Remembering Two of Port Vale’s Best Foreign Players
Not being a top-tier team often means that your ranks are made up of a lot of players from your club country and homegrown talent. Port Vale FC is not the exception to this rule, if we look at our we see a lot of players from England, the next greatest volume of players being from other parts of the UK, and last of all we see foreign players. But even if small in ranks the club has had some exceptional players from abroad that have made their mark with the Valiants.
Robbie Earle
Robbie Earle was born in Newcastle-under-Lyme, England to two Jamaican parents, and while he was English because of his place-of-birth, he still felt very close ties to his ancestral-heritage and chose to represent Jamaica on the international stage. Robbie will be remembered by many in Jamaica for being the scorer of their first goal ever in a World Cup against Croatia in 1998.
Robbie made 357 appearances for the club from 1982 to 1991 and is widely regarded as one of the best midfield men to ever play for us. When he left the club for Wimbledon he had netted 90 goals, making him as of this date the 9th all-time goalscorer for the club.
Robbie played in the English Premier League with the Dons and nowadays can be found commentating for the EPL on TV.
Tommy McLaren
Tommy McLaren was born in Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland in 1949. Tommy made his debut for Port Vale at just 18 years old, and is one of the most dearly remembered players in club history. His popularity was not only for his all or nothing attitude on the pitch, but was because of the way he interacted and lived off the pitch. Tommy’s story is one that ends sadly unfortunately, he was found dead at only 29 years of age in his car.
McLaren in his time at Port Vale made 369 appearances and netted 29 goals. His position is a little hard to nail down because he could play it all. Most often found on the right wing, he played many times for us as a right-back, right wing-back and even forward.
Many more
This list can go on and on. Port Vale has always been a club that looks for talent and likewise grows it. There are many international players that we did not get the chance to mention here but they played crucial roles for the club that will not be forgotten.