Ultimate Port Vale XI: The goalkeeper
We’re asking Port Vale fans to select their finest-ever Valiants line-up and now it’s time to vote for the greatest goalkeeper.
1. Rules and notes
- There will be a dedicated forum discussion thread for each position (a link is below).
- The forum discussion thread will have a poll attached containing the list of our shortlisted players. This makes it fair (one user one vote) and stops any outside influences (Stoke fans, we’re looking at you!) from trying to influence the poll as only registered forum users can vote
- OVF will provide a shortlist of players that we think are suitable candidates. However, if we have missed a candidate out and you make a compelling case for their inclusion we will add them to the poll.
- A player will appear in their most common position (e.g. Neil Aspin played right-back but is more familiar as a centre-half; Robbie Earle played as a striker but is best-known as a midfielder)
- The formation for the best-ever XI is a classic 4-4-2 formation
- A player must have played 50 first-team games for the Valiants to qualify
2. The OVF Shortlist
Ray King: The goalkeeper in the famed 1953-54 side, he was capped by England “B” and kept 29 cleansheets during the “Steele Curtain” season.
Ken Hancock: Hancock made over 200 appearances between 1958 and 1962 and later went on to play in the top-flight for Ipswich Town and Tottenham Hotspur.
Mark Grew: A long-serving figure both on and off the pitch, Grew is one of only a handful of players to be named Player of the Year twice. He also helped the club to promotion in 1989.
Paul Musselwhite: The regular keeper during much of John Rudge’s reign, Mussy was not only the club’s most-expensive goalkeeping signing, but he also holds the club record goalkeeping appearances as well as promotion and Autoglass Trophy final medals.
Mark Goodlad: If it were not for injury, the goalkeeper would surely have made more than the 244 appearances he managed. He was the keeper in the LDV Vans Trophy final winning side.
Chris Neal: Undoubtedly the best goalkeeper since Mark Goodlad, Neal has been a model of consistency since signing in 2012. A key member of the 2012-13 promotion side.
3. Time to place your vote
To place your vote you need to be a registered user of our forum and go to this forum thread
Voting closes in a month’s time.