For the love of wilf....
A slightly bizarre port vale site
This site is dedicated to the memories of Wilf Kirkham (1923-33) and John Rudge (1983-1999)
(anyone who can provide a pic of Wilf will earn my undying gratitude!)
This page is under construction but keep coming back as in due course this will become the font of all PVFC trivia and gossip. With no ... and I mean NO ... Robbie Williams.
The real tragedy was that Rudge was sacked just as his youth policy was bearing fruit (above)
Some thoughts on the end of the rudge era...
"Port Vale should get down on their
hands and knees and thank the Lord for having John Rudge"
- Alex Ferguson 1995
If Port Vale had £1 for every word written about the sacking of John Rudge over the last fortnight, well, I guess we could even buy Gareth Ainsworth back.
In common with many many many Vale fans I still cannot believe that Rudge has gone. Even knowing Bill Bell's track record, it still came as an absolute shock that he could be guilty of such a huge error of judgement. After all, who wanted Rudge out? The fans? I hardly think so. Even a couple of weeks prior to his sacking while being humiliated by Liverpool in the cup, the feeling in the ground was not that Rudge was to blame for the poor performance of the players or for the rapidly expanding injury list. The players themselves? Given the shocked disbelief that characterised their statements shortly after the event, it doesn't seem likely. The press? I wasn't aware of any anti-Rudge campaign, the feeling was always that Rudge was doing the best he could under very difficult circumstances. The only person who wanted Rudge out was Bell himself, for reasons that we can only guess at. Despite his continual complaints that Port Vale was losing money hand over fist (something not supported by the actual accounts, it has to be said), Rudge was for Port Vale a continual source of ready cash, skilled as he was at uncovering young talent that was sold at a huge profit. We know that the redevelopment of the ground has cost a lot of money, but if you add up what the club has made in recent years from the sale of Taylor, Vanders. Guppy, McCarthy, Mills, Ainsworth et al ...... shit, Vale Park should now rival the Nou Camp.Perhaps he found the fact that Rudge was seen as being Port Vale difficult to handle.
Yes, because whenever the Vale were mentioned on TV or radio, what was the first thing that was mentioned? The fact that Rudge was the second longest serving manager in the league .... or the fact the Rudge always got his teams to play good football .. or Rudge's sageness in the transfer market ....... John Rudge was the public face of Port Vale, a club that has always thrived on its anonymity. And, make no mistake, Rudge loved the club. He was Vale through and through. If you have any doubts of this, listen to a recording of the press conference he gave after being sacked. Twice he mentions Stoke City, but neither time does he dignify them with a name, merely referring to them as "Our rivals across the city". He HATED Stoke with a passion. And this is a manager we want to be rid of?
The really really bad thing about it all is the fact that arguments and even fights have broken out between supporters of Rudge and - a very tiny minority - those who were glad to see the back of him. This used to be a friendly club, we're not Stoke for Christ sake. Now Bell has even had the temerity to cancel support for the "Official" website, because it printed a picture of a supporter with a "Bell-End" banner. So now its the unofficial site. And talks of mergers/sales/moves to the Brittania abound.
It is into this inferno that Brian Horton has arrived. Now I have nothing against Horton. I feel at Man City he did as good a job as anyone could have been expected to do. He had achieved minor miracles at Brighton. And as a Vale "old-boy" I think everyone thought he would succeed Rudge eventually. I hope and pray that he does well, and I for one give him my absolute support. But I have this feeling - sorry, but I do - that within about 5 years Vale will be back where they were when Rudge arrived i.e. struggling for League survival. I hate to think that but I just can't help it. For years now I felt that Vale have been boxing above their weight.That we were in the First Division because of one person - John Rudge. With every year that has passed, I have begun to feel more and more that we were becoming recognised as a First Division club. But now, the turmoil that the Vale are currently labouring under has got to make them one of the favourites for the drop. And I can't see us bouncing striaght back up again. Not this time.
One last thing, the following was posted to the web message board by Rob Fielding from a Watford site. This sums it all up better than I ever could .......
Rudge
pickles By Ian Grant
------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's "Happy Hour" at the Last Chance Saloon.
The First Division soap opera is reaching new heights of
absurdity. As directors continue to ignore the very obvious
reality that their investments can go down as well as up, that
the Second Division is as close as the Premiership (and easier to
get into), the casualties are piling up. Portsmouth are now in
administration with Oxford likely to follow; Crystal Palace have
paid the inflated price for an absurd dalliance with Terry
Venables; no less than seven of twenty-four clubs (Bristol City,
Swindon, Wolves, Palace, QPR, Bury and Port Vale) have changed
managers.
And so we get to the point. Of all the ridiculous, idiotic
decisions made in English football so far this season (and let's
face it, there have been a few) one stands out.
After fifteen years and 843 matches, Port Vale have sacked John
Rudge. You do have to wonder what qualifies some people to own
and run a football club, I do struggle to understand what's going
on in their empty heads.
John Rudge was Port Vale. No, scratch that, John Rudge is Port
Vale.
In footballing terms, he was simply the best manager that Vale
will ever have. He may not have achieved headline-grabbing
success - fittingly for a seemingly modest, understated man, his
reign leaves no indelible mark on the national
consciousness - but that shouldn't mean that what he did achieve
passes unnoticed.
Three promotions and three Wembley visits isn't the stuff of
childhood dreams - but for an classically unfashionable club like
Vale to be occasionally challenging for the Premiership was truly
remarkable. As Watford fans ought to remember, all things are
relative. Crucially, however, Rudge did it differently from
others.
Many have bruised their way into contention, winning no friends.
Vale, on the other hand, were one of every season's highlights.
Their visits to Vicarage Road were never likely to break box
office records, yet Rudge's sides were guaranteed to at least
attempt to provide good entertainment. The formula never changed
- passing football, forward-thinking, always with two fine
wingers - but, as I remarked earlier in the season, familiarity
doesn't always breed contempt. Vale were frequently quite lovely
to watch. More than that, they were distinctively lovely - a team
that you could pick out in an identity parade ("It was the
one with the two wingers what done it, officer"). First
Division football will be much poorer for his absence.
In the process of quietly building his teams, Rudge unearthed so
much talent, a great deal of which is exercising its considerable
earning power elsewhere - Mark Bright at Charlton, Robbie Earle
and Gareth Ainsworth at Wimbledon, Ian Taylor at Villa, Steve
Guppy at Leicester, Robin van der Laan at Derby, Jon McCarthy at
Birmingham, Lee Mills at Bradford. That's nearly ten million
quid's worth. Several of these, and current, players appear to
have that unshakeable, burning loyalty to Rudge that indicates a
manager who is not only obeyed, not only respected but loved.
There are few who can claim that. That he appears to have done
most of this transfer trickery via his own scouting is fairly
typical of the man.
To dismiss him is one thing. There is, if you're that way
inclined, some cause for it - Brian Horton will provide a major
culture shock for Vale fans but he's performed minor miracles at
Brighton and may do the same at his new club (although it's
difficult to imagine that anyone will be able to resist the
eternal pull of gravity like Rudgie could). To dismiss him with a
two paragraph
memo that doesn't even bother to say "thank you", to
try to put him out to pasture as "director of football"
above a new manager with whom he shares no footballing
philosophies whatsoever, well, that's just too much. Have some
respect. If Rudge was a gentleman, he was clearly one of a dying
breed.
Football is changing. If it has no room for people like John
Rudge, then it is not changing for the better.
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