Port Vale’s 1954 heroes pictured away from the pitch
OVE summer archive: taken from a Sentinel FA Cup semi-final special, here are some unique period portraits of the legendary Freddie Steele side pictured at home.
What is this feature?
During the quieter summer months we will be republishing select articles from our extensive archives. This site now has over 10,000 blog posts and this particular one is one of our favourites. We hope you enjoy it…
About the 1953-54 Port Vale Iron Curtain side
Known as the “Iron Curtain” for their tremendous defensive qualities, the Port Vale FC side of 1953-54 set numerous club records and are regarded as probably the greatest Port Vale side of all-time.
Managed by Freddie Steele, the side were crowned Third Division North Champions and also reached the FA Cup semi-final where they unluckily lost to West Brom.
Their success was based on a squad of nineteen players, many of whom were locally born. Players included Ray King, Roy Sproson, Tommy Cheadle, Colin Askey, Dickie Cunliffe, Albert Leake and Basil Hayward.
The side set three Football League records including the least number of goals conceded in a season, a club record eleven successive home wins and they were undefeated at home all season.
We have a series of special features, press clippings, images and video about the 1954 Port Vale side
Iron Curtain stars at home
Inspiration for the salute to Port Vale?
It’s interesting that the “Salute to Port Vale” piece which appeared in national magazine Football Monthly appears to have been inspired by this piece. If you look at the feature you will notice that the captions bear an uncanny resemblance to those in the Sentinel report (although they appear to have attributed some to the wrong players!)