October 2024 - Every football club up and down the land has its legends. Whether they’ve played more games for the club than any other player, only ever played for the one club or scored the winning goal that won them promotion or a trophy, there’ll be something that sets them apart from all others and awards them the title of ‘legend’.
In Port Vale’s case it’s probably John Rudge. Sure the club has had many a ‘star player’ such as Roy Sproson who made 842 appearances, Gareth Ainsworth, sold for £2m, the biggest fee the club has ever received for a player, Bob Hazell for his do or die attitude (especially against Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup in 1988) or Chris Birchall, the first Vale player to play in the World Cup Finals, for Trinidad and Tobago in 2006, but it’s John Rudge that has to stand above them all.
Rudgey, as he’s affectionally known, was Manager for 843 games in a spell lasting sixteen years from 1983 to 1999, and during their most successful period ever. He achieved three promotions, giant killing exploits in the FA Cup against Tottenham Hotspur and the then holders Everton, the Autoglass Trophy victory in 1993, and saw them achieve their highest ever league position of 8th in the second tier of English football a few years later. Oh, and not forgetting a few good thumpings of their nearest rivals, Stoke City. For Vale fans, them were the days. He was an unassuming man, an old-style football manager, stood on the touchline in his trademark flat cap, reserved most of the time, until he wasn’t and then you knew it, by all accounts.
In the 80’s Rudge was a master at finding players in the lower leagues and even non-league, signing them for next to nothing, nurturing them and turning them into Vale Park heroes - before selling them on for a huge profit (or was it the Chairman, Bill Bell who did that ?). From the aforementioned Gareth Ainsworth to Darren Beckford, Robbie Earle, Jon McCarthy, Ian Taylor, Lee Mills and Steve Guppy, they all made their name under his guiding influence before going on to greater fame and fortune.
It’s fair to say that John Rudge put Port Vale Football Club on the football map more than anyone else, and if you didn’t know where ‘The Vale’ was before - as one of the few football league clubs that isn’t named after the town or city in which they play - you did, by the time he’d finished, and it’s for this reason that hundreds of fans have gathered at Vale Park today, to celebrate Vale’s greatest ever manager and currently the club president, to ‘unvale’ (see what I did there ?) a statue in recognition of all that he’s achieved.
It’s taken the best part of three years and countless fundraising events by the Port Vale Supporters’ Club to raise £100,000 towards the cost, there was even a contribution of £8,000 from fans of Reading Football Club, as way of an apology for getting their home game against Port Vale abandoned back in January, by invading the pitch in the sixteenth minute - in recognition of the amount of points the club have been docked - and in protest against the owner of their club, but today, all of the efforts by Vale fans will come to fruition.
It might seem a strange day to unveil a statue, on a Monday, especially as Port Vale only played at home two days ago, securing a 3-1 victory over Fleetwood Town, with over 6,500 attending, but today has been chosen because it coincides with John‘s 80th birthday.
It’s an overcast, but dry day at Vale Park - welcome to autumn - and a good few hundred fans have gathered for the ceremony. There are a good number of ex-Vale players in attendance too, such as Ray Walker, Robin van der Laan, Ian Taylor, Gareth Ainsworth and the Chamberlain brothers, Mark and Neville. The unveiling is due at 3pm, but we’re running a bit late as John is giving a bit of an extended speech to everyone gathered inside - “we made the mistake of giving John the mike” a member of the Port Vale staff tells us. “Tells him get a move on” says someone in the crowd, “it’s bloody cold out here !” It’s then that the media started to gather and they’re all here, BBC TV and Radio and Sky are all in attendance.
Moorlands Radio who’ve pitched up to play a few tunes and keep everyone entertained whilst we wait then start to play the Vale anthem, “The Wonder of You” which is sung quite well despite the complaints of the cold only a few moments ago. Then the current squad of players appear and are warmly applauded and given many pats on the back as they walk throughout the crowd, before the singing changes to ‘we are top of the league, say we are top of the league’. This has gotten everyone properly in the mood now. Before long, the dignitaries start to appear led by the current owners Carol and Kevin Shanahan, the current manager, Darren Moore, and the posse of ex-players.
Once everyone is assembled in a semi-circle around the statue, which is draped in a black and white sheet and being held down by one of the Security team, for fear of a premature unveiling, John finally appears with his wife of 57 years, Dellice, his daughters, their husbands and his grandchildren. John is looking resplendent in his trademark overcoat and flat cap, exactly as portrayed by the statue itself - but we don’t actually know that yet ! The organisers appear to want to get on with things, but John has other ideas and walks around the crowd, shaking hands with as many people as he can manage and thanking everyone for coming. Souvenir programmes of the day also need to be signed, and the obligatory selfie are all requested and duly obliged with by John. The unveiling will take a little longer, leaving a rather frustrated Security guard to hang on to the sheet for a bit longer.
Eventually, John is encouraged to take his place next to Chairman of the Port Vale Supporters Club, Mark Porter, who thanks everyone for coming and, seeing as we’re all in good voice, wishes us to sing Happy Birthday to John, which we all do, and then insists that John carries out the unveiling to the tones of “Johnny Rudge’s Black and White Army”. Everyone agrees and the sheet is finally pulled away and the statue is finally revealed for everyone to see, all to great applause and cheers.
The statue is by Staffordshire born Sculptor, Michael Talbot and stands on a blue brick plinth, ‘one and a half Johns’ high. It’s made of bronze and the whole thing is 17ft (5.3m) high. John is depicted in a familiar pose from the days when he stood on the touchline all those years ago and is pointing up Hamil Road, quite at what, no one is sure, promotion to League Division One, hopefully. There he will stand proud ‘for generations to come’, says Mark Porter, in the newly created Fan Zone and standing guard outside the Vale Social Club, which is better known as Tommy Cheadle's, another Vale stalwart.
Credit has to go to the sculpture, Michael Talbot as it was generally agreed by the many fans attending that the statue did actually look like John - which is the least you’d expect in many ways - but judging by the recent efforts for Harry Kane and Cristiano Ronaldo you could be forgiven for thinking that wasn’t necessarily the case.
It’s now that the media frenzy begins as everyone wants to get the views of John himself and Carol Shanahan. The crowd meanwhile are starting to jockey for positions and walk around to Hamil Road to get a better view, and to reminisce a bit more about the glory days under the management of John Rudge
Let’s hope those days aren’t too far away again.
Oh, and finally, and in the words of the Port Vale Supporters Club if I may, I’d also like to say… ‘appy both’dee Rudgey.
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