Cult Hero 16: Steve Fox
Cult hero Steve Fox: a winger who was a one-season wonder, we look back at wily eighties winger, Mr Steve Fox.
Cult hero Steve Fox
Name: Steve Fox
Cult credentials: Unbeatable on his day, a one-season wonder
Time at Vale: 1982-1984
Games: 74
Goals: 6
For this Vale supporter, one of my formative memories was watching Steve Fox skin his fullback before setting up yet another chance for Bob Newton.
Fox was a genuine one-season wonder.
Purchased from Wrexham in 1982, he won promotion and a place in the PFA Fourth Division side during his first season.
Blessed with searing pace and sporting a mass of curly hair, he was an unmistakable sight on the pitch as he ran directly at the opposition defence. In some games, he seemed unstoppable and many Vale fans were thrilled with such an exciting find.
But his second season proved to be an entirely different matter.
In the higher division, Fox was entirely ineffective – all the pace and dynamic place seemed to have evaporated.
His Vale career eventually came to an end as he asked for a free transfer and left to join Chester City.
But many Vale fans will remember his for his first season, when he wrote his own fairytale scripts, with most of them featuring a fantastic Mr Fox…
Postscript: Sadly Steve Fox passed away after a long battle with cancer in 2012. He was 54 years old.