For January 30th I'm going back 33 years to 1988 and an FA Cup 4th Round tie at Vale Park between Port Vale and Spurs.
Port Vale is one of the few English league clubs not to be named after a specific geographic location. Bizarrely their name refers instead to the valley of ports on the Trent & Mersey Canal. Vale Park was originally planned to be "the Wembley of the North" with an 80,000 capacity although this was never realised.
Port Vale at the time were a 3rd Division side and were very much the underdogs in this tie against top-flight Spurs. Spurs were now under the management of the recently appointed Terry Venables who had arrived at Spurs fresh from a successful spell at Barcelona and his appointment gave rise to much optimism within the ranks of the Spurs supporters, especially for another good Cup run. In the end this game proved to be a huge embarrassment for Spurs as Vale ran out 2-1 giant killers on a heavy pitch. Vale's characterful manager John Rudge apparently quipped that the local fire brigade had needed somewhere to test out their hoses, so he helped them out! Vale's side that day included Robbie Earle and former York City player Gary Ford. The attendance on the day of 20,045 was the best at Vale Park for 15 years.
CRB Match No. 543
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