Port Vale
Vale Park
Capacity 18,947
Address Vale Park, Hamil Road, Burslem, Stoke-On-Trent, Staffordshire, ST6 1AW
Ticket Prices £19
www.port-vale.co.uk
My first visit to Vale Park came in November 2009 when Stevenage drew the League 2 club in the FA Cup 1st round. Boro played Vale off the park, but didn’t take their chances and were punished just before half-time when Adam Yates’ effort found its way past Chris Day and into the net. Stevenage though kept going and got a deserved equaliser late on when Charlie Griffin finished from close range. Boro went on to lose the replay 1-0 at Broadhall Way.
I arrived at the ground fairly early and got parked just up from the ground on a side street. Locating the ground was easy enough and after getting the ticket, we made our way into the club house which was on Hamil Road. It was a fairly large bar which seemed to be split into two. It had one of the FA Cup 1st round ties on the TV’s as well.
The ground itself is pretty big for League 2 and could easily host Championship games if the club ever returns to that level. Vale Park is all seated and the majority of home supporters congregate in the Railway End, which is the large stand opposite the main stand. The main stand itself, is a new addition to the stadium, but looks half done at the moment. One side has been completed, but the other half is just concrete. When finished it will hold 5,000 supporters. This stand also has some executive boxes.
At one end there is the “Big AM” stand and this wraps around the corners and joins the two side stands. This stand holds approximately 4000-5000 fans. Away fans are situated in the Phones4U stand and this also holds around 4500 supporters. It’s a one tiered structure, but is quite deep and can drum up quite an atmosphere when the fans get singing. I quite liked the stadium, apart from the shocking colour of the seats. Although it’s all seated, it still retains a fair amount of character which is rare these days.
Getting to Burslem
By car
Sat Nav reference: ST6 1AW
The journey to Stoke is similar to the one you would take to Burton, just a bit further on the A50. From Stevenage, find your way to the M1 and leave at junction 23a, signposted Donington Park/East Midlands Airport. After leaving the M1, follow the A453 onto the A50 past Derby.
Stay on the A50 going into Stoke and when you go past Stoke City’s Britannia Stadium, at the next roundabout turn off for the A500. Follow this road for just under 4 miles before coming off onto the A527 taking the 4th exit on the roundabout going towards Tunstall. Turn right at the next roundabout onto the B5051 and follow this road for just under a mile going over a few crossroads and mini roundabouts before turning left into Hamil Road and Vale Park is on the left.
By train
Vale Park isn’t the easiest ground to access by train. The nearest station is Longport, but this isn’t a big station. Stoke is the more popular station and even this is about 4 miles away from the ground. It is served by Virgin trains and from Stevenage, you will have to go into the Capital first and come back out via Euston. Once you reach Stoke then you can either catch a taxi for about £8 or get the number 24 bus which goes to Burslem town centre. My advice to you would be to get the supporters coach instead if you can’t drive.
