История стадиона "Вейл Парк"

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The Vale Park pitch is one of the widest in the Football League. The pitch was originally laid over a filled in marl hole and does not have a subsoil structure so is liable to flooding as it lacks proper drainage; a complete re laying of the pitch would be needed to fix the issue (the club were quoted £450,000 for this work in 2014). Denis Dawson was head groundsman from 1966 to 1975; he succeeded Len Parton and was followed by Graham Mainwaring.

Following the club being informed that they would be evicted from The Old Recreation Ground by Stoke on Trent City Council, plans for a new stadium in a new area began to be made. In 1944 Hamil Road – the site of a former clay pit – was chosen, a site opposite Burslem Park, where the club had played its football in the early years of its existence. plans which included an 80,000 capacity with room for 1,000 parked cars. The first match was a 1–0 victory over Newport County on 24 August 1950 in front of 30,196 rain soaked spectators. In summer 1951, 578 seats were installed on the Railway Terrace, bringing the seated capacity of Vale Park to 1,010. A rare event occurred on 17 January 1976, when the Vale directors permitted rivals Stoke to play a home game against Middlesbrough at Vale Park. Despite this effort, inspectors closed the Bycars End down due to safety issues, and reduced the stadium's capacity to 12,000 after cutting the capacity of the Railway Paddock by two thirds. The Bycars End roof was also removed for safety reasons, whilst a police box was constructed between the Railway Paddock and the Hamil End. The Valiant 2001 Charter stated that Bratt's management team would invest £400,000 to install under soil heating in mid 2002, and to also quickly complete the Lorne Street stand. However, it took until 2020 for the seats to be installed. Chairman Norman Smurthwaite separated Vale Park from Port Vale after taking the club out of administration in 2012. New high tech floodlights were fitted in March 2019, paid for by the club's shirt sponsor. The stadium's ownership was returned to the club after Smurthwaite sold the club to Carol and Kevin Shanahan in May 2019. Five months later it was declared an "asset of community value status" by Stoke on Trent city council. The Shanahans spent £500,000 on ground improvement by summer 2021. Another £1.2 million was spent the following summer in order to make Vale Park a Championship standard ground.

The current stadium holds 15,036 supporters and has four stands: Lorne Street opposite to the Railway Paddock, and the Bycars End facing the Hamil Road End. The Lorne Street Stand is relatively new, seating 2,045, with 48 executive boxes that host 711 people. It was not completed when it opened, However, 1,500 seats were installed in the Lorne Street stand in April 2020. At the time of the stadium's construction, it was intended to be the grandstand. The Hamil End has 4,514 seats and the Railway Stand has a capacity of 2,094. The Railway Paddock has a maximum capacity of 2,862. featuring Motörhead, Ozzy Osbourne Band, Mahogany Rush, Triumph, Riot and Vardis. Around 20,000 attended the concert, raising £25,000 for the club. In 1985, the Stoke Spitfires American football team used the ground for matches. It also hosted a full international women's match on 7 April 2017, when England played Italy.

A club record 49,768 attended a 1960 FA Cup fifth round fixture against Aston Villa. The biggest victory in a competitive match came in December 1958 when Gateshead were beaten 8–0.