had been spent filling in more mine shafts and that Vale was losing £20,000 a week. Bell put his shares up for sale in November 2002 and sold £40,000 worth of shares, nowhere near enough to pay off the £593,000 Vale owed the
Inland Revenue. The club was taken out of administration by the 'Valiant2001' consortium, and
Bill Bratt became the new chairman. Bell maintained a quiet public profile after leaving the club, though he held a long-running legal dispute with the club over rent owed towards the club shop, which he still owned. He made headlines in September 2010, when a dispute with a builder at his
Brown Edge home ended with Bell threatening the builder with an axe. ==References==