I used to do these articles, looking at one thing we could thank the upcoming opposition such as Port Vale for, and one thing we wouldn’t be saying thank you for.
Usually, it was a player we signed or sold, or a crucial match that we won or lost. I stopped for two reasons: time and repetitive opposition, but I thought we’d give this one a go and see if it was worth doing next season when the opposition changed.
So, I have looked through a host of things to find something we can thank Port Vale for, and something we probably wouldn’t bother with. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy.
Thanks: Paul Smith
We have not had a good time in dealings with Port Vale. They sold us Joe Allon, but took Louis Dodds before we could get him. They were responsible (in my opinion) for bringing a premature end to Lee Frecklington’s career, and were a hard team to find anything to be thankful for.
Paul Smith has to be one such player. He was a club record purchase for us at the time, £48,000, coming to a GMVC side fresh from being a real prospect at Sheffield United. He served the Imps diligently, was my favourite player for a long while, and scored goals to help us back into the Football League.
One of the rare instances where we can say thank you to the Valiants.
No Thanks: Gareth Ainsworth
This might be an odd pick, because we sold Sir Gareth for a decent six-figure sum, but it hurt. He was a top player for us, and we needed to cash in, so we were held a bit to ransom. Now, if someone wanted a cut-price deal for one of our players, we’d hold firm, but in the nineties, we couldn’t always be like that.
We bought Gareth with some of the Darren Huckerby proceeds, and when we sold him, it helped keep the club afloat. The fee was reported to be £500,000, not a small amount, but no big spending followed. Preston took a percentage, the bank took a percentage, and we strengthened at the back, bringing in Dean Walling.
Why ‘no thanks’ then, for such a deal? Because a year later, they sold him for £2m to Wimbledon, making a huge profit and generating their club record sale. Heartbreaking as we could have been quids in and who knows what might have happened in the 1998/99 season, had we been backed by an extra million pounds?
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