On this day in 1988...

[Aussie Rules]

Port Vale thrash Cardiff City 6-1 a match that includes memorable long-range efforts from Robbie Earle and Ron Futcher.

 

Source: Onevalefan

[Heatwave]

Why don't I remember it? It's not as though I wouldn't have been there.

 

I suppose there were so many highlights that momentous season that they all blur into the play-off games - the semi at Preston (remembered also for some nutter starting a fire in the Vale end and we all ended up on Preston's infamous plastic pitch) and the second leg final v. Bristol Rovers at VP. Incredible times.

[SourceOfTheTrent]

Why don't I remember it? It's not as though I wouldn't have been there.

 

I suppose there were so many highlights that momentous season that they all blur into the play-off games - the semi at Preston (remembered also for some nutter starting a fire in the Vale end and we all ended up on Preston's infamous plastic pitch) and the second leg final v. Bristol Rovers at VP. Incredible times.

I was at that match and have a recollection of it but I'm struggling for detail. I do remember we absolutely murdered them though and could have won by more, we were playing imperious football at that time.

Ron Futcher was one of the best signings ever made by the Vale, the right man at the right time. He oozed experience and quality but also passed on his knowledge to make better players of those around him, notably Darren Beckford and Robbie Earle.

I'd love to see us build a side like that again.

[RailwayRowdy]

I recall the reverse fixture better surprisingly.

 

As I recall both Sproson and Hazell(I think) were out injured and Earle played centre half. We went down 0-3 and there was a danger that the good work done so far that season may go up in smoke.

 

Then Rudge paid £200,000 for a then midfielder in Dean Glover and turned him into the most accomplished (Roy Sproson apart) central defender that I have seen in a Vale shirt.

 

That signing was the start of a wonderful decade in Vale’s history !

 

Will we ever see the likes of those times again ?

[The Kalamazoo Kid]

Ray Walker also scored a belter in that 6-1 v Cardiff.

 

2 days after that (in the days when we played our midweek games on a Monday night) we beat Chesterfield 5-0 - think Beckford got a hat-trick and Gary Ford the other 2.

 

Didn't we go top of the league the Saturday after when we won 1-0 at Bristol City?

 

All seems light years away now, both in actual time passed and likelihood of repeating!

[Family Stand Terrier]

[SourceOfTheTrent]

I recall the reverse fixture better surprisingly.

 

As I recall both Sproson and Hazell(I think) were out injured and Earle played centre half. We went down 0-3 and there was a danger that the good work done so far that season may go up in smoke.

 

Then Rudge paid £200,000 for a then midfielder in Dean Glover and turned him into the most accomplished (Roy Sproson apart) central defender that I have seen in a Vale shirt.

 

That signing was the start of a wonderful decade in Vale’s history !

 

Will we ever see the likes of those times again ?

 

I went to that game too! Pretty hairy as me my mate got attacked by a mob of 15-20 "rock 'ard" Cardiff cabbages and just about got away with it through some brief retaliation and a swift sprint back to the car! It was a depressing defeat given our disaster with defensive injuries but, as you say, Rudgie got Deano in and saved the season!

[Santa]

When you were a kid you'd hear people talk about the 'modern game' and how different it was in the old days, you'd imagine some black and white footage of old fellas with byrlcreemed hair and wearing baggy shorts.

 

Now when people talk about how much the game has changed they hark back to days like these.

[RailwayRowdy]

BRYLCREAM ! The mere mention of the name sends shudders down my back !

 

My grandfather was a long standing admirer of the veritable hair product. I think he saw himself as Ronnie or Reggie Kray !

 

Unfortunately he thought I would look good in it too and constantly smothered my head in what seemed to a junior school boy as handfuls of old lard !

 

The only player of the last 30 years or so that I can recall using BRYLCREAM was the old Oxford ‘keeper Roy Milkins, who I always thought bore an uncanny resemblance to The Lone Ranger’s sidekick Tonto !

[robf]

One of my favourite games that one.

 

I remember Earle having a word with Futcher after his long-range goal and then about two mins later Futcher scored from the same distance but on the volley. It was almost as if it was a "anything you can do, I can do better" competition. That weekend saw eleven goals in four days as the OVF YouTube clip (also linked is further up in this thread) shows...